Portable Radio Terminal
Here is our Portable Radio Terminal (PRT). The PRT is housed in a waterproof transit case, so it can be carried to remote locations in all weather conditions. To set up the PRT you just open the case and connect an external power source and an antenna. When power is applied, the Raspberry Pi 3 (RPi3) computer boots up and a Linux desktop is shown on the sunlight-readable touchscreen display. While most operations can be handled via the touchscreen, there is also a wireless mini keyboard and touchpad inside the case. For some digital modes and for satellite tracking accurate time synchronisation is required. While the RPi3 has built-in WiFi and can connect to the Internet through an access point or a smart-phone personal hotspot, the PRT also has a GPS receiver, which can provide highly accurate timing as well as geo-location information.
The hardware configuration of the PRT includes:
- Sunlight readable HDMI touchscreen display
- Yaesu FT-817 Amateur Radio Transceiver
- CAT cable: USB Serial Port
- AUX cable: USB Soundcard
- 5-port USB hub
- GPS receiver
- Wireless USB keyboard/touchpad
- Raspberry Pi 3 computer
- 12V-5V DC/DC converter
The software configuration of the PRT includes:
- Raspberian Jessie operating system with Pixel desktop
- Gpredict satellite tracking program
- HamLib Amateur Radio transceiver control library
- PuTTY digital communications terminal
- WSJT-X Amateur Radio weak signal digital modes terminal
- FLDIGI Amateur Radio digital modes terminal
- DLFLDIGI High Altitude Balloon version of FLDIGI terminal
The Portable Radio Terminal together with a solar panel and the Mini Satellite-Antenna Rotator MkII is shown below:
