| Topic | Introduction to OpenHamClock |
| Subtopic | Deciding how you want to run OpenHamClock |
| Equipment Required | Computer + Internet |
| Costs | None to just run it in a browser |
| Document last reviewed and updated (reviewed each year) | 12th March 2026 |
Introduction
First of all, and most importantly, sincere condolences to the family and friends of Elwood Downey’s (WB0OEW – SK), author of HamClock. With his passing, the original HamClock was originally slated be EOL by June 2026, however please note the community have been hard at work implementing backend servers working from the frontend code backwards. Whilst the front end was open source, it relied heavily on the backend servers that Elwood hosted, and it is this backend code, design and services that the community does not have access to, and is original servers will be discontinued in June 2026.
One of the reasons I liked the look of OpenHamClock for the longer term is that it does not rely on a third-party server collecting the feeds.This project allows your to run a light-weight server on your local network and the code is opensource. Like HamClock it still relies a on many feeds, but these can be modified as they change, discontinue, require updaing over the years. You could even create your own feed e.g. a local DX Cluster and point OpenHamClock to that.
On the other side of the coin, the developers of OpenHamClock have taken the opportunity to re-imagine the the aging product and called it OpenHamClock with a few key features :
- Dynamic Screen sizing instead of a few static sizes (allowing more panels) and higher resolution.
- More feeds with the latest services and feeds (e.g. DXcluster, PSK Reporter, Earthquakes, Tornados, band/mode filters etc)
- Improved Panel rotation and what panels are rotated and how long per panel
- Improved connectivity to your rig, allowing you to click on frequencies on the screen, and instant change your Radio VFO
- Ability to run the server locally, reducing the reliance on external servers, but also provide local connectivity to my logging software, or other tools such as WSJT-X that support UDP Connectivity, and connectivity to Hamlib/Rigctl.
- OpenSource code allowing changes to feeds in a few years as feeds change
- These are just a few, the list goes on and one, and is being very actively developed (currently new releases and updates each week).
Now my prime interest was getting OpenHamClock to provide the same architectural design and functionality as HamClock. Now what this means is that I have a separate monitor in my shack that I turn on when I come into the shack, which provides all the basics which include Local Time / UTC Time, DE weather and DX Weather, as well as SOTA spots, etc. This provides a heads up on propogation, Maximum Usable Frequency, etc etc.
So my initial interest was whether a Raspberry PI 4 with 1Gb or 2Gb, could support OpenHamClock Server running on it, as well as a Browser page pointing to itself (Localhost), or whether I needed a NUC style computer with a little more memory and grunt.
So this article is about this journey, providing some more detail than some of these “First on Youtube” videos with little indepth content, or invariably only one way of implementing it. I won’t profess to have all answers or tried all the inteface methods or know the product backwards. It’s taken long enough to write this article, along with all the testing. I can guarantee that each method has been written and tested at least two times if not more. The idea is to provide you with a working, stable instruction, allowing you to perform the next stage of testing, interfacing, discovery of what OpenHamClock can do for you.
The Multiple Ways of Implementing OpenHamClock
There are multiple ways of implementing OpenHamClock, and even though I have tried to cover a few of them, depending on your shack, layout, equipment available, you probably come up with many more.
I will cover four ways of implementing OpenHamClock, and again it does not cover all the ways, but it will provide the general outline of ways to implement it, but also ways that have been used and tested.
Openhamclock.com – No hardware required – using just the website
This is by far the simplest way to get a feel for OpenHamClock without building a thing.
This allows you to configure, adjust, and utilise most of product to get a feel and basic understanding of the application. I say most as there are a few panels that rely on local connectivity.
You may decide this is all you want or need. Any settings you change or update, are stored in browser storage when using this site. To start using this site, open your favourite browser (I use Chrome or Firefox) and point it to https://openhamclock.com
I would encourage you to look around OpenHamClock, trying everything. Some items will be clearly apparent, some by trial and error and others you might need to look on the web for answers. Remember this project is still new, being actively developed and changed, and documentation is limited. You may find the project’s github site https://github.com/accius/openhamclock useful for some information, especially new features etc.
If you turn on dockable panels in the settings, you can move panels round, ungroup panels, have the panels rotate from foreground to background on the times you decide (which is something I really like). If you want your SOTA panel to be visible at all times, whilst other panels rotate every 15 seconds (configurable), you have that option. So be aware, that you don’t just have 5 or 6 panels as you can see visually in the screenshot. There are 12 side panels active on the screen in the image above. You can make them larger, smaller, remove them. You decide what you need for the way you operate, and the information you need at your finger tips.
What are the advantages of just running it in a browser on your local PC?
- No dedicated hardware required.
- Minimal time to get up and running.
- If you run a Station PC just for your logging, or WSJT-X or other apps, generally very simple to add another monitor, and leave OpenHamClock running on it.
- Some local interface applications have been released by OpenHamClock developers allowing for local interfacing to WSJT-X and Hamlib etc.
- As it runs in the browser, it can be run on a Windows PC/Linux PC/Mac, and from what I have seen, but not tested is that the local interface tools will work on the same operating systems.
What are the disadvantages?
- You are reliant on OpenHamClock being online
- Some interfacing options may not be available now or in the future (as new feeds/interfaces are thought up).
- If you want to have a central repository of your settings / panels / sizing /etc you need to use a local server.
- Security (although I notice that they have done a recent heavy round of security hardening of the application), so you may need to do some work on hardening your device.
Please don’t get me wrong, I am not discouraging you from taking the easy option, as it may be all you need for now and it appears the developers are trying to provide as much functionality with the openhamclock.com website as they can.
You might wonder why I have produced these build articles, and one of reasons is self-education, the other is that whilst pre-compiled images are great, updating, adding other applications, making modifications, you will always come up with issues, because the original image does not have some libraries you needed, or you end up in dependency hell, or break the whole thing, as you didn’t fully understand the construction from the beginning.
I am completing the many builds as quickly as I can and testing each one several times over from start to finish based on the article published.
Articles completed so far are, and I have linked them in case your search results land you on a different page as some of these other articles may be more of what you are looking for.
