This Blog will, I hope, be of some small help with anyone who also tries to get on the air with Pi
I will try to get to each step in turn with as much information as I can.
Parts list:
Raspberry Pi model B or B+
SD card ( model B) micro SD (B+)
Wifi dongle
HDMI monitor or TV with HDMI input
Keyboard
Mouse
Power supply
TNC
SSB transceiver
Antenna
Various cables
I have tried both a Model B and a Model B+, and they both decode and transmit with Fldigi just fine.
Rpi's are available from Adafruit.com
The SD card(s) are currently on sale at my local Radio Shack
I have used two different wifi dongles. The smaller I got from Adafruit, the Netgear (larger) came from the junk box. The Netgear receives a signal better. I can only assume because the internal antenna is larger.
Any TV or monitor with a HDMI input will work, but my setup uses a Motorola Atrix lapdock. My intention is to do some portable operations soon. The lapdock also combines a power supply, keyboard, & trackpad.
The power supply seems to be a sticking point for alot of people. I have a WestMountain RIGrunner 4004U that I power the TNC with. I also have a homebrew battery powered USB supply, based on an Adafruit Minty Boost, that I will use for portable ops. (more on this later.)
My TNC is SignaLink USB. I got this from HRO.
Previously, I tried a WestMountain RIGblaster Advantage, but every unit I tried produced signal killing noise whenever the unit was powered whether via a USB on my computers, or via a battery.
The folks at HRO and WestMountain were absolutely wonderful with their customer service in trying to track down the cause of the noise but we all ran out of ideas.
Some folks have a problem with the S'Link and noise as well. (more on this later)
The radio is a FT-897D. (I can't say enough nice things about this cool rig.)
The antenna is a homemade EARCHI type multi band end fed.
I will show how I modified some of the cables to help reduce noise, and help solve power issues.
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