Configuring my wifi dongle on the Raspberry Pi to connect to my network router.

Configuring my wifi dongle on the Raspberry Pi to connect to my network router.

Generic Wifi dongle used on my Raspberry Pi

I had to get my router details and had to configure the following configuration files.
I wanted to give my Raspberry Pi a spear static IP so I always know what it is on my network.

I edited the following files.

/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

I added the following at the end. I was using WEB encryption and shared key on my router.

Change the details in yellow for your router if you use web encryption with shared key.

use your favorite editor

sudo vi /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

#Configeration of the file /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

country=GB

ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev

update_config=1

network={

        ssid="MyRouter"  # your router ID

        key_mgmt=NONE

        wep_key0="0123456789123"  # or 13 characters, or a hexkey starting with 0x your key

        wep_tx_keyidx=0

        auth_alg=OPEN

}

Save and exit

And the change the following file

Edit the file as follows in the section configuring wlan0

I gave my Raspberry pi a spear static Ip on my network so always now what the ip is and don't use DHCP so I will not know what the Ip will be 

use your favorite editor

sudo vi /etc/network/interfaces

auto wlan0

allow-hotplug wlan0

#iface wlan0 inet dhcp

iface wlan0 inet static

address 192.168.1.205  #Static Ip

netmask 255.255.255.0 # Ip mask of network

gateway 192.168.1.254 # IP gateway of router

wpa-conf /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

iface default inet dhcp

Save

And reboot Raspberry Pi  sudo shutdown -r 0

ping your new Ip on Wifi network

ping 192.168.1.205

And it should now work.

Shell scripts to stop and Start your rtl_tcp Dongle (bash script) on Linux

Shell scripts to stop and Start your RTL Dongle (bash script)

Script to start rtl_tcp
1) Create a directory where you will store your scripts and where to save your process id.

mkdir sh   
cd sh  
mkdir pid

2) Use your favorite text editor (vi ...) and create a file (start_rtl.sh) with the following content
3) Change the pid file path to your directory as well as where the rtl_tcp excusable is.
4) Add port , ip if so required.
5) to find the path to rtl_tcp directory just use the command type rtl_tcp and you should get the path returned.

#!/bin/bash
#This program will write pid file
#pidfile
pidfile=/home/usersdir/sh/pid/rtl.pid
PROGRAM=/usr/local/bin/rtl_tcp
# We start app and create the pidfile
#Supported gain values for rtl_tcp (14): -1.0 1.5 4.0 6.5 9.0 11.5 14.0 16.5 19.0 21.5 24.0 29.0 34.0 42.0
        sudo $PROGRAM -g 42.0 &
        PID=$!
        echo $PID > "$pidfile"
        echo Program has started

Create a stop script wit your editor (stop_rtl.sh) in the same directory U created start script with the following content

#!/bin/bash

#This program will readthe pid file

#pidfile

pidfile=/home/userdir/sh/pid/rtl.pid

PROGRAM=/usr/local/bin/rtl_tcp

# We kill app and remove the pidfile``

        pid2kill=`cat $pidfile`

        kill -9 $pid2kill

        rm $pidfile

To run or stop the scripts just run sudo ./start_rtl.sh  or sudo ./stop_rtl.sh

Hope this helps.

FUNcube dongle pro SDR

Just received my Funcubedongle Pro (SDR) and cant wait to get started.

As I am a Ubuntu (Linux) user only, it seems I need to compile the exe with QT Creator.

Will let you now how it went.

Got it working on Ubuntu
1) Had to upgrade dongle firmware to 18f on Windows :(
1.1) Then download Qthid for linux.
2) Screen-shot above of Qthid and Quisk applications.
3) Installation detail for Quisk.
3.1) Copy FCD configuration file from https://gist.github.com/838939 to your home dir EG /home/anton/.quisk_conf.py
3.2) Download the Quisk application from http://james.ahlstrom.name/quisk/docs.html (quisk-3.4.4.tar.gz tar -xvf and then run quisk.py you need python)
4) You will need pigtail cable assembly (SMA Mail to N Mail) and you can get it from http://www.dbg.co.za/index.php
(Nm to SMA(M)RP LMR195 Pigtail [1 Metre]R79.00)

I have now installed a general coverage antenna on top of my roof.

The Comet DS-150S discone antenna will provide reception from 25 MHz to 1,5 GHz and is suitable for transmitting.