Skip to content

Is running an instance for me?

An instance is a complete APRScaching site: the map, the game, the Shack and a radio gateway. A club or a single operator can run one on a Raspberry Pi at home, a mini-PC, a small cloud server, a phone or entirely off-grid. Instances link up with no central server, so caches and radio confirmations are shared across the network (How federation works). You do not need your own instance to play: you can join an existing one.

This section is for the sysop, the licensed operator who runs the instance. It assumes you know Linux, Docker, DNS and networking; it never assumes you know the code.

What you run

An instance has two parts that deploy separately:

  • the gateway: the API and the data. It runs on your box, on a cloud VM, on a phone or as a desktop app.
  • the RF ingest: the program that carries what your radios hear into the gateway. It always runs on your own equipment, next to the radio.

deploy/aprscaching sets up, checks and maintains every shape with the same commands: The deploy/aprscaching command.

Your journey

  1. Choose a shape: Self-host, Oracle Cloud, Desktop or Pocket.
  2. Install it: Self-host with Docker (recommended), Self-host on Oracle Cloud, Self-host without Docker, Desktop or Pocket.
  3. Your first hour: from "it answers" to a public, verified, backed-up instance.
  4. Connect radios: start with the quick starts. Hams can also lend their receivers to your instance.
  5. Networks: off-grid, Cloudflare, 44Net, HAMNET.
  6. Federation: how it works, choose how to connect, then join the network.
  7. Day to day: admin, backups, updates.
  8. A public instance's duties, and the rules for automatic stations on the air before you transmit.

Next