Status of satnogs decoders

SatNOGS Software
1

Hi all,

I would like to have a status of the satnogs decoders. It seems that this point is
important for some who want to join the project and I think that people who
joined the project recently (including me) are in the fog concerning this subject.

It seems that the following decoders are declared as a Gnuradio module:
afsk1200_ax25.grc
apt_demod.grc
ax25_transceiver_qt.grc
bpsk_demod.grc
cw_decoder.grc
fm_demod.grc
fsk9600_ax25.grc
fsk9600_g3ruh_ax25.grc
generic_iq_receiver.grc

Is this the complete list?

I think about two questions about each:

  • are the demodulators/decoders considered as stable for production or
    does they need more work to be totally operational?
  • are the demodulators/decoders automatically used with the satnogs-client
    or are they used as manual/standalone applications? Is it a wish to automatically use
    all satnogs decoders with the client?

In the VHF range, it seems to me that only apt_demod, fm_demod are working automatically with
satnogs. I have for example never seen BPSK, AFSK1k2, or CW engaged automatically with my
station and it seems that it is not engaged with other stations (is this a problem with my station?).
As I dig in recent threads, I see some reports of people using external CW decoders but few with
the satnogs one. I know too that the CW decoder is still under development to increase its sensitivity.

Are some of you using some satnogs modules as manual/standalone modules without uploading the
results on the network so that there would be modules widely used without the newbies being
aware of.

Thank you for your answers,

2

All demodulators and decoders are working “automatically” with respect to the mode you choose for an observation. There is no difference in VHF and UHF.
You can find the satnogs-client configuration in the lines below the one in the following link:

If you want to know more about how the demodulators and decoders are implemented, you will have to learn something about gnuradio. Clone the gr-satnogs repository and open the flowgraphs located in apps/flowgraphs and apps/flowgraphs/satellites.

3

I have made numerous observations and the decoders never got in action
for some modes.
Is this a problem with my station or satnogs install?

For example:

My question is not about the implementation (I am already digging in the source),
but what are the first decoders to get working (if not all?).

Another way to ask the question is: can you point stations where the production
version of gr-satnogs is installed and all decoders are operational so I (and I think other)
can compare and make progress on my station.

If the answer could include one station with rotator and one with omnidirectional antenna,
it could be nice.

By the time I almost got an answer by digging in the DB but I think it would be easier
for some stations “to volunteer as reference”…

4

Sorry in advance for the short answer, but I am writing from my mobile phone :wink:

BPSK in the current gr-satnogs is only demodulated to audio. In fact, there is no generic BPSK decoder because this is not possible. I have been working on a decoder that decodes AX.25 frames in BPSK, but that’s not merged already.

I’ll answer on the rest of your questions when back at a PC!

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