The SatNOGS documentation is mess, with bits and bobs spread across multiple places (main site, wiki, forums etc). To enable me to remember how to re-configure if required, here’s the process I followed for an RTL-SDR \u279c Raspberry Pi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
I wanted to share a special thanks to Bali from the Libre Space discussion group for taking the bully by the horns and creating a tutorial offering what the official documentation can’t<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This whole setup is docker based, with only configuration files living directly on the RPi host.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Setting up the RPi<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately even though it runs within docker, the host still needs an old version of Debian, so prepare your SD card with raspios-bookworm. Using the RPi Imager makes it simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To use an RTL-SDR we need to force it not to use the default drivers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Paste the following into \/etc\/modprobe.d\/blacklist-sdr.conf<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Add rtl-sdr.rules<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Setup Docker<\/p>\n\n\n\n Create a directory in your home directory which will hold the station’s configuration. Create the folder with your station ID, so that if you end up with additional stations you just need additional folders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Defining the configuration<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Inside the station folder create station.env<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Note that the SATNOGS_ARTIFACTS_API_TOKEN and SATNOGS_DB_API_TOKEN have the same values. They are used by different docker containers (client and auto-scheduler).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Get the NETWORK_TOKEN from https:\/\/network.satnogs.org\/<\/a>, and the DB_TOKEN from https:\/\/db.satnogs.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Defining Docker-Compose<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Still in the station folder, create docker-compose.yaml<\/em>, and paste the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Creating a priorities file<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The satellite auto-scheduler will automatically schedule satellite passes to monitor. To ensure that the satellites I want to monitor are given preference, I need to create a priorities file containing one satllite per line, with <\/p>\n\n\n\n The priority file should have columns of **NORAD**<\/strong> **priority**<\/strong> **UUID**<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A comment may be added to the end of the line for human reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Information is available from the SatNOGS database<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<code>blacklist rtl2832_sdr\nblacklist dvb_usb_rtl28xxu\nblacklist rtl2832\nblacklist airspy\nblacklist hackrf\nblacklist msi001\nblacklist msi2500<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
<code>wget https:\/\/raw.githubusercontent.com\/rtlsdrblog\/rtl-sdr-blog\/refs\/heads\/master\/rtl-sdr.rules\nsudo mv .\/rtl-sdr.rules \/etc\/udev\/rules.d\/\nsudo chown root: \/etc\/udev\/rules.d\/rtl-sdr.rules<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
<code>sudo apt update\nsudo apt install docker-compose docker.io<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
<code>mkdir ~\/station4938\ncd ~\/station4938<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
<code>SATNOGS_API_TOKEN=<NETWORK_TOKEN>\nSATNOGS_ARTIFACTS_API_TOKEN=<DB_TOKEN>\nSATNOGS_DB_API_TOKEN=<DB_TOKEN>\nSATNOGS_STATION_ELEV=0\nSATNOGS_STATION_ID=4938\nSATNOGS_STATION_LAT=-43.02166\nSATNOGS_STATION_LON=147.29000\nSATNOGS_ARTIFACTS_ENABLED=True\nSATNOGS_SOAPY_RX_DEVICE=driver=rtlsdr\nSATNOGS_ANTENNA=RX\nSATNOGS_LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG\n#SATNOGS_LOG_LEVEL=INFO\n\nSATNOGS_RX_SAMP_RATE=2.048e6\n#Supported gain values: 0.0 0.9 1.4 2.7 3.7 7.7 8.7 12.5 14.4 15.7 16.6 19.7 20.7 22.9 25.4 28.0 29.7 32.8 33.8 36.4 37.2 38.6 40.2 42.1 43.4 43.9 44.5 48.0 49.6\nSATNOGS_RF_GAIN=15.7\nSATNOGS_PPM_ERROR=0\n\nGR_SATELLITES_ENABLED=true\nGR_SATELLITES_APP=gr_satellites\nGR_SATELLITES_KEEPLOGS=true\n\nUDP_DUMP_HOST=0.0.0.0\n\nAUTO_SCHEDULER_EXTRA=-P \/var\/lib\/satnogs-client\/priority.txt -d 1.5 -m 5<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
<code>version: '3.8'\nservices:\n\n rigctld:\n image: librespace\/hamlib:latest\n user: '500'\n read_only: true\n environment:\n MODEL: '1'\n PORT: '4532'\n restart: 'unless-stopped'\n command: 'rigctld'\n\n satnogs_client:\n image: librespace\/satnogs-client:master-unstable\n user: '500'\n read_only: true\n init: true\n env_file:\n - .\/station.env\n environment:\n SATNOGS_RIG_IP: 'rigctld'\n SATNOGS_RIG_PORT: '4532'\n command: 'satnogs-client'\n device_cgroup_rules:\n - 'c 189:* rwm'\n devices:\n - '\/dev\/bus\/usb'\n volumes:\n - type: 'tmpfs'\n target: '\/tmp'\n - type: 'volume'\n source: 'satnogs-client-latest'\n target: '\/var\/lib\/satnogs-client'\n restart: 'unless-stopped'\n stop_grace_period: 1s\n\n auto-scheduler:\n image: librespace\/satnogs-auto-scheduler:0.4 # stable\n # image: librespace\/satnogs-auto-scheduler:master # latest\n user: '500'\n command: 'bash -c "while true; do sleep 30; schedule_single_station -s $$SATNOGS_STATION_ID $$AUTO_SCHEDULER_EXTRA -l INFO > \/var\/lib\/satnogs-client\/.cache\/auto-scheduler\/last_schedule.log 2>&1; sleep 3600; done"'\n read_only: true\n env_file:\n - .\/station.env\n environment:\n CACHE_DIR: '\/var\/lib\/satnogs-client\/.cache\/auto-scheduler'\n depends_on:\n - satnogs_client\n volumes:\n - type: 'tmpfs'\n target: '\/tmp'\n - type: 'volume'\n source: 'satnogs-client-latest'\n target: '\/var\/lib\/satnogs-client'\n restart: unless-stopped # du not use with exiting client as this will just loop\n stop_grace_period: 1s\n\nvolumes:\n satnogs-client-latest:<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n