Dockerfile and systemd script for running an APRS IGate (via Direwolf) on a RaspberryPi with an attached RTL-SDR dongle.
I've tested this on a RaspberryPi 3, but it only takes < 20% CPU so I bet it runs on any RaspberryPi.
Make sure you have Docker installed on the RaspberryPi. You probably want to run
curl -sSL https://get.docker.com | sh
After that, you can easily run the version I have in Docker Hub (no need to even clone this repo). Replace YOURCALLHERE with your HAM callsign (e.g. mine is KK6GIP) and YOURPASSWORDHERE with your APRS password (generate one here) in the below command.
docker pull johnboiles/pi-rtlsdr-igate
docker run --privileged -e MYCALL=YOURCALLHERE -e APRS_PASSWORD=YOURPASSWORDHERE -it
You now have a functioning IGate on your RaspberryPi! If you also want to send a beacon with the position of your IGate you can pass a latitude and longitude via environment variables.
docker run --privileged -e MYCALL=YOURCALLHERE -e APRS_PASSWORD=YOURPASSWORDHERE -e LATITUDE=30.1234 -e LONGITUDE=-90.1234 -e COMMENT="RaspberryPi + RTL-SDR + Direwolf" -it johnboiles/pi-rtlsdr-igate
OR you can use a connected NMEA GPS to send position packets by setting the NMEA_GPS environment variable
docker run --privileged -e MYCALL=YOURCALLHERE -e APRS_PASSWORD=YOURPASSWORDHERE -e NMEA_GPS=/dev/ttyACM0 -e COMMENT="RaspberryPi + RTL-SDR + Direwolf" -it johnboiles/pi-rtlsdr-igate
OR you can use a running gpsd instance by setting the GPSD_HOST (and optional GPSD_PORT) environment variables. You can use dockerhost to point back to the host machine. Note that you must use --net=host to access gpsd at localhost.
docker run --privileged -e MYCALL=YOURCALLHERE -e APRS_PASSWORD=YOURPASSWORDHERE -e GPSD_HOST=localhost --net=host -e COMMENT="RaspberryPi + RTL-SDR + Direwolf" -it johnboiles/pi-rtlsdr-igate
I've also included a systemd script which makes it easy to have the RaspberryPi start the IGate. To use it copy the systemd file to the appropriate location.
sudo cp docker-igate.service.example /etc/systemd/system/docker-igate.service
Then edit the file to reflect your callsign, APRS password and (optionally) location.
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/docker-igate.service
Now start the service for the first time
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start docker-igate
Make sure it's running with docker ps and systemctl status
docker ps
sudo systemctl status docker-igate
Then optionally tell systemd to start the service at boot
sudo systemctl enable docker-igate
You can see logs from the container by running
docker logs -f docker-igate
This is mostly for my own reference. But you might want to run a variation of this command if you fork the Dockerfile and want to push it to Docker Hub (replace the docker hub repo with your repo).
docker build . --tag "johnboiles/pi-rtlsdr-igate:latest"
docker push johnboiles/pi-rtlsdr-igate:latest
- Configure logging in a smarter way, probably in the systemd script (right now all logs from the Docker container go to
/var/log/syslog)