An All-In-One Packet Setup – No Frills and no Headaches

After designing my dual-band GoBox for field communication, I started thinking bigger. What if I could build a compact, professionally-designed Winlink gateway?

Email over RF is a game-changer, especially in emergencies, and I wanted to create a system that wasn’t just functional, but field-ready, cleanly wired, and reliable enough to leave at a remote site or deploy in minutes.

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The Gear: The Radioditty DB-25 + DigiPi + Pi 5

This build centers around:

🔹 Radioddity QB-25D – A rugged, 25-watt quad-band mobile radio. Ideal for APRS or Winlink operations.

🔹 DigiPi HAT – A compact soundcard interface for the Raspberry Pi that simplifies packet, VARA, and even FT8 setups. It’s plug-and-play with direwolf and supports GPIO-controlled PTT.

🔹 Raspberry Pi 5 – More power and I/O options mean faster decoding and future-proofing. Plus, with USB 3.0 and Wi-Fi 6, it’s the perfect host for remote-control or auto-updates.

SolidWorks Design: Form Follows Function

Just like with my RamsayWorks GoBox, I’m using SolidWorks to design a modular case that:

• Integrates the Radioditty DB-25D, Pi 5, and DigiPi HAT into a small, tactile case
• Integrates an OLED display for live diagnostics
• Mounts cleanly with proper machine screws, and rubber to keep water resistance.
• Includes ventilation and RF shielding compartments for interference mitigation

This isn’t a tangle of cables in a plastic box. It’s a radio node you can deploy with ease.

Why It Matters

In a world increasingly reliant on internet infrastructure, amateur radio provides the last-mile redundancy that emergency managers, search & rescue, and everyday hams depend on. This project is my step toward making Winlink access as easy and robust as possible.

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Stay tuned as I finish the mechanical build and start field testing. If you’re interested in packet radio, Winlink, or building your own gateway, feel free to reach out—or follow the journey at ramsayworks.com.