Direwolf

Direwolf is a piece of software used to decode and encode APRS packets, commonly called a terminal node controller (TNC). A computer running Direwolf can be paired with a transceiver to transmit, receive, and digipeat APRS packets on the air. It can be used on its own or with a KISS client. This is a tutorial on setting up Direwolf for remote access via a 44Net Connect tunnel.

Prerequisites:

• 44Net Portal account
• Verified callsign
• 44Net Connect tunnel configuration file (for your Direwolf device)
• Either a client with a static IP or another 44Net Connect tunnel configuration file for your client

Security and Limitations

Neither Direwolf or the KISS protocol directly support any kind of authentication. Securing Direwolf against unauthorized access is done via IP whitelisting in this guide, so providing access to people without access to a static IP (through 44Net or otherwise) is out of scope.

Step 1: Install and configure Direwolf

Consult the Direwolf README for installation instructions. The instructions state that the direwolf.conf file will be automatically created in your home directory, but this is not always the case. If the config file is not automatically created, a working Linux configuration can be found in N3EMC's digipeater tutorial.

Configure sound card

Next, plug in your USB sound card if you're using one. (This section applies whether you're using a USB sound card or a built-in one.) then open a terminal and run `arecord -l` to list your audio devices. The output will look like this:

**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
card 1: Device [USB Audio Device], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Record the card number (in this case card 1) and the device number (in this case card 2). Edit the line in direwolf.conf that starts with ADEVICE. By default, the line might look like this:

ADEVICE plughw:0,0

Replace the first number with your card number, and the second with your device number. For our example with card 1 and device 0, the line should now look like this:

ADEVICE plughw:1,0

Configure iGate login

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References

• Direwolf documentation
• Easy APRS iGate and Digipeater Setup with Direwolf - themodernham
• APRS Digitpeater and iGate with Direwolf
  • If your Direwolf installation does not create a default configuration file, this site has an example config you can use.