OpenHamClock Kiosk

For an amateur radio operator, having a real-time dashboard is essential for monitoring band conditions and identifying DX opportunities. While several solutions exist, I recently completed a project centered on OpenHamClock, an open-source, web-based successor to Elwood Downey’s (WB0OEW) original HamClock. My goal was to move beyond simply opening a browser tab and instead create a dedicated, "always-on" kiosk for my workshop. This setup allows me to monitor live DX cluster spots, PSKReporter reception, and satellite X-ray flux in real-time, helping me decide exactly when to jump into a radio session.

The heart of this project is a two-component system: a centralized server and a remote kiosk unit. For the server, I utilized a PC equipped with an AMD Ryzen 7 series CPU and 32GB of RAM. While this machine hosts multiple other services, it serves as the perfect, reliable host for the OpenHamClock backend.

The installation process is straightforward, following the official repository guidelines to get the software running on Node.js. To tailor the dashboard to my specific needs, I configured a.env file in the root directory with my preferred settings. Once I verified the deployment was accessible via the default port 3000, I transitioned the application into a formal system service to ensure it runs continuously and resumes automatically after system restarts.

When creating the custom openhamclock.service script, it is vital to update the Environment, WorkingDirectory, and ExecStart paths to match your specific installation. If you use a Node.js version manager other than NVM (such as fnm or brew), ensure you modify the service file accordingly. Additionally, update the User and Group variables to reflect your Linux credentials. After a quick daemon-reload and enabling the service via systemctl (check the commands in below), the backend was up and running without any issues:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable openhamclock.service
sudo systemctl restart openhamclock.service

With the server established, I turned my attention to the kiosk hardware. I chose the Banana Pi M4 Zero, based on the Allwinner H618 with 2GB of DDR4 RAM—paired with a 10.1-inch display. This SBC provides ample power for a dedicated web interface while maintaining a tiny footprint. Because the kiosk is intended for long-term operation, thermal management and power stability were my primary hardware priorities.

I am running this unit in a workshop environment where ambient temperatures typically stay between 29°C and 31°C. To prevent overheating during extended uptime, I installed a commonly available Banana Pi M4 Zero heatsink kit. After 24 hours of continuous operation, the board temperature stabilized at approximately 38°C, which is a very safe range for this chipset. Powering the unit requires a reliable source to avoid mid-session crashes; I used a 5V 3A power supply unit to drive the board.

The software side of the kiosk required a "set it and forget it" approach. I used Armbian to craft a minimal OS image built on the X Window System using the Openbox window manager and Chromium. This image requires no keyboard or mouse and boots directly into the dashboard. To protect against SD card wear and file system corruption, the OS is designed to launch with a read-only rootfs. While the initial launch takes a moment, subsequent boots are impressively fast, typically reaching the dashboard within 30 to 35 seconds.

Integrating the Banana Pi into the display unit involved some custom fabrication. I designed a mounting unit using a 2mm acrylic sheet to securely attach the SBC to the back of the 10.1-inch display. Using a laser cutter, I precision-cut the sheet and all necessary mounting holes. This mounting panel drawing available in the download section.

The final touch was optimizing the UI for the hardware. Given the display’s 1024×600 resolution, I configured OpenHamClock to run in "tablet mode, " which scales the information perfectly for this screen size. The unit has been running continuously in my workshop for a few weeks now, allowing me to monitor the ionosphere and track SOTA/POTA activators in real-time.

All mentioned service scripts, environment files, and mounting drawings are available in the downloads section, and the OS build system can be found on https://github.com/dilshan/openhamclock-kiosk.