While surfing the Internet, I read about the new Geochron® Digital 4K . Before the Internet, this was the only way to see the Sunrise and Sunset on Earth in real-time and in sync with the Earth’s 23.4 degree axial tilt against the Sun. I searched to see if somebody had developed a similar system that would run off a local computer. What I found was a World Sun Clock , developed and described by Wesley, N2WES. It was an inexpensive alternative to the commercial model and was operated by a Raspberry Pi.
Raspberry PI World Sun Clock
An easy new project for the shack was immediately started using a spare LCD monitor and a Raspberry Pi. Following Wesley’s information on the website, and some additional programming tools, I had my own World Sun Clock operating in about an hour. A future modification build will have the Raspberry Pi housed inside the monitor, where it can run independently using the monitor power supply. This project makes a nice addition to the shack and helps find a use for an old monitor.
After the Raspberry Pi OS change from ‘Stretch’ to ‘Buster’, many file attributes changed, making the original instructions obsolete. Thanks to KD7CAO’s time and efforts, corrections to the instructions have been updated. Additionally, some of the software resources have been updated to reflect the most current files.
Thanks to Rich McGee, KY6O, who noted an anomaly in the upgraded Raspberry Pi OS, the programming notes have been updated to correct it. Programming notes for the RPI World Sun Clock may be downloaded here.
