Description
I wanted to create a lab to do radio project experimentation. I wanted the lab to be as portable as possible. This was my first mini rack build so I was not sure what to expect and the project evolved as I went along. It is complete for now although I am already dreaming of additions. Only 2 raspberry Pi were used with a 3D Printed mount that held 3. I used the center opening to route the radio cables. This allows the radios to be easily swapped between systems for various testing.
Hardware Used
- DeskPi RackMate T0
- 3D Printed Mounts for most of the components
- ElecVoztile Rack PDU
- 2 x Raspberry Pi 5 (Kali and Dragon builds)
- Beelink Micro PC (Windows 11)
- TP-Link SG108PE
- TP-Link Tl-WR1502X
- JetKVM
- HackRF One
- RTL-SDR v4
- Ham It Up
- Heltec V3 Meshtastic Node
- 2 inch Desk Power Grommet
- ICESPRING HDMI flush mount cable (for external Beelink video port)
- 2 x Elecbee Panel mount HDMI > MicroHDMI cables (for external Pi 5 video ports)
- Multiple SMA Bulkhead adapters for various antennas
- Woieyeks HDMI dummy plugs
When I added the PDU, I knew that having an external outlet would come in handy for a portable lab. Although I will primarily be using a combination of KVM and VNC to connect, I wanted to add external video options for each of the systems that would be added.
Issues
This was a relatively clean build, but one issue I ran into was the Linux distros running on the Raspberry Pi systems did not want to load the GUI if there was no monitor present on boot. I got around this by adding a few HDMI dummy plugs and this easily resolved the issue. Antenna placement shifted around a bit, but I ultimately decided the top of the case was the best location for the Meshtastic antenna and the rear of the case the best location for the HackRF and RTL-SDR antennas.
I wasn't able to power everything via PoE, but in the end only 3 of the 4 PDU outlets were used (with the 4th running the available external power outlet).
Radio Additions
The bottom of the rack is where I mounted the HackRF One, RTL-SDR and Ham It Up. I did this with some double sided VHB tape. I havent had too much of a heat issue yet, but I still may add some heat sinks. I also added a Meshtashtic node with a Heltec V3. I have not done much with Meshtastic yet, so I was excited about this addition.
Radio Lab
Description
I wanted to create a lab to do radio project experimentation. I wanted the lab to be as portable as possible. This was my first mini rack build so I was not sure what to expect and the project evolved as I went along. It is complete for now although I am already dreaming of additions. Only 2 raspberry Pi were used with a 3D Printed mount that held 3. I used the center opening to route the radio cables. This allows the radios to be easily swapped between systems for various testing.
Hardware Used
When I added the PDU, I knew that having an external outlet would come in handy for a portable lab. Although I will primarily be using a combination of KVM and VNC to connect, I wanted to add external video options for each of the systems that would be added.
Issues
This was a relatively clean build, but one issue I ran into was the Linux distros running on the Raspberry Pi systems did not want to load the GUI if there was no monitor present on boot. I got around this by adding a few HDMI dummy plugs and this easily resolved the issue. Antenna placement shifted around a bit, but I ultimately decided the top of the case was the best location for the Meshtastic antenna and the rear of the case the best location for the HackRF and RTL-SDR antennas.
I wasn't able to power everything via PoE, but in the end only 3 of the 4 PDU outlets were used (with the 4th running the available external power outlet).
Radio Additions
The bottom of the rack is where I mounted the HackRF One, RTL-SDR and Ham It Up. I did this with some double sided VHB tape. I havent had too much of a heat issue yet, but I still may add some heat sinks. I also added a Meshtashtic node with a Heltec V3. I have not done much with Meshtastic yet, so I was excited about this addition.
Radio Lab
