A small dashboard that displays propagation conditions with colored LEDs.

Replace the placeholder values in the firmware with the SSID and password of your known wifi network. This makes it so that the microcontroller can connect to a network and access the weather data online.

Assemble the PCB. Components are sized to be possible to hand-solder - A few components are through-hole for ease of hand-soldering.

After assembling the PCB, flash the firmware onto the XIAO ESP32C3 (instructions here).

Connect the ESP32 to a power source via USB-C and turn the power switch ON. The indicator light on the bottom right corner will turn on.

As long as the board is connected to a network and a power source, it will update its data every hour and the indicator lights will change accordingly.

LED indicator lights ordered by general severity:

• Green: Good-Great
• Yellow: Fair
• Orange: Fair-Poor
• Red: Poor

To turn off, turn the power switch OFF then disconnect the board from the power source.

Propagation info like this is like the weather report for radio nerds. It helps determine which bands you should work, or approximately how far your signal will reach.

I initially made it because I wanted a fun useful business card. That idea got a bit out of hand (the thickness and power consumption of this does not make it very suitable to be used as a card), but I ended up with a nice physical dashboard showing useful weather information for amateur radio.

Most existing dashboards are online, so I wanted this to be a physical object separate from tabs or apps on my computer.

The design and build process is documented in detail here. Even though this project was smaller-scale, it involved a lot of trial-and-error.

Thank you Paul N0NBH for the solar-terrestrial data.