Computer Issues

CPUs

Ryzen 5560, 5700, 5800, 5825, and above

Known to work running both WD and radiod.

Intel

Raspberry Pi (4 or 5)

Can work in constrained use – but not supporting the full bandwidth of a RX888 plus WD. Known to work with RTL-SDR, funcube dongle, AirspyR2, etc.

Orange Pi-5

Known to work running both WD and radiod if configured correctly.

Memory

RAM Requirements

Minimum Requirements:

  • Basic Operation: 4GB RAM for single-band WSPR decoding

  • Multi-band: 8GB RAM for 6+ simultaneous bands

  • High-throughput: 16GB+ RAM for RX888 with full spectrum processing

Memory Usage Patterns:

  • Each WSPR band requires approximately 200-500MB RAM

  • KA9Q-radio processes consume additional 100-200MB per receiver

  • Noise analysis and graphing add 50-100MB overhead

  • Buffer space for audio processing requires 100-200MB per active receiver

Optimization Tips:

  • Use tmpfs for /tmp/wsprdaemon/ to improve I/O performance

  • Monitor memory usage with free -h and htop

  • Configure swap space (4-8GB) for systems with limited RAM

  • Consider memory-mapped files for large datasets

Memory Configuration

tmpfs Setup for Performance:

# Add to /etc/fstab for persistent tmpfs
tmpfs /tmp/wsprdaemon tmpfs defaults,size=2G,uid=wsprdaemon,gid=wsprdaemon 0 0

# Mount immediately
sudo mount -a

Swap Configuration:

# Check current swap
swapon --show

# Create swap file if needed
sudo fallocate -l 4G /swapfile
sudo chmod 600 /swapfile
sudo mkswap /swapfile
sudo swapon /swapfile

Disk Storage

Storage Requirements

Minimum Storage:

  • System Installation: 10GB for WsprDaemon and dependencies

  • Log Storage: 1-5GB per month depending on verbosity and band count

  • Temporary Files: 2-4GB for active processing buffers

  • Archive Storage: Variable based on data retention requirements

Recommended Storage:

  • Root Partition: 50GB minimum for system and software

  • Data Partition: 100GB+ for logs, archives, and noise data

  • Backup Storage: External storage for configuration and historical data

Storage Performance Considerations

I/O Requirements:

  • Sequential Write: 10-50 MB/s for continuous logging

  • Random I/O: Moderate for configuration and status files

  • Burst Performance: High during 2-minute WSPR decode cycles

Storage Types:

  • SSD Recommended: For /tmp/wsprdaemon/ and active logs

  • HDD Acceptable: For long-term archives and backups

  • Network Storage: Suitable for archives but not active processing

Directory Structure and Sizing

Active Processing Directories:

/tmp/wsprdaemon/                    # 2-4GB (tmpfs recommended)
├── recording.d/                    # Audio buffers (500MB-2GB)
├── decoding.d/                     # Decode processing (200MB-1GB)
├── posting.d/                      # Upload queues (100MB-500MB)
└── uploads.d/                      # Upload staging (50MB-200MB)

Persistent Storage:

~/wsprdaemon/                       # 1-10GB depending on retention
├── logs/                           # Historical logs (100MB-5GB)
├── noise_graphs/                   # Noise measurement data (50MB-2GB)
├── archives/                       # Long-term data storage (variable)
└── backups/                        # Configuration backups (10MB-100MB)

Storage Maintenance

Log Rotation:

  • WsprDaemon automatically rotates logs when they exceed configured size limits

  • Default maximum log file size: 1MB

  • Older logs are compressed and archived

  • Configure retention period based on available storage

Cleanup Procedures:

# Manual cleanup of old temporary files
find /tmp/wsprdaemon -type f -mtime +7 -delete

# Archive old logs
tar -czf ~/wsprdaemon/archives/logs_$(date +%Y%m).tar.gz ~/wsprdaemon/logs/*.log.old

# Monitor disk usage
df -h /tmp/wsprdaemon ~/wsprdaemon

Automated Maintenance:

  • Set up cron jobs for regular cleanup

  • Monitor disk space with system alerts

  • Implement automatic archive rotation

  • Configure backup procedures for critical data

Performance Optimization

File System Selection:

  • ext4: Good general-purpose performance

  • xfs: Better for large files and high I/O

  • btrfs: Advanced features but higher overhead

  • tmpfs: Essential for high-performance temporary storage

Mount Options:

# High-performance options for data partition
/dev/sdb1 /home/wsprdaemon/data ext4 defaults,noatime,data=writeback 0 2

# tmpfs for temporary files
tmpfs /tmp/wsprdaemon tmpfs defaults,size=4G,noatime 0 0

Monitoring and Alerts

Disk Space Monitoring:

# Check available space
df -h

# Monitor I/O performance
iostat -x 1

# Track directory sizes
du -sh /tmp/wsprdaemon/* ~/wsprdaemon/*

Alert Thresholds:

  • Warning: 80% disk usage

  • Critical: 90% disk usage

  • Emergency cleanup: 95% disk usage

Configure system monitoring to alert when storage thresholds are exceeded to prevent service interruption.