The Radio Ingress Project ========================= Are you interested in the world of radio, the invisible signals going on all around you? Studying for an amateur radio licence is a great way to learn and discover more, but there's a whole world of things you can do **without** a licence. .. note:: I'm in England, where (roughly speaking) as a hobbyist you can own and operate whatever (**receiving**) equipment you like without any kind of licence, so long as you're not "snooping" (intercepting private/confidential communications, trying to decrypt things you shouldn't, etc.). This is generally the case for many parts of the US and Europe (but not everywhere) so please be mindful of your local jurisdiction's rules. Here's a selection of projects covering a range of topics, from tracking aircraft overhead to decoding weather satellite images, with a focus on being fairly inexpensive and easy to get started with, while offering a whole world of depth if you want to explore further. You can spend a bunch of time diving into each of them without ever getting an amateur radio licence, but you'll find the knowledge and experience valuable both ways if you choose to go further. Projects -------- Challenge Level: Low ++++++++++++++++++++ Find amateurs in your area with the Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) ............................................................................ APRS is an amateur radio-based system for reporting information such as location, weather data, and more. This is commonly ingested into the APRS Internet System (APRS-IS) by internet-connected receivers called "IGates". aprs.fi (https://aprs.fi/) is a web service for viewing APRS-IS data. Go see what's in your local area - you might be surprised! If you have a radio that works on the 2m band, you can set up and run your own IGate. See example guides like: * `Easy APRS iGate and Digipeater Setup with Direwolf. - TheModernHam `__ * `An guide to setting up an APRS receive (RX) only iGate using a pre-built image on a Raspberry Pi and an RTL-SDR dongle - QSO365 `__ * `How to configure an APRS IGate with a Raspberry Pi - Opensource.com `__ .. raw:: html Screenshot of aprs.fi See what's in the sky above you with an Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) receiver ................................................................................................... Aircraft broadcast their position, altitude, and identification information through a system called ADS-B. Sites like https://globe.adsbexchange.com/ aggregate and display this. You can build your own receiver relatively cheaply and simply that will feed data to these networks, while also giving you a local web interface you can use to see what's around you. See https://www.flightaware.com/adsb/piaware/build for more detail. .. raw:: html Screenshot of PiAware Hear common radio communications around you with rtl_433 ........................................................ The ISM bands are sections of the radio spectrum commonly used by short-range low-power wireless communication systems - everything from weather stations, tyre pressure management systems, wireless doorbells, remote control switches, and more. `rtl_433 `__ is a piece of software designed to decode a whole range of traffic on the ISM bands - pair it up with a relatively low-cost USB radio receiver (RTL-SDR) and be amazed at what's going on around you. `Open Source RF: Exploring The ISM Bands With RTL_433 `__ is one of many guides to getting started. .. raw:: html Screenshot of rtl_433 Track and identify satellites with your own Tiny Ground Station (TinyGS) ........................................................................ Did you know there's a whole bunch of satellites up in space transmitting telemetry and other data, and you can fairly easily build your own receiving ground station? `TinyGS `__ is a open-source global satellite network. Build your own station with an `ESP32 `__ board and contribute! .. raw:: html Screenshot of TinyGS Challenge Level: Medium +++++++++++++++++++++++ Join an off-grid communication mesh with MeshCore ................................................. SMS and WhatsApp etc. are great but they all rely on your ability to reach a centralised network controlled by somebody else. MeshCore is a decentralised communication platform where nodes discover each other and route messages through the network, creating a self-healing system that works even when individual nodes fail. See https://meshcore.co.uk/ for how to get started. Receive signals from the International Space Station (ISS) .......................................................... The ISS operates several amateur radio systems, including packet radio, slow-scan television (SSTV) and voice repeaters. These provide opportunities for you to receive signals directly from astronauts in space. SSTV images from the ISS are particularly rewarding - the station periodically transmits pictures that can be decoded with open source software and a hand-held radio. These often show views from space, or commemorate special events. The AMSAT-UK site has a range of information on how to get started: https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/how-to-hear-the-iss/ Track and help recover meteorological radio transmitters (radiosondes) ...................................................................... Weather services around the world regularly launch radiosondes - small transmitters carried by weather balloons. These transmit telemetry from their flights, providing valuable data for forecasting. After the balloon bursts, the radiosonde descends by parachute and can often be recovered. `The SondeHub Project `__ coordinates tracking efforts, allowing people to receive the signals and help predict landing locations. `The SondeHub Tracker User Guide `__ details how to use and understand the tracker site. Challenge Level: High +++++++++++++++++++++ These will most likely require a slightly more sophisticated radio setup than a basic RTL-SDR - not necessarily particularly expensive, but slightly more niche. Your antenna, on the other hand, still doesn't need to be much more than a bit of wire - though perhaps a longer bit than some of the other projects here. Receive and report on signals from around the world (PSK Reporter) .................................................................. `PSK Reporter `__ is a global network that tracks digital signal propagation by collecting reception reports from stations worldwide. By running automated receiver software such as `OpenWebRX `__ you can contribute and help map propagation data in your area. .. raw:: html Screenshot of PSK Reporter Get weather data and forecasts direct from the German Meteorological Service (Deutscher Wetterdienst - DWD) ........................................................................................................... The DWD broadcasts weather charts and forecasts using weatherfax (WEFAX) transmissions on shortwave frequencies. These can be received and decoded to produce high-quality weather maps and satellite imagery, direct from the source. See the Online Amateur Radio Community's guide to DWD WEFAX at https://wiki.oarc.uk/dwd-wefax. See Also ........ * `HFUnderground.com `__ - a site "dedicated to documenting longwave, mediumwave, and shortwave stations, including broadcasters, utility/military stations, pirate radio and spy numbers stations" * `"Fifty Things you can do with a Software Defined Radio" `__ - covers some of the above, and more! * `The Online Amateur Radio Community `__ - an inclusive and supportive community of radio enthusiasts Background ---------- I find the world of radio fascinating, and being a radio amateur has given me exposure to, and understanding of, a whole host of fascinating things, from signal propagation, to antenna physics, to digital signal processing, and much more. But a lot of the traditional "get people into radio" things have focussed on a message of "talk to strangers around the world" - demonstrations of someone conversing into a box on a table and so on. I think this probably resonated a lot with an earlier generation of amateurs, but as a child of the internet age, it very much bounced off me [#ft8]_. What really got me hooked was a bunch of amateur-radio-adjacent things, projects where I didn't need to be licensed at all, but the knowledge that I got from amateur radio helped me to better understand everything that was going on. It's in that vein that I've put this together, because I suspect I'm not alone in that - you only have to look at the host of folks running ADS-B receivers or Meshtastic nodes or TinyGS ground stations to see that people are fascinated by radio - just not necessarily in the way they were 10 or 20 or 30 years ago. If anything here sparks interest, or you have thoughts, ideas, or other feedback, then please get in touch - ``radio@d*is****b******.co.uk`` (per domain). Enjoy - Kristian (2E0KGG) .. [#ft8] Though the first time I put 2 Watts of FT8 into a piece of speaker wire I'd pinned up around the room, and saw on PSK Reporter that I'd been heard across Europe - that was pretty magical.