Top Band Chordal HopperMaker Project: “Geochron” Greyline Wall Clock
Geochron Illuminated Wall Clock
Geochron makes beautiful lighted wall clocks – but they are thousands of dollars, and while nice – they only serve one function, and they are big and very heavy. They also are a bit “stuffy” and look like they belong in a wood paneled den or board room – not a garage shack.
In my ham shack, I have an old Yaesu map that my wife Kat mentioned was looking a bit “long in the tooth”. Right around that time I was scrounging through our PC accessories box (for a cable) – I realized that I have a an unused monitor that I could combine with a Raspberry Pi Zero W and voila! A more versatile Geochron. In fact – I can remote into it and change whatever is being displayed – maybe one minute DX Atlas, the next PSK Reporter, etc. I have been running Ham Radio Deluxe on my laptop most of the time, so having extra monitors would be cool. And because the shack is a pretty dark place – having a display up high on the wall would also add some “warmth” to the shack.
Yaesu Paper DX wall map above the KY6R operating position and 7610 monitor
There are both web sites with Geochron clock displays as well as software you can download. In fact, many people have taken Google maps and created many different overlays for ham radio operators.
Here is a beautiful “Maker” project where someone used a tablet as a clock – with nice software. And you know from my blog posts – I use DX Atlas on a daily basis, and have used this wonderful and inexpensive program for years. It alone would make for a superb Geochron – it has Greyline as well as all of the entity prefixes.
I also checked this morning – and I have the perfect wood to make a frame for the monitor (since it does not have a Vesa mount). This Geochron (on purpose) is a “background wall map”) – and fits like a glove in the space I have available. So – this will be this weekends project. The Arduino based Field Strength Meter will wait until the weekend after.
Ok – now I have to first get rid of those cobwebs in the shack – and then put my software based Geochron up on that wall where the Yaesu wall map is.
