Raspberry Pi rtl-sdr server setup

Quick guide to setup a RTL SDR Server on a Raspberry Pi.

Base

Raspbian-litie (https://downloads.raspberrypi.org/raspbian_lite_latest)
Raspberry Pi (2 or 3)

⚠️⚠️ The Pi Zero W seems not enough powerfull to handle rtl_tcp.

Flash the Sdcard

$ sudo dd bs=1m if=path_of_your_image.img of=/dev/rdiskn conv=sync

Base Setup

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get upgrade
$ sudo rpi-update

Install rtl-sdr software

In 2018 no need to compile rtl-sdr package, everything is already available in repo.

$ sudo apt-get install rtl-sdr

Plug your TNT/DVB Dongle.

Done ?! Everything is installed. You can test your setup with :

$ rtl_tcp

Service & Auto-startup

With systemd the process to create a startup service is a little different than previous version.

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/rtlsdr.service

Paste the following content :

[Unit]
Description=RTL-SDR Server
After=network.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/bin/sh -c "/usr/bin/rtl_tcp -a $(hostname -I)"
WorkingDirectory=/home/pi
StandardOutput=inherit
StandardError=inherit
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Save and quit

$ sudo systemctl daemon-reload
$ sudo systemctl start rtlsdr
$ sudo systemctl status rtlsdr # Everything should be green
$ sudo systemctl enable rtlsdr

Almost done

Reboot and test

sudo reboot

Your SDR Server is ready to accept connection on port raspberrypi.local:1234