Splash07s' Raspberry Ham Is a Raspberry Pi Software-Defined Radio in a Waterproof, Portable Housing

Using a waterproof case found in the trash, splash07s has built a portable yet powerful standalone SDR rig.

Gareth Halfacree
3 years ago β€’ Communication / Upcycling

Pseudonymous radio amateur splash07s has posted a project to put a Raspberry Pi and software-defined radio into a waterproof housing without losing necessary internal connections: the Raspberry Ham.

"This is my [Raspberry] Pi [Model] 3 B+ based SDR box, Raspberry Ham," splash07s writes of the project. "It is housed in a Pelican 1200 box that I found in the trash. The box was already drilled for the rubber feet and two ports on the side which I was able to re-use.

"The rubber feet bolt through the case into the internal aluminum structure. I drilled an additional 8 holes in the case for the IO. There are waterproof external connections for USB, Micro USB, Ethernet, HDMI, 4 pole 3.5mm, 2X antenna, and an LED sleep wake button."

The Raspberry Pi inside the case runs Luigi Cruz' PiSDR, a Raspberry Pi OS image which bundles a range of software-defined radio packages alongside drivers for most popular SDR hardware β€” from the low-cost receive-only RTL-SDR family to more powerful transmit-capable devices like the HackRF One and LimeSDR USB.

"I have tested it a bit and was able to easily pickup the local FM stations and NOAA weather channels using GQRX," splash07s writes. "Cant wait to play with it some more and eventually hook up that second RTL-SDR dongle and turn this into a Raspberry Ham sandwich."

More details, including a list of all parts used, can be found on splash07s' Reddit post.

Gareth Halfacree
Freelance journalist, technical author, hacker, tinkerer, erstwhile sysadmin. For hire: freelance@halfacree.co.uk.
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