Ultimate Direwolf Installation Guide for Packet Radio - Windows and Linux

[@ModernHam]

If anyone runs into any issues, be sure to let me know here!

[@maggdoodle1729]

Somebody is using your ham call sign (and name) I'm guessing without you knowing?

[@ModernHam]

@@maggdoodle1729 I'm not surprised.

[@maggdoodle1729]

Okay. Just thought you might want to know. He's been checking into out net using your name and call sign.@@ModernHam

[@maggdoodle1729]

He’s been signing into our net with your name and cal sign as recently as last night. Just thought you’d like to know. Tx

[@momoney4209]

I am attempting to install this on the same pi I use as an MMDVM hotpot running WPSD. I am brand new to Linux and radio. I ran into zero issues until the “alsamixer” part. I tried every single thing ChatGPT told me to do. Nothing in the logs. It seemed we were going in circles because I was unable to permanently unmask alsa.utils.service. After unmasked it I attempted to enable it, but it says it is masked.

[@edcnorcal]

Your webpage is the most comprehensive Direwolf install/setup resource I’ve come across. Well done!

[@ModernHam]

Glad you liked it. Hopefully it will help people.

[@BeavistheLizard]

Brilliant once again. I passed my full license test today here in the UK so now that I am not studying for that anymore I will have some time to start trying this all out! Many thanks!

[@ModernHam]

Congrats and welcome to the hobby! Hope the series goes smooth for you! Just let me know if you run into any issues.

[@youtubeaccount931]

Good job sir! I hope you get as much enjoyment out of it as I have.

[@signalscout6020]

Congrats!

[@youtubeaccount931]

This is great, thank you. When I first got my ham license as a kid I did alot of packet radio with a serial connected TNC. I'm back into ham radio and have been wondering about sound card packet but never spent the time to figure it all out so this series is really helpful. I hope you cover the 2.4k and 9.6k baud modes as well. I have several baofengs and a rasberry pi type device (rock64) that would be perfect for packet experiments.

[@ModernHam]

We'll probably get to to play with some faster baud rate soon. With only a traditional USB soundcard, we are limited at the speed we can use. But we'll try and bump it up later.

[@ward5821]

I plan to setup a Node here in Spring Creek Nevada. I will keep in touch with you. I was very active on Packet back in the 90's.

[@yamez69]

Thanks for the video, subscribed. I just got Reticulum working with Direwolf + Meshchat and 2 x Quanshengs K5(8) with AIOC adaptors. Successfully transporting messages between my local peers via VHF to Wifi and TCP public Reticulum servers. Awesome stuff!

[@SammyGill]

You worked so hard to make this video - its great for those who are not comfortable with github stuff - only correction I could find is ... 144.390 is NOT universal FQ for APRS - this is for North America Europe ,ASIA has other FQ for Aprs

[@Eduar-d-o]

Just an observation. In your blog, the test tone commands for Windows and Linux are backwards. The Linux command is presented under Windows and vise-versa. Thought you'd like to know. Thank you! Very helpful.

[@W6IWN_Radio]

Thanks for taking the time to make these very detailed videos and guides, Billy! Much appreciated!!! 👍👍

[@kit121]

Thanks for your great video, i'm using an 20yrs old netbook (win10) with UV5r (VOX), it does not work at the beggining until I removed the line FX25TX 1, it is now working great with no problem. Thank you very much for your hard work.

[@ModernHam]

That is interesting. The FX25 allows other decoders with it enabled to have some error correction, while still maintaining backwards compatibility with regular APRS packets. Maybe the notebook was too old to process it?

[@rodgowdy]

Thanks for your wonderfully detailed video! I was able to get my 991A up and running with a coupe i-gates responding! Looking forward to future sessions. Thanks again, 73.

[@ModernHam]

Very cool. There are going to be a few more uploads this weekend. One we will turning direwolf into a standalone Igate/digipeater that your local community can use.

[@Swamp-Fox]

Great video & blog post! Your explanations are so clear that even I can follow them!

[@ModernHam]

That's the goal! Glad You could follow.

[@ZCount]

So much knowledge, thanks for sharing it with us! I've watched half the video already out of interest, and will come back to it when I'm actually ready to install! Keep up the great work, from ZL land.

[@jamiedrinkell]

Me and my Dad have both followed this for Linux, all seems to be working well! Thank you for the really clear guide. We're eagerly awaiting the next video! 😁 M0JXD and G7LHA

[@ModernHam]

Glad you got direwolf up. Now the fun begins! 2 more APRS video come this weekend, and then BBS packet Next week!

[@CowboyPilot79]

Hey! Just a note. When you were working through alsamixer the "Mic" on that dialog should be muted. That was the playback display so effectively you're choosing how much of the mic to loop back to the speakers (which is probably zero). If you look across the top there is playback, capture and all. You actually want to set your mic levels under capture (or you can also pick all). It probably doesn't hurt anything to turn it on in play back other than maybe introducing a source of noise. I keep it muted though. Great video though!

[@ModernHam]

Good catch! I'll have to update this on the blog!

[@chrisherd991]

Thank you for all your hard work.

[@ignacj]

Great video, but I think you should have mentioned HF packet aspect as well, along with that the fact that most modern HF radios have sound card built-in and only require TNC that can be software or hardware based. This eliminates or simplifies many of HT/packet steps. I'd also like to see more videos on packet use that are not APRS related. As much APRS is neat concept and fairly easy to implement (new Kenwood HT does it out of the box!), beside emcom there is very little use for it in daily hustle. I would love to see some sort of HF (or VHF) semi-permanent packet network similar to JS8Call that would allow a number of low bandwidth aps to run on top of it. An app from your phone to your home computer that can send data over HF to distant party. SSTV, messaging, email, BBS, etc.

[@ModernHam]

You will find the rest of the videos in the packet series relevant, as the newest is about IP networking via AX25 on VHF.

[@ignacj]

@@ModernHam Thumbs up for that SX64 video. Makes me wanna pull out my c64 and try something similar with pk88!

[@40deacon]

Great foundational video, thank you.

[@ki5exydanny104]

Correction UZ7HO is using Select PTT as cat and com port 7 under advanced

[@Andre-xu3pq]

Hello, I have an ICOM 7300 and a USB cable connected to Windows 10. I can see the COM port (COM6) correctly (other appl also work). I followed your settings and made adjustments as follows: 0 = MIC 1 = Speaker 6 = COM port (USB) When I run direwolf.exe -x a on LSB (40 meters), the ICOM is not transmitting. It might be something simple, but I can’t seem to get it working. PS i did the swap with -RTS , -DTS etc..

[@BenTrem42]

Wowwww ... *_packet!_* So few folk know history. FWIW 1971 or so I saw early draft of AX.25 🙂

[@anxanywhere]

Let me start by saying how AWESOME is the work you did by bringing packet back to life. By the time I had my first computer, it was already ADSL days (no 56k modem, no BBS)... I was always jealous of my friends talking about using BBS... Oh yeah! I'm here to implement BBS over packet radio. I want to use the same set (DigiRig Mobile + ftm-600) for few things: APRS, M17 and soon, BBS. The DigiRig speaker level on Windows 11 seems to be different for APRS (25%) and M17 (85%). Direwolf/APRS complains if I let it configured at 85% by showing at each receival a message about the sound being too loud. Is there a gain adjustment capability on direwolf? ...This way I could simple let it a 100% at Windows side...

[@JonathanJDLewis]

Awesome video. This is the exact type of series I was looking for. Question for a future video: What is the best way to have multiple direwolf configs? I just have a block of text that I uncomment and re-comment for each different radio. Also what is the best way to run multiple instances of direwolf? (ex. one on hf and one on vhf) Thanks again great video

[@ModernHam]

Good questions. For the first, you can run direwolf with a new parameter "-c" and then specify the path/name of a config file afterwards. For example for linux/windows direwolf -c 2mdirewolf.conf direwolf.exe -c 2mdirewolf.conf The second question is a little more involved, so we may take a look at it in a video later on.

[@k4tfjprojects296]

The cable between your HT and DigiRig, was it homebrew or purchased, and if so, where?

[@Supercazzola]

Great video, but can you explain why you didn’t run sudo apt-get install direwolf Instead of compiling and choosing development branch ?

[@ModernHam]

Good question. The direwolf developer and docs recommend compiling from source due to the fact the results of the package vary depending on the volunteer who packaged it. He also goes on to say that will probably " lag significantly behind development". This way we can get the latest and greatest, and the core functions of the TNC remain relatively stable. There's a new feature in the dev branch we may use in the future too that will make using KISS over the network easier.

[@KenNORTHPLAINSOR]

Still no luck at connecting my new BF-F8HP 2mtr on 144.390 MHz thru new BTECH-APRS-V01.2 cable, new DIGIRIG, Direwold, to APRS. No PTT with (-x a). Appears to rcv occasionally. Any thoughts? Billy, if you want to PM me let me know and I can send to the parameters from the .conf file. If you would rather I post the here, just let me know. Thanks. Ken Oh, BTW, that avatar to the left is 45 yrs old! P.S., so is the Y splitter cable required connected to the serial and audio ports of the DIGIRIG? or is VOX and just audio supposed to work?

[@ModernHam]

Hey Ken, hate to see you are having issues. I would say start with the physical layer. The BTECH-APRS-V01.2 cable needs a headphone jack with both speaker and microphone out, laptops have these often, but not so many desktops. The next thing I would check is to make sure you have that VOX option enabled in the BF-F8HP, and the cable is snugly plugged in. For the baofeng, you only need the cable going to the baofeng to the "audio" part of the digirig. But the BTECH-APRS-V01.2 cable will not work with the digirig, so this may be your problem if this is what you are trying. The pinout is different. You can still try with the BTECH cable alone if your computer has a mic/speaker trrs headphone jack to use. Otherwise, you will need to buy or make a cable for your baofeng to digirig.

[@KenNORTHPLAINSOR]

@@ModernHam thanks so much for responding and for confirming that the aprs cable won't work with digirig. It's a young man like you that keeps the hobby going and us old geezers on track

[@ne2i]

Great stuff here. I have an issue with the ptt and digirig. I get a permission denied no matter what I do. Raspberry Pi install.

[@ModernHam]

The only thing I can think of is to make sure your user is in the "dialout" group on linux. Make sure you did the dire wolf download and config edit as a regular user as well and not root.

[@ne2i]

@@ModernHam Got it running. changed users and it works now Thanks.

[@KenNORTHPLAINSOR]

Ken, WB7QYB again. Even using the unedited PBEACON line, it still does not put out sound to sound card. What are the -x a parameters in the test with a CMD shell?

[@ModernHam]

The unedited one will only try every 30 minutes. Are you seeing it pop up in the direwolf console? The -x tells direwolf to send calibration tones.

[@KenNORTHPLAINSOR]

@@ModernHam Well, I have spent 2 weeks trying to get this setup to work. I keep buying new cables, and now the digirig. Still nothing works. As the able you showed, APRS with the adapter to change the wiring on the TRRS, still does not work. ARRG! I was amazed that the digirig did not come with any cables, quick start guide, or anything. One interesting thing. My VARA FM shows the digirig but for in and out but will not PTT.

[@exponentmantissa5598]

I have an ICOM 9700. It comes up with 2 serial ports COM5 and COM6. I have tried all combinations of COM 5 and COM 6 with +/-RTS, +/- DTR and the radio never transmits.

[@exponentmantissa5598]

I solved the problem. The ICOM has 2 serial ports. Internally the are labelled as USB A and USB B. They appear as 2 serial ports in windows as well. in my case COM 5 was USB A and com6 was USB B. I had to go and set the radio to use USB A with RTS and all worked.

[@thewayofodin4574]

Thank you for this. Any thoughts (if you have the exp) for those of us with an old Coastal Chipworks TNC-Pi wanting to run this setup?

[@ModernHam]

I hate to say it, but my advice is to ditch the TNC-Pi daughter board, replace it with a digital usb interface for your radio and just run direwolf. There are many modular options like the digirig that make it super easy to swap radios too. Direwolf will get you more functionality, performance, and software options than the TNC-Pi, and is not prone to RF interference like the TNC-Pi is, and is still being updated and maintained with the newest additions to packet radio like FX25. Doesn't sound like much advice for the TNC-PI, maybe it's just a mindset I have though. If you want to use it, opt for the serial connection option on the things we do in the future instead of KISS over network. Just know that you will be limiting yourself to only run APRS applications on the PI itself, (won't be able to connect to the TNC over the network) and won't be able to use the cutting edge additions in packet.

[@garylawrence1575]

I am trying to set up an aprs Igate digiapeter with a Icom2430 and a AIOC interface. I have 2 questions for you, first off the laptop that I am planning on using is pretty old and it's running windows 10 but very slowly would it be better to continue trying to run windows or scrapping the operating system and going to a Linux setup, Which would be kind of a learning curve for me because I've never used Linux, The igate is all I'm planning on running On that laptop And 2 do you think the AIOC Will be sufficient for what I'm trying to do or do I need to maybe upgrade to a digi rig? Any suggestions would be wonderful And keep up the good work I'm learning all kinds of things from you! Thank you KN4INH

[@ModernHam]

The AIOC interface has been confirmed to work fine for direwolf, so you don't really need the digirig in your case so long as you have the AIOC working for your radio. It might be a good learning experience to replace the windows install with Linux and run that. It would be slimmer, and more stable. With the guide, it should get you running with Ubuntu which is beginner friendly. I just made a igate/digi guide that builds on this too so you may find that useful.

[@KenNORTHPLAINSOR]

Really Appreciate Your Well Done Instructions. Station works with DRA-70 soundcard and VARA. WINLINK works too. I installed and set up Direwolf per your video. The test from the CMD shell using direwolf -x a triggers VOX PTT. Radio transmits the sound test. PBEACON line does not appear to cause direwolf to transmit. Any Thoughts? WB7QYB-7

[@ModernHam]

Very strange. If -x a triggers transmit, the PBEACON should as well. It is popping up in the log to show you an attempt? There's a possibility that your VOX is so slow to start transmitting that it does not open up at all for a packet. You may try setting your TXdelay to something really high or your DWAIT to see if that changes something.

[@KenNORTHPLAINSOR]

@@ModernHam Good Morning from the West Coast! I think I may have located the problem. At least the problem and fix is reproducible. Maybe I am on the right track. When running the test ( -x a ), it works. When issuing that command in a CMD shell or powershell, Direwolf does not read the .conf file. It Direwolf uses the command like parameters. That eliminates hardware, connections. It also works when not reading the .conf file. I tried the original .conf file. That also did not work. The PBEACON line in the .conf file was the problem. For whatever reason, it would not accept my GPS location in the format of DD MM SS.SS. When I used the format DD.DD, it woke up and worked. Something about the location was causing Direwolf to choke and not broadcast the beacon. I did not look at the Direwolf code to see what made it choke. Thank you for all your hard work, working through these things and for presenting this stuff to us. I'm not a young person bored with reading through thousands of lines of text from outdated sites and videos. Just remove the "young" part from the previous sentence. The rest still applies! :) 73!

[@KenNORTHPLAINSOR]

I may be wrong on the instance of direwolf not reading the .conf file when using the test parameters (-x a) in a CMD shell.

[@WRJK988]

9:23 I don't have an option to edit this.

[@ModernHam]

You may need to open a notepad, then use file > open and then open the file that way

[@thomashabetsse]

I think you got the coordinates wrong. The website shows both degree-minute-second and degree-minute-with-decimal. I think direwolf wants the latter, but you entered the former.

[@9A4GEMilan]

Unable to figure out how to send text packet.

[@youtubeaccount931]

So I just read on a search result that dire wolves aren't even wolves at all but a separate species of canidae. My search results must have tuned into me looking up direwolf info lol.

[@ModernHam]

I never would have guessed. My results are a little confused too!

[@matsherwood6277]

This video was incredibly helpful! Thank you so much! 73 KE8VIK

[@ModernHam]

Thank you! 73 KN4MKB

[@Desertx-k2m]

dont work ptt with FT818nd

[@ModernHam]

It will work. But because the 818 only natively accepts PTT via CAT, you will need to interface direwolf with rigctl and use rigctl to toggle your PTT. The direwolf user guide has more information on this. I

[@Desertx-k2m]

@@ModernHam i didnt find anything about interfacin rigctl too direwolf.. i have flrig up and running and this work fine with ft-818, so how do i interfacing direwolf with it?

[@laser31415]

@@Desertx-k2m 6 months later, did you ever get it to work, I got a ft-818nd as well.

[@laser31415]

@@ModernHam I finally got direwolf to work with my FT818nd. LMDE (32 bit) Linux Mint Debian Edition. it comes down to hamlib not installing where cmake looks after re-reading User-Guide.pdf . Also LMDE doesn't install cmake by default. It's been 16 hours of installing A, to get B, to install, C etc etc. But it eventually got the 818 to PTT. The last line of my direwolf.conf is "PTT RIG 1041 /dev/ttyUSB0 9600" edit I posted too soon, the PTT now works, but it is sending a dead carrier. No data is getting transmitted. If I run fligi everything works, so I know the soundcard etc is working. Stuck again.

[@laser31415]

I spent a week on this. But I did get my ft-818nd to work with direwolf and YAAC. I got the added complication of using a 2008 Acer AspireOne netbook, so I am running the 32 bit version of Debian linux. I had to compile/install hamlib first, but the default install doesn't put it where direwolf compiler expects it. the direwolf.pdf has one page talking about it. Once hamlib is where direwolf expects it. I then had to compile direwolf from source. Then direwolf will know about hamlib. Hamlib allows direwolf to control the FT818nd. In the direwolf.config file mine contains the line 'PTT /dev/ttyUSB0 RTS' This works on my system. Also, for any future readers, I need to have the 818 in PKT mode, not FM. Like wise, if I am trying to use PSK31 etc etc, I use DIG mode. Setting to FM, USB, or LSB on my radio will send an empty carrier. PKT and DIG modes tells the radio to look at the audio/data port in the back of the radio and not the MIC input.

[@K6ORJ]

Sudo isn't always the best thing to implement on your system, this is why Debian gives the option during the install process. If you share your computer with others while logged in as you, this is a bad idea for obvious reasons. From console log in "su -l" and you will have all the privileges necessary to do anything you need to do.

[@ModernHam]

"sudo", elevates the bash to a root with each individually promoted user. This command still requires a password by default, just the same as 'su -l', only more control and restrictions are in place than using the root account directly. Just as you would the root account when swapped to with 'su -l' you shouldn't leave such accounts unattended. The different being, that at least someone would need to enter the password when invoking sudo as the user, opposed to a root account when left unattended n the same scenario. The use of sudo in this video is strictly for when super user access is required. If you are not using sudo, and are running every program you need super user access with as root, then this is an actual problem. For example, if direwolf were to be compromised as the root user, no password is needed to do anything, its a free for all. Sudo is actually more secure than using the root account this way, as it offers more control and auditing over user permissions and prompts for a password for individual terminal sessions when it's invoked. This is a server, so it's headless and the only way is is with the key via ssh. TLDR: If you were to let others on your computer or when you walk away, you would much rather have the account in the sudo group there logged in over the root account swapped to with 'su -l' in terms of security. In the end either one is not a good to leave unattended for obvious reasons.

[@K6ORJ]

@@ModernHam Yes, but sudo ask for the user password. su -l ask for root password. All of my family knows my user login password but not my root password. I don't leave su unattended!

[@K6ORJ]

​@@ModernHam Running lunux on a "Surface Go 2" it's not real convenient to tell my family members the can continue watching the video I'm sharing with them after they log in too their account. LOL! Ya that led balloon won't get off the ground. If the tablet starts to go to sleep they I don't want to go and secretly unlock it for them each time either. All the same they don't need the root access that sudo would give them. If I were running a desktop system with more users installed like in an office I would agree with sudo, because each user would me more compartmentalized. When I do need su I generally split the console window top as user and bottom as su and I can quickly switch back and forth. There are situations for both sudo and su!

[@Comment-Tator]

144.390 is not the 'universal' frequency.

[@hawkeyeCH53E]

I made a shortcut of the direwolf.exe file on my desktop and it opens easier.

[@ModernHam]

That's a good idea.

[@hawkeyeCH53E]

I think you left out windows microphone setup. Did just speaker. Folks might be confused or leave that setting wrong. Great content otherwise.

[@DJCryptoStix]

ok had to go back one class to catch up

[@ModernHam]

Just let me know if you run into any issues.