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All,
A year or so ago Club Treasurer Rick Leonhardt (NN7ET) got a line on a cool Raspberry Pi based GEOCHRON type clock that interfaces with any HDMI input sourced monitor or TV (or you can adapt it to other input types). I wanted to pass along some detail that hopefully you will find interesting.
The GEOCHRON product (link here) is a hardware based gorgeous ham radio-centric world clock. In February 2022 QST had a write up on it Geochron Digital Atlas 2 4K World Clock, excerpted for you at this link.
It is as spectacular as it is expensive. Suddenly there has been an explosion of knockoffs using readily available and cheap – CHEAP – Raspberry Pi units. This May 5, 2023 write up – KD4C’s Ham Radio Waves – HamClock – A Shack’s Best Friend – is a great primer on the topic. This web page – Clear Sky Institute – HamClock – (whatever that is), is kind of an ugly web page but it provides a display and discussion of the HamClock version. Here are two HamClock offerings on eBay: HamClock-Ham Radio World Clock on Pi-3B+ and Boomerang HamClock HC-01 Amateur Radio Clock. Prices are all over the place, but all of them are much more economical than the GEOCHRON product. Are they as full-featured? I will let someone else address that if they wish to make a follow up post.
Kathy and I have the one Rick sourced for us plugged into a 55″ Roku TV we bought at Walmart for $225. It looks totally cool. If you have coveted a GEOCHRON now you can have something very similar, showing a wealth of data in a really nicely displayed graphical depiction. We think it is a “must have” for any well appointed ham shack.
Enjoy,
Phillip Beall (W5EBC)
I love the Hamclock. I have the Inovato version. The yellow lines are my FT8 spots that were happening at the time of this pic.
If your looking to add an interactive screen to your shack, then this is a pretty cool addition.
If you have any questions about it. Feel free to contact me.
73
All,
Well, our HamClock died. We had a big power off-on-off-on recently and somehow it just locked the thing up tighter than a drum. I reflashed the firmware 2-3 times and then just ordered another one for $50. The replacement is a inovato Quadra4K and it is gorgeous. Got a spare flat panel TV sitting around? The tuner went out or something else, but the HDMI and display still work? Spend $50 and get yourself a gorgeous HamClock. The link is here and I will add a picture below. Oh, the principle at inovato is Michael Burmeister-Brown (N7MDB). On his QRZ page he has a really nice description of the what and why of his inovato branded HamClock. He’s a super guy, an Extra, and he has cancer. If you buy one and dig it, why not brighten his day by dropping him an email (link here) and letting him know. 😉
73
Phillip Beall (W5EBC)
All,
After Mark and I made posts on the fantastic Inovato Quadra HamClock I had an email exchange with the principle, Michael Burmeister-Brown (Mike Brown (N7MDB)) who is, or was, an Extra. I say is, or was, because in December he told me he had incurable pancreatic cancer and he was going to have to close Inovato down. I find mixed information on whether he is still alive or not, but for a fact he has pulled the plug on Inovato (link).
Brown was a sharp cat. He founded Central Point Software in 1980 in Central Point, Oregon, for which the company was named. Building on the success of its Copy II PC backup utility, it moved to Beaverton, Oregon. There were a series of mergers and CPS was acquired by Symantec in 1994, for around $60 million. I well remember the Copy II PC product and their follow-on product PC Tools. Brown basically made it possible for us to make copies of our software diskettes, which we had bought and paid for, but which had copyright encryption on them trying to keep us from being able to copy them. So, a brilliant computer guy, an Amateur Extra and the innovator of the Inovato Quadra HamClock. Here is a really cool picture of his minimalist ham shack.
Here are some relevant links about him: Facebook posting announcing his health issues (link), Wikipedia page about Central Point Software (link), the Inovato page where he basically signed off (link) and his QRZ page (link).I was in touch with him in December because my unit had bricked and I was having trouble getting it to reflash. He was a most kind individual and so when I learned of his illness I did a little bit of digging to see what was going to happen to the product. In his final post on the company site he said “I release all support content and the Quadra Restore Image to the community.” Enter Udo Koch (N0LSR). From Udo’s site “…the classic HamCLock system…” was “…[d]eveloped and operated by Elwood Downey (WB0OEW) (QRZ link). With the passing of Elwood on January 29th, 2026, the future of HamClock was in jeopardy.” So, now (or very soon) we will be minus two of the primary people that brought us the economical HamClock via Raspberry Pi product.
Udo too is an interesting cat. Originally from Germany, he’s also a long-time Amateur Extra, He moved to the US and now works for his German employer in Buffalo Grove, IL. He’s a big fan of Michael Burmeister-Brown (Mike Brown (N7MDB)) and his Inovato Quadra project. Here is a link to his bio on QRZ (link), his bio on his N0LSR website (link) and here is a link to a really, really, thorough explanation for how HamClock will continue to evolve and be supported (link).
Udo continues the legacy of the project and product by offering the follow-on HK1RBOX HamClock. He sells a lot of products and we recently made a buy from him. The link to his online store is here (link). His HamClock looks identical to the Inovato product, with the only difference being the label. He also sells a tiny little UPS to power the thing. PERFECT! Now power blips won’t brick our HamClock because it is powered by the power-pack/UPS and that is in turn being charged 24/7.
I urge you to buy yourself a HK1RBOX HamClock, one of Udo’s UPS devices and continue to support the project. I am disappointed that we are losing Brown and that the originator of the whole concept passed away in January, but it looks like their efforts live on.
73
Phillip Beall (W5EBC)
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