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March 22, 2024. Technology at our doorstep.

It is hard to keep up with the new technology hitting the market and what it can do for our hobby. Regrettably no time at the N6QW Laboratories to really explore all the possibilities but here is one that looks like it can be something useful in the shack.

Over 15 years ago the Raspberry Pi hit the market and at that time was advertised as the full computer the size of a credit card and costing about $35. We are now on the Raspberry Pi5 -- but the $35 price point is significantly higher.

On the other end currently available is a Raspberry Pi Zero W which is half the size of the original R Pi and less than $35 in today's dollars. Grossly speaking the Pi Zero has a faster processor than the original but somewhat limited in the on-board RAM and more like the original R Pi. By the way the Pi Zero W is a wireless version so affords internet connectivity.


One of the very 1st projects I saw using the original R Pi was a beer dispenser that checked your ID before it would dispense the brew. Undoubtedly that Beer Dispenser DIYer was a ham.

But the Pi Zero W has some possibilities for our hobby like remote control of an Antenna Tuner or a Digital SWR Bridge. How about the guts of an I/Q SDR transceiver? A DDC SDR might be more of a challenge.  One current you tube video shows the Pi Zero W displaying You Tube Videos on a 40-year-old Commodore computer.

But there are always issues and the Pi Zero W has limited I/O capabilities and so you would need to tack a powered USB Hub on that jewel which now makes it physically larger. The other problem to fully explore its capabilities is the software availability for specific projects. Thus, you likely would have to learn Python or Micro-python to get the full bang from your buck. 

So OK time to retreat back to your comfort zone and I didn't even mention using the Pi Zero W to control the slug in your Glue Stick Analog PTO. It could count the turns and give you a readout of the turns and a conversion matrix of turns versus frequency. There are very small stepper motors that could easily interface the Pi Zero W with the Glue Stick. Oh well, too hard.


73's
Pete N6QW




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