#openhamclock — Public Fediverse posts

Pro-Grade Ham Radio Displays: Integrating OpenHamClock into PiSignage

758 words, 4 minutes read time.

A Helping Hand Needed for a Fellow Programmer

I’m reaching out to see if you can lend a hand to a talented software developer who’s currently on the job hunt. With over 30 years of experience in C#, .NET (Core/6–8), REST APIs, SQL Server, Angular/Razor, Kubernetes, and cloud CI/CD, he’s a seasoned pro with a proven track record of leading modernization projects and delivering production systems.

Some of his notable accomplishments include DB2 to SQL migrations, building real-time SignalR apps, and developing full-stack API and frontend projects. Based in Southeast Michigan, he’s looking for senior engineering, architecture, or technical lead roles that will challenge him and utilize his skills.

If you’re in a position to help, you can check out his resume and portfolio at http://charles.friasteam.com.

Let’s all look out for each other – if you know of any opportunities that might be a good fit, could you please consider passing this along to your network?

—

If you are a ham radio operator, you know that a HamClock is the ultimate shack companion. But what if you want to move beyond a dedicated small screen and integrate that data-rich display into a professional digital signage environment?

By using PiSignage, you can rotate your HamClock with other station metrics, weather, or club announcements. However, getting a clean, secure, and “pop-up free” experience requires a few tricks.

In this post, I’ll show you how to deploy OpenHamClock using Docker and how to strip away the UI clutter for a seamless kiosk experience.

The Setup

To follow along, you will need a PiSignage server instance. I personally run mine as a Docker container, which keeps the server stack isolated and easy to back up.

1. The Docker Compose Configuration

PiSignage and modern browsers often require secure contexts (HTTPS) for certain features. Since the standard HamClock output is HTTP, we’ll use a two-service setup: the clock itself and a lightweight SSL-wrap sidecar using socat and openssl.

docker-componse.yml

 services:    openhamclock:      image: ghcr.io/accius/openhamclock:latest      container_name: openhamclock      expose:        - "3000"      environment:        - CALLSIGN=<CALL SIGN>        - LOCATOR=<Grid Square Locator>        - THEME=dark        - UNITS=imperial      restart: unless-stopped     ssl-wrap:      image: alpine      container_name: hamclock-ssl      ports:        - "3000:3000"      command: >        sh -c "apk add --no-cache socat openssl &&                openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout /tmp/key.pem -out /tmp/cert.pem -days 365 -nodes -subj '/CN=localhost' &&               cat /tmp/cert.pem /tmp/key.pem > /tmp/combined.pem &&               socat OPENSSL-LISTEN:3000,cert=/tmp/combined.pem,verify=0,fork,reuseaddr TCP:openhamclock:3000"      restart: unless-stopped 

2. Silencing the “What’s New” Pop-ups

When using HamClock as a signage element, you want it to be “set and forget.” The “What’s New” slide-ins are helpful for desktop users but ruin a clean kiosk display.

While there is a formal change request pending for a toggle, you can currently “force” these elements to stay hidden by injecting a bit of CSS directly into the distribution files. Run this command within your app environment:

find /app/dist -name "*.css" -exec sh -c 'echo "div[style*=\"whatsNewSlideIn\"], div[style*=\"backdrop-filter\"] { display: none !important; }" >> {}' \;

3. Setting Up the Slide in PiSignage

Once your containers are humming along, you need to tell PiSignage how to display the clock.

Create the Weblink Asset

1. Log in to your PiSignage Admin Panel.
2. Navigate to Assets > Add > Weblink.
3. Fill in the details:
   • Name: OpenHamClock
   • Link Address: https://<YOUR-HOSTNAME>:3000/?kiosk=true
4. Click Save.

Pro Tip: The ?kiosk=true suffix is critical. It tells HamClock to hide its own internal menus and headers, giving you a dedicated, high-contrast dashboard perfect for a wall-mounted display.

Deploy to Your Player

1. Go to Playlists and add your new “OpenHamClock” asset.
2. Set the Duration: Set this to 0 for a permanent display, or a high number (like 300 for 5 minutes) if it’s part of a rotation.
3. Go to Groups, select your player, and deploy the playlist.

Your screen should refresh and show a beautiful, clean HamClock interface within seconds!

Running PiSignage in Docker?

For those of you looking to keep your entire server stack contained, running the PiSignage central server in Docker is the way to go. It keeps your host OS clean and makes management a breeze.

If you’d like me to discuss how to set up a dockerized PiSignage server, please comment below!

— 73 —

Call to Action

Getting this stack to play nice wasn’t a “one-and-done” install. It was a hard-fought process that took multiple attempts to finally crack the code on bypassing those “What’s New” screens and forcing a clean kiosk display. But the victory is in the uptime.

Don’t just lurk. If you’ve got the guts to show how you’re rebuilding your station on the wreckage of the old ways, drop a comment below. How are you occupying the victory today?

D. Bryan King

Sources

• OpenHamClock GitHub Repository (accius)
• Original HamClock Source by Clear Sky Institute
• PiSignage Official Documentation
• Docker Compose Specification and Documentation
• Alpine Linux Official Docker Image
• Socat Man Page – Multipurpose Relay Tool
• OpenSSL Official Documentation
• Maidenhead Locator System Overview
• Deep Dive: HamClock on Raspberry Pi
• PiSignage Server Docker Implementation
• Raspberry Pi Kiosk Mode Configuration
• MDN Web Docs: CSS Display Property
• Docker CMD vs Entrypoint Explained
• Understanding Self-Signed SSL Certificates
• ARRL: Understanding Grid Squares
• CSS Attribute Selectors (For Style Injection)
• Docker Container Networking Guide
• Linux Find Command Documentation
• Portainer: Managing Dockerized Signage Stacks
• PiSignage Community Support Forum

Disclaimer:

I love sharing what I’m learning, but please keep in mind that everything I write here—including this post—is just my personal take. These are my own opinions based on my research and my understanding of things at the time I’m writing them. Since life moves way too fast and things change quickly, please use your own best judgment and consult the experts for your specific situations!

Related Posts

Rate this:

Pro-Grade Ham Radio Displays: Integrating OpenHamClock into PiSignage

758 words, 4 minutes read time.

A Helping Hand Needed for a Fellow Programmer

I’m reaching out to see if you can lend a hand to a talented software developer who’s currently on the job hunt. With over 30 years of experience in C#, .NET (Core/6–8), REST APIs, SQL Server, Angular/Razor, Kubernetes, and cloud CI/CD, he’s a seasoned pro with a proven track record of leading modernization projects and delivering production systems.

Some of his notable accomplishments include DB2 to SQL migrations, building real-time SignalR apps, and developing full-stack API and frontend projects. Based in Southeast Michigan, he’s looking for senior engineering, architecture, or technical lead roles that will challenge him and utilize his skills.

If you’re in a position to help, you can check out his resume and portfolio at http://charles.friasteam.com.

Let’s all look out for each other – if you know of any opportunities that might be a good fit, could you please consider passing this along to your network?

—

If you are a ham radio operator, you know that a HamClock is the ultimate shack companion. But what if you want to move beyond a dedicated small screen and integrate that data-rich display into a professional digital signage environment?

By using PiSignage, you can rotate your HamClock with other station metrics, weather, or club announcements. However, getting a clean, secure, and “pop-up free” experience requires a few tricks.

In this post, I’ll show you how to deploy OpenHamClock using Docker and how to strip away the UI clutter for a seamless kiosk experience.

The Setup

To follow along, you will need a PiSignage server instance. I personally run mine as a Docker container, which keeps the server stack isolated and easy to back up.

1. The Docker Compose Configuration

PiSignage and modern browsers often require secure contexts (HTTPS) for certain features. Since the standard HamClock output is HTTP, we’ll use a two-service setup: the clock itself and a lightweight SSL-wrap sidecar using socat and openssl.

docker-componse.yml

 services:    openhamclock:      image: ghcr.io/accius/openhamclock:latest      container_name: openhamclock      expose:        - "3000"      environment:        - CALLSIGN=<CALL SIGN>        - LOCATOR=<Grid Square Locator>        - THEME=dark        - UNITS=imperial      restart: unless-stopped     ssl-wrap:      image: alpine      container_name: hamclock-ssl      ports:        - "3000:3000"      command: >        sh -c "apk add --no-cache socat openssl &&                openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout /tmp/key.pem -out /tmp/cert.pem -days 365 -nodes -subj '/CN=localhost' &&               cat /tmp/cert.pem /tmp/key.pem > /tmp/combined.pem &&               socat OPENSSL-LISTEN:3000,cert=/tmp/combined.pem,verify=0,fork,reuseaddr TCP:openhamclock:3000"      restart: unless-stopped 

2. Silencing the “What’s New” Pop-ups

When using HamClock as a signage element, you want it to be “set and forget.” The “What’s New” slide-ins are helpful for desktop users but ruin a clean kiosk display.

While there is a formal change request pending for a toggle, you can currently “force” these elements to stay hidden by injecting a bit of CSS directly into the distribution files. Run this command within your app environment:

find /app/dist -name "*.css" -exec sh -c 'echo "div[style*=\"whatsNewSlideIn\"], div[style*=\"backdrop-filter\"] { display: none !important; }" >> {}' \;

3. Setting Up the Slide in PiSignage

Once your containers are humming along, you need to tell PiSignage how to display the clock.

Create the Weblink Asset

1. Log in to your PiSignage Admin Panel.
2. Navigate to Assets > Add > Weblink.
3. Fill in the details:
   • Name: OpenHamClock
   • Link Address: https://<YOUR-HOSTNAME>:3000/?kiosk=true
4. Click Save.

Pro Tip: The ?kiosk=true suffix is critical. It tells HamClock to hide its own internal menus and headers, giving you a dedicated, high-contrast dashboard perfect for a wall-mounted display.

Deploy to Your Player

1. Go to Playlists and add your new “OpenHamClock” asset.
2. Set the Duration: Set this to 0 for a permanent display, or a high number (like 300 for 5 minutes) if it’s part of a rotation.
3. Go to Groups, select your player, and deploy the playlist.

Your screen should refresh and show a beautiful, clean HamClock interface within seconds!

Running PiSignage in Docker?

For those of you looking to keep your entire server stack contained, running the PiSignage central server in Docker is the way to go. It keeps your host OS clean and makes management a breeze.

If you’d like me to discuss how to set up a dockerized PiSignage server, please comment below!

— 73 —

Call to Action

Getting this stack to play nice wasn’t a “one-and-done” install. It was a hard-fought process that took multiple attempts to finally crack the code on bypassing those “What’s New” screens and forcing a clean kiosk display. But the victory is in the uptime.

Don’t just lurk. If you’ve got the guts to show how you’re rebuilding your station on the wreckage of the old ways, drop a comment below. How are you occupying the victory today?

D. Bryan King

Sources

• OpenHamClock GitHub Repository (accius)
• Original HamClock Source by Clear Sky Institute
• PiSignage Official Documentation
• Docker Compose Specification and Documentation
• Alpine Linux Official Docker Image
• Socat Man Page – Multipurpose Relay Tool
• OpenSSL Official Documentation
• Maidenhead Locator System Overview
• Deep Dive: HamClock on Raspberry Pi
• PiSignage Server Docker Implementation
• Raspberry Pi Kiosk Mode Configuration
• MDN Web Docs: CSS Display Property
• Docker CMD vs Entrypoint Explained
• Understanding Self-Signed SSL Certificates
• ARRL: Understanding Grid Squares
• CSS Attribute Selectors (For Style Injection)
• Docker Container Networking Guide
• Linux Find Command Documentation
• Portainer: Managing Dockerized Signage Stacks
• PiSignage Community Support Forum

Disclaimer:

I love sharing what I’m learning, but please keep in mind that everything I write here—including this post—is just my personal take. These are my own opinions based on my research and my understanding of things at the time I’m writing them. Since life moves way too fast and things change quickly, please use your own best judgment and consult the experts for your specific situations!

Related Posts

Rate this:

I finally got OpenHamClock auto launching on my Raspberry Pi 5, using the kiosk installer from them

Lightdm wouldn't auto login, no matter which setting file I changed, nor what I changed it to

Eventually, out of desperation, I switched to gdm3 and now it's working perfectly as I expected, lol

That was an hour of debugging I wish I had back, lol

#OpenHamClock #HamRadio #Lightdm #RaspberryPi

Ушел из жизни создатель HamClock — все устройства перестанут работать летом 2026 года?

Элвуд Чарльз Дауни (Elwood C. Downey), позывной WB0OEW, скончался 29 января 2026-го. Или, как говорят радиолюбители, стал Silent Key: его телеграфный ключ умолк навсегда. Вместе с этим был запущен обратный отсчет работы HamClock , которым пользуются десятки тысяч радиолюбителей во всем мире. В июне 2026 года все экземпляры приложения на всех платформах полностью прекратят свою работу. А пока оригинальный сервер еще функционирует, давайте вспомним его автора и подумаем, какие альтернативы помогут сохранить HamClock. Ну и обсудим, как так получилось, что решение с открытым исходным кодом может быть закрыто.

https://habr.com/ru/companies/ru_mts/articles/1008534/

#hamclock #WB0OEW #умер_Элвуд_Дауни #silent_key #закрывается_hamclock #openhamclock #альтернативный_сервер_hamclock

Wie hoch ist eigentlich der Bedarf an #OHB?

Wie hoch ist der Bedarf an einem öffentlichen / freien Server? Gibt es schon eine Liste?

Wer ein anderes OHB nutzt: welches?

Wer gern würde, es aber nicht hinkriegt: Woran scheitert es?

Gerne teilen.

#OpenHamClockBackend #HamClock #OpenHamClock

Escaping from the shack between snowstorms

HamClock – or Open Ham Clock?

It was recently announced that the popular HamClock program will cease to function in June 2026 due to the death of its creator. HamClock has been running on an Inovato mini computer in my shack for a long time now. It has given instant access to a wealth of information important to the operation of my home shack. A rescue attempt has been announced that will restore access to the databases HamClock relies on to display its information. I hope that attempt is successful and will follow that project closely.

Meanwhile, there is now a competitor called Open Ham Clock. For the last few days I have been displaying both HamClock and Open Ham Clock on my shack computers and I have to say that I currently find the open version more useful and much more informative than the original. Both programs provide a VOACAP display that provides an instant view of band conditions for a selected “DX” location. In this context “DX” refers to any station or location selected by clicking on the map display, but not necessarily a long distance location.

Have you tried either program; if so what is your opinion? Let me know in the comments.

Life is tough and then it’s winter again

I am not a great fan of winter. I might think differently if I owned a snowmobile and could carry my portable radio gear for miles and miles along the extensive network of trails that cover the area where I live. Unfortunately I do not own such a vehicle and I’m a bit long in the tooth for snowshoeing through the woods wearing a backpack full of gear. Even if I did still have the stamina to get out into the back country in winter it would still be difficult to erect an antenna. Canada’s (literally) billions of evergreen trees have dense brush that catches the snow. Try to launch a wire up into the tree canopy and you can expect a small, cold avalanche to come tumbling down on top of your head. Guying a mast takes a lot of ingenuity because trying to drive stakes into the ground at this time of year requires something like a jack hammer – and that’s if you can even find the ground beneath a couple of feet of icy compressed snow.

But then, sometimes an idea occurs which is borderline genius but, at the same time, very simple. So when I wanted to take advantage of a recent day when the temperature managed to creep above freezing for the first time in weeks, this happened. I carried my Spiderbeam mast out onto my driveway looking for a way to secure it well enough to test an antenna idea. My driveway is regularly plowed and although I haven’t seen the concrete for months, the compressed layer of icy precipitation is sufficiently thin that my 4×4 truck can complete its passage between house and road without difficulty. But the rest of my suburban lot still carries the accumulated snowfall from weeks of winter weather. At the side of my driveway the snow is a couple of feet deep. Would it be firm enough to support my mast I wondered? I decided to find out. I pushed the mast down into the compressed snow and it felt firm enough. It penetrated 19 inches into the snow before meeting a firmer layer. A swift encouragement with my right foot inside a heavy snow boot sealed the hole at the top.

This particular mast is Spiderbeam’s 7 meter (23 feet) model. Would the snow holding less than 2 feet of mast at the bottom be sufficient to support the full extended length? Yes. Not only that but when I used it to support a 40m EFHW wire the mast bowed with the strain of the long wire, yet did not show any sign of dislodging from its nature-supplied support. Success! Maybe winter ain’t so bad after all!

The antenna was a half wavelength long on 40m, with links for 30m and 20m. It allows me to set up the antenna for operation on its fundamental frequency for the 20m, 30m and 40m bands without relying on harmonics, although it does also work on the 2nd harmonic of 40m (i.e. 20m) when operated at its full length. Note that the CW QRP calling frequencies of 7.030 and 14.060 are very conveniently precisely related.

I have used this wire many times for POTA activations but on this occasion I wanted to test the ability of my version of AA5TB’s parallel tuned circuit to find a match on each of the three bands (it did, easily). I also used the occasion to test my newly completed QRP L-match (with binary selectable inductances) to see if that would also find a match on the same three bands. It did, again easily. I’ll be writing more about that project in an upcoming post.

What happened?

I skipped a light Fandango when I received this week’s report from WordPress. Although I don’t fixate on Ham Radio Outside the Box’s visitor numbers, subscriber count etc, something unusual must have happened. In the last 7 days this humble little blog received 5,350 page views which is more than double the regular weekly number. Compared to major websites that statistic may be underwhelming, but for a tiny one person amateur radio hobby blog from the Great White North it’s an achievement. A big thanks to all Ham Radio Outside the Box subscribers and visitors; it is folks like you who make writing this blog so worthwhile.

I don’t want to belabor the point but this is a non-commercial site. Any links in the posts here are not “affiliate links”. I do not solicit or accept financial donations from any source. Amateur radio is my hobby, not a business. Participating in the hobby often costs money – particularly for experimenters like myself. The costs associated with maintaining a domain registration and site hosting fees are just part of the investment in a hobby that carries its own reward through the enjoyment and thrill of communicating with others by radio. We should keep in mind the definition of “Amateur service” from the FCC Part 97 rules (para 97.3, section 4). Note in particular the phrase “without pecuniary interest”.

Amateur service. A radiocommunication service for the purpose of self-training, intercommunication and technical investigations carried out by amateurs, that is, duly authorized persons interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest.

Feedback

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Some spam does still get through but is caught in the spam filter. Unfortunately some genuine comments also occasionally get trapped in the spam filter. If your comment does not appear within 24 hours please let me know by email.

If you prefer to use email to send feedback please ensure to include your callsign or “SWL” if you are not a ham. Many subscribers have cryptic IDs such as “pickledwalnut037az2”. You will be sure to get a reply if I know I am dealing with a real person. Thanks.

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#OpenHamClock hat nun auch eine azimutale Projektion. Leider ist das aktuell noch im Menü des Hintergrunds enthalten und man erhält dann eine sehr langweilige Basiskarte ohne weitere Infos.

Aber immerhin ist damit jetzt auch die Ansicht als "Beamkarte" möglich, sodass die Himmelsrichtungen passen und die eigenen Großkreise gerade sind.

https://openhamclock.com/

OpenHamClock (https://openhamclock.com) tracking grayline conditions for KP5/NP3VI Desecheo Island DXpedition.

#hamradio #amateurradio #DX #OpenHamClock

Finally heard KP5/NP3VI Desecheo Island DXpedition at my station OG7J via grayline propagation on 10m SSB. Had to wait for the right time for a QSO: they use very low TX power (20-30W?).

Running https://webradiocontrol.tech/ for remote and https://openhamclock.com/ to track conditions (an excellent, modern "spin-off" of HamClock).

#hamradio #amateurradio #openhamclock #remote #WebRadioControl #DX

On parle beaucoup de #hamclock et de #openhamclock. Personnellement, j'avais un raspberry pi avec hamclock, mais franchement que dès j'ai appris son existence et que j'ai testé je préfère largement #hamdxmap https://dxmap.f5uii.net/

1st problem, #OpenHamClock does not give me the same count-per-band summary. I intend to fix that soon. 2nd problem, though more annoying, click on a dot on the map that your station reported (heard), & the map shows you YOUR callsign! I mean... insanely un-helpful. I know my callsign.

Much heard lately about #OpenHamClock & I'm quite grateful that someone's making something that can replace the soon-expiring #HamClock However, its author is clearly more on-air than I am. My station is RX FT8 band-hopping 24x7, & my HamClock shows me at a glance what bands are hot HERE.

Viele werden die #HamClock vermissen.

Aber es gibt Alternativen wie beispielsweise diese Webseite. Die Installation ist dann auch einfach einen Browser mit der URL aufzurufen. Das bringt dann im Vollbild oder Kiosk-Modus eine schöne Anzeige auf einem Tablet. Bei vielen Browsern geht das einfach mit F11.

https://openhamclock.com/

#OpenHamClock

OpenHamClock as an alternative to HamClock! Completely new development, and it's being expanded with new features every hour.

I'm excited

it's going to be great!

#hamradio #amateurfunk #openhamclock

You know what they say about closing a door and then opening a window - in this case closing a HamClock and opening an OpenHamClock - looking pretty good!! #hamclock #openhamclock #hamradio