OpenWX SDR - Streamlined Radiosonde Decoder

A lightweight, efficient radiosonde decoder for Raspberry Pi and X86_64 gateways, designed to work with RTL-SDR, Airspy and KA9Q radio receivers. Using the excellent rs1729/RS decoders embedded into this framework.

Current Version:** 1.0.62 (August 09, 2026):

⚠ Important notice: From version 1.0.60 and higher upload of radiosonde telemetry to sondehub.org is now available for this sondetypes:

RS41 (from v1.0.60)
DFM06 (from v1.0.60)
DFM09 (from v1.0.60)
DFM17 (from v1.0.60)
M10 (from v1.0.61)
M20 (from v1.0.61)
RS92 (from v1.0.62)

The RS92 data validation was successfully granted, it may take some time until sondehub makes the infrastructure update.

✨ What's New in v1.0.62

Decoding & detection

Pinned decoder source. scripts/install_softchain.sh now clones radiosonde_auto_rx at a fixed tag (v1.8.2, override with AUTORX_REF), so every gateway builds identical dft_detect / fsk_demod / iq_dec / *mod binaries — no more per‑install behaviour drift.
RS41 bandwidth fast‑path is now OFF by default. Every candidate is classified purely by dft_detect correlation (auto_rx's method), which removes the bandwidth‑guess that let a narrow‑measuring DFM start as RS41. Re‑enable per gateway with detection.rs41_fastpath: true (≈15 s faster RS41 start).
dft_detect classification hardened: M10/M20 negative‑correlation now compared by magnitude (fixes M10/M20 being mis‑typed), MRZ + iMet variants + build suffixes (RS41SG) added to the parser, and unreachable "no type passed threshold" logging fixed (now reports each type's score for calibration). Thresholds are config‑driven via detection.dft_thresholds.
DFM decode fix: --dist/--ptu/-ID are gated on --help only (field dfm09mod rejects them → exit 255 → dead DFM). M10/M20 flags passed unconditionally. Soft‑chain params aligned with auto_rx (--mask 5000 --nsym=300 -p 5, DFM -i). datetime.utcnow() deprecation removed.
iq_dec inline DC removal (auto_rx method) available in both the --IQ and soft chains via decoders.iq_dc_block.

Airspy

Ghost / "birdie" reject. The scanner now rejects strong‑but‑narrow peaks (CW/spurs) that were starting phantom decoders — configurable via sdr.airspy.birdie_reject_snr_db / birdie_reject_bw_hz / scan_min_bw_hz.

Web UI & map

System Statistics tiles: Active‑Sondes 3‑dot menu (Active / Total); Frames menu (Total / Today's, new UTC‑day counter); CPU/RAM Live / Graph (60‑min chart, full‑row when graphed).
Sonde tiles: Standard / Extended 3‑dot menu (Extended row shows Distance / Elevation / Battery, height‑aware); M10/M20/DFM show battery instead of SNR; header time as …Z; correct DFM subtype badges (DFM06/09/17) resolved from the log with correct colours.
Own‑gateway map marker. Click for identity/hardware + the sondes received in the last sonde_retention_time window, each with height‑aware slant distance, elevation and course. Right‑click → Landings (25/50/100/150 km range rings + last‑position markers) / Heatmap (last positions) / Clear, with a "Loading data …" dialog.
Landings: live‑styled popups (id, date/time, position, altitude, v‑vel, frequency, distance); right‑click a landing → Show / Clear sonde path (polyline loaded from the logfile).
Sonde Statistics modal: server‑side LTTB decimation (huge speed‑up on long flights, ?max_points); new Elevation chart with a second Distance line on a right axis; tiles reordered (Altitude|Elevation, HVel|VVel, Sats|Battery, SNR|RSSI); sonde identity in the title and maximized headers; fixed missing frequency when opened via right‑click on an active tile.
Gateway details modal shows Hostname/IP, version, memory/disk.
Fixed a stuck "Loading data …" modal backdrop (Bootstrap show/hide race), and M10/M20 dashed‑serial (210‑2‑11234‑…) logfile loading being truncated to 210.

RS92 GPS ephemeris

Opt‑in downloader (rs92.ephemeris_download) fetches the current GPS‑day broadcast ephemeris into data/rs92 and feeds rs92mod -e for a position solve. Default source is BKG (Germany, HTTPS, no login) RINEX3 mixed‑nav BRDC00WRD_R_<yyyy><doy>0000_01D_MN.rnx.gz. Runs in the background with retry/backoff (recovers a network‑not‑ready‑at‑boot failure) and re‑checks hourly for the UTC‑midnight day rollover. A System Health "Ephemeris" row shows ready/pending (only when enabled).

🔧 New Setup check tool integrated

Inline check of the installation and configuration of optional modules.

See changelog in the release section for all details.

🔧 New configuration utility

For quickstart and easy setup from scratch the openwxsdr_config script is available now. It also contains a config backup and configuration check.

🖥️ Integrated gateway receiver and radiosonde statistics

The receiver statistics gives an comprehensive overview of your radiosonde detection and decoding performance

Received radiosonde frequencies are shown at a glance, you clearly see the most frequent radiosonde frequencies used in your area.

Telemetry and sensor data of each received radiosonde is available in the sonde statistics menu.

In band sweep mode a single SDR checks the whole radiosonde spectrum and writes detected frequencies into Frequency Repository. Instantly manual decoder start is available from the repo manager for detected new frequencies.

Features

🎯 Automatic Signal Detection: Scans spectrum and automatically detects radiosonde signals
🔧 Multiple Sonde Types: Supports RS41, RS92, DFM, M10, M20, iMet, LMS6, MRZ
📡 Multi SDR Support: Works with up to 4 RTL-SDR or Airspy R2, Airspy Mini USB dongles
🎛️ Virtual Receivers: Configurable parallel decoding of multiple sondes with KA9Q radio
🗺️ Web Interface: Clean Leaflet-based map showing real-time flight paths
📤 OpenWX Integration: MQTT & UDP JSON output for seamless data upload
📤 Sondehub Integration: seamless data upload to sondehub.org
⚡ Lightweight: Minimal overhead compared to several other decoder solutions
🔧 One-step installer: Easy installtion of all required packages

Hardware Requirements

Raspberry Pi 4 / 5 / 400 / 500 (8GB recommended) or Intel x86_64 client
Debian 13 "Trixie" or Raspberry Pi OS (64 Bit)
RTL-SDR, Airspy R2, Airspy Mini dongle or KA9Q-compatible SDR
Antenna tuned for 400-406 MHz
Selective 400 MHz LNA
SAW filter recommended

Architecture

┌─────────────────┐
│  RTL-SDR/Airspy │
│   KA9Q Radio    │
└────────┬────────┘
         │
    ┌────▼──────────────┐
    │ Spectrum Analyzer │
    │ Signal Detector   │
    └────┬──────────────┘
         │
    ┌────▼─────────────────┐
    │   Decoder Manager    │
    │ (rs1729/RS decoders) │
    └────┬─────────────────┘
         │
    ┌────▼────────┬──────────┬─────────┐
    │             │          │         │
┌───▼────┐   ┌────▼─────┐  ┌─▼──────┐  │
│ Web UI │   │ UDP JSON │  │  Log   │  │
│ Flask  │   │ OpenWX   │  │  File  │  │
└────────┘   └──────────┘  └────────┘  │
                                       │ 
                                   [sondehub]

Installation

1a. One-Step-Installer

OpenWXSDR offers an easy-to-use One-Step-Installer to install the necessary libraries, packages and OpenWXSDR package.

See the wiki for detailed installation instructions: https://github.com/DL2MF/OpenWXSDR/wiki/Installation

If you prefer manual installation of the package, continue below.

1b. Install System Dependencies

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y git build-essential cmake pkg-config \
    libusb-1.0-0-dev python3-pip python3-venv rtl-sdr

2. Clone and Set Up rs1729/RS Decoders

mkdir -p decoders
cd decoders
git clone https://github.com/rs1729/RS.git rs1729
cd rs1729

# Build the decoders
cd demod && make
cd ../rs41 && make
cd ../rs92 && make
cd ../dfm && make
cd ../m10 && make
cd ../imet && make
cd ../lms6 && make
cd ..

3. Install OpenWXSDR

cd ~/!Develop_OpenWXSDR
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Configure

Edit config.yaml to match your setup:

Set SDR type and parameters
Configure frequency ranges for your region
Set receiver specific settings (span, gain, fft, treshold)
Configure OpenWX UDP and external output destinations

Configuration

Key configuration options in config.yaml:

sdr.type: Choose 'rtlsdr', 'airspy', 'flux242' or 'ka9q'
receivers.max_concurrent: Number of parallel decoders (1-8 recommended)
detection.freq_ranges: Frequency ranges to scan
output.udp: Configure OpenWX server destination

UDP JSON Format

Data sent to OpenWX server:

{
  "software_name": "OpenWXSDR",
  "software_version": "1.0.45",
  "uploader_callsign": "<your-call>",
  "time_received": "2026-04-30T12:34:56.789Z",
  "type": "RS41",
  "frame": 12345,
  "id": "T1234567",
  "datetime": "2026-04-30T12:34:56.000Z",
  "lat": 51.5074,
  "lon": -0.1278,
  "alt": 15420.5,
  "vel_h": 12.3,
  "vel_v": 5.2,
  "heading": 285.5,
  "temp": -45.2,
  "humidity": 25.5,
  "pressure": 150.25,
  "frequency": 402.700,
  "sats": 8,  
  "snr": 25.5
}

Supported Radiosonde Types

Type	Decoder	Notes
RS41	rs41mod	Vaisala RS41-SG/SGP/SGM
RS92	rs92mod	Vaisala RS92-SGP/NGP
DFM	dfm09mod	Graw DFM06/09/17
M10	m10mod	Meteomodem M10
M20	m20mod	Meteomodem M20
iMet	imet54mod	InterMet iMet-54
LMS6	lms6mod	Lockheed Martin LMS6
MRZ	mrzmod	Meteo-Radiy MRZ

5. Run

python3 openwxsdr.py

Access the web UI at http://raspberry-pi-ip:5000

Many configuration settings are also available in the WebUI and can be changed during operation:

SNR treshold
Scan interval
Callsign and SSID
SDR-Type and device settings
Center Frequency
Sample Rate
Gain
PPM correction
MQTT and upload
Server IP / hostname
Port
User credentials

Local WebUI on your device

The local web UI is available at http://yourdevice-ip:5000

For each configured receiver the frequency spectrum is available:

Telemetry data upload to external OpenWX.de

If enabled in config.yaml your device will upload radiosonde telemetry and sensor ptu to OpenWX.de http://map.openwx.de:

Upload to OpenWX.de is preferable via MQTT configurable. Generate your API-key in your OpenWX-Account and configure your credentials in config.yaml.

  # MQTT upload to OpenWX.de broker
  mqtt:
    enabled: true
    server: '<server-ip>'                   # MQTT broker hostname or IP
    port: 1883                              # MQTT broker port (1883 = plain, 8883 = TLS)
    username: '<username>'                  # MQTT username (leave empty if not required)
    password: '<password>'                  # MQTT password (leave empty if not required)
    topic_prefix: 'OPENWXSDR/<your-call>/'  # MQTT topic prefix (e.g. OPENWXSDR/<callsign>/<serial>)
    client_id: '<your-call>-15'             # MQTT client ID
    keepalive: 60                           # MQTT keepalive in seconds
    connect_timeout: 10                     # Wait this many seconds for initial CONNACK
    tls_enabled: true                       # Set false for username/password brokers on plain TCP (usually port 1883)
    tls_insecure: true                      # Accept brokers by IP/self-signed cert without CA validation
    tls_ca_certs: ''                        # Optional CA bundle path for strict TLS validation
    transport: 'tcp'                        # MQTT transport

Telemetry data upload to external sondehub.org

If enabled in config.yaml your device will upload radiosonde telemetry and sensor ptu to sondehub.org:

# ============================================================
# SondeHub Upload
# ============================================================
sondehub:
  enabled: true                                            # Since V1.0.60 upload to sondehub.org is granted
  queue_mode: true                                         # false = direct upload mode, true = queued batch upload mode
  queue_batch_max: 50                                      # Max telemetry objects uploaded per queued request (10-fast 50-robust)
  queue_max_size: 1000                                     # Max queued  objects before oldest/new drops may occur (200-fast 1000-robust)
  upload_url: 'https://api.v2.sondehub.org/sondes/telemetry'
  listeners_url: 'https://api.v2.sondehub.org/listeners'   # Listener metadata endpoint
  station_id: '<your-call>->ssid>'                         # Station ID (use callsign/SSID style)
  uploader_callsign: '<your-call>'                         # Receiver callsign shown in SondeHub
  uploader_antenna: '1/4 wave UHF vertical'                # Receiver antenna
  uploader_radio: 'Airspy Mini + rs1729'                   # Optional receiver hardware/radio description
  contact_email: '<mail>@domain.com'                       # Optional contact email for listener metadata
  uploader_lat: 52.00                                      # Must match station.lat above
  uploader_lon: 10.00                                      # Must match station.lon above
  uploader_alt: 100                                        # Must match station.alt above
  upload_rate_s: 10                                        # Upload interval in seconds (1-5 for queue mode -10 recommended for single tracking)
  listener_upload_interval_s: 21600                        # Listener metadata upload interval in seconds (6h / 4 times/day recommend)

Grafana dashboard from Sondehub will show your receiver in the statistics:

License

GNU GPLv3 License - See (https://github.com/DL2MF/OpenWXSDR/blob/main/LICENSE) file

Credits

rs1729/RS decoders: https://github.com/rs1729/RS
Inspired by Project Horus radiosonde_auto_rx: https://github.com/projecthorus/radiosonde_auto_rx/
Built for the OpenWX.de network community

Support

For issues and questions, please open an issue on GitHub.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
.github		.github
assets/img		assets/img
docs		docs
scripts		scripts
src		src
static/js		static/js
templates		templates
.gitignore		.gitignore
LICENSE		LICENSE
MANIFEST.md		MANIFEST.md
OpenWXSDR.md		OpenWXSDR.md
README.md		README.md
Update_V1.0.62_changelog.md		Update_V1.0.62_changelog.md
config.yaml.example		config.yaml.example
install.sh		install.sh
openwxsdr.py		openwxsdr.py
requirements.txt		requirements.txt
restart.sh		restart.sh
rtl-sdr.rules		rtl-sdr.rules

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OpenWX SDR - Streamlined Radiosonde Decoder

Current Version:** 1.0.62 (August 09, 2026):

✨ What's New in v1.0.62

Decoding & detection

Airspy

Web UI & map

RS92 GPS ephemeris

🔧 New Setup check tool integrated

🔧 New configuration utility

🖥️ Integrated gateway receiver and radiosonde statistics

Features

Hardware Requirements

Architecture

Installation

1a. One-Step-Installer

1b. Install System Dependencies

2. Clone and Set Up rs1729/RS Decoders

3. Install OpenWXSDR

4. Configure

Configuration

UDP JSON Format

Supported Radiosonde Types

5. Run

Local WebUI on your device

Telemetry data upload to external OpenWX.de

Telemetry data upload to external sondehub.org

Grafana dashboard from Sondehub will show your receiver in the statistics:

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OpenWX SDR - Streamlined Radiosonde Decoder

Current Version:** 1.0.62 (August 09, 2026):

✨ What's New in v1.0.62

Decoding & detection

Airspy

Web UI & map

RS92 GPS ephemeris

🔧 New Setup check tool integrated

🔧 New configuration utility

🖥️ Integrated gateway receiver and radiosonde statistics

Features

Hardware Requirements

Architecture

Installation

1a. One-Step-Installer

1b. Install System Dependencies

2. Clone and Set Up rs1729/RS Decoders

3. Install OpenWXSDR

4. Configure

Configuration

UDP JSON Format

Supported Radiosonde Types

5. Run

Local WebUI on your device

Telemetry data upload to external OpenWX.de

Telemetry data upload to external sondehub.org

Grafana dashboard from Sondehub will show your receiver in the statistics:

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Credits

Support

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