Installing 5.0 Operating System on sBITX

 

• Export Logbook on sBITX – Open sBITX Toolbox and select Log Exporter the sBITX Logbook will appear. I made the start date for the sBITX ADIF Log Exporter – 1.1 set at 2024-12-25 and the finish date set at todays date of 2025-07-17 then I pressed the [EXPORT LOGS] button. A window appeared saying: Exported 93 records to /home/pi/sBITX-toolbox/data/sBitx_exported_log_20250717_180418.adi

• I closed out the Logbook Exporter and sBITX Toolbox

• I open up File Manager and follow the path to find the logbook file.

• Restart sBITX

• Open File Manager and click on the Home folder in the left hand list.

• In the Home list is a folder named Pi. Click on that folder to open it.

• In the Pi folder, look for the sBITX folder and click on it.

• In the sBITX folder is a folder named sBITX-Toolbox. Click on it and look for another folder named Data.

• Inside the Data folder look for a file named sBitx_exported_log_20250717_180418.adi

• Right-click on the file sBitx_exported_log_20250717_180418.adi and select copy

• Insert a thumb-drive in a USB port located on the upper right side of the sBITX Ultimate SDR Transceiver.

• Open up the thumb-drive and right click. Then select the Paste option. This will put a copy of the sBITX Logbook (File: sBitx_exported_log_20250717_180418.adi ) in the USB thumb-drive.

• Remove the USB thumb-drive from the sBITX Ultimate SDR Transceiver and store it in a safe location. Once the operating system for the sBITX Ultimate SDR Transceiver has been upgraded, use this USB thumb-drive to load up your logbook so that you will not loose it.

• Insert a fresh USB thumb-drive into one of the USB ports on the upper right side of the sBITX Ultimate SDR Transceiver.

• Open up the sBITX File Manager

• Go to the Home folder and click on it.

• Click on the Pi folder

• Go down and find the sBITX folder and click to open it up.

• Go down and find the Data folder and click to open it up.

• Copy and paste the following files to the USB thumb-drive

  • sbitx.db

  • default_hw_settings.ini

  • default_hw_settings_v2.ini

  • default_hw_settings_v3.ini

  • default_settings.ini

• Format 32GB Micro-SD Card to FAT32

• Download sb50.img.xz (This is the sBITX 5.0 Operating System) from https://drive.google.com/file/d/1E2sm4jFjiHtVJEjJ3AHDlq3qI7bwvBZh/view to Downloads Folder on main computer.

• Download and install Raspberry Pi Imager

• Extract the file sb50.img from sm50.img.xz

• Using Raspberry Pi Imager flash sb50.img to formatted 32GB Micro-SD Card.

Prepare sBITX for USB Boot

• Insert the previously prepared USB Thumb-drive

• Open the Terminal

• Type in sudo raspi-config

• The Raspberry Pi 4 Software Configuration Tool (raspi-config) window will appear.

• Use the Down Arrow and go down to option: 6 Advanced Options Configure advanced options press ENTER

• Use the Down Arrow and go down to option: A4 Boot Order Choose boot device priority (SD/net/USB/NVMe) and press ENTER

• Use the Down Arrow and go down to option:B2 NVMe/USB Boot, Boot from NVMe before trying USB and then SD Card press ENTER

• A window will appear saying: NVMe/USB is default boot device

• Press OK

• Press the TAB key to highlight FINISH and press ENTER

• You will be given the option of: Would you like to reboot now?

• Press the TAB key to highlight YES and press enter.

Once the sBITX reboots it should be using the sBITX Operating System from the USB thumb drive. Spend some time exploring the sBITX 5.0 OS. If you decide that the new 5.0 OS is what you want, then you will need to copy it from the USB thumb-drive to the internal Micro-SD card.

• Open up the start menu on the sBITX.

• Go to the Accessories option and click on it

• In the Accessories menu look for the SD Card Copier option. Here we can copy the 5.0 OS to our internal Micro-SD Card without having to open up the case for the sBITX. Just select the options below.

• Copy from Device: Since this is the device that we are going to copy from, then we select our USB option: Generic STORAGE DEVICE (/dev/sda)

• Copy to Device: This is the internal Micro-SD card that we are putting the new OS on. So we select: SD128(dev/mmcblk0)

• Make sure that the New Partition UUIDs check box is checked.

• Click the Start button and a small window will appear: This will erase all content on the device ‘SD128’. Are you sure?

• Click Yes to start the process of installing sBITX 5.0 on your sBITX

• Relax for a bit cause this will take awhile.

A window will appear letting you know that the copy is complete. At this time shut down the sBITX remove the USB Thumb-drive and restart the sBITX. It should start up with the sBITX 5.0 Operating System. 

Again feel free to leave any comments in the comments section below. Subscribe and you will be notified for any future activity. You may contact me at Aaron@K5ATG.com

Health Update - 1

 Gonna try to start making posts about my health to try to get my stresses about it off my chest. Those of you who know me, know what my situation is, now I want to share it because none of us are promised tomorrow. So lets give it a go.

This morning I was hoping to kick back on the radio flyer and stir up a dozen miles. Well that was before I fully woke up.  I got up at 0430, I slept a little late and the family cat Jewels was not happy having to wait for breakfast. Then it felt like I was in some sort of thick fluid, about as thick as cold molasses. I could move but only through great effort. It's like when you stretch out and your muscles get really tight. All of my muscles were extremely tight and that prevented me from moving. It took about 5-6 hours before I could move a bit closer to normal. 

Next week I was scheduled to get a pain shot in my neck. For about a year it has been hurting from the base of my skull down to the middle of my shoulder blades. A month or so ago I got one in my shoulder and it really helped. I have had them in my back several times but they have never worked for more than few minutes. I was really surprised on how well it worked on my right shoulder. So we scheduled for a shot in my neck and it was coming up to this coming Thursday and I'm really praying that it works for my neck. Living your life feeling like you just survived a horrific car crash is not really living, at best its just surviving. Just extreme pain everywhere and never any relief. 

Then things changed. My wife was looking at the bottom of my big toe because it was swollen. She saw a brown spot and thought that it was dirt so she tried to wipe it off. As she was wiping it off it cracked open and reveled a hole in my foot large enough to easily stick a pencil eraser in. My first abcess. Diabetes gave it to me. So we went to an urgent care clinic and they said that its an abcess and I need to seen my primary care doctor. We have been caring for it by applying iodine and triple-antibiotic cream and applying gauze and wound wrap. Went to my primary care doctor and I was put on antibiotics and given a referral to a podiatrist. 

This afternoon the people that was going to give me a shot called and said that they changed their procedure. Instead of putting me to sleep to do the shot, they are going to give me very large doses of Xanax and Oxycontin. So they are gonna get me so high that I will be blitzed. I will tell you if I see some mythical creatures other than the doctors. Also, they will not give me the shot until I'm off the antibiotic and the abcess in my toe completely heals. So once again I feel like I can't ever catch a break.

So if you have any questions or comments you can leave comments in the comments section below or you may contact me directly at Aaron@K5ATG.com. You can be notified of any future post to this blog and support this blog at the same time by simply subscribing. 

Aaron K5ATG

02 April 2025 Epic Ride

 This morning I went on an epic trike ride through Midwest City. I rode 13.70 miles (the longest ride of the year thus far) and I had the joy of going through 7 different city parks:

• Quinlan Park
• Tom Poore Park
• Pecan Grove Park
• Joe B. Barnes Regional Park
• Charles Johnson Park
• W.P. Bill Atkinson Park
• Elks Park

I'm going to upload the video (check out my YouTube Channel: K5ATG YouTube ) once it has been edited but I figured that I can give you a quick sneak peak. This is just a pic from my cycling app of the details of the ride. 

So if you have any questions or comments you can leave comments in the comments section below or you may contact me directly at Aaron@K5ATG.com. You can be notified of any future post to this blog and support this blog at the same time by simply subscribing. 

Aaron K5ATG

Traded a tower for safety - No regrets

 Yesterday I had the opportunity to finally get a nice tower for the backyard.  Me and Tim W5TAH drove down to Holdenville, a little over an hours drive south east of Oklahoma City.  The homeowner wanted it removed from his property and I wanted it so it looked like a pretty sweet deal. 

The tower is roughly 45 feet tall which is perfect for what I need. We hooked up the trailer to Tim's Truckster and headed south-east. Everything looked great when we arrived and it was turning out the be nearly perfect weather for the project. We got the J-Pole set up and the rope ready to go. Tim got suited up in his harness. 

Tim started his climb but once he made it past the first section the tower became really wobbly. The tower was put up in the 1960's and was never guyed. It looked to have a nice concrete base but for over six decades it with stood the winds that came sweeping down the plains. Over time the connection point between the bottom section and the rest of the tower became wallowed out. This allowed the top of the tower to sway over a foot at the top. So decided that even though Tim had a nice climbing harness, it was unsafe for him to climb it. There was a real good chance of it toppling over. We thought about just cutting it down at the base and letting it just fall down, but the yard that it was in was kind of small and surrounded by elevated power lines. 

The homeowner has a friend from church that may be able to bring it down safer. So in the meantime me and Tim will be trying to come up with a plan to get it. If we have to pass on it then I will have to keep on looking. 

I'm not wanting a big tower to hold up a big stack of yaggis. My desire is something in the neighborhood of 30-40 feet tall. I want it as a tilt over tower because I'm in no shape to climb a tower and I have seen a lot of people around town put up nice towers in their backyard then their prized yagi gets damaged and they have no way to fix it because there are so few people who can climb towers. To me that seems like a waste of resources and I'm extremely limited in resources. I just want something that can support a wire antenna and  small TV rotator with a small dual band yagi for repeaters. 

So at the end of the day we made it home and no one got hurt and that is the important stuff. 

So if you have any questions or comments you can leave comments in the comments section below or you may contact me directly at Aaron@K5ATG.com. You can be notified of any future post to this blog and support this blog at the same time by simply subscribing. 

Aaron K5ATG

Struggles of Life

 Hello all, it's been awhile. 

    It's hard to explain but I feel like I should let everyone know what is going on with me. It's like I need to share it and stop keeping it bottled up. 

    As you guys know, my back has been nothing short of a source of endless troubles for me. I've had several surgeries and not of them really helped me out. I'm constantly falling down because I  lose feeling and control of my legs. I'm almost always getting false sensations in my legs. It will feel like my legs are on fire or all of my bones are broken. There is no fun in this. It's like I'm imprisoned to living my life in bed. I have been sentenced to life without parole. I do have some positive notes over being in a real prison. I get to visit my family every day. I can watch what I want on TV. I eat better food. There isn't any sodomy. I get to go on furlough to doctors offices every week. Every now and them my buddy Tim W5TAH will come and kidnap me do a few hours or an entire weekend. 

    Over the past few years I feel that people have been hurt because of them not understanding what exactly is going on with me. I will start with my eating habits. I will go to peoples house and these are great people and wonderful additions to my life. They don't want to see anyone leave their house without eating. Then I show up and refuse to eat. I know it bothers them, it bothers the hell out of me. Especially when they cook up a lot of deep fried southern soul food. You know, the good stuff that fills up your stomach and hugs your soul. It will hug your heart with hardened and blocked arteries but you got to have the good stuff every now and then. I'm on I believe more than twenty prescription medications that I have to take every day. That is a hell of a lot of side effects. My stomach doesn't work like it should. I have to be extremely picky on what I eat or it will make me sick to my stomach. What makes me flip out is I will eat something, lets say green beans. I will eat it at one meal and then not eat it again. Then I will throw up up to two weeks after I eat the green beans and I will throw up those green beans. Meaning they have been sitting undigested in my stomach for two weeks. I can go two to five days without eating anything because my stomach will just fill up with undigested food and I wait until I spend a night throwing up until my stomach is empty and I can eat again. We've thought about going to get it checked out but there is just too many more pressing health concerns that we need to work on that is more important. 

    About a year ago I started experiencing pain from the middle of my shoulder blades up to the base of my neck. Then several months back I started having intense pain in my biceps. More so my right than my left. We talked to my family doctor and we decided to start with an X-Ray and go from there. I got the X-Ray done and my doctor said that I may have severe arthritis. So I went to an orthopedic to figure out what can be done. The orthopedic said that by looking at the X-Ray he didn't see very much arthritis. After looking at my history with my back and going through my symptoms he said that it could be where my back problems have moved up to my neck. At this point we are waiting to get an MRI and we will go from there. I'm experiencing a lot of pain in my shoulders, neck, biceps, forearms and hands. There are times when I'm way more useless and a burden than normal. I can't pick up anything. It is like picking up a glass if tea is like dislocating my shoulder and elbow. The other day I was holding our cat and everything was ok then suddenly my right arm from shoulder to hand just exploded in pain and I nearly had to throw the cat to Desiree to keep from dropping her (She is an old and very well loved cat). It took over six hours to recover from that. I'm unable to draw, it's hard to write. Doing electronics is next to impossible for me. I've been trying to do a simple AGC add on kit for a radio that I sold to Tim W5TAH. What would take a normal person an hour to do, I've been fighting it for six months. I keep dropping my soldering iron, which isn't fun, I will put electronic components in wrong. I just want to get this done and give it to Tim so that he can use it, but I feel at this point it is nearly impossible for to do. A month back some of you saw that for the very first time I grew a moustache and beard. It looked pretty sweet and was solid white. I really hated it, but I grew it cause I couldn't hold a razor or clippers to shave. 

    About the main thing that I have been doing is working on my bonsai trees. However even though they weigh no more than a pound I have to get someone to move them for me because they are just too heavy for me to pick up. 

    I have plans that I have been working on, like a YouTube channel. My channel idea is basically combining my recumbent trike with ham radio and my health challenges along with showcasing the beautiful parks and trails in the Oklahoma City Metropolitan area.. I'm in really bad shape and I'm constantly racked with severe pain. My hope is to say to people "Hey look what I have to deal with every freaking day of my life! If I can get out of the house and do something physical and just DO SOMETHING then so can you. Life is short and precious, don't waste yours by hiding away inside. 

    Right now I'm limited to riding my trike no farther than a mile from my house. That is so that when I run into health problems and need someone to come and get me. I'm 50 years old and I have a lot of challenges in front of me. Those are challenges that I plan on overcoming somehow. Here are a few:

• Find out what is going on with my arms and try to fix it. 
• Spend more time riding my trike so that I can eventually build up to being allowed to ride farther from home. 
• Finish my bike trailer so that I can take more radio equipment with me on the park. I have my dream radio and everything but my stuff is kind of bulky which makes it hard for me to fit everything on the trike. I have one of those bike trailers for hauling kids and I'm trying to turn that into a cargo trailer. It is taking longer than expected cause it is difficult for me to use any tools. 
• Get electric assist for my trike. This is crazy expensive, roughly $1,500 for the cheapest option, so this will remain more of a dream than reality. This will allow me to ride farther and then when I have heath problems on the trail, it will let me limp back home on my own.  

    I'm not asking for anything, I'm not wanting any symphony. Not a single person is able to go through life without struggles. Some have to struggle more than others, that has been the way it is since the moment of creation. Just got to keep in mind that God will not give you any obstacle that is greater than your ability to overcome. I'm 50 years old, I'm in horrible health, live each moment in chronic pain. Yet I still believe that my best years are ahead of me. I'm also eternally grateful for my family and friends that pick me up off the floor (literally), and continue to support me and encourage me to move forward. Every day I feel like I don't deserve my wife and kids, but everyday I thank God that they are in my life. 

    Again feel free to leave any comments in the comments section below. Subscribe and you will be notified for any future activity. You may contact me at Aaron@K5ATG.com

 

Flashing a Raspberry Pi

 The Raspberry Pi is a fairly cheap single board computer. It doesn't compare with the power of a desktop or even a laptop.  For computing power they are about comparable to laptops from about ten years ago. 

As I said the Raspberry Pi is just a single board computer. Just because it isn't as fast and powerful as todays computers does not make it useless. If I were to list just the amateur radio projects that you can build around a Raspberry Pi, you would be reading that list for days. Just Google amateur radio projects for Raspberry Pi. 

So I got you here today to get started. The Raspberry Pi - RPI uses a Linux based operating system. For the hard drive it used Micro SD cards. So just with the Micro SD card, you have tons of options for how much memory your RPI will have. The MicroSD card is  the hard drive for the RPI so you can have a hard drive of 32gb, 64gb etc. They even make 1TB Micro SD cards! For the most part a 32gb MicroSD card will work. For this post I'm using a Raspberry Pi 4 with 4GB of RAM and a 32GB SanDisk Ultra Micro SD card. My goal here is to walk you through the process of putting an operating system on a RPI so that you can do it on your own. 

Just like any computer, your RPI will need an operating system. Now like the big W operating system there are minor financial incursions to use the RPI operating system. To start it's just a minor $500 deposit and another $700 a year for the permission to use it. JUST JOKING! 😂 The RPI operating system is Open Source which means it is 100% free. The concept of Open Source can be another post so email me at Aaron@K5ATG.com if you would like for me to write a post on that.

Where shall we start?

How about we start at the beginning.

We need an USB Micro SD card so that we can put the RPI Image (A RPI Image is just another words for RPI Operating System or OS) on your Micro SD Card. You don't need anything elaborate, here is a nice cheap one that will do the job: USB3.0 Micro SD Card Reader

Once you have your reader you will need the Raspberry Pi Imager software. To download it simply go here: Raspberry Pi Imager You can download it for Windows, macOS and Ubuntu so download the version that goes with your operating system.

Once the Raspberry Pi Imager is downloaded you want to put the Micro SD card in the USB Microd SD Card reader and plug it into a USB port. Then you will need to start the Raspberry Pi Imager software and a window will appear that looks like this:

First step is we start off on the left hand side of the RPI Imager. Why do we start off on the left you ask? It's because it's my darn blog and I'm left handed. Do you know how much the world is made around right handed people? All of it! In grade school, I had to cut along the dotted line with regular scissors which just tore up the paper all the while being high from the after recess glue high! Anyway back to today, or are you reading this tomorrow? So I'm typing this now and you are reading this in the future... thats trippy. Ok glue is put away. 

The first option is you need to choose your Raspberry Pi Device. you click on the white CHOOSE DEVICE  and select the Raspberry Pi device that you are using. The RPI Imager that I'm using is V1.8.5 and here is a little list of RPI devices that it supports:

• No Filtering - Show every possible image
• Raspberry Pi 5 - Raspberry Pi 5, 500, and Compute Module 5
• Raspberry Pi 4 - Model B, 400, Compute Modules 4, 4S
• Raspberry Pi Zero 2W - The Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W
• Raspberry Pi 3 - Models B, A+, B+, and Compute Module 3, 3+
• Raspberry Pi 2 - Model B
• Raspberry Pi Zero - Models Zero, Zero W, Zero WH
• Raspberry Pi 1 - Models A, B, A+, B+ and Compute Module 1

For this post we will select the Raspberry Pi 4 option cause that is what I'm using. The next step is to select the Raspberry Pi Operating system. This is the Raspberry Pi version of Windows or Mac. The RPI operating systems is based off of Linux and again is open sourced. This means that you can go into the source code and make a bunch of changes and not have a team of lawyers showing up at your door. So here is the list of options that you have:

• Raspberry Pi OS (64-bit) - A port of Debian Bookworm with the Raspberry Pi Desktop. (Recommended)
• Raspberry Pi OS (32-bit) - A port of Debian Bookworm with the Raspberry Pi Desktop. 
• Raspberry Pi OS (Legacy, 32-bit) - A port of Debian Bullseye with security updates and desktop environment.
• Raspberry Pi OS (other) - Other Raspberry Pi OS based images.  

We pick the first option here, RPI OS 64-bit. I just go with the one that is recommended, I don't know enough about the Raspberry Pi different operating systems to tell you the PROS and CONS of each version. 

Next option is to select the USB device that has your Micro SD card in. Make triple shure that you have selected the correct device because this process WILL delete everything on the device selected. Wouldn't want to accidentally delete thousands of pics and videos and other files on your external hard drive. make sure that you have the proper device selected.  

Now we click the NEXT button and a window will appear asking you if you would like to apply OS customisation settings.

I would recommend selecting the EDIT SETTINGS option as this will take you to another window where you can enter the Hostname, Username, Password, internet options. Going through this will make things easier down the line. Due to privacy I will not show this window. 

Click the YES option and a warning window will appear saying: All existing data on USB STORAGE DEVICE  will be erased. Are you sure you want to continue? 

Here is another chance to make sure that you have the selected device to write the Image on. Once again triple check and click in the YES option.  now the imager will go through the steps in putting the Raspberry Pi OS on your SD card. 

Once it is all complete eject it from your computer and remove the Micro SD card, insert it in the Raspberry Pi and boot it up. 

Thank you for following along this far. If you like this content please hit the subscribe button. That would really make my week. Feel free to put any comments or questions you have in the comment section below this post. You can contact me via email at Aaron@K5ATG.com

72/73

Aaron K5ATG

Oklahoma Football on sBITX HF Transceiver

 This post is a little bit of bragging than anything else. 

I'm doing my weekly net for the Mid-Del Amateur Radio Club and the Oklahoma vs Missouri football game was on. So I turned on my trusty sBITX and went to YouTube and was able to watch the game on my radio. Can your high tech expensive radio let you watch the game on it? 

Oh yeah I can also check my email and order stuff from Amazon and ebay. 

Subscribe and get updated on some of the other wonders this rig can do. 

New Desk

 I finally got my new homemade desk in. There is still a lot of organising and getting used to it but after a few weeks I really love it. 

New Shack Desk II

 Got an update on my new shack desk. 

Special thanks to my son Dakota, the finish and the poly has been applied. Now we just need to air it out for a few days to get rid of the fumes and then put it in the house. I'm getting excited for it. It will make life in the shack so much easier. 

Bob Heil K9EID SK

 The amateur radio community is sad by the loss of amateur radio legend Bob Heil K9EID. He is the founder of Heil Sound, who makes audio equipment that is used by the best musical artist around the world and also the first manufacture to be admitted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was also on of the original hosts of Ham Nation.  I could go on and write down all of his accomplishments but I would be typing here for a week. 

I was very lucky to have met him in 2019 OzarkCon in Branson Missouri

We exchanged probably over 100 emails over the years with him giving me advice on radios and antennas and me entertaining him with jokes. I'm sure that he is in Heaven building coaxial resonant dipoles and hooking up a audio mixer and stage monitors to a HF radio. 

Bob thank you for teaching us so much. 

Aaron K5ATG

P.S. SK stands for Silent Key which in amateur radio lingo means that a amateur radio operator passed away.