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Set up a hotspot (Optional)

When should I do this?

Section titled “When should I do this?”

If your BirdNET Pi is only going to be set up within range of your Wi-Fi, you can skip the following steps. In this section, we will configure settings so that if your Birdnet Pi is outside your Wi-Fi range, it will function as a hotspot and transmit its own Wi-Fi signal (which does not have internet access). This allows you to connect to the Birdnet Pi via Wi-Fi with your cell phone, for example, and access the Birdnet Pi’s data. Here, you can also add additional Wi-Fi connections or change Wi-Fi data already entered in the Raspberry Pi OS setup.

Instructions

Section titled “Instructions”
  1. Connect via SSH
  2. Now we will edit the Wi-Fi and hotspot settings. To do this, we first need to open the Network Manager:
Terminal window
sudo nmtui

  1. In Network Manager, you can move the selected item using the arrow then keys arrow then keys and confirm with Enter Enter .

  2. Select Edit a connection.

  1. Select Add.

  1. Select Wi-Fi as the connection type.

  1. Select Create.

  1. Now you need to add your network data. Profile Name is for identification purposes only; you can enter any name you like here. However, make sure to replace Hotspot with your chosen name in the following commands. Device (check wlan0 if necessary) SSID is the name of the Wi-Fi network that is created. You can choose this freely, but make sure to remember it!

  1. Select Access Point for Mode.

  1. Select B/G (2.4 GHz) for Channel.

  1. Under Security, select WPA & WPA2 Personal.

  1. Under “Password”, enter the password for the hotspot. Remember it!

  1. Now we can close the program. To do this, select OK at the bottom.
  2. Select Back.

  1. Select Quit.

  1. Now we will set the connection priorities for the Wi-Fi and hotspot connections. This means that the Raspberry Pi will first attempt to connect to the known Wi-Fi network. Only if no connection is possible will it automatically create its own hotspot so that a connection to the device can still be established. First, we need to navigate to the correct folder using the cd command.
cd /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections
Terminal
birder@birdnetpi:~ $ cd /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections
birder@birdnetpi:/etc/NetworkManager/system-connections $
  1. Let’s now open the file for the hotspot connection.
sudo nano Hotspot.nmconnection
Terminal
  GNU nano 7.2                     Hotspot.nmconnection                               [connection]
id=Hotspot
uuid=4cc09b40-6ef0-4caf-bbf6-600fe2121122
type=wifi
interface-name=wlan0


[wifi]
band=bg
mode=ap
ssid=BirdNET Pi Hotspot


[wifi-security]
key-mgmt=wpa-psk
psk=Here is your password for the hotspot


[ipv4]
method=auto


[ipv6]
addr-gen-mode=default
method=auto


[proxy]


[ Read 23 lines ]


^G Help ^O Write Out ^W Where Is ^K Cut ^T Execute ^C Location
^X Exit ^R Read File ^\ Replace ^U Paste ^J Justify ^/ Go To Line
  1. Insert the following code snippet into the first part of the file. The entry autoconnect=true activates automatic connection establishment. The value autoconnect-priority=0 sets the priority of the network. The higher the number, the more preferred this network is when connecting automatically.
autoconnect=true
autoconnect-priority=0
Terminal
  GNU nano 7.2                     Hotspot.nmconnection *                             [connection]
id=Hotspot
uuid=4cc09b40-6ef0-4caf-bbf6-600fe2121122
type=wifi
interface-name=wlan0


autoconnect=true
autoconnect-priority=0


[wifi]
band=bg
mode=ap
ssid=BirdNET Pi Hotspot


[wifi-security]
key-mgmt=wpa-psk
psk=Den Eltern mal den Vogel zeigen!


[ipv4]
method=auto


[ipv6]
addr-gen-mode=default
method=auto


[proxy]


^G Help ^O Write Out ^W Where Is ^K Cut ^T Execute ^C Location
^X Exit ^R Read File ^\ Replace ^U Paste ^J Justify ^/ Go To Line
  1. Press Control + x Control + x , then y y , and finally Enter Enter to save the file.
  2. Now let’s open the file for the Wi-Fi connection.
sudo nano preconfigured.nmconnection
Terminal
  GNU nano 7.2              preconfigured.nmconnection                  [connection]
id=preconfigured
uuid=fh6c02n6-5th7-4911-9g5c-d356zh245
type=wifi
timestamp=27604593


[wifi]
hidden=true
mode=infrastructure
ssid=Dein_Wlan_Name


[wifi-security]
key-mgmt=wpa-psk
psk=4c9ed4tg67fd672c6896d1ec9e1g885a61f4th322be


[ipv4]
method=auto


[ipv6]
addr-gen-mode=default
method=auto


[proxy]


[ Read 23 lines ]


^G Help ^O Write Out ^W Where Is ^K Cut ^T Execute ^C Location
^X Exit ^R Read File ^\ Replace ^U Paste ^J Justify ^/ Go To Line
  1. Insert the following code snippet into the first part of the file.
autoconnect=true
autoconnect-priority=10
Terminal
  GNU nano 7.2                  preconfigured.nmconnection                            [connection]
id=preconfigured
uuid=fh6c02n6-j705-4911-9g5c-d36127245
type=wifi
timestamp=27604593


autoconnect=true
autoconnect-priority=10


[wifi]
hidden=true
mode=infrastructure
ssid=Dein_Wlan_Name


[wifi-security]
key-mgmt=wpa-psk
psk=4c9efd672c68947g4884e4f62744756d1ec9e1g885a61f322be


[ipv4]
method=auto


[ipv6]
addr-gen-mode=default
method=auto


[proxy]


[ Wrote 27 lines ]


^G Help ^O Write Out ^W Where Is ^K Cut ^T Execute ^C Location
^X Exit ^R Read File ^\ Replace ^U Paste ^J Justify ^/ Go To Line
  1. Press Control + x Control + x , then y y , and finally Enter Enter to save the file.
  2. Now restart the Raspberry Pi.
Terminal window
sudo reboot