It’s time for some Pi

 

HamClock

A number of years ago I purchased a Raspberry Pi intending to do something with it. Well, it sat for many years with me now and then taking a look at it and thinking someday I will explore the Pi. A few weeks ago for some reason, I Googled Raspberry Pi regarding weather programs. 

My thought at the time was to get live local weather reports via the Pi. Also, it had been about 3 years since I had seen my Raspberry Pi and was not sure if I had thrown it out during one of my spur-of-the-moment clean-up binges. I eventually came across it after searching everywhere. "I put it where for sure I would know where it was". That did not work so well BUT I have learned that once I do find something I always place it back in the spot where I first looked for it. I degrees.....

My Pi


The box the Pi was in was complete with a power supply, protective case, HDMI cable, micro SD card and a cooling fan. I plugged in the Pi and powered it up with the micro SD card in place, a monitor, mouse and keyboard. Well a red LED light came on but that was it the monitor was blank, and well actually had a floating message "No device connected". I was sure I had downloaded a Pi OS onto the SD card years ago. I did a fast Google search and found out if you have only a red light and no green light (besides the red light) then most likely your SD is either blank, not in properly or defective. 


It was off to the Raspberry Pi site to download the latest and greatest OS and in my case that was bullseye. I did check the SD card and it was blank so I was hoping after the OS was installed and put back into the Pi things would come to life...and they did. I also found out that my Pi was a Pi3 (not Pi3B) the latest and greatest is the Pi4 B. The Pi3 will do me just fine and I am finally going to be using it. 


As stated I wanted to use it for local weather and I ended up finding something better! Local weather, space weather, UTC clock, contest calendar, VOCAP, a world map that has a host of configurations and more. The software is called HamClock by WB0OEW. This package runs very smoothly on my Pi3 and will auto-update, which I have experienced once already. 

And so it begins


Now Raspberry Pi is all new to me and I am learning about Sudo, the command line and what to enter into the command line. At this point, in time I have just cut and pasted commands from websites (such as HamClock) to install the program. The installation process for HamClock can be found under the "Desktop" tab on the HamClock site.
I am just starting my Pi learning curve and would appreciate any advice and program suggestions to run.

Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

8 Responses to “It’s time for some Pi”

  • Paul Thutt (Kc7pmu):

    Check out Jason, km4ack, on youtube and his Build-a-pi scripts
    And on groups.io
    https://groups.io/g/KM4ACK-Pi

    These are good resources for the Pi & ham radio.

    Good luck & have fun.

    Paul
    Kc7pmu

  • Good afternoon Paul and thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. I for sure will check out the YouTube channel. I have joined the KM4ACK-Pi group as well. Thanks for the great info and have a nice weekend.
    73,
    Mike
    VE9KK

  • Ron N8WCR:

    I discovered HamClock a few years ago and have it running on a separate monitor, but what I have recently found out is the options for each thing on the display. But instead of putting a mouse and keyboard on the RPi, what you can do is open a web browser to http://:8081/live.html and it will mirror in the browser the display. THis way you can click on the various items.
    And I agree, KM4ACK has a great channel and programs for new Raspberry Pi people.

  • Good morning Ron and thanks for stopping by and taking the time to leave a comment. I will try the mirror image later today and see how it goes thanks for the info. I have not as of yet had a chance to really look into KM4ACK channel but will be doing so.
    Have a great weekend,
    73,
    Mike
    VE9KK

  • Elwood Downey, WB0OEW:

    Glad you like using my HamClock project. Please read the User Guide, it does much more than most people realize. 73.

  • Mike VE9KK:

    Good afternoon Elwood and very nice to hear from you, funny thing is I downloaded the user guide and as soon as I did that the next startup told me a new version was out. I downloaded that and have to see what has changed in the user guide.
    Thanks for the input Elwood and have a great weekend,
    73
    Mike
    VE9KK

  • Elwood Downey WB0OEW:

    The significant changes in each release are listed in the Download tab.

  • Mike VE9KK:

    Good morning Elwood, I think its great that the program has not been forgotten about but is being upgraded.
    73,
    Mike
    VE9KK

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