{"id":4817,"date":"2023-08-17T14:37:58","date_gmt":"2023-08-17T14:37:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/picockpit.com\/raspberry-pi\/?p=4817"},"modified":"2023-08-24T22:31:10","modified_gmt":"2023-08-24T22:31:10","slug":"paragon-project-a-ham-radio-cyberdeck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/picockpit.com\/raspberry-pi\/paragon-project-a-ham-radio-cyberdeck\/","title":{"rendered":"Paragon Project: A Ham Radio Cyberdeck"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Ham<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This has everything that you could possibly want in a Raspberry Pi project. It’s creative, it’s stylish, and it’s fun. Most of all – it’s useful! It’s a ham radio cyberdeck, put together by Kaushlesh Chandel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ham radios – or amateur radios – use radio frequencies for communication. They can be extremely useful if you’re in an emergency in a location where you can’t get cellphone reception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cyberdecks are portable computers that people usually make with an eye towards aesthetics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As this cyberdeck serves as both a computer and a ham radio<\/a>, Kaushlesh suggests making use of it on a camping trip. It can be a radio and a navigation\/GPS assistant. It can capture photos or time-lapse images. But you can also use it simply to kick back and play RetroPie games.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Ham
Credit: Kaushlesh Chandel<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Hardware<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Kaushlesh outlines that the project revolves around a Raspberry Pi 4 with 8GB of memory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remember when everyone was asking “Why does a Raspberry Pi need 8GB of memory?” It seems like Kaushlesh has the answer!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aside from the Pi, Kaushlesh sought out a portable, waterproof case, a rechargeable battery, a 40% keyboard & mouse, and two LCD screens. For the radio part of it, an antenna and speaker are also important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Put together with a few customized 3D-printed parts to put the whole thing together and voil\u00e0, you have the ham radio cyberdeck!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Kaushlesh outlines in the post on hackaday.io<\/a>, during the second iteration of the project, Kaushlesh figured out that all the 3D-printed pieces could snap together using magnets. The result is this ultra aesthetically-pleasing design.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Ham
Credit: Kaushlesh Chandel<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Software<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To use the Raspberry Pi for most of its desktop capabilities, the project relies on the Raspberry Pi OS (along with RetroPie for fun!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What gets to be a little more complicated is than which Software-Defined Radio (SDR) works best, considering the ham radio functionality is most useful in a location without internet connection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A popular SDR for Raspberry Pis is SIGpi, which you can learn more about at the SIGpi GitHub<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you land on the ideal SDR for the project, then you’ve found the key for the ham radio software setup. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As Kaushlesh mentions, this project actually began in 2022 and has changed a few times. Pieces have changed, a small LCD has been added to the main deck to use less energy, and the keyboard has shifted to the center of the build.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps most astonishingly, Kaushlesh has found a rechargeable battery that will keep this thing juiced for 20 hours!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can go read about the details of the project here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can also check out more Paragon Projects that we\u2019ve featured by clicking here<\/a>, which includes this other really awesome cyberdeck<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What would you do with a new ham radio cyberdeck? Where would you go?<\/p>\n