[Skimmertalk] A solution for a Red Pitaya-based FT8 skimmer for RBN

[Björn Ekelund]

Many are today running Red Pitaya-based CW and RTTY skimmers using Pavel
Demin's
excellent radio software suite. (
http://pavel-demin.github.io/red-pitaya-notes)

Demin's suite also contains a high performance, eight-band FT8
receiver/decoder but
it lacks some key features to make a good FT8 skimmer for RBN.

To address this I have developed a solution. It is based on two small apps
written in C; radioday and upload-to-rbn.
The radioday app calculates the day/night/twilight status for an arbitrary
location, to mimic RBN Aggregator's ini-file cycling for CW skimmer Server.
The upload-to-rbn app transfers decoded call signs, SNR, and grid (when
available) to RBN Aggregator using the WSJT-X protocol over UDP broadcast.

To make installation easy I have developed a kit with the necessary files
and
scripts for configuring and installing them. It has been successfully
tested
on both Red Pitaya 125-14 and 122-16.

Step-by-step installation instructions can be found at
https://sm7iun.ekelund.nu/red-pitaya/ft8-skimmer

Any feedback on performance or functionality is welcome.

73,

Björn SM7IUN