Ham radio could seem to be an previous timey interest, however it nonetheless has a thriving neighborhood. The interest has, nonetheless, developed to benefit from new expertise. For a lot of trendy novice radio operators, it’s not essential to erect a large antenna mast in a yard. In truth, you will get away with a transportable setup in the event you do not intend to transmit over huge distances. With that in thoughts, Kaushlesh C. constructed Hamdeck, which is a rugged cyberdeck optimized for novice radio.
Kaushlesh C. designed Hamdeck to outlive adventures within the outside, so he constructed it into a tough waterproof Pelican-style case. When closed, it’s virtually impervious to the weather — although some drilled holes most likely make it a bit extra inclined to water intrusion than the case initially was. When opened up, Hamdeck offers a big display screen, a mechanical keyboard, a wi-fi mouse, and even a gamepad. A telescoping antenna permits for respectable transmission vary, although it nonetheless has restricted transmission energy and is extra suited to receiving radio indicators.
Like many trendy setups, this depends on SDR (software-defined radio). The guts of the Hamdeck is a Raspberry Pi 4 Mannequin B (8GB) single-board pc. A Nooelec RTL-SDR module connects to the Raspberry Pi by way of USB. An SD card extension lets Kaushlesh C. simply swap SD playing cards with completely different OS installations to swimsuit the duty at hand. The mini keyboard and wi-fi mouse receiver each join via USB, so Hamdeck has a USB hub to assist all the units. A small LCD on the palm relaxation can present further info, on prime of no matter the principle display screen shows.
The onerous case is off-the-shelf and Kaushlesh C. designed and 3D-printed the assorted inserts used for mounting the parts. In a number of key areas, he drilled holes to safe these in place and for the exterior ports.
Hamdeck has many potential functions, from emergency radio communication to gaming within the wild. We like its rugged design, which seems to way more sturdy than the standard cyberdeck.