Jason,?

I am setting up with both a local screen and remote via VNC using a couple of different iPads. ?I was wondering if you have a strategy for changing the screen size to fit the different remote displays.


bob

It is a one inch hole. It is privacy window screen fabric. (It is not metal) It is secured with a little hot glue. ?At the fire station for my 24 hour shift, will snap some pictures of the inside when I get home.

That was my original thought, and I even have some leftover black fiberglass window screen....I wish I would have done that instead hihi?

Are you able to start conky from the ham radio category of the pi menu? If not, open the terminal and run conky. Post any error messages you see.

Also, run
bash ~/pi-build/diagnostic
and follow the directions. I'll see if I can figure out what's going on.
--

I just drilled one hole and used some mesh behind it to keep stuff out of it. It made a noticeable difference in temp.

Stan,

That looks really well executed. Is that window screen mesh painted black? Would you mind posting a photograph of the inside so we can see how you secured the mesh?

That looks like about a 1-inch diameter hole. Am I correct?

Well done, sir!

David Thompson, AG7TX
Jack of All Trades
Master of None
dbthompson@...

Nice video Bob. Very thoughtful.

I looked at many 'single level' cases -- but when you need to incorporate a HAT, the choices are limited -- particularly for robust cases made from metal (Mazack, Aluminium etc.)

I'm strictly a 'QRP man' so my main rig will be the KX3 set at about 6-7 watts for FT8 modes. I will let it creep up to 10 watts for SSB. I will stick to 5 watts CW.
I've already had the kit running on a few portable outings -- just to see what issues become apparent.?

The main issue is trying to get an antenna 'up in the air' -- so I've resolved to always take a telescopic mast with me. It's a 31 ft fibreglass mast and collapses down to about 2 foot.

The Pi performed very well 'headless' with my iPad Air (well actually my Wife's Air -- which she said I could 'borrow!')

Even out in locations where the noise level has been down to S2-3 on 20M, there is no apparent interference from the Buck Converter I've installed in the Raspi case.
Like you Bob, it's important to me that all connections come out of the back of the Raspi case. Stuff on the side is asking to be 'rubbed off' or damaged when installing or putting away after a portable outing.?
If connections don't come out of the front or rear, they don't come out!

Unfortunately there isn't much I can do about the KX3 -- which has connections coming out of everywhere, so that will have to be the exception :-)

?I must say that Jason, this site -- and you guys have opened my eyes as to what is possible with a Raspi 4 -- something I had dismissed as a toy!
Now I'm seriously considering replacing my shack digital system with a RASPI 4 too.?

Thanks guys for your engagement, the support and good humour you show to each other and bringing some unexpected 'left field' ideas and experiments back into my Radio life :-)

73
Bruce G4ABX

Thanks, Mitch, I have two of them and so far all is well. ?I still need to adjust the fans a bit to optimize them. ?I have had no video issues. ?

One of these will be used in the field and the other will be used in the shack part-time. ?I typically keep a Mac Mini on the IC-7300 for radio duty.

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Excellent video, Bob. I hope you have had greater luck with your Argon One case than I have!

I ordered one direct from Argon40 back on 01 June as there wasn't any available on Amazon at the time. It shipped on 09 June and after waiting 60+ days for delivery, I reached out to them about it. They gave me a full refund, shipping and all, and suggested I tried ordering direct from their Amazon shop. I did just that, and the replacement case arrived one week ago, last Friday. I got it all set up and plugged everything in and hooked it to my monitor, and...it wouldn't allow me to output a video signal with a resolution higher than 1024x786. Ugh. I tried reseating the expansion board multiple times, tried using a different SD card with an entirely different RPi OS image on it. Tried a second Pi4. Nothing was working. I tried forcing the resolution higher by editing the config.txt file, but the monitor wouldn't recognize the signal from the board. So I took it to work and tried hooking to a monitor there. Same issues.?

Fast forward through the weekend to Monday this week when a mysterious knock appeared on the door. My wife wasn't able to make it to the door fast enough, and I was at work. Low and behold, it was the long last package from Hong Kong! Sadly, the postal worker kept it for the night. It finally was in my hands on Tuesday, after a 70+ day journey. I tore into the package Tuesday evening and pulled out that expansion board and replaced it in the existing case. Fired it up, and it works!?

I emailed Argon40 again on Wednesday, they requested I try a few things with the original expansion board, and if they didn't work, they would send out a replacement. I just hope they don't send it by sea from Hong Kong again.

I got the case mainly for use as a RetroPie (retro-gaming machine) to keep my desk looking cleaner (with all the cable out the back). I don't know how often I will use this Pi for ham radio work, but the whole Build-a-Pi project has been fun to tinker with. I'm still trying to figure out how/if I can use this for one of the upcoming events our club supports—a 100 mile foot race over the mountains. As hams, we provide comms and support for the race by recording bib numbers as well as in and out times for ~300 runners at 13 aid stations along the race route. We then use Winlink to periodically email that data back to town so crews/family can track the runners progress. It would be nice to be able to use Pat for that, but I'd still have to have my laptop to run the software for recording race data. That being the case, it's just as easy to open up Winlink Express and operate from there. But, I have a month to think this over.

—Mitch Smith, N7USU?

Bruce, all,

I have been testing the Argon One Pi4 case from Argon40. ?It does not accommodate a HAT It runs all of the cables out the rear. ?I got the case on Amazon US for $25. ?

I am fussing with the fan speed settings for different temps. ?I am overall happy with it. ?Nothing in the field yet so not ready to say thumbs up, yet!. ?Here is a video I did that shows the case. ? ?Most of my planned operations are such that I will be taking two radios and a larger battery pack so I have more Juice to play with.

Hi David
I think the plan for the laser cut lid? is for them to make one (when the laser guy is back from hols on 1st September)? I will then do some tests to compare with my own hacked version and they will then offer it for sale as an option for folks who buy the case -- which (of course) comes from the Far East -- Korea I think.?

So by early September we may have a robust and visually pleasing enclosure for our Raspis :-)

I've been running a log of temperature over the past week since I hacked the alternative 'lid' and running my tiny fan off the 3.3V pin from the GPIO, the max temperature (of the battery - which is of course on top) is 26C. That's in a circa 30C environment (and with the Buck converter tucked into the case above the Ethernet port.)

I will probably put a momentary switch on the case as its a pain to push any of the buttons on the PiJuice as they are all close to the front wall of the case and under the lid. PiJuice has at least taken care of providing easy connections for a momentary switch to 'start' and 'shut down' the Pi. I'm impressed with their 'forward thinking'

73
Bruce G4ABX

I just drilled one hole and used some mesh behind it to keep stuff out of it. ?It made a noticeable difference in temp.?

Hi Jason
The reboot killed CONKY. It didn't come back up!
73
Bruce G4ABX

Thanks for that report, Bruce.

For those here in the US, I think the same buck converter is this one: — I’m saving it in case the DockerPi doesn’t work out.

That lovely case is about $50US, plus whatever shipping is required. Do you know if the vendor is going to offer the laser-cut lid for sale? I think that case might be very good for field use as opposed to a plastic case. But adequate ventilation is absolutely required in my area — northern Nevada desert where our summer high temperatures run in the 95F range.

The Pi4 here on my worktable is running at 55C-60C in the afternoons. My workroom is not air-conditioned, although there is a unit in the living room so it’s a little cooler than outdoors in the sun. I have not taken a Pi4 into the field (yet), but am a little concerned about operating temperature.

Thanks again for good information.

73 de AG7TX

David Thompson, AG7TX
Jack of All Trades
Master of None
dbthompson@...

A reboot should clear up the conky issue. There was a change in the way conky is started in 3.0.3 but I don't think that should cause a freeze.

--

All

I'm using the Pi Juice HAT and this case:?

The case is very well made -- but a tad expensive!
it has one critical flaw -- its thermal performance is awful -- until that is, I added a fan.

Having talked through the thermal performance with the seller here in the UK, he offered to laser cut me a new lid with fan fixings. I'm waiting for that to arrive shortly.
If I'm happy with the new lid, then he will make these fan lids an option with the case.

Having mocked up a lid with a fan, after some experimentation with fan placement, the Pi temperature (measured from the PiJUice HAT battery temp sensor) dropped from 70c to 24c -- which is very acceptable. The fan placement ensures air circulation around the critical Pi components? on the lower board -- as well as the battery on the PiJUice HAT.

One other mod you need to do to accept the PiJuice HAT is to remove the USB power socket from the board. All the connections are doubled up and I've added a pin header to connect power. (The USB connector protrudes beyond the board and this clashes with the fixings to case side dimensions.) I used a hot air tool to remove the USB socket. Be sure to cover the adjacent components in Kapton tape -- to prevent them flowing off the board when you apply heat! (Kapton tape is really cheap on eBay and being self adhesive is easy to use. It leaves no residue when removed)
This sounds daunting -- but its not. You do need a focussed nozzle on your hot air gun. Mine is about 8mm in diameter.

I've also included a really great buck converter inside the enclosure -- so my Pi can be fed with anything up to 18V. It also appears to be very RF quiet. I can't hear any interference under QRP conditions on my KX3 within the Amateur bands. I use:?

By the way, the stock PiJuice battery gives me about 5 hours operation of the Pi4b and takes a bit of load off my 20AH Solar generator setup.

So the nice metal case with its new lid and fan is fed from 12V (from my Solar generator) and being aluminium, should be robust for portable operations.
73
Bruce G4ABX

Morning all
BAP 3.03 has been up for circa 20 hours. No repeat of my Wifi issues.

CONKY 'froze' after 11h 14m 43s.
The Pi is still showing the correct time but CONKY is not

I'm not sure if this is related to 3.03 or not? I didn't have a CONKY freeze on BAP 3.02 but that may be coincidental.

I guess a re-boot will fix it?

Are there any logs that might be of use before I reboot?

73
Bruce G4ABX

Hey Ken;

I'm glad you got it figured out successfully.

Now go have some FUN with it.

es vy 73 om de "baab" w9ya

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