I’ve written before about the Digirig as the interface I reach for on the FT-891 and G90 for digital modes, but it’s not the only option on the market. The DRAWS board and a handful of other interfaces take a different approach worth knowing about, especially if your setup goals go beyond a simple laptop-and-radio digital station.
What the Digirig does well
The Digirig is small, cheap, and simple: a USB sound card and CAT/PTT interface in one compact unit that works with practically any radio and any computer. That simplicity is exactly its appeal, and for a laptop-based digital mode station, it’s hard to beat on price and ease of setup.
DRAWS: built for Raspberry Pi and Winlink go-kits
The DRAWS board is a hardware attached on top (HAT) designed specifically to sit on a Raspberry Pi, combining sound card, GPIO-based PTT control, and even GPS input in one integrated board rather than a collection of separate USB peripherals. That makes it a natural fit for a dedicated, headless Winlink or APRS go-kit built around a Pi rather than a full laptop, trading the Digirig’s radio-agnostic simplicity for tighter integration into a Pi-based build.
Choosing between them
If your digital station is a laptop sitting next to your radio for FT8, Winlink, or general digital mode work, the Digirig remains the simpler and cheaper choice. If you’re building a dedicated, low-power, headless digital station around a Raspberry Pi, maybe for an off-grid Winlink gateway or a permanent APRS igate, the DRAWS board’s tighter Pi integration is worth the extra complexity. Both are solid choices, they’re just built for genuinely different projects.
Related reading: Log4OM and DXKeeper · Ham Radio Apps Worth Having on Your Phone · Setting Up Winlink: RMS Express, VARA