diff --git a/content/posts/configuring_aprs.md b/content/posts/configuring_aprs.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ae54e41 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/posts/configuring_aprs.md @@ -0,0 +1,46 @@ ++++ +title = "Configuring an APRS receiver with an RTL-SDR and Direwolf" +tags = ["aprs", "amateur radio", "vhf", "direwolf"] +date = "2021-12-16" ++++ + +What is APRS? Automatic Packet Reporting System! Essentially a VHF radio sending out GPS location pings in the 2M ham band which can be seen at [aprs.fi](https://aprs.fi/). If you take a look at that link you will often see radiosondes and their reported data, weather stations as well as bunch of amateur operators transmitting data all over the world. Fascinating stuff. + +I recently got my hands on an RTL-SDR v3 which claims much better accuracy and performance over previous models. Figured I'd give it a go receiving APRS and see what I could get. I did a bit of research and tested a few different packages but ended up settling with [Direwolf](https://github.com/wb2osz/direwolf). For those interested, I'm running this on an Ubuntu 20.04 LXC container with USB passthrough for the SDR itself. + +Here is a run through of installing/configuring an APRS feeder with an SDR and Direwolf. +```shell +# Install required packages +apt-get install rtl-sdr direwolf +``` + +My `sdr.conf` file for reference with callsign and location blanked out. +```shell +root@aprs:~# cat /root/sdr.conf +ACHANNELS 1 +ADEVICE null null +CHANNEL 0 + +MYCALL -10 +IGSERVER aunz.aprs2.net +IGLOGIN 23018 + +MODEM 1200 +AGWPORT 8000 +KISSPORT 8001 + +PBEACON sendto=IG delay=0:30 every=10:00 symbol="/-" lat=-12.3456 long=12.3456 alt=in_meter comment="RTLSDR" +``` + +This is my `run.sh` script I currently launch in `screen` until I can get around to setting up a systemd service. +It simply gets the output from the APRS frequency and pipes it into direwolf launched with our above `sdr.conf` config. + +```shell +#!/bin/bash + +# -f 144.575M Tunes to 144.575 Mhz +# -g 20.7 is the gain value, rtl_test to view available options + +rtl_fm -f 144.575M -s 22050 -g 20.7 | direwolf -c /root/sdr.conf -r 22050 -D 1 -B 1200 - +``` +If you set up the LONG/LAT coords properly, you should be able to view your home station on [aprs.fi](https://aprs.fi/)! \ No newline at end of file