Automated Radiosonde Ground Station — an expert-level kit for adults.

RS41 Radiosonde Decoder Kit: Raspberry Pi & Arduino Ground Station

Every part needed, pre-tested for compatibility, with an AI build companion trained on this exact project. Shipped from Bengaluru in 1-5 days.

Turn raw 433 MHz signals into detailed atmospheric soundings that reveal temperature, humidity, pressure, and wind patterns up to 35 km altitude. This kit lets you intercept and decode live RS41 radiosonde transmissions from weather balloons launched by meteorological departments, then visualize the upper-air data that drives weather forecasts.

What You'll Build

A fully functional automated ground station that captures radiosonde telemetry the moment a balloon is within range. You'll assemble the directional Yagi antenna, solder the interface board, configure RTL-SDR on the Pi, and program Arduino to log sensor data alongside decoded GPS and met data onto an SD card. The OLED displays real-time status, and you can export profiles to analyze in any tool.

What You'll Learn

• Configure and use an RTL-SDR dongle to capture narrowband FM signals at 433 MHz.
• Implement a Python-based decoder for the RS41 binary telemetry format.
• Synchronize multiple microcontrollers (Arduino & Pi) for real-time data acquisition and logging.
• Interpret atmospheric sounding data to identify tropopause height, inversion layers, and stability indices.

Kit Contents

Choose your assembly option:

• Soldering Kit — 25W soldering iron, 60/40 solder wire, flux, and small perfboard for permanent assembly.
• Breadboard Combo — 800-point full-size breadboard with 65-piece jumper wire pack for solderless prototyping.