DireControl

A real-time APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System) monitoring and control application that interfaces with Direwolf via KISS TCP. Aggregates packets from local RF and APRS-IS, provides interactive mapping, messaging, alerting, and beacon management for ham radio operators.

Features

• Real-time packet capture — Connects to Direwolf via KISS TCP, parses AX.25 frames, and classifies stations by type (Mobile, Fixed, Weather, Digipeater, IGate)
• APRS-IS integration — Dual-source packet aggregation from RF and internet with configurable filters and deduplication
• Interactive map — Leaflet-based map with station plotting, APRS symbols, track history, range rings, heatmap overlay, and Maidenhead grid coverage analysis
• Messaging — Send and receive APRS messages with automatic retry and acknowledgment tracking
• Beacon management — Multi-radio beacon configuration with digipeater confirmation tracking and heard/not-heard status
• Alerting — Watch list alerts, proximity rules, and geofences with real-time notifications
• Weather overlays — NEXRAD radar (IEM), RainViewer Pro, lightning (Tomorrow.io), and wind tiles (OpenWeatherMap)
• Callsign lookup — HamDB and QRZ integration with result caching
• Statistics — Coverage grid analysis, digipeater statistics, packet rates, and per-station metrics
• Real-time updates — SignalR pushes all events (packets, messages, alerts, beacon confirmations) to the browser instantly

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Backend	ASP.NET Core (.NET 10), Entity Framework Core, SQLite
Frontend	Vue 3, Vuetify 4, Vite, TypeScript, Pinia
Mapping	Leaflet
Realtime	SignalR
APRS	AprsSharp (KISS TNC + APRS-IS + parser)

Docker

The easiest way to run DireControl is with Docker Compose. Copy docker-compose.yml and .env.example from the repo, then:

cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env — at minimum set DireControl__OurCallsign to your callsign
docker compose up -d

The app will be available at http://localhost. The SQLite database is persisted in a data/ directory alongside the compose file.

Docker Compose

services:
  direcontrol:
    image: roushtech/direcontrol:${VERSION:-stable}
    env_file: .env
    ports:
      - "${HTTP_PORT:-80}:5010"
    volumes:
      - ./data:/data
    restart: unless-stopped
    # Allows the container to reach Direwolf running on the host via host.docker.internal
    extra_hosts:
      - "host.docker.internal:host-gateway"

Configuration

DireControl is configured through environment variables and the in-app Settings page.

Environment variables (set in .env or passed to the container):

Variable	Default	Description
HTTP_PORT	80	Host port to expose the web UI on
DireControl__OurCallsign	N0CALL-10	Your callsign with SSID
DireControl__HomeLat / DireControl__HomeLon	(unset)	Home position for beacons and distance calculations
Direwolf__Host	localhost	Direwolf KISS TCP host (host.docker.internal for Docker)
Direwolf__Port	8001	Direwolf KISS TCP port
QRZ__Username / QRZ__Password	(empty)	QRZ callsign lookup credentials (optional — HamDB is used as a free fallback)
DireControl__StationExpiryTimeoutMinutes	120	Default minutes before inactive stations expire

See .env.example for the full list including per-type station expiry overrides.

In-app settings (configured through the Settings page in the UI):

• APRS-IS connection (host, port, filter, passcode)
• Weather API keys (OpenWeatherMap, Tomorrow.io, RainViewer)
• Radar provider selection

Image Tags

The stable tag always points to the latest release. Pinned version tags (e.g. 0.2.0.173) are also available — see Docker Hub for all tags.

Building from Source

Prerequisites

• .NET 10 SDK
• Node.js 20.19+ or 22.12+
• Direwolf running with KISS TCP enabled

Backend

dotnet run --project DireControl.Api
# Listening on http://localhost:5010

Frontend

cd DireControl.Vue
npm install
npm run dev

The Vite dev server proxies API and SignalR requests to the backend automatically.

Local Configuration

Copy and edit the local settings override (git-ignored):

cp DireControl.Api/appsettings.json DireControl.Api/appsettings.local.json

The same settings from the environment variable table above can be set here using the nested JSON format (e.g. Direwolf__Host becomes "Direwolf": { "Host": "..." }).

Running Tests

dotnet test DireControl.Tests/DireControl.Tests.csproj

License

MIT — Copyright (c) 2026 William Roush / RoushTech