I have spent much of the last four years adding radio hardware to the shack. The only computer purchases have been new laptops, the latest being a 2024 M3 MacBook Air. Moving into a new phase of the hobby, it seems prudent to upgrade the shack infrastructure — a new home server, NAS, and upgraded networking — essentially building a home lab: a tech hobby of its own, but one that also supports adventures in various digital aspects of amateur radio, including terrestrial networks, space-based communication, and Digital Amateur TV.

The Home Server

One of the benefits of living in the future is the miniaturization of electronics. Where once a server had to be tower-sized, many smaller options are now available. Since I don’t have a datacenter-sized space to spare and I’m not planning on rack-mounting this hardware, it all needs to fit on a reasonably sized shelf. For the server, I’ve ordered a GEEKOM IT13 Max AI Mini PC with an Intel® Core™ Ultra 9 185H processor. The base configuration includes 16GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage. I may double the memory down the road, but will hold off until DDR5 prices become more reasonable.

By installing Proxmox on the server, I avoid any need to select a single operating system. Proxmox Virtual Environment is a complete open-source platform for virtualization. I’ll spin up VMs and containers as needed, using whatever OS is best for each specific use case.

Network Attached Storage

I’ve never had a NAS at home. I don’t have thousands of home theater movies looking for a place to live, which is the typical use case for friends of mine who own NAS devices. Despite that, I do want as much dense storage as I can afford, accessible on the network. Given the current price of SSDs, USB storage might seem more reasonable — but a USB drive has to be plugged into a computer to be accessed, and I have concerns about bit rot if a drive stays unpowered long enough. So I’m going to add a NAS, though I haven’t ordered the hardware yet. I’m leaning toward a UGREEN NASync DH2300: a 2-bay unit with a Rockchip A72+A53 8-core CPU, 4GB LPDDR4X RAM, 1GbE LAN, and 4K HDMI. Any thoughts?

Network Topology

I’m currently using a WiFi router from Xfinity along with a small 4-port switch, but that’s going to change — I’m eager to quit renting this hardware. A modern router and a speedy multi-port switch will be added soon, though I’ve given this part of the upgrade less thought than anything else. I need to plan and map out my intended network topology before making a good decision, there’s no need to rush here.