/diy/ - Do It Yourself

I am currently putting a field portable computer using a raspberry pi 4, a touchscreen, and several SDRs for ham use. It will be built into a Seahorse SE230 case. TX will be handled by RPiTX and related software to transmit using the GPIO pins. I have the panels made up from steel sheet metal. All of the software I have wanted to use is working, and I am currently testing with the HamPi (W3DJS) June version of Raspberry Pi OS. I tested it with 10 18650 batteries and it lasted through a good night's sleep and then some with the screen on and turbo mode on in the config file.

I have an Airspy mini as its 6mhz of bandwidth is about as much as the pi can handle. I did experiment with an RSP1 clone but using its full 10mhz was a bit janky and it is a lot more of a paint in the ass to get SDRPlay products to work with the pi. (Airspy and RTL-SDR have easy to use aptitude packages.) I have an Airspy HF+ Discovery for HF reception, and it will have a pair of RTL-SDR v3 dongles with synced clocks.

Part of the blank area to the right will be cut out for a recessed area where I will have 5 BNC connectors, 2 HDMI plugs, 2 USB3.0 A connectors, 2 USB 2.0 A connectors, a USB C for charging only, a 1/8 inch audio jack, and probably an RP-SMA connector for a wifi card with pack injection/monitor mode capability, and possibly a second for the built-in wifi if I can mod the board for a mmcx connector or something. On the bottom I will have 2 little speakers hooked up to a wifi amp and some switches to shut off various components like any peripherals not in use. It will have a Vortex Core RGB keyboard and an ergopad for input.

The inside will be lined with copper tape to reduce noise. It should be a good little SIGINT box capable of SWLing, AM/FM/SSB/Almost every Digital mode as well as GSM sniffing, Wifi pentesting, Satellite reception, ADS-B, WSPR, ACARS, Pocsag, Flex, Weather satellites, P25... the list goes on forever. Plus it is QRP capable in many modes up to 1500mhz.