This guide assumes you have the absolute basic understanding of how to use SSH (Secure Shell) which is the layer used to interact with the command line of a Linux based system. It is important that you read all of the steps, even if you think they may not apply to you, it will save you some headaches down the road. Trust us on this one.
This guide will help you set up a NOAA Automatic Picture Transmission (APT) receiver using a Raspberry Pi 4, including optional Power over Ethernet (PoE) HAT integration and the use of a SAWbird+ NOAA filter for optimal performance. Due to recent advancements in the script, you can use a desktop computer you have laying around, but for our example we are just going to use a Raspberry Pi 4 – 8GB Model.
For this tutorial, we’re going to use a software library called Raspberry-NOAA written in Ansible, an automation programming language. You don’t need to know this programming language, as the scripts take care of all of this for you, but this information will help you if you are a more advanced user and want to adjust this to your own liking.
Optional Supplies
* These can vary depending on how fancy you want to make your receiver.
Note: If you are considering the CanaKit above, take note that it is not designed to work with the POE Hat. While some POE hats may fit, or be marketed or as low profile, this does not mean it will be compatible with your case.
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Step 1: Prepare the MicroSD Card
- Download Raspberry Pi OS Imager.
- Use Raspberry Pi Imager to write the OS image to the MicroSD card.
- Before writing the image, click on the Advanced Settings button (gear icon) to configure the following:
- Set the hostname (e.g., noaa-apt).
- Enable SSH.
- Set a username and password for easier access.
- Configure Wi-Fi if using a wireless connection, if using Wi-Fi.
- Set the locale and time zone.
Step 2: Initial Raspberry Pi Setup
- Insert the MicroSD card, connect the SDR dongle and antenna, and power on the Raspberry Pi. It will take about 5 minutes for the Raspberry Pi to perform it’s first boot sequence of events, such as resizing the SD Card filesystem, and installing necessary packages. So don’t get discouraged if you can’t connect to it right away.
- Find the Raspberry Pi’s IP address and SSH into it, if you set a custom username in Step 1, use that instead of Pi. We’ll assume you left it as default, which is ‘pi’, we recommend using PuTTY as your SSH program, it can be downloaded and installed from here, just select the appropriate one for your system type.
- Once you are logged in, update the system and reboot:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade -y
sudo apt-get install wget curl nano git -y
sudo reboot
Step 3: Install Raspberry-NOAA V2
- Clone the repository:
cd ~
git clone https://github.com/jekhokie/raspberry-noaa-v2.git
- Navigate to the configuration directory:
cd ~/raspberry-noaa-v2
- Edit settings.yml:
sudo nano config/settings.yml
- Set your location:
latitude: 0.0
longitude: 0.0
altitude: 0.0
Replace 0.0 with your actual latitude, longitude, and altitude in meters. If you do not know this information off hand, a great tool to use is LatLong.net, simply type in your address and move the pin to the location of your antenna, and for your altitude, you can use WhatIsMyElevation.com just be sure to change the output to meters, as it defaults to imperial feet, then just copy and paste the correct information to the corresponding values in the settings.yml file.
- Set the correct time zone (if you didn’t set one before), for us we are in the Eastern Zone, so New York will work just fine, a list can be found here:
timezone: America/New_York
- Change the admin username and password (found towards the bottom of settings.yml) to something you will remember, to keep unwanted users from accessing the administrative side:
admin_username: 'gigabytegrove'
admin_password: 'SecurePassword123'
These are obviously not ours, just an example for how to configure yours.
Step 4: Enable BIAS-TEE (If Using an LNA)
If using a SAWbird+ NOAA or another amplifier, enable BIAS-TEE in settings.yml (if your SDR supports it), each satellite has a definition for it, so make sure you check each one:
noaa_15_enable_bias_tee: true
noaa_18_enable_bias_tee: true
noaa_19_enable_bias_tee: true
meteor_m2_3_enable_bias_tee: true
meteor_m2_4_enable_bias_tee: true
If your SDR does not support BIAS-TEE, power the LNA externally using a micro USB cable. Make sure that you are not powering the LNA over both, as you could do damage to your LNA.
Step 5: Install and Start the Software
Once all of the changes are made, run the installation script to apply the changes. NOTE: When running install_and_upgrade.sh, do not run with SUDO permissions, the script will throw a fit and fail to run:
cd ~/raspberry-noaa-v2
./install_and_upgrade.sh
Step 6: Access the Web Interface
Once installation is complete, open your favorite web browser and visit:
http://<Raspberry_Pi_IP_Address>
To manage your data and upcoming passes, click Admin at the top, otherwise feel free to look around and get ready for your first pass.
Important Note:
Explore the settings.yml file, and see how your changes affect the system. However, if you decide to make changes later to your settings.yml file, you will need to run the installation script again to apply them. At this time Raspberry-NOAA does not automatically change the configuration when you edit the settings.yml file. It’s a quick and easy command though, just run the following:
cd ~/raspberry-noaa-v2
./install_and_upgrade.sh
As a reminder, when running install_and_upgrade.sh, do not run with sudo permissions, the script will throw a fit and fail to run, you just need to allow the script to update the configuration. If you run into any issues doing this, the Github Page has a lot of great troubleshooting information and provides some insight into other things you can enable or try to get the most out of this setup.
Why a POE Hat? What is it?
A POE or Power-Over-Ethernet hat is a device you can attach to a Raspberry Pi to extend it’s usability. Think of it as an attachment for a vacuum. The different attachments allow you to get into those hard-to-reach areas. A Raspberry Pi hat essentially allows the same convenience.
The reason we’re recommending a POE hat specifically is that if you choose to install your receiver somewhere not close to a power outlet, you can use a special type of network switch called a Power Over Ethernet Switch, like this one from TP-Link, to power your Raspberry Pi, effectively limiting the amount of wiring going to and from your device, resulting in a cleaner installation and final product. Your ethernet cable is also your power cable.
It is by no means a requirement, it’s more a “nice to have” option.
