HAMORA Bridge for macOS

HAMORA Bridge 0.5 only reads: it reads your radio’s frequency, mode and meters, listens to WSJT-X, and receives the APRS your radio hears. It doesn’t transmit or change your radio.

• macOS 13 or later.
• Python 3.11 or newer, from python.org or Homebrew. Today’s package needs it; the published package’s requirements will be confirmed on this page.
• For your radio: Hamlib, installed with Homebrew, a radio Hamlib supports and its USB cable.
• Your phone and the Mac on the same network.
• Optional: WSJT-X for FT8 and FT4, and Dire Wolf with a receiver and a sound interface for APRS RF.

For the free programs HAMORA Bridge works with, see Compatibility.

1. Install Python and Hamlib

   Install Python 3.11 or newer from python.org (or Homebrew). For your radio, install Hamlib with Homebrew:

   brew install hamlib

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2. Open the installer package

   Download the HAMORA Bridge installer package (.pkg) from this page, check its checksum (see Verifying your download), then open it and follow the steps.

3. What it installs

   HAMORA Bridge, and HAMORA Bridge Setup in Applications. HAMORA Bridge starts when the Mac starts, before anyone logs in, and keeps running after a restart. Your settings and paired phones are kept in your user’s Library, under Application Support.

4. Open the setup page

   Open HAMORA Bridge Setup from Applications. It shows a 6-digit setup code and opens the setup page at http://localhost:8765/.

5. Allow incoming connections

   The first time HAMORA Bridge listens, macOS may ask whether Python may accept incoming network connections. Choose Allow, or your phone will find HAMORA Bridge but can’t connect. You can change it later in System Settings → Network → Firewall.

Running, updating and removing

1. A new setup code

   Open HAMORA Bridge Setup from Applications again. Or, in HAMORA, More → HAMORA Bridge → Open HAMORA Bridge Setup.

2. Updating

   Open the newer package: your settings and paired phones are kept. HAMORA Bridge doesn’t update itself.

After installing, everything happens on HAMORA Bridge’s setup page, in a browser. HAMORA Bridge serves it itself, on your own network: no HAMORA account and no internet are needed. The first visit opens a guided setup in five steps. Everything technical, such as Hamlib models, serial speeds and ports, waits under Advanced, and a normal setup never needs it.

1. Station computer

   Give your station a name, such as “Shack”.

2. Detect radio

   Plug in your radio’s USB cable and turn the radio on. The page shows what it found, such as “Possible radio: Icom IC-7300”. Press Test Radio; when it shows your frequency and mode, press Use This Radio. If Hamlib’s rigctld already runs on the computer, choose Use it. No radio yet? Press Next and add it later.

3. Station software

   WSJT-X appears by itself when it sends to HAMORA Bridge; otherwise the page shows the two settings to type into WSJT-X. Dire Wolf on the same computer is found by itself. Both are optional.

4. Pair HAMORA

   Press Pair HAMORA. Scan the QR code with your phone’s camera, which opens HAMORA, or in HAMORA open More→HAMORA Bridge and type the 6-digit code.

5. Ready

   A last check of everything. Press Finish.

Pairing by QR code or 6-digit code

Only phones you pair can see your station. A pairing code is 6 digits, works once and expires after 10 minutes. HAMORA shows HAMORA Bridge’s address to compare with the page before you confirm. Each phone gets its own pairing, kept in the phone’s secure storage, and you can remove any phone at any time: in HAMORA, or on the setup page under Devices.

Check Station

The setup page shows HAMORA Bridge’s health: Ready, Needs setup or Needs attention. Check Station tests the whole chain and lists each part with what to do, for example “Radio · Not responding — check that the radio is on and its USB cable is connected”. Optional things that are off, such as WSJT-X or MQTT, never count as problems. In HAMORA, More→HAMORA Bridge shows the same health.

For support, Advanced → Download diagnostics saves a file with HAMORA Bridge’s version, settings and recent log. It never contains passwords, codes, tokens or radio traffic.

More in the HAMORA Bridge guide.

• Only a package signed and notarized by Apple will be published. Never bypass Gatekeeper to install HAMORA Bridge.
• If HAMORA Bridge works on the Mac but your phone can’t reach it, check the firewall setting for the Python that runs HAMORA Bridge: connections from the same Mac are never blocked.
• Today’s package carries HAMORA Bridge’s parts for one Python version. With a different Python, the installer downloads them, so keep the Mac online while it installs.
• For APRS RF, Dire Wolf installs with Homebrew (brew install direwolf).
• HAMORA hasn’t been tested with physical radios yet, so no radio model is listed as supported. See Compatibility.
• Keep HAMORA Bridge on your own network. Never forward its port (8765) on your router.

A checksum shows that the file you downloaded is exactly the file HAMORA published, unchanged on the way. Each release on this page is published with the SHA-256 checksum of every file, next to the file.

1. Work out the file’s checksum

   In Terminal:

   shasum -a 256 ~/Downloads/<file name>

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   Replace <file name> with the name of the file you downloaded.

2. Compare it with the published checksum

   It prints a long string of letters and digits. It must match the SHA-256 published here for that file exactly. If it doesn’t, don’t open the file: delete it and download it again from this page.

Published checksums

Checking on another computer

If you download the file on a different computer, check it there before copying it:

• On Linux or a Raspberry Pi, in a terminal: sha256sum <file name>
• On Windows, in PowerShell: Get-FileHash .\<file name> -Algorithm SHA256