Portable Pi Ham Shack - TheSmokinApe

Portable Pi Ham Shack - TheSmokinApe
In this video we take a look at a portable Raspberry Pi workstation that I will use for portable Ham Radio Operations. Please leave any questions, comments, suggestions or recommendations below and I will do my best to respond.
Please consider supporting TheSmokinApe Channel on Patreon Here: / thesmokinape
Rii 2.4G Mini Wireless Keyboard: amz.run/3dW5
Sun Founder 10.1" IPS Display: amz.run/3dW6
Raspberry Pi 4 Model B 2019 Quad Core 64 Bit WiFi Bluetooth (4GB): amz.run/3dW8
Bioenno Power 12V, 12Ah LFP LiFePO4 Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery: amz.run/3dW9
Valley Enterprises Powerwerx Watt Meter: amz.run/3dWA
USB Buck Converter, DROK: amz.run/3dWB
Links to products in the video: www.amazon.com/shop/TheSmokinApe
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Print a JuiceBox case here: www.thingiverse.com/thing:459...
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Thanks,
TheSmokinApe

[@stridermt2k]

Good stuff as always!

[@TheSmokinApe]

Thanks Mike!

[@KM4ACK]

Cool field setup. 😀

[@TheSmokinApe]

Thanks Jason 👍

[@unclecow]

That’s awesome dude stay safe

[@TheSmokinApe]

You too UC, thanks for watching 👍

[@SteveH-TN]

Thanks for sharing this video and info

[@TheSmokinApe]

Thanks for checking it out Steve 👍

[@lakshminarayan6727]

Thanks for nice video.

[@TheSmokinApe]

Glad you liked it Lakshmi 👍

[@gregorysmith3097]

Another great video. You're starting to become my favorite ham radio KZbinr. I'm pretty new to ham radio. I use a RaspPi in my ham shack as my desktop. My untested plan for mobile use is to use my RaspPi headless. I will then use a tablet or phone to VNC into the RaspPi displaying back the desktop. I should be testing this out in the next month or 2.

[@TheSmokinApe]

Glad you liked the video and the channel! Good luck with the Pi and portable station 👍

[@gregorysmith3097]

@@TheSmokinApe No idea if it will work or not. It will be a POTA trip, so I'll have a paper log on hand just in case. BTW, for the channel, the Nano VNC series won me over. Bought one and it works great for my uses.

[@TheSmokinApe]

Glad to hear the Nano is working out, I think they are great pieces of gear. What radio are you using?

[@gregorysmith3097]

@@TheSmokinApe I got my license in Nov 2019. I contacted my local ham club and they told me that I should get the IC-7300. I balked at the price. I sat on that for a year while I did some research. I finally ended up buying the IC-7300 in November, 2020. I really like the idea of building my own gear, so built a 40m dipole, which I hung in the rain on 1/1/2021. What really made me get on the line was all the POTA videos. I've made about 50 contacts. I will be activating. This POTA thing is pretty cool.

[@TheSmokinApe]

You will be happy with the 7300, fantastic radio 👍

[@JohnTarbox]

Very nice video. I downloaded the files for the juice box and have one printing now. The buck converters are on order from Amazon. Question - How do you switch the power off and on? Did you consider adding a power switch to the juice box?

[@TheSmokinApe]

We did have a discussion about that, given that it's for portable use we decided it wasn't needed. That USB Buck converter has an always on LED which could drain a battery.

[@jbgreer]

Wait, What? You get excited and you lose control? Say it ain't so, Ape! Thanks for showing all the parts you use on your setup. I'm glad you had luck with wireless keyboards on RPi - I've had less luck. I am using the same the Rpi 4 variant of the IPS screen and have had good experience with it.

[@TheSmokinApe]

I'm using a 2.4GHz wireless, I have heard from a few folks that they have had problems with Bluetooth. Oddly enough I do use a Bluetooth Logitech keyboard on my Home Shack Pi without issue.

[@jbgreer]

@@TheSmokinApe Ditto on using wireless keyboards at home, but not when I am using my radio. I have a small wired keyboard and mouse set I'm using when I work digital modes.

[@AliReza-zx8km]

Nice........

[@TheSmokinApe]

Thanks!

[@thebnbaldwin]

Once again, a great video, thanks! Where can I go to learn the syntax for the raspberry pi?

[@TheSmokinApe]

Thanks Brian! Here is a video I did a while back to help folks get started: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mIXPhpd-ndybgrc

[@thuff3207]

Very nice and I wonder if there is a way to use less cables for portable.

[@TheSmokinApe]

Not with this set up, this was my portable config. Thanks for watching Thuff 👍

[@jamesgeddes797]

Late to the party ... but nice setup! I love the RPs. Too bad they are hard to come by at the moment. But I am fortunate to have some 4Bs that I am able to use. Just getting one set up for ham purposes. Have you benchmarked run time on the battery you are using? Curious as to how long you can run on a charge. I imagine a good while.

[@TheSmokinApe]

Hey James, I didn't benchmark because it's not a huge issue for me. With the 12a battery I've never had an issue I felt I needed to address.

[@AlvinMcManus]

You know about the Inovato Quadra by now, yes? Some call it the Pi Killer. Me, I dunno, too new to know nuthin'📳

[@52Warlock]

Nice package. Do you experience any RFI from the DROK buck unit??

[@TheSmokinApe]

I did not 👍

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

So funny, I have a video I was going to post about building your own power pole box with the same type of buck converter 😂. Did you design that 3d printed box?

[@TheSmokinApe]

My buddy put the design together 👍

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

@@TheSmokinApe it looks real nice!

[@TheSmokinApe]

Thanks man,

[@SupposedlyFree]

So what was the power draw??? How long could you run this setup? Would it be feasible for a field day application?

[@TheSmokinApe]

Didn’t measure the draw, not sure how long it will run but I have run it for like 6 hours and still had juice in the tank. 👍

[@whatabouttheearth]

Just hook it to something like a Aukey 20000 mAh battery by the USB or something, I got one and use it for alot of stuff. And have several if you want mobile extended power. For inputs/outputs has 1 lightning, 3 USB, 1 micro USB, 1 USB C, meaning that you can use all those as input to charge the battery or output to charge devices. I originally bought it do charge my guitar effects pedal rack when I dont have a power plugin. So theoretically you can run an SDR extension and a monitor without being on grid. I have never used the Aukey on my laptops because I hardly use them but it works fine on my iPad Pro.

[@reidlanham2011]

Curious, why do you use the Panda adapter? Great setup though!! 73, K8JLW

[@TheSmokinApe]

It greatly increases WiFi speed and range, I use them on all my Pi's.

[@reidlanham2011]

@@TheSmokinApe OK, I figured as much but wasn't sure. Thanks!

[@stridermt2k]

I wish I could install HamPi on an old chromebook. That solves so many problems like external KB mouse monitor battery etc

[@TheSmokinApe]

I’ve seen people install Linux on Chrome books but it’s quite a task. They are building a HamPi distribution for x86 / x64. So that might be an option in the future 👍

[@BEdmonson85]

I didn't have any super tiny screws needed to assemble the enclosure, so I decided to modify it for either M3 or #4 sheet metal screws, I added my version to thingiverse as a "remix" to the original model. Maybe it'll be of use to someone here.

[@TheSmokinApe]

Sweet, I'll check it out. Thanks for the heads up!

[@mhpreach]

What I need to do is set this up to work from my iPad instead of having to buy a monitor any ideas?

[@TheSmokinApe]

You can VNC to the Pi from the IPad

[@K6WRF]

Is the Buck only for powering your PI off the 12v battery? I have an sunfoudner display that has a space for the PI4 and has integrated power and htmi images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71hh4d5azGL._AC_SL1500_.jpg Do i even need the buck/juicebox im planning to use the powerpoles bus for the display w/PI and the radio

[@TheSmokinApe]

I use the buck to power the pi, my monitor doesn’t have power out and runs off 12v from the battery. If your pi is powered from the monitor you probably don’t need it 👍

[@K6WRF]

@@TheSmokinApe Awesome.. thanks for the quick reply

[@EuropaChronicles]

I wish someone would sell a commercial version of the “Juice Box!”

[@TheSmokinApe]

It might happen 👍

[@twohandsandaradio]

West Mountain Radio has some with USB charging ports as well as powerpoles but goodness they are exxxpensive.

[@EuropaChronicles]

Radio Active I don’t think they have anything this small. 2 “output” PPs (radio & tuner) and 1 USB port (RPi) is perfect for lightweight digital SOTA/POTA kits.

[@TheSmokinApe]

Yeah, it was a handy design for sure.

[@MikeSmithKF7LVH]

Can I buy two printed JuiceBox boxes from you ?

[@TheSmokinApe]

Hey Mike, let me see what we can do... I got your email.

[@MikeSmithKF7LVH]

@@TheSmokinApe Thanks bud

[@don_n5skt]

Ape, I have an Inland Keyboard which is just a little larger but operates the same way. I won't use bluetooth as I find it unreliable but these other keyboards (2.4G?) work consistently. I also picked up a monitor that KB9RLW (Kevin) recommended in his video that is a 13" 1920x1080 Pi Monitor. I really like it and it can power off the PI given that it powers off USB-C. I need the buck converter. www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NNXH2SS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. Link to the monitor. Yours is fine and there is no need to change it out. Great video and a great project.

[@TheSmokinApe]

That looks like a nice monitor, thanks for the link!

[@ManuelPinner]

I have a Raspberry pi 4,

[@TheSmokinApe]

Nice, they just keep getting better 👍

[@adamjhuber]

$150ish for the Pi, $150 here, $110 there, etc and etc......I can just buy a Windows Laptop with an SSD for that, and run a LOT of ham software.

[@TheSmokinApe]

Yeap, you could do that.