Can't find a Raspberry Pi for a Hotspot - Well, avoid this one - Amateur Radio

I wanted to try something different, other than the normal Raspberry Pi Hotspots (Pi-Stars) I use, as well as the Openspots and others I have tried.
Based on the way it was posted on eBay, this should have been a good, Pi-Star based hotspot that was also a USB power bank. Turns out, much of what was in the listing was not true.
Although I was able to modify the expert code for it and get it working for DMR, it wasn't as advertised, and with no update support, I decided it needed to go back…. It wasn't as advertised.
This is an OSTAR based hotspot, much different than the Pi-Star or Openspot interfaces that most folks are used to.
If you're looking for a Raspberry Pi, check out rpilocator.com
Music for this video purchased from Sterns Beats: (109) Stern Beats - KZbin. Check out the other great music on this site.
#hamr #hamradio #amateurradio #digitalvoice #dmr #d-star #dstar #c4fm #systemfusion #fusion #yaesusystemfusion #hotspot

[@pnwgeek]

I purchased one of the first of these back in early 2019, before they were rebranded and sold by rfinder. It lasted about a week in its initial configuration before I ripped out the existing board running o-star and installed a pi zero W. Much happier with it now, however not really worth the work it took to modify. I think one of the better Pi-Zero alternative hotspots will be those sold by BI7JTA, which are based on the NanoPI NEO Air and also have an internal battery. Those do actually run Pi-Star, although an older version, I believe.

[@spurious_emissions]

I thought of keeping it and doing the same, but you're right, by the time you do that, economically, not worth performing that upgrade. Basically, the way it was sold (advertised on eBay), this modification should already have been done. Thanks for taking the time to provide comments, I appreciate it.

[@W4TRI]

I have a Jumbospot board I do not plan of using (antenna connection is not yet soldered) as I traded my radio and do not plan to get another DMR radio. Let me know if you have something you might like to trade.K4RJJ Winter Haven

[@spurious_emissions]

Thanks for the offer Ronny. I am actually good right now on hotspots with three active pi-stars and one Openspot3. The way this was advertised, with internal battery, pi-star for the software, and could act as a power bank was interesting. This is why I wanted to give it a try. I've worked on a number of different types of hotspots such as the SkyBridge, TGIF, etc. If this would have been as advertised I would have kept it. Now the most difficult part, dealing with the folks from China on a return.

[@piotrnaemigracji7385]

I bought it 3 this ostar software is better then Pi-star. This is based on Linux. This is not for beginner. I recommend M0SZP.

[@spurious_emissions]

Glad you like it. I run the W0CHP Dashboard on the pi-stars and like that interface better. Perhaps the implementation on this unit was poor. I really wanted to like it as an alternative to the Openspot. Although OSTAR may be ok, it wasn't advertised as that and specifically said it had the pi-star Dashboard. That was my biggest complaint with the unit, false advertising.