Raspberry Pi 3 Ham Radio Projects
Raspberry Pi 3
Can it run apps? Yes it can! It runs DXSpider very effectively. In addition to DXSpider I tried out ownCloud and it runs fine too. OwnCloud is a open source, self-hosted file sync and share app platform. It allows a user to access & sync files, contacts, calendars & bookmarks across devices. That might come in handy for some of you.
Raspberry Pi 3 DXSpider
Currently my little Raspberry Pi 3 is just running DXSpider v1.55 and I have three partner nodes. It is running good and I have my HRD Logbook connected to it.
I'm very new to this, but after reviewing a few tutorials online I was able to install DXSpider and get it running. At first there were a few issues, but I have most of them resolved now.
My Pi is connected to a cable modem router via ethernet cable. It is a static IP address on my router and the router is configured with the Raspberry Pi's IP as a DMZ. This allows the ports from the Internet to pass through to the Pi. The url is pi.K0PIR.us and it;s using port 7300. I also setup SSH and VNC.
What More Can It Do?
So other than DXSpider I haven't tried any other ham radio apps. I'm considering a few to run my Icom 7300, but haven't decided on which apps just yet. Maybe a logging program and rig control program. I hear Fldigi works good with Linux and that might be fun to try. I'm not going to get into anything extravagant. Just keep it as simple as possible. In other words, I'm not intending on using custom cables or using the GPIO pins.
A good way to purchase a Raspberry Pi 3 is to buy a kit.
While there are a few articles out there installing DXSpider on the Raspberry Pi, there are not any specifically for the Pi 3 and the Pi 3 is slightly different than the older models. The OS, Raspbian, is different and the Pi 3, unlike the others, comes with built-in wireless and Bluetooth.
I'll show you how to get it setup and ready for DXSpider, so look for that next and a video installing DXSpider. Then later we'll configure partner links.
Interested? Stay tuned.
You can buy a Raspberry Pi on Ebay
UPDATE: Connecting a wireless keyboard and mouse to the Raspberry Pi 3 is easy and if you have a spare monitor that uses VGA cable you can use a HDMI to VGA adapter.
Are you using Raspberry Pi for anything? Please comment below.
NEXT: Raspberry Pi 3 DXSpider Installation
Very much looking forward to your step by step guide for this. I’ve bought a pi-3 specifically to run dxspider and I’m falling down at the very first step in the guide I’ve found. Interestingly, you’ve commented on the guide that I was looking at so clearly there is a way. I’ve been using *nix at a very basic level for a lot of years but not actually doing much admin work for a long time so I’m very rusty when it comes to the terminal.
Hey, thanks for commenting. I had plenty of trouble too and that’s why I thought I’d do this.
I’ve had it running a few weeks now and so far so good. Did you have any problem setting up the Pi for a static IP? How about VNC, are you using it? I’m just trying to decide where I should start and if people have trouble with the static IP, DNS and port forwarding.
Actually I’ve managed to get it all running now without too many struggles. I didn’t set up a static IP address, I just set up an address reservation in my router so it would never change. Having said that, I’ve since installed pi-hole (thoroughly recommended btw) and as part of the procedure, that will configure a static address anyway.
I’m not using VNC, I’m doing everything by ssh.
I’ve been using the SV5FRI guide (as you did) and the only thing really different is the very first line when setting up the account specifically for dx spider and that’s because -m isn’t supported on the latest Raspbian release so I did some research and discovered that I could just leave it off.
I’ve got the service running with the new script, got it autoconnecting to one node and will add an extra few.
This is replacing an old computer with XP running AR-Cluster and it seems the big difference I need to be aware of is that with DX Spider, I need to have the remote sysop add me as a node rather than just let the software sort it out by itself. Previously I could connect to any cluster without any interaction from the remote sysop, it’s not quite like that with DX Spider.
That’s great. Yeah I had the same problem (-m) and worked around it. I’ll check out pi-hole. Did you make it a service so it starts automatically on reboot? I used this script: http://www.sv5fri.eu/?p=2292471
If you want a partner mine is pi.k0pir.us port 7300 and I’ll add you if you want. Just send me your info.
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