Paul’s notes about Raspberry Pi Applications

  • Pi-Hole: A small computer to block web advertisements on your home network.
  • APRS I-Gate: Program your Raspberry Pi to transfer APRS packets from your to/from your radio and the Internet.
  • GQRX: A small computer host for your USB software-defined receiver.
  • Requirements
    • Pi
      • Pi-ZEROW: A single-core machine for simple things like Pi-Hole. Often available for $5 on sale.
      • PI-3B+ A multi-core, fully-featured Pi, usually $35.
      • PI-4 This is the latest realease. Not all features are complete and it might require cooling to be reliable.
      • MicroSD card (32GB)
      • Power supply. Don’t cheap-out here and try to use your old cellphone charger. Get a higher-current model that has the correct connector for your Pi.
    • Operating system
      • Start at http://www.raspberrypi.org and look in the downloads section.
      • Raspbian is good. NOOBS is simpler but doesn’t expose all the features. Others exist, for example, Buster.
      • You’ll need a software tool to put the operating system on your SD memory card. If you are running Windows, Win32diskimager is a popular application.
  • Pi-Hole: Utilizes a Rapberry Pi to pull advertising out of your web browsing! Read the documentation here
    • Get the software from github, here.
    • Paul recommends using these commands on your Raspberry Pi to install:
      • git clone –depth 1 https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole.git Pi-hole
      • cd “P1-hole/automated install/”
      • sudo bash basic-install.sh
  • APRS IGATE
    • Another good use for the Raspberry PiZero-W
    • Prebuilt images can be found here.
    • Paul has additional experience with this if you have questions.
  • GQRX
    • You probably need to be running this on a Raspberry Pi 4 because it is processor intensive.
    • The software is actually available through the normal raspbian installer. Click on Preferences–>Add/Remove software and search for GQRX.
    • Paul recommends the Nooelec tuners, such as the NESDR SMArt4 v4 because of their shielded aluminum cases and temperature-stabilized oscillators. Look around the site and check their specifications for a tuning range, etc. that meets your needs.
  • Questions? paul@conspiracy.net
  • Thanks again to Paul Bilke for giving us some ideas.

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