GETTING STARTED

WITH HAMPI

BY DAVE SLOTTER,
WHAT’S A RASPBERRY PI?

• RPi 4 : low cost completely functional computer ($30 - $75 USD) size of
card deck
CPU (ARM v8) Micro HDMI

RAM (2GB – 8GB) Micro SD Card Slot

USB (2x USB 2.0 + 2x USB 3.0) Audio Jack

Ethernet (Gigabit) Camera Port

WiFi (802.11ac) GPIO Header!

Bluetooth (5.0 + BLE)

WHAT OPERATING SYSTEMS DOES
RASPBERRY PI USE?
Raspbian Linux (based on Debian) LibreELEC
Windows 10 IoT Core Mozilla WebThings
Ubuntu PiNet
Ubuntu MATE RISC OS
OSMC Weather Station
WHAT CAN I DO WITH RASPBERRY PI?

LibreOffice Suite (Word, Sheet, Present) BitTorrent Server

Chromium (Web Browsing) Home Automation
Media Player (Living Room PC) Wireless network printer
Game Emulator Music Streaming
Robotics Kids First Computer
Windows 3.0 Computing Cluster
Learn to Program Weather Station
File Server (NAS) Ham Radio Station
RASPBERRY PI 4 POWER REQUIREMENTS

• Input voltage of 4.0 V to 5.5 V with absolute max rating of 6V before

damage occurs
• Reasonable power range is 4.7 V to 5.25 V
• Power supply recommended provides 3A (15W) with minimum current of
2.5A if USB peripherals consume less than 500mA in total
• Original Pi 4 has non-compliant USB-C power port. This has now been
fixed.
WHY USE RASPBERRY PI FOR HAM RADIO?

• Great in the shack or for going portable

• Small form-factor
• Lightweight
• Low power needs
• Some people even power from solar!
• Uses Linux which is already well supported
WHERE DO I START?

1. Determine needs for Raspberry Pi – will determine equipment

2. Buy Raspberry Pi + power supply + micro sd card from local retailer
1. Alternatively: SATA SDD + Cable or NVME SSD + NVME USB3 Adapter
3. Reuse USB keyboard, mouse and display. Don’t forget the micro HDMI cable!
4. Download software image to flash
1. HamPi Image v1.0 (hampi.radiowaves.ca)
5. Download BalenaEtcher for Windows, Mac or Linux & flash micro SD card
6. Plug it all together, insert SD card and watch!
HAMPI IMAGE V1.0
• Custom-built ham radio software image chock full of ~80 applications:
• Created using Ansible, software automation tool.
FlDigi Suite CHIRP CQRLog

WSJT-X BlueDV wsjtx_to_n3fjp

JS8Call ADS-B Flight Tracker Pat WinLink + ARDOP

CubicSDR NOAA Weather Imaging CW Applications

GQRX DX Cluster Client + Server Ham Test Trainers

Direwolf Xnecview GPredict

Xastir YAAC Support for SDR Hardware

D-Rats TrustedQSL …and DOZENS MORE!

WHERE DO I FIND HAMPI IMAGE V1.0?

• http://hampi.radiowaves.ca/
• Image is compressed with XZ in TAR format and is ~4GB.
• Over 6,000 direct downloads in first 60 days!
WHERE DO I GET SUPPORT FOR HAMPI V1.0?

•HamPi Forum on Groups.io

•https://groups.io/g/Ham-Pi
•GitHub Wiki:
•https://github.com/dslotter/hampi/wiki
•QRZ
•https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/hampi-1-0-released.7115
15/
•GARS Workshops!
HOW CAN I PUT IMAGE ON (MICRO) SD
CARD?

• You just can’t copy the image as a file on to the (micro) SD card.
• (some people have tried – and failed)
• One solution: dd (for Linux)
• But what if I have a Windows PC?
• Solution: BalenaEtcher, available at https://www.balena.io/etcher/
WHAT IS THE INITIAL USERNAME AND
PASSWORD?

• Username: pi
• Password: raspberry

• Security note: please change the password to something unique, especially if

you put your Raspberry Pi on the Internet like me.
HOW CAN I CHANGE THE PASSWORD?

• Quick answer: run “passwd” command from command line / shell

• (will need old password to change it, unless you are logged in as root)
HOW CAN I CHANGE THE USERNAME “PI”?

• YOU DON’T – It causes a huge security risk, according to Kyle, W4KDA.

• But you can add a new user to the system!

• sudo adduser <username>
• Don’t forget to add security groups!
• sudo groupmems –group dialout ---add <username>
HOW DO I EXPAND THE IMAGE TO USE
ENTIRE (MICRO) SD CARD?

• You have a 128GB microSD card and the Pi is only using 16GB. What do
you do?
• This is automatic on Raspbian Buster
• On older versions of Raspbian:
• sudo raspi-config
• Expand Filesystem
HOW DO I CONNECT THE PI TO MY RADIO?

• Short answer: USB

• Cable from RIG
• USB Sound Card
• SignaLink: $135
• Sabrent USB Sound Adapter $7

• Another short answer:

DRAWS Ham Radio HAT by
NW Digital Radio $150
HOW TO KEEP ACCURATE TIME ON THE PI?

• In the Hamshack: use timedatectl and NTP

• Command: timedatectl
• Command: ntpdate –q 0.us.pool.ntp.org
• For more info, see
https://raspberrytips.com/time-sync-raspberry-pi/

• In the Field: use GPS receiver & gpsd

• GLONASS GPS Tracker Module for
Raspberry Pi: $8

• Alternative: RTC Module $15

• Alternative: DRAWS Hat GPS Receiver $150
HOW DO I POWER MY RASPBERRY PI?

• In the Ham Shack: Power Adapter aka “wall wart”

• Also in the Ham Shack: Power over Ethernet (PoE) $20
• GPIO Pin #2 (5V) GPIO Pin #6 (GND)
Dangerous – only use if you know what you’re doing
• Mobile Power – USB Battery Pack $15+
• MoPi 2 – Hot-Swap Mobile Power £29
• PiJuice Solar Panels
HAMPI V1.0
USE CASE: OPERATING DIGITAL MODES
FlDigi Suite by W1HKJ gnss-sdr - GLONASS satellite system
Software Defined Receiver
WSJT-X - Weak Signal (FT8, FT4, etc.) linpsk - amateur radio PSK31/RTTY
by W1JT program via soundcard
GridTracker - Graphical mapping multimon - multimon - program to
companion program for WSJT-X or decode radio transmissions
JTDX
JTDX - Alternate client for Weak Signal multimon-ng - digital radio transmission
(FT8, FT4, etc.) decoder
JS8Call - Messaging built on top of FT8 psk31lx - a terminal based ncurses
protocol by KN4CRD program for psk31
JS8CallTools - Get Grid coordinates twpsk - a psk program
using GPS
HAMPI V1.0
USE CASE: LOGGING
• Software included:
• TrustedQSL - LotW client from ARRL
• CQRlog - Ham Radio Logging Application
• PyQSO - Logging software (written in Python)
• klog - The Ham Radio Logging program
• tlf - console based ham radio contest logger
• tucnak2 - VHF/UHF/SHF Hamradio contest log version 2
• twlog - basic logging program for ham radio
• wsjtx_to_n3fjp - Logging adapter to allow WSJT-X to log to N3FJP by yours truly, W3DJS
• xlog - GTK+ Logging program for Hamradio Operators
HAMPI V1.0
USE CASE: APRS

• Software included:
• Direwolf - Software "soundcard" AX.25 packet modem/TNC and APRS
encoder/decoder
• Xastir - APRS GUI client / Digipeater / Igate
• YAAC - Yet Another APRS Client
• APRS Message App for JS8Call
• aprsdigi - digipeater for APRS
• aprx - APRS Digipeater and iGate
• soundmodem - Sound Card Amateur Packet Radio Modems
HAMPI V1.0
USE CASE: CW / MORSE CODE
aldo - Morse code training program morse - training program about morse-
code for aspiring radio hams
cw - sound characters as Morse code on morse2ascii - tool for decoding the morse
the soundcard or console speaker codes from a PCM WAV file
cwcp - Text based Morse tutor program morsegen - convert file to ASCII morse
code
xcwcp - Graphical Morse tutor program qrq - High speed Morse telegraphy trainer

cwdaemon - morse daemon for the serial twcw - sends morse code via the sound
or parallel port card or serial card (Needs RTC installed)
ebook2cw - convert ebooks to Morse xdemorse - decode Morse signals to text
MP3s/OGGs
ebook2cwgui - GUI for ebook2cw rscw - Receive CW through Soundcard
HAMPI V1.0
USE CASE: D-STAR

• Software included:
• d-rats - A communication tool for D-STAR
• NOTE: THIS INCLUDES INSTANT UPDATE ABILITY
• BlueDV - Client for D-Star, DMR and YSF (Phone)
HAMPI V1.0
USE CASE: SOFTWARE DEFINED RADIO
(SDR)
CubicSDR - Software Defined Radio receiver SoapyMultiSDR - Multi-device support module for
SoapySDR
cutesdr - Simple demodulation and spectrum SoapyNetSDR - Soapy SDR module for NetSDR
display program protocol
GQRX - Software defined radio receiver SoapyRemote - Use any Soapy SDR remotely
SDRAngel - SDR player SoapyRTLSDR - Soapy SDR module for RTL SDR
USB dongle
lysdr - Simple software-defined radio SoapySDR - Vendor and platform neutral SDR
support library
quisk - Software Defined Radio (SDR) SoapySDRPlay - Soapy SDR module for SDRPlay
SoapyAudio - Soapy SDR plugin for Audio devices
SoapyHackRF - SoapySDR HackRF module (and More!)
HAMPI V1.0
USE CASE: SATELLITE COMMUNICATION

• Software included:
• Gpredict - Satellite prediction
• predict-gsat - Graphical Predict client
• gnss-sdr - GLONASS satellite system Software Defined
Receiver
• wxtoimg - NOAA weather imaging software
HAMPI V1.0
USE CASE: WINLINK / EMCOMM

• Software included:
• Pat WinLink - WinLink for Raspberry Pi (and other platforms)
• ARDOP support for Pat WinLink
• ARDOP-GUI - Provides graphical representation of ARDOP connections
• Find ARDOP - Retrieves local ARDOP sources by KM4ACK
• AX25 support for Pat WinLink
• PMON - a PACTOR® Monitoring Utility for Linux
HAMPI V1.0
USE CASE: ANTENNA MODELING

• Software included:
• antennavis - Antenna Visualization Software
• gsmc - A GTK Smith Chart Calculator for RF impedance matching
• nec2c - Translation of the NEC2 FORTRAN source code to the C language
• xnecview - NEC structure and gain pattern viewer
• yagiuda - software to analyse performance of Yagi-Uda antennas
• VOACAP - HF propagation prediction
HAMPI V1.0
USE CASE: HAM TRAINING / TESTING

• Software included:
• fccexam - Study tool for USA FCC commercial radio license
exams.
• hamexam - Study guide for USA FCC amateur radio (ham
radio) license examinations.
HAMPI V1.0
USE CASE: MISCELLANEOUS APPLICATIONS
• Software included:
• CHIRP - Radio Programming Software
• QTel - EchoLink client
• QSSTV - Slow Scan TV (e.g. "Fax")
• FreeDV - Free digital voice vocoder
• WsprryPi - WSPR software
• ADS-B Flight Tracking Software
• Xdx is a DX-cluster client
• DXSpider - DX Cluster Server
HAMPI V1.0 SUPPORTS THESE CHARITIES

• TFRM and AFESP – 50/50 Shared Parenting

DEMO + QUESTIONS

• Demo of remote station operation.

• (Hey, I tested it this morning!)
• RFI sensitivity concerns
• Use Ferrite chokes