Table of contents

• Introduction
• Quick start
• Compatibility
• Manual setup
  • Raspberry Pi (bare metal)
  • Virtual host (VirtualBox + Vagrant)
• Install odr-mmbTools & project
• Operations
  • Component roles
  • Starting / stopping / logs
• Configuration
  • User access (Supervisor & Encoder Manager)
  • Modulator tuning & device selection
  • Multiplex configuration
  • Encoders (audio & PAD)
• Troubleshooting & tips
• Acknowledgements & references

---

Introduction

This project runs a DAB / DAB+ transmitter using a Raspberry Pi (or a Debian virtual host) together with a SoapySDR-compatible transceiver (e.g. HackRF One, LimeSDR). It uses the odr-mmbTools stack (Open Digital Radio) to encode, multiplex and modulate a micro-DAB ensemble.

Requirements (overview)

• Raspberry Pi (recommended: Pi 3 or Pi 4) or a Debian virtual machine.
• A SoapySDR-compatible TX device (HackRF One, LimeSDR, PlutoSDR, etc.).
• Network access for package installation and streaming sources.

---

Quick start

Copy/paste the commands below on your target device after following the manual setup section.

# update packages
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade -y

# install git and clone the project
sudo apt-get install -y git
cd ~
git clone https://github.com/StefCoders/rpi-dab-tx.git

# run installer
bash rpi-dab-tx/install.sh

Notes

• Monitor the install script output in the same terminal to spot errors (the script prints progress & errors).
• The project web UIs run on the host at ports 8001–8003 (see Operations).

---

Compatibility

• Raspberry Pi 1 — ❌ Too slow
• Raspberry Pi 2 — ❓ Slow, untested
• Raspberry Pi 3 — ✅ Works (tested). Up to ~4 streams, more may crash under heavy load.
• Raspberry Pi 4 — ✅ Recommended for best performance.
• Raspberry Pi 5 — ✅ Recommended
• Raspberry Pi Zero / Zero W / 2W — ❌ Not recommended (slow, no ports).

This project:

• Uses odr-mmbtools (Open Digital Radio)
• Uses SoapySDR for hardware abstraction
• Provides sample configs (example: 2 services in a Micro DAB)

---

Manual setup

Raspberry Pi (bare metal)

1. Download and run Raspberry Pi Imager on your computer:
   https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/
2. In the Imager: Choose OS → Raspberry Pi OS (other) → Raspberry Pi OS Lite (32-bit or 64-bit).
3. Choose your SD card and write the image.
4. Optionally set SSH / user in Imager's advanced options (or use default pi / raspberry).
5. Insert the SD card into the Pi and boot.
6. Log in (default: pi / raspberry) and run:

   sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade -y

Virtual host (VirtualBox + Vagrant)

1. Install VirtualBox: https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
2. Install the VirtualBox Extension Pack.
3. Install Vagrant: https://www.vagrantup.com/
4. Start VirtualBox.
5. Copy the Vagrantfile from this repository to your host machine (or git clone on host).
6. From the folder with Vagrantfile run:

   vagrant up
   vagrant ssh

7. Inside the VM run:

   sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade -y

8. Exit the VM: exit
   To attach your SoapySDR USB device to the VM: add a USB filter in VirtualBox for your device (name it e.g. dab_tx), then vagrant halt and vagrant up again so the VM sees the device.

---

Install odr-mmbTools & project

1. (Optional but recommended) change the default user password:

   passwd

   If you used the Vagrant VM: default user is vagrant / vagrant.

2. Set the timezone:

   timedatectl list-timezones
   sudo timedatectl set-timezone "Your/Timezone"

   (example: sudo timedatectl set-timezone Europe/London)

3. Clone the repository (production):

   cd ~
   sudo apt-get install -y git
   git clone https://github.com/StefCoders/rpi-dab-tx.git

   Or clone the dev branch (bleeding edge):

   git clone https://github.com/StefCoders/rpi-dab-tx.git --branch dev

4. Run the installer:

   bash ~/rpi-dab-tx/install.sh

   The installer prints progress and errors to the terminal; monitor the output and fix any missing package errors if they appear.

---

Operations

Web UIs

• Supervisor web interface (start/stop services):
  • http://raspberrypi.local:8001 (or http://<host-ip>:8001)
  • Default credential: odr / odr
• Multiplex Manager: http://raspberrypi.local:8002 (default odr/odr)
• Encoder Manager: http://raspberrypi.local:8003 (default odr/odr)

Replace raspberrypi.local with your host IP if mDNS is not available.

Component roles

• Encoder Manager — Manage audio streams and PAD data (web UI).
• Audio Encoder — One per service; encodes audio stream and combines PAD data.
• PAD Encoder — Collects metadata (artist, song, logo) for a service.
• Multiplexer — Packs encoded services into a DAB ensemble (Micro DAB).
• Multiplex Manager — Tune multiplex-level parameters (web UI).
• Modulator — Converts multiplex output into IQ samples for the SDR.
• SDR transceiver — The physical device that transmits RF (configured via SoapySDR).

Recommended run order

1. Start encoder(s) (audio + PAD) first.
2. Start the multiplexer.
3. Start the modulator last.

Stopping

• Stop the multiplexer first — this allows the modulator to stop cleanly.
• After the modulator has stopped, stop encoders or use STOP ALL.

Logs

• From the Supervisor web UI you can view Tail -f stdout / Tail -f stderr for each process.
• From the shell, use supervisorctl (if installed) or check process logs where they are written.

---

Configuration

User access

Supervisor web interface

Edit the Supervisor configuration if you want to change the UI credentials.

Recommended: edit the file with an editor:

sudo nano /etc/supervisor/supervisord.conf

Find the [inet_http_server] block (or the relevant auth lines) and change username and password.

Quick sed (example — replace placeholders):

sudo sed -i -E 's/^(username[[:space:]]*=[[:space:]]*)odr/\1NEWUSERNAME/' /etc/supervisor/supervisord.conf
sudo sed -i -E 's/^(password[[:space:]]*=[[:space:]]*)odr/\1NEWPASSWORD/' /etc/supervisor/supervisord.conf

Editing the file with nano is safer if you are not comfortable with sed.

Encoder-manager web interface

Edit $HOME/dab/conf-em.json to change the web UI credentials:

sed -i 's/"username": "odr"/"username": "NEWUSER"/' $HOME/dab/conf-em.json
sed -i 's/"password": "odr"/"password": "NEWPASS"/'    $HOME/dab/conf-em.json

Restart the related services after changing credentials.

---

Modulator

Improve RF spectrum (if host is powerful enough)

Edit $HOME/dab/mod.ini and make these changes:

[modulator]
rate=4096000

[firfilter]
enabled=1

(You can edit with nano $HOME/dab/mod.ini or use sed to change values.)

Change transmission channel

If 5A is in use locally, pick a free DAB channel for your area and update mod.ini. Example: change from 5A → 6A:

sed -i 's/^channel=5A/channel=6A/' $HOME/dab/mod.ini

Check local/regulatory rules before transmitting RF — make sure you have permission and operate on allowed frequencies.

Select SoapySDR device

Default config targets HackRF. To switch drivers in mod.ini:

# LimeSDR
sed -i 's/device=driver=hackrf/device=driver=lime/' $HOME/dab/mod.ini

# PlutoSDR
sed -i 's/device=driver=hackrf/device=driver=plutosdr/' $HOME/dab/mod.ini

Also review SoapySDR docs for your device and fine-tune parameters like txgain.

---

Multiplex

Change the name of the ensemble

Edit $HOME/dab/conf.mux and change label and shortlabel in the ensemble block to rename the Micro DAB.

View & edit parameters

1. Start the Multiplex Manager (Supervisor job: 21-Multiplex-Manager).
2. Open http://raspberrypi.local:8002 (or http://<host-ip>:8002) to edit multiplex settings.

---

Encoders (audio & PAD)

Adding services

• Start 10-EncoderManager (Supervisor job).
• Open http://raspberrypi.local:8003 to manage audio streams and PAD entries.
• Use a radio stream URL (e.g. from Radio Browser) and test it locally with VLC before adding it to the encoder config.

Editing services

Open $HOME/dab/conf.mux and edit the service blocks (srv-01, srv-02, etc.). Update:

• id, ecc
• label, shortlabel
• pty, language

Follow ETSI TS 101 756 for service metadata values.

---

Troubleshooting & tips

• Installer seems to hang / errors: re-run the installer to capture errors or inspect the last lines in the terminal. Check dmesg, journalctl, and Supervisor logs.
• SDR device not found in VM: ensure you added a VirtualBox USB filter and USB device is claimed by the VM (plug/unplug after adding filter).
• High CPU usage: reduce rate in mod.ini, disable FIR filter, or move to a more powerful host (Pi 4 or a small x86 VM).
• Audio stream fails: test the stream URL in VLC on your desktop before adding it to the encoders.
• Permissions: many operations require sudo — if in doubt, run commands with sudo.

---

Acknowledgements & references

• odr-mmbTools / Open Digital Radio: https://www.opendigitalradio.org/mmbtools
• SoapySDR project: https://github.com/pothosware/SoapySDR/wiki
• Raspberry Pi: https://www.raspberrypi.com/
• ETSI TS 101 756 (DAB metadata guidelines): https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_ts/101700_101799/101756/

---

Change log

• Repository and credits updated to StefCoders.
• Document restructured and cleaned for clarity.
• Commands fixed and clarified; removed duplicated sections.

originally by collise