ChannelSPURIOUS EMISSIONS
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Episode 12 · The Station Monitor · Series 01: The Listening Station

How do I watch everything on one screen?

A frame from the draft of episode 12, The Station MonitorComing soon
Release
Length
3:33
On the dial
The wall

What it covers

I wrote one dashboard for my whole radio listening station: aircraft, ships, shortwave radio, weather maps and the sun on one web page. Every feed has its own program on its own computer, so I explain the one idea behind the page (a small adapter for each feed), how it knows that a feed has died, the map and the 30-day archive, and the mode for a screen on the wall. It is a hobby program, and I say what is not finished.

The written guide: set this up yourself

Chapters

  1. 0:00Intro
  2. 0:31One page
  3. 1:05One adapter for each feed
  4. 1:34Is it still alive?
  5. 2:11The map and the archive
  6. 2:33On the wall
  7. 3:00What it is

Frames from the draft

The Station Monitor: Intro
01 Intro
The Station Monitor: One page
02 One page
The Station Monitor: One adapter for each feed
03 One adapter for each feed
The Station Monitor: Is it still alive?
04 Is it still alive?
The Station Monitor: The map and the archive
05 The map and the archive
The Station Monitor: On the wall
06 On the wall
The Station Monitor: What it is
07 What it is

Gear in this episode

ZimaBladethe small server I call Michelangelo
RX-888 Mk IIthe receiver that hears all of shortwave at once (mine is from OpenSourceSDRLab)
Raspberry Pi 4the small computer that runs my ADS-B receiver
Raspberry Pi 5the small computer that runs the decoder
HP EliteDesk small form factor PCthe shortwave computer I call Raphael (mine was rescued from e-waste)
CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD UPS (1500 VA, sine wave)the battery backup that keeps almost all of my station running through a power cut

Software and references

FastAPIfastapi.tiangolo.comthe Python web framework that serves the page and its data
SQLitesqlite.orgthe one-file database that keeps the last two days
Leafletleafletjs.comthe map library behind the map page
Pythonpython.orgthe language the program is written in
Home Assistanthome-assistant.iothe home automation system that sends the urgent alerts to my phone

What is simplified, and what is invented

  • Station Monitor is my own program. Its code is private, so there is no link to it.
  • Every picture of the page in this video is a drawing, not a screenshot. The real page has other colors and fonts. The drawing keeps the real tile names and their order.
  • The numbers in the drawn tiles and wall scenes are one reading of my station, rounded. The trend lines are illustrations.
  • Every line in the live list, the takeover card and the reason text on the red tile are examples that I wrote. I do not show real received messages, aircraft, vessels or call signs.
  • "Asks again and again" is true for twelve of the thirteen adapters. The one for aircraft messages listens to a stream.
  • The health timeline shows the rule. It is not a recording of a real fault.
  • The marks on the world map are examples placed by hand, not received positions. Map coastline: Natural Earth (public domain).
  • The archive calendar pattern is invented. Not every archive holds thirty days yet: the program is too young.
  • The wall scenes change faster in the video than the real twenty seconds, and the real scenes also have a map or a picture behind the number.
  • The phone alerts for distress calls were tested with a test message. My station has not received a real distress call.