Everyone knows you can make a DMR/D-STAR hotspot with a Pi. That's the gateway drug. You buy a Pi, flash Pi-Star, add a MMDVM hat, and you've got a digital voice hotspot. Took 20 minutes. Now what?

That little $35-75 computer (depending on which Pi you buy) can do vastly more for your ham station. I currently have four Pis running in my shack, each doing something different. None of them are hotspots anymore.

The Hardware Reality in 2026

Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB): $80. Genuinely capable desktop-class computer for ham radio. Runs WSJT-X, logging software, SDR applications smoothly. This is your shack computer option.

Raspberry Pi 4 (4GB): $55. Still excellent for dedicated single-purpose tasks. FT8 station, APRS digipeater, SDR server.

Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W: $15. For headless, network-connected tasks. APRS iGate, WSPR beacon, monitoring scripts.

Power consumption: 5-15W depending on model and load. Run 24/7 for pennies. Compare to a desktop PC at 100-300W.

Project 1: Dedicated FT8/Digital Modes Station

A Pi 5 or Pi 4 running WSJT-X with a radio connected via USB. That's it. A complete digital modes station that runs headless or with a small monitor.

My setup:

  • Pi 4 (4GB) running Raspberry Pi OS Lite + VNC
  • IC-7300 connected via USB (audio + CAT on single cable)
  • WSJT-X auto-decoding 24/7 on 20m
  • cron job to switch bands based on time of day
  • Auto-uploads spots to PSKReporter
  • VNC lets me operate from my phone/laptop anywhere in the house

Total power draw: about 7 watts for the Pi + whatever the radio uses on receive. The Pi never needs rebooting. I've had 3-month uptimes running WSJT-X continuously.

The auto-band-switching script is just a bash script that calls rigctl to change frequency at certain times. Mornings on 20m, evenings on 40m, overnight on 80m. Catches propagation openings while I sleep and logs everything.

Project 2: APRS Digipeater/iGate

A Pi Zero 2 W with a cheap VHF radio (even a Baofeng, though a proper TNC or sound card interface is better) makes an APRS digipeater or iGate.

Software: Direwolf. It's a software TNC that decodes APRS packets from audio input and can gate them to the internet (iGate) or retransmit them (digipeater).

What you need:

  • Pi Zero 2 W ($15)
  • USB sound card ($10) or Digirig ($50)
  • VHF radio tuned to 144.390 MHz (NA APRS frequency)
  • Antenna

What it does: Receives APRS position reports and messages from nearby stations and forwards them to the APRS-IS network (internet). If configured as a digipeater, it also retransmits packets to extend coverage.

I ran an iGate for two years on a Pi Zero with a $25 RTL-SDR dongle as the receiver (receive-only iGate — no transmit needed). Heard stations 50+ miles away with a decent outside antenna. Cost: about $50 total hardware.

Project 3: SDR Server (Remote Receiver)

Run an RTL-SDR or Airspy attached to a Pi, serve the IQ data over your network. Access it from any computer in your house — or remotely over VPN.

Software options:

  • rtl_tcp: Built into rtl-sdr package. Streams raw IQ over TCP. Any SDR client (SDR#, SDR++, Gqrx) can connect remotely.
  • SoapySDR + SoapyRemote: More sophisticated, supports many SDR hardware types.
  • OpenWebRX: Web-based SDR receiver. Access via browser from anywhere. Shows waterfall, decodes digital modes, handles multiple users.

OpenWebRX is the killer app here. Install it on a Pi 4 with an RTL-SDR or Airspy, put a decent antenna outside, and you have a web-based receiver accessible from your phone. I check propagation from work by pulling up my home OpenWebRX in a browser. No VPN needed (though you should add authentication).

The Pi 4 handles OpenWebRX with a single SDR smoothly. Multiple simultaneous SDRs or heavy DSP processing pushes it — use a Pi 5 for that.

Project 4: WSPR Beacon

A Pi generating WSPR signals directly from its GPIO pin. No radio needed.

Seriously. The WsprryPi software uses the Pi's clock generator to produce RF directly on the GPIO4 pin. Add a low-pass filter (mandatory — the raw output is a square wave full of harmonics) and you have a WSPR beacon.

Output power: About 10-20 mW depending on Pi model and frequency. Enough for WSPR to propagate worldwide — that's the whole point of WSPR.

Important warnings:

  • MUST use a low-pass filter. Transmitting unfiltered harmonics is illegal and harmful.
  • Output is not clean enough for other modes. WSPR only.
  • You need a ham license and must identify properly.
  • Don't expect great frequency stability without a GPS-disciplined reference.

I ran a WSPR beacon on 20m for six months using a Pi Zero, a 7-element Chebyshev LPF (built on a PCB for $5 in parts), and a random wire out the window. Got spotted in 47 countries. From 10 milliwatts. WSPR is absurd.

Project 5: Contest Logger and Station Controller

Pi 5 running TLF (terminal-based contest logger) with hamlib controlling the radio. Add a second screen (or use SSH from your main computer) and you have a dedicated contest machine.

Why dedicate a Pi to this? Because you never close the logging program. It's always ready. Walk into the shack, the contest is already running, just start calling. No booting, no launching software, no remembering what band you were on.

Project 6: Automatic Propagation Monitor

Pi + RTL-SDR + scripts that:

  • Monitor WWV on 10/15/20 MHz and log signal strength
  • Record FT8 decodes on multiple bands simultaneously
  • Track band openings by counting unique callsigns decoded per band per hour
  • Send you a notification when a band opens unusually well

I have a script that sends me a Telegram message when 10m FT8 activity exceeds 50 unique callsigns in an hour. That means the band is open and I should get on. Caught several excellent sporadic-E openings this way that I would have missed entirely.

Practical Tips

Use an SSD, not an SD card. SD cards die under constant write loads (logging, databases). A USB-attached SSD costs $20 and lasts years. Boot from it directly on Pi 4/5.

Power supply matters. Cheap USB chargers cause instability under load. Use the official Pi power supply or a quality USB-C PD adapter. Voltage drops under load cause random crashes that look like software problems.

Headless operation. Most ham Pi projects work better headless (no monitor). SSH in for maintenance. VNC for graphical apps. Saves desk space and power.

Temperature. A Pi 5 under sustained load (SDR processing, WSJT-X decoding) throttles without a heatsink. Add the official active cooler ($5) or a passive aluminum case. Don't skip this for 24/7 applications.

Static IP. If your Pi is running a service (SDR server, OpenWebRX, VNC), give it a static IP or DHCP reservation. Nothing worse than losing access because your router assigned it a new address.

Cost Breakdown: Complete FT8 Station

  • Raspberry Pi 4 (4GB): $55
  • MicroSD card (32GB): $10
  • USB-C power supply: $15
  • Case with fan: $15
  • Small HDMI monitor (optional): $40
  • USB cable to radio: included with most modern HF rigs

Total: ~$95 (assuming you already have a radio)

That's a complete, always-on digital station computer for under $100. Try building a Windows PC for that. You can't.

What Doesn't Work Well on Pi

Heavy SDR processing (wideband, multiple demodulators simultaneously) pushes even a Pi 5. Fine for single-receiver use, not for running 4 RTL-SDRs simultaneously.

GUI-heavy applications feel sluggish compared to a desktop. WSJT-X is fine. CQRLOG with 50,000 QSOs starts to lag on Pi 4.

Anything needing x86 software. Some ham applications (MMANA-GAL, certain contest loggers) are Windows/x86 only. Wine doesn't run on ARM.

For these cases: use the Pi for what it's good at (dedicated, headless, low-power tasks) and keep a real computer for the heavy lifting. The two complement each other.