Ham Radio - HamPI, possibly the best general ham radio image for the raspberry pi. 

Before I got in to HAM, someone had me image HamClock on a Pi for him, not knowing what any of it was. Then he sent me photos of it being used in his shack, and I thought it was pretty cool. Now that I’ve got myself in to deep with radios, I want to dive deeper, and do something I’m familiar with like the Pi.

Thank you very much for this video Kevin. I've been sitting on the edge of the fence deciding whether to jump in. You just cleverly nudged me off my perch.

Just found this video..Have been playing with Pi for a while..Will most certainly go for HamPi after seeing the video.. Excellent !!

Thanks Kevin. I had actually downloaded this awhile back, but found how to load flrig and WSJT-X so I could run wspr with my 7300 (thanks for to your video on that also). Your video gave me the push to learn to flash an image (well that wasn't so hard) and install it on my Pi.

Thanks! This brought me back to the year 1994 when I bought my first Amsoft callbook CD loaded with ham programs. It sure is about time! Awesome video!

So this is where I say "Man I gotta get me some of that". Looks like this is my next move for SDR and field work. Thanks for pushing the hobby forward.

Great video, I was still waiting for a ARM version of skywave and there it is. Thanks for showing. Ruud PA3RW

You couldn't have dropped this video at a more perfect time. Looks like he's using the latest 2020-8-8 version of Raspi OS too!

Thanks for the presentation Kevin! And I too would to talk Dave for his painstaking effort. I backed off of Ham on my Pi3 because of the effort it takes getting software installed, and I heard the micro SD cards don't last very long before they go bad. Great video!

Great talk on HamPi Kevin. I have been active on FT8 for over 3 years. Bought a IC-7300 a year back and just received the HamPi 4B 8G version after Kevin’s Utube. Connected USB configured FT8 out of the box and within 5 minutes had my first QSO. Outstanding, simple very cost effective way to get active on WSJTX, WSPR and other digital modes. G4PEY. Extra. Found to be as good on FT8 as my i5 Dell. It is less prone to RFI.

Excellent, solves so many problems. Thanks for the info!

This is the easiest way to get ham radio programs on your raspberry pi. This is the fastest way to start and I have found it very useful.

holy moly !!! thats what im looking for a while now, gonna load dat image and havin' some fun :D

Outstanding. Thanks for posting.

There are some others that are doing about the same thing. KM4ACK has something about the same. I have not done any of them yet, I just ordered my Raspberry Pi 4,and not sure witch one to start with. I want to thank all who are working on this and other things that are making things better for all of us and I hope that they are working together to help each other with things. It is all for the betterment of Ham Radio! Thanks to all that put in long hours making things better for us and Thanks to the people that put in hours making videos to help get the information out for all of us newer Hams to learn from!

Great review Kevin, thanks very much. I've been messing around with installing HAM radio software on a Raspberry Pi 3 and struggling to get it all to work. HAM Pi looks like it will be ideal for me, especially for mobile operations.

Good Morning ARIZONA ! Thank you Kevin.

Thanks! Just subbed on the strength of this video. I'm thinking I need a Pi based laptop for field ops! That's a great idea you mentioned.

going to create a new raspberry Pi 4 8gb looks good. 73 from Chino Valley, AZ. Interested in rv and ham radio. look forward to your videos. W6CEF going on 43 years now.

Excellent! Thanks Kevin!

I already have my Pi4 configured as my shack and mobile ham PC using the excellent KM4ACK Build-A-Pi script. However, I do love the concept of the pre-configured HamPi image. Great job Dave. The menu organization looks very easy to use. I'm surprised you didn't know that VOACAPGUI is an HF prediction program. I guess even the experts haven't seen everything. 😀

Wow, thanks Kevin, and thanks Dave. Excellent video. I had real trouble setting up gqrx on x86 machines in Ubuntu so that's already a bonus. I'm replacing a full desktop with a Pi so I WILL be using HamPi after seeing this. Brilliant 👍🏻 73s M7GTX P.s. I am a software developer, but also like to keep things simple 👍🏻

Just downloaded v1.2 and it looks great. Thanks 👍🏻

Thanks for this video! Awesome 🤩

This looks interesting. There is another brilliant Amateur radio setup for the PI by Jason, KM4ACK. Jason has equally done a great job with his 'Build a Pi' Its what I now use for home and portable operations on my 2 off Pi4 4Mb devices. 73 Bruce G4ABX

I saw your video, installed HamPi and have not looked back. It is awesome! Thanks to W3DJS!!!

I’ll let you know how it runs on Pi 0 W- was about to set up hamclock. Thanks again for your info-love the antenna tips. Enjoy the fall! 73

Thanks for the heads up!!!

Nice review video, very informative thanks 👌👏👏

Thanks Kevin! I want one! I've shied away from Pis in the past because of all the Linux stuff but this seems more my style. This Pi might actually help me get on the air.

Built my own one app at a time. What a pain! I'm ordering another pi and will give this a shot! Thanks!

Thank you so much. Just started to use my Tech license and one of my focuses is Computer interfaces. This is the swiss army knife of software for just that purpose. Extra credit for using a RPi for the computer. SDR works out of the box, yep I'm doing this. 73's Keep broadcasting !!

wow.... nice find !!!!

Downloading this now! I've been using my Pi 4 as my only pc for about a year now using Twister OS, if you're ever looking to make a switch to a low powered off grid capable pc replacement, the pi 4 is an awesome machine for that. Can power it from a simple battery pack, including my portable monitor. Offgrid/power loss ready computing :D

I’ve been using v. 1.0 for a couple of months, and like it alot. The OS has a VNC server built in, so I run it headless. I overclock to 2ghz and that makes it considerably more responsive. I’m using a pi 4 with 4gb of ram. I haven’t seen ram usage go over 2 gb. Some people run the digital mode programs on pi 3, so we have a lot of flexibility re hardware.

Thanks Kevin for the video was just getting ready to set my PI4, looks like a great software package! de WQ1I 73'S

Thanks Kevin I agree HamPi is a great linux program.

Just got a RasPi 400 so will try this disty on that.

This is .FREAKING. awesome! 🤜🏻👍🤛🏻♡♡♡

wow. awesome Thank you, sir 73

Great video & informative. Acorn Computers - BBC Micro - Acorn-Advanced RISC Machines - ARM - Raspberry Pi for the WIN! ;-)

thank you for this wonderful video. Its exactly what I'm looking for. 73 - PU2UAO.

Thanks for video Kevin. Hats off to Dave W3DJS. I will give this distro a go as there are one two apps I have not tried. This is a great idea which saves lots of time downloading, installing and tweeking which all the usual hams apps tend to require on different hardware/distros. Making it easy", this is where I feel Linux could still be better in terms of attracting folk away from Windows and MacOS? This distribution makes it easy and I wouldn't be surprised if it proves to be quite popular.

Hi Kevin, Thanks for all the great videos. Can you please do a video on how to setup and run packet radio using the software TNC Direwolf? Thanks Kevin

Once again, I really appreciate your help! You rule! KJ7NUX

I've been recently working on putting good apps onto an Ubuntu Laptop for use with HamRadio, but this looks quite intriguing. I have a spare RaspberyPi on a shelf that I was thinking about for a wall-mounted kitchen computer, but this may be a better use for it.

Thanks Kevin for showing what HamPi can do. Will give it a go. 73 & keep safe, G8AXA

Too early for this. My body is up but the mind is still sleeping. I'll review to later after several cups of coffee.

Just a note on the ham clock website they do not recommend pi zero because they say it needs multiple core pi3 or pi4.

Thanks for the info! Now why had I never seen mention of this distro anywhere?! I'll have to give this a try. I've heard of DragonOS, and I run piSDR OS, but those are general radio oriented. I will have to run HamPi and just install those other packages.

Kevin thanks for reviewing and sharing! Wow there's a lot of stuff going on there. How much space does the entire program require? Thank's again to you and Dave! 73

Yo Kevin:! Great video as usual ..I wondered when you & Josh would combine . A lot of the binary talk is Greek to me tho ... Motor on & be safe! 73's ! de seeker Jeffrey WA7LFP

VOACAP is an amazingly useful propagation program

Great Video and Great work ! there is also the "build a pi" from KM4ACK full with all the ham radio programs that run also on RPIpi 3 and 4 but there is no SDR programs and drivers installed. I build it on top of the rasperry pi image from SDR Play. Stay Safe Kevin :) 73! DE1CTL.

Now I have to buy a new Raspberry Pi 4! AE5DW.

Out standing I believe in love to give into this and see what it's all about I've heard a lot about Linux so maybe this be the way through the door but what else do I need to go with it that I don't know thank you have a good day

Hi.....dude ....your channel is very inspiring.....and I was subscribed your channel...and I want to discuss for raspi....with you...soon.....

I'm wondering how it does in comparison to the pi build script from KM4ACK. In the sense of which one would you prefer, Kevin. Otherwise it looks interesting.

Additional to WSJTX and WSPR as on Ham Pi. WSJTX performed as good as my Full Windows 10 PC the only shortfall I have found is when the band is fully utilised, on receive and decoding, it can take awhile to display all the QSOs. This can be overcome by switching the Display tab to display CQ callsigns only. The other minor problem is the TUNE function does not work - but only on 20m. (Might be a good thing). On WSPR the multi band setup tends to crash when switching to another band.

I'm looking for one of these distributions which will work on a 32bit laptop.An old ACER one.

The link you have in the description is not a link to the img file. The "source code" link is just that - source code. I did a quick search and found the Groups dot io group for Ham Pi and found a link to the latest prebuilt image there, just fyi. Maybe update it in the description. Edit: Thanks for the update, great video. I sent a note to my local club, I think this might just be one of our discussion topics at next month's meeting. We're still doing meetings via Zoom, I think this sort of topic works well with online meetings.

Thought that until I tried Build a Pi!

I presume the nooelec models will work plug and play as well?

Looks like a good program by every time I try to extract it I get a failure. Even in terminal it fails.

Kevin, thanks for the review. You forgot to mention one very important point, which I only discovered just as I was about to write the image and was reading the README.docx. This statement - QUOTE: "ATTENTION: So I don’t get publicly tarred and feathered for not disclosing this openly, please be aware by running this image on your Raspberry Pi that you consent to giving your idle cpu cycles to radio telescope research, such as looking for pulsars. If you do not agree with this, do not run the image. Again, this will not interfere with your usage - this only uses cpu cycles when your Raspberry Pi is idle. Disk use is also minimal. (1/1000 or less) (For what it’s worth, I also operate my Raspberry Pi 4 this way.) Note that an exception to this requirement has been added for EMCOMM (ARES/RACES) and Field use where no AC power is available." No option - you can only not bother to install if you don't agree - I am planning to use a RaspPi in the field primarily and am making a man-pack portable setup, so this is now useless... Not to mention I will not use on principle as this goes against one of my most strongly held principles for Linux - CHOICE. I'd probably try it and see how it was IF I HAD A CHOICE. I know it isn't your fault, but I think it should be mentioned. Since I don't have a choice I will simply not bother wasting my time. I'll instead clean install RaspbianOS and use Jason KM4ACK's github script to install everything I need. I'm familiar enough with Linux and RaspPi 's to install whatever else I need if I'm missing something. You might want to check out his script and review it also.

Very interesting. I've got a pi3b+ and wanted to be accessing it more often when I sit down in the shack, can you direct me how to install this. I greatly appreciate it.

Does the PI cause RFI in the shack as there are many square wave frequencies running in the PI?

Hello Kevin: Great Video, I'm looking forward to getting this up and running. Is there a way to copy the scrip to the terminal and execute the program so it will install? Robert Chambers 8P6RC

Newbie question: If I install this image, and I want to update an application, does the apt get update command work or do I have to download a whole new image? Thanks for the great video. Steve

Kevin, could you please compare Pi3B and Pi4 ? From my knowledge Pi4 has more powerful CPU and more RAM but it's also consume more power and require fan cooling. I wonder if Pi3B would be enough for HAM application ?

I understand this uses unused cycles in the processor to do Radio Telescope work in the background. Is that right? A ham friend said it is in the terms and conditions.

I wonder, do I still need the external sound card or do pi’s have that on board now?

can i use it with my windows pc in a network

Hi Kevin, Looks like I should start my Linux training with a Pi4 and HamPi, when I have some expendable funds available. :-) Stay safe. WJ3U

can this work with Le Potato Libre pc boards also

Update on my previous comment, I'm finally getting around to installing my new 8 Gig Pi, just downloading HamPi. Distro now 3.5Gig download :-) 73s M7GTX

Hi, do you have an image for doing the same in a normal pc? I would like to make a bootable pendrive with packet radio tools configured and working? What do you suggest? 73´s Diego LU2DVY grid locator GF05MT

hello from Alberta Canada. I could not see the link to purchase this? Can you please send to me. Thanks, George

Has anyone run Ham Pi on a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W ? Did it work ?

KEVIN.....question. Would it be possible to install HamPi onto the micro sd card for the raspberry pi, and then piggyback an image file onto thst in order to launch an AllStar node? Can we have both of these on one sd card using one pi?

as my middle name is John Dave has the suffix i wanted

On OrangePi work?

Does someone could explain me why it's impossible to me to installa Hampi 3.3.32 on my raspberry PI 400 ?

Can you boot the HamPi image from USB/nvme (i.e. on a Pi 3B+), like Raspi OS will?

Do you think it's possible to run this on a Le Potato?

So the ham pi image has all the ham software, PLUS the raspian operating system, all included, is that correct? One would just need to download the ham pi image and would have raspian as well?

I can't seem to find SDRAngel

Interesting. When I tried to SDR Angel on the PI I had problems with the build. On seeking help from the developer he made the claim it could NEVER run on a system like the PI.

One question can HamPi install direct on a laptop,,, just as a ubuntu

Can it run and TRANSMIT on a baofeng with APRS?

is there a method to download the everything in the ham radio folder at once on an existing linux build?

Is this likely to run cleanly on a notebook?

will it work with with raspberry pi 64 bit? Raspberry pi 5

That is a great setup and nice to have all the software already there. But, you should check out KM4ACK channel and his Build - A - Pi script that he has seup. All sorts of amateur radio software. You can do FT8, APRS, JS8 Call, pretty much everything that is there. I have been using it for 2 years now. Saved my Raspberry Pi from the garbage can. It has the capability for going out and looking for updates for the software. Juddie - WD8WV

Thanks Kevin, great review. I will definitely be checking this out. DE WA1KLI

At last.

I have a laptop with Debian, can I put Hampi on that computer?

I downloaded and installed the HamPi image. With no apps running, the cpu temp is 10C higher than the stock Raspian OS for my Pi 3b+. Also, something abruptly runs the cpu usage to 100% for anywhere from 10 sec to a minute. It effectively locks the system; I cannot identify the app that's doing it (and running the cpu temp up another 10C. Anyone else see this?

Looks really good! Guess I need a Pi to try :) I recently tried the Skywave 4 distro......what a disappointment. The software included is great BUT the choice of window manager (i3) is terrible. Programmers should stick to coding.....and not make decisions on the interface. I was able to get it going....but it was VERY unfriendly. Thanks! de KG4CNA

voacap is a band propgation deal