¿ªÔÆÌåÓý

  1. RaspberryPi-4-HamRadio
  2. Topics

Where to start? #pi

 

Hello group!

I live in Vegas and am realizing that the iGate network here is severely lacking. With your help I want to set up a Rx/Tx iGate using Raspberry Pi. I just ordered my Pi 4 starter kit and am waiting to send out an email about radio's to the local club until I get a better idea on how I can interface the Tx portion to my Pi 4. The unit I ordered does come with a 4 pole stereo audio input so I am guessing I will not need a sound card hat, I think?

There are so many posts here and I am new to Groups.io I was wondering if y'all could help point me in the right direction. My goal is to run a single band antenna off of the roof of my two story house and leave my radio and Pi running in the crawl space. I already have power up there and have some idea's on where to run the coax.?

Any knowledge you would like to impart would be great! Power suggestions, radio suggestions, ways to get the radio to interface with Pi, anything you can think of would be helpful.?

Thanks in advance!
Mike
KJ7OWD
73
Terry L. Morris
 

Hello Mike,
I have no experience with iGate network but I am schooled in Internet networking. The latter not really important. I searched this forum for iGate network and found nothing. I left this forum and went to DuckDuckGo and searched for iGate network.

I found Curtiss Mann, N1AAE of Madison, IN that has an iGate through APRS and tells how to build it for under $100. The URL is:?? APRS RX/TX iGate and digipeater for less than $100.

Have you checked for iGate's in the Las Vegas area? It would be prudent to do so. You might that your area, Las Vegas, is already saturated with sufficient iGates and learn from those have them in use.

I quickly read Curtiss' webpage and it seems doable if you have interest in that party of this glorious hobby. I prefer CW on HF and bands above.
Best 73,
 


On Wed, Sep 9, 2020, 21:50 <KJ7OWD@...> wrote:
Hello group!

I live in Vegas and am realizing that the iGate network here is severely lacking. With your help I want to set up a Rx/Tx iGate using Raspberry Pi. I just ordered my Pi 4 starter kit and am waiting to send out an email about radio's to the local club until I get a better idea on how I can interface the Tx portion to my Pi 4. The unit I ordered does come with a 4 pole stereo audio input so I am guessing I will not need a sound card hat, I think?

There are so many posts here and I am new to Groups.io I was wondering if y'all could help point me in the right direction. My goal is to run a single band antenna off of the roof of my two story house and leave my radio and Pi running in the crawl space. I already have power up there and have some idea's on where to run the coax.?

Any knowledge you would like to impart would be great! Power suggestions, radio suggestions, ways to get the radio to interface with Pi, anything you can think of would be helpful.?

Thanks in advance!
Mike
KJ7OWD
73

 

The RPi only has audio output.? For audio input, you will need to add some sort of audio adapter.

These documents should be useful in your quest.
 

You will still need a sound card, as none of the Pi's have an audio input, only output.? The 4 pole trrs jack is left and right audio, composite video and ground

Get
On Sep 9, 2020, at 21:50, kj7owd@... wrote:

Hello group!

I live in Vegas and am realizing that the iGate network here is severely lacking. With your help I want to set up a Rx/Tx iGate using Raspberry Pi. I just ordered my Pi 4 starter kit and am waiting to send out an email about radio's to the local club until I get a better idea on how I can interface the Tx portion to my Pi 4. The unit I ordered does come with a 4 pole stereo audio input so I am guessing I will not need a sound card hat, I think?

There are so many posts here and I am new to Groups.io I was wondering if y'all could help point me in the right direction. My goal is to run a single band antenna off of the roof of my two story house and leave my radio and Pi running in the crawl space. I already have power up there and have some idea's on where to run the coax.?

Any knowledge you would like to impart would be great! Power suggestions, radio suggestions, ways to get the radio to interface with Pi, anything you can think of would be helpful.?

Thanks in advance!
Mike
KJ7OWD
73

 

¿ªÔÆÌåÓý


Hello Mike,

You've already received some great details and hints on how to get started.? One thing that you need to pay attention to is that adding more iGates can actually hurt the network but that's more common when setting up high level APRS digis and Igates say on a nearby mountain, etc.? Anyway, if you're looking for more of a holistic Raspberry Pi setup guide to get everything fully built up, you might want to check out my guide:

??

This doc should compliment the APRS specific docs that WB2OSZ (the author of Direwolf) shared.? Beyond that, there are many MANY other good guides out there on the Internet so search around and see what's available to you.

--David
KI6ZHD



On 09/09/2020 09:44 PM, KJ7OWD@... wrote:

Hello group!

I live in Vegas and am realizing that the iGate network here is severely lacking. With your help I want to set up a Rx/Tx iGate using Raspberry Pi. I just ordered my Pi 4 starter kit and am waiting to send out an email about radio's to the local club until I get a better idea on how I can interface the Tx portion to my Pi 4. The unit I ordered does come with a 4 pole stereo audio input so I am guessing I will not need a sound card hat, I think?

There are so many posts here and I am new to Groups.io I was wondering if y'all could help point me in the right direction. My goal is to run a single band antenna off of the roof of my two story house and leave my radio and Pi running in the crawl space. I already have power up there and have some idea's on where to run the coax.?

Any knowledge you would like to impart would be great! Power suggestions, radio suggestions, ways to get the radio to interface with Pi, anything you can think of would be helpful.?

Thanks in advance!
Mike
KJ7OWD
73

 

David,

Thanks for the reply! I am checking out the link while drinking coffee now. I will say this though. Las Vegas has ONE rx/tx iGate and it is on the FAR south side of the valley 22 miles from where I live. It only puts out 9 watts (according to APRS.fi) so I can't reliably receive data from it. There is another one way iGate about half way between me and the other. Now, north of me there is NOTHING until you Reno or Ely to gate a packet. I feel that adding even TWO more rx/tx iGates in the valley will really help the entire network. Apparently the iGate south of town is getting over 40,000 packets a month and is gating everything from northern AZ, California, and all of central and southern NV. With it only putting out 9 watts a lot of those messages do not get replied.?

John,
I have seen that unfortunately it is higher than I want to spend on this project. If I cannot find another solution though I will go that way.?

N5XMT and WB2OSZ,
Thanks for the clarification. I will look at sound card options.?

Terry,
I read the article from N1AAE and that's where I got the idea for using RBPI. I don't want to go with an HT because it will be going in my attic crawl space so I don't want to use a battery eliminator and I would like to get more than 5 watts on the air. I am hoping for something closer to 25-50 watts. I hope to hear you on the air! I occasionally get to use my work radio and chat on 20m. I made my first HF contact during the Indy 500 Contest. It was really cool! I am hoping next year I can get a mobile HF rig. Maybe then I will spend more time learning CW.?

Thanks for all the replies so far. I have some homework to do. If anyone has more to add please do!
-Mike
 

I just picked up the FE-PI V2 board.? I think it was 15 bucks or so.? Very nice, works perfectly with direwolf

Get
On Sep 10, 2020, at 08:51, kj7owd@... wrote:

David,

Thanks for the reply! I am checking out the link while drinking coffee now. I will say this though. Las Vegas has ONE rx/tx iGate and it is on the FAR south side of the valley 22 miles from where I live. It only puts out 9 watts (according to APRS.fi) so I can't reliably receive data from it. There is another one way iGate about half way between me and the other. Now, north of me there is NOTHING until you Reno or Ely to gate a packet. I feel that adding even TWO more rx/tx iGates in the valley will really help the entire network. Apparently the iGate south of town is getting over 40,000 packets a month and is gating everything from northern AZ, California, and all of central and southern NV. With it only putting out 9 watts a lot of those messages do not get replied.?

John,
I have seen that unfortunately it is higher than I want to spend on this project. If I cannot find another solution though I will go that way.?

N5XMT and WB2OSZ,
Thanks for the clarification. I will look at sound card options.?

Terry,
I read the article from N1AAE and that's where I got the idea for using RBPI. I don't want to go with an HT because it will be going in my attic crawl space so I don't want to use a battery eliminator and I would like to get more than 5 watts on the air. I am hoping for something closer to 25-50 watts. I hope to hear you on the air! I occasionally get to use my work radio and chat on 20m. I made my first HF contact during the Indy 500 Contest. It was really cool! I am hoping next year I can get a mobile HF rig. Maybe then I will spend more time learning CW.?

Thanks for all the replies so far. I have some homework to do. If anyone has more to add please do!
-Mike

 

@N5XMT

This is what was recommended to me to by another APRS user. Once I get my radio I will figure out what I am going to do about a sound card.?

-Mike

1 - 9 of 9