[GCARC] Raspberry Pi/Hamclock Tech Saturday (Dec 9) session info

[Jon Pearce]

I've had a few questions about this session so here's some additional information about the session and the project:


  *   You'll need a USB power cable for your respective Pi - micro-USB for a Pi 3 or USB-C for a Pi 4. For the Tech Saturday session I'll have a few muti-output USB power blocks available to plug into, but when you get home you'll need one to power the Pi. For Hamclock you don't need a lot of power but if you're going to use the Pi for high-CPU activities you may need a 3 amp supply or greater. In particular an SDR-based application would pull a lot of power, both to run the CPU and to power the SDR.
  *   You don't need a case and/or cooling fan for this project although it's a good idea to have one to protect and cool it. Again, the need for cooling depends on the CPU load of the application.
  *   You DO need heat sinks on the CPU and graphics chip. Some Pi's come with them, others may not. Pi cases come with heat sinks so install the heat sink even if you don't put on the case.
  *   If you're planning to make Hamclock a permanent addition to your shack you'll obviously need a monitor devoted to it, which means that you'll need a HDMI cable from the Pi to the monitor. Note that the Pi 4 uses a mini-HDMI connector and can handle two different monitors (needing 2 different cables), whereas the Pi 3 uses a single full-sized connector. I haven't used the 2-monitor setup with a Pi 4 and don't know much about it.
  *   If you're planning to use the Pi for other applications and don't need a permanent monitor you can run it "headless" without a monitor, keyboard and mouse by connecting using the VNC or Putty applications. That's how we do most of the stuff at the clubhouse. It's also how we'll be installing and setting up the software.

If you don't have a Pi but would like to play along I have a few extras that I can bring. If so, install the Pi imager, Putty and VNC software on your laptop.

Feel free to email with any questions.

73 de Jon WB2MNF