APRS I-Gate and Digipeater with Baofeng and RTL-SDR

Link to Powerpoint:

You can buy the Raspi kit here:

Buy the RTL-SDR kit here:

What you need:
Baofeng:
RaspberryPI:
Audio Cable:
RTL-SDR Kit:

Get your Lat/Long here:

N1AAE article:

LatLong Website:

Get your Passcode here:

This is a detailed video tutorail on setting up a raspberry pi, a baofeng, and an RTL-SDR to setup an APRS IGate and Digipeater.

Commands used to install Direwolf:
sudo apt-get remove --purge pulseaudio
sudo apt-get autoremove
rm -rf /home/pi/.pulse
sudo reboot
sudo apt-get install libasound2-dev
cd ~
cd direwolf
make
sudo make install
make install-conf
make install-rpi

Commands used to install RTLSDR:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cmake build-essential libusb-1.0-0-dev
cd ~
cd rtl-sdr
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ../ -DINSTALL_UDEV_RULES=ON -DDETACH_KERNEL_DRIVER=ON
make
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig

Link to my build video:
Make sure to check out my blog, and shop over at:
⚡ Join the ModernHams Discord: ⚡

➡️Join this channel to get access to perks⬅️

[austincarroll]

Good walk through. I’ll be using this as a resource this weekend as I attempt to setup an Igate with the raspberry pi. I have ZERO computer skills, so it’ll be interesting. Thanks for the inspiration

[carlosfelix]

Been looking for *THIS* exact thing for about 2 months. Thanks, I have my quarantine project ready now.

[hawksnake]

I just finished setting up an Igate digipeater using this guide and it worked great. Heads up, there is a new version of direwolf (1.6) that has a couple more steps to install. This was a really fun project for me having little Linux experience and got me comfortable using raspberry pi. Also you can make this more reliable by adding the command TXDELAY 200 underneath the audio channel line for you baofeng. TXDELAY in direwolf gives a preamble to your packets to open the VOX slightly before the packet begins to give your radio a moment to catch up.

[wesyjam]

When you threw on the glasses, things got real big brain 😎

[andrewhamop]

Just an FYI, you may need to install git before you try and download Direwolf :sudo apt install git

[bthemedia]

@4:20 holy loud click keyboard ⌨️ Batman! That’s a loud keyboard, hope you didn’t hurt it with the key strikes! 🤛😆

[bigladstw]

Excellent stuff. I managed to get this up and running very quickly thanks to this video.

[markr]

The sound of you pounding away on that keyboard is the loudest thing in this video

[andrewhamop]

Thank you for reposting the download link! I am setting mine up right now, so I can use APRS on my new FT3DR without fear of how I am holding it hahaha. 73 de W8IJC

[flukesmith]

The problem with using a Baofeng is that the carrier is kept open for a couple of seconds after digipeating. I have verified this with 3 of them and the ham community does not appreciate it. Direwolf in Windows works with a Signal Link beautifully with the Baofeng cable and a battery eliminator; use this for both receive and transmit.

[AmericanZ]

Great video, but I couldn't get Direwolf to install using the commands you listed. Any chance you can post an updated PowerPoint?

[Dj_Latinman]

great video to be 3yrs old. im having many issues following your steps. is it possible to create a new video on the set up

[LanceSheppard]

This may be a dumb question, sorry in advance. I'm new, can direwolf communicate with other aprs systems? I just did the HamPi build. I appreciate your video, thank you.

[jmatonis]

Think I will try this next week. Need some APRS where I live. Thank you for sharing.

[rstrings]

Wow! I'm definitely a nerd, LOL...this really excites me. Thanks so much for making this!!

[njhubert]

Thanks for the video. It was complete and informative. The only issue I am having is I ssh into a headless pi, run the program, but when my main computer sleeps it drops connection and the program terminates. Any thoughts on running the program as a daemon to keep it active?

[CliffR]

You do know that you don't need to hide that passcode for APRS. Anyone can go to that site (or a few others), type your callsign and get the same passcode. Just FYI

[lifeimitating]

Top video, thank you for posting it... I've got all the bits, just waiting on my call sign to be issued. Cheers.

[hellfireglass]

Hey, just a suggestion. Why use the RTL-SDR? I have two raspberry pi digipeters running direwolf that just use a baofeng radio to receive and transmit. all that I did is make a cable thats connected to a usb sound card and a relay for the PTT and Bam bob’s your aunt. I tried VOX the first week and found that VOX is a sloppy way of transmitting and most transmissions were unintelligible. Using a IO pin to control the PTT on the ht will allow you to transmit complete packets. Direwolf is a solid program but when other programs are running on the pi it tends to crash so keeping it simple has payed off for me. I have one digipeter that has not been restarted in 18 months. All I’m saying is ditch the RTL and use soldering iron.

[azazer]

Hey cool project, do you need a license for it, technically you're transmitting stuff?