A Debian/Raspberry Pi WSPR decoding and noise level graphing service
This is a large bash script which utilizes kiwirecorder.py and other library and utility commands to record WSPR spots from one or more Kiwis, audio adapters and (for VHF/UHF) RTL-SDRs and reliably post them to wsprnet.org.
Schedules can be configured to switch between bands at different hours of the day, or at sunrise/sunset-relative times.
Signals obtained from multiple receievers on the same band ( e.g a 40M vertical and 500' Beverage ) can be merged together with only the best SNR posted to wsprnet.org.
In addition WD can be configured to, at the same time, create graphs of the background noise level for display on the computer running WD and/or at graphs.wsprnet.org.
WD can run on almost any Debian Linux system and is tested on Stretch and Buster for Raspberry Pi 3 and 4, and Ubuntu 18.04LTS on x86. A Pi 3b can decode 14+ bands, but 14 bands of noise level graphing requires a Pi 4 or x86 server.
I recommend that you create a wsprdaemon user to install and run WD on your system. That user will need sudo access for installation, and and auto sudo permissions is needed if WD is configured to display graphics on the server's own web page.
While logged on as that user:
Download wsprdaemon.sh from this site
cd ~
git clone https://github.com/rrobinett/wsprdaemon.git
cd wsprdaemon
./wsprdaemon.sh -VThis first run of WD will install many, many utilities and libraries, and for some you will be prompted to agree to the insallation. Some/all of them will require sudo permission. I configure wsprdaemon as a member of the sudoers group and thus are never prompted for a password, but your experience may vary.
At then end of a sucessful installation, WD creates a prototype configuration file at ~/wsprdaemon/wsprdaemon.conf. You will need to edit that file to reflect your desired configuration running ./wsprdaemon.sh -V until WD just prints out its's version number. Once confgured, run './wsprdaemon.sh -a' to start the daemon. It will automatically start after a reboot or power cycle.
Stop WD with:
'./wsprdaemon.sh -z'Save away (i.e.rename) your exisiting ~/wsprdaemon directory, including its wsprdaemon.conf file:
mv ~/wsprdaemon/ ~/wsprdaemon.save"Follow the instructions for "Greenfield Installation", but don't end by starting WD with
'./wsprdaemon.sh -a'Copy your saved wsprdaemon.conf file into the directory created by the clone:
cp ~/wsprdaemon.save/wsprdaemon.conf ~/wsprdaemon/"Then start WD with
./wsprdaemon.sh -aExecute 'git pull'
After installtion and configuration is completed, run:
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
~/wsprdaemon/wsprdaemon.sh -a |
Starts WD running as a background linux service which will automatically start after any reboot or power cycle of your server |
~/wsprdaemon/wsprdaemon.sh -z |
Stop any running WD, but it will start again after a reboot/power cycle |
~/wsprdaemon/wsprdaemon.sh -s |
Display the status of the WD service |
~/wsprdaemon/wsprdaemon.sh -h |
Help menu |
Since I have no QA department, installations, especially on non-Pi systems, may encounter problems which I have not seen. However WD has been running for months at many top spotting sites and I hope you find it useful, not frustrating.