I thought I’d post some updated screens from the Raspberry Pi that monitors and controls the remote station.
By way of a refresher, it’s a Raspberry Pi 4 in an Argon One case and running Home Assistant. The SCC does the following:
- Provides a control surface for the main 12V power supply, the Flex itself, the remote ATU and the Windows PC
- Monitors the state of the various switches and sensors in the remote shack
- Controls the heating and cooling for the cabinet
- Alerts me to various conditions
- Does its best to protect the entire system when the going gets tough 🙂
So, on to the images.
Control Screen
This is the main control screen as seen from a desktop or laptop. At the top are various status indicators, followed by the time and current propagation and then buttons to control the Flex PSU, the ATU, the Flex 6400 and the Windows PC that I use for digital modes.
The final button allows me to toggle the PTT line on the Flex. This is needed if you change the SmartLink configuration.
All windows are dynamic, depending on the browser viewport. This image is the same screen, but seen on a mobile device. Basically, it removes unnecessary elements.
Propagation Screen
The next screen displays more detail on the current propagation state.
System State Screen
Next is a screen showing various indicators about the system state. Some of this is a repeat of what’s on the Control Screen.
Environment Screen
The inner cabinet has temperature sensors on each shelf, plus sensors for the temperature in the external cabinet and outside. Home Assistant uses these with virtual thermostats to control a heating element and cooling fans in the inner and outer cabinets.
In extremis, Home Assistant will shut down the radio if things are getting too hot. It will alert me using Pushover if it’s getting too cold, so that I can (e.g.) switch on the Power Supply and (maybe) the Flex to warm things up.
Grafana
All sensor values, system state changes etc are logged to an Influxdb database, from where it can be displayed using Grafana.
This screen shows propagation history, and there is another displaying temperature and humidity changes.