June 23, 2026

VibeSDR: A Mobile-First iOS and Android Receiver App for Remote SDR Servers and RTL-SDRs

Thank you to Stuart Carr (Stuey3D) for submitting news about his new software release, VibeSDR, a free and open-source mobile SDR client he has developed for iOS and Android. VibeSDR is designed to be touch-first rather than a desktop interface shrunk down to phone size. It is a fully native client for UberSDR, OpenWebRX/OpenWebRX+, and KiwiSDR with its own GPU-rendered waterfall and spectrum. It also supports local RTL-SDR dongles via RTL-TCP on both platforms and over USB on Android with no extra driver install required.

VibeSDR comes with a long list of features. The app has on-device decoders for RTTY, WEFAX, NAVTEX, SSTV, Morse, and FT8/FT4, plus access to server-supplied decoders, Leaflet-based HFDL and digital spot maps, FM stereo with RDS, a local bookmarks engine with daily EiBi schedule downloads, and full background audio. It also has band-aware blind tuning, where using lockscreen, headphone, or in-car media controls to tune across a band boundary automatically switches to the correct demodulator and step rate for that band and ITU region. The app also has Android Auto support with browsable bookmark and band plan lists and steering wheel tuning, and on iOS, it offers Siri voice commands to work around the current lack of full CarPlay approval.

Stuart is upfront and mentions that VibeSDR was AI vibecoded with Claude, hence the "vibe" part of the name. He notes that while he did not write code himself, he designed, extensively tested, and reported bugs over weeks of late nights. The app is not available on any app store at the moment, but he notes that the app will always be free and open source, with full source, APKs and IPAs available on the VibeSDR GitHub Releases page. He also plans to eventually list it on the App Store and Play Store for a fee of around £3 to cover store and development costs.

AI-Disclaimer: This software was vibecoded with Claude.

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June 23, 2026

A New SDR# Panadapter Plugin

Thank you to Marco Argilli (IU4HMY) for writing in and sharing with us the release of a new SDR# Panadapter plugin that turns the popular RTL-SDR- and Airspy-compatible program SDR# into a panadapter for your transceiver. A panadapter gives you a live spectrum and waterfall view of the band around your radio's tuned frequency, which makes it much easier to spot activity, find clear frequencies, and visually navigate a busy band. Synchronization between the radio and SDR# is handled by OmniRig, so as you tune your transceiver, the panadapter display follows along.

To use the plugin, you connect your SDR to your transceiver's IF or antenna output, then set the receiver IF frequency and a per-mode offset in the plugin settings, with changes saved to a JSON config file. The plugin also has band presets, where a right-click on a preset button stores a snapshot of frequency, demodulation mode, and zoom level, so you can recall a favorite spot instantly. SDR# version 1921 or newer and the .NET 9 framework are required, and it runs on Windows 8, 10, and 11.

There are a couple of limitations worth noting. Marco recommends using Center Frequency mode for the best performance, and because OmniRig exposes the frequency as a 32 bit COM value, frequencies above around 2.1 GHz are not supported. The plugin does not appear to be open-source, but it is free for personal and non-commercial use.

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June 23, 2026

Meshyface: A Browser Based Chat and Network Dashboard for Meshtastic

Over on GitHub, developer Jaron McDonald has released Meshyface, a chat-first web dashboard for monitoring and interacting with Meshtastic mesh networks from your browser. Meshtastic is an open source, off-grid mesh networking project that uses low-cost LoRa radios to send text messages, GPS positions, and telemetry over long distances without any cellular or internet infrastructure. It's become hugely popular with off-grid, emergency communications, and hobbyist communities, and typically operates in the sub-GHz ISM bands such as 868 MHz in Europe and 915 MHz in the US.

Meshyface runs as a single Python service that serves a single-page web interface over HTTP, and connects to a Meshtastic radio over either TCP (Wi-Fi or Ethernet) or USB serial. From the browser, you get group chat and direct messaging, a network workspace with a map, link topology, route traces, node rankings, and telemetry history, plus a live packet console and optional extras like games, a BBS, and file transfer. History is stored in SQLite with search and rollups, and it's designed to run nicely on a Raspberry Pi or in a Proxmox VM/LXC.

We note that Meshtastic itself does not use an RTL-SDR or any other SDR. Instead, it relies on dedicated LoRa transceiver boards built around ESP32 or nRF52 microcontrollers paired with Semtech SX12xx series radio chips, with popular options including the LilyGO T-Beam, Heltec LoRa32, and RAK WisBlock boards.

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June 22, 2026

Cascade-SDR: A Web-Based Multimode Receiver App for RTL-SDR Dongles

Over on GitHub, developer Jens Engfors has released Cascade-SDR, a free and open source web-based receiver app designed specifically for RTL-SDR dongles. Cascade-SDR uses a Python backend that owns the dongle and handles all the DSP, paired with a browser frontend for the UI, waterfall, audio, and maps. The two communicate over a WebSocket, which means you can run the backend on a Raspberry Pi or mini PC and access it from any browser, phone, or tablet on your network.

Cascade-SDR has a live waterfall and spectrum scope view, with click-to-listen demodulation for WFM, NFM, AM, SSB, and CW, complete with RDS decoding, FM stereo, and a Morse decoder. CascadeSDR also includes a wideband Sweep mode, a channel Scanner, IQ recording and replay, and a built-in antenna helper that tells you how to set up the RTL-SDR.com dipole kit for your tuned frequency.

It also supports decoding of various digital modes, including ADS-B, AIS, APRS, ACARS, DAB+, NOAA APT weather satellite images, SSTV, POCSAG/FLEX pagers, and 315 to 915 MHz ISM band devices like weather stations and TPMS sensors. However, to decode most of these modes it is necessary to install various decoder software that it is dependent on such as dump1090, AIS-catcher, direwolf, welle-clide, multimon-ng, and rtl_433.

Cascade-SDR runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux/Raspberry Pi. The readme includes instructions on installing the software on the various OS platforms.

AI-Disclaimer: This software has used Claude for development.

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June 19, 2026

Saveitforparts: Testing a Prototype of the NanoFarfield Portable Antenna Measurement System

Back in March, we posted about the upcoming crowdfunding campaign for the NanoFarfield antenna far-field measurement system.

NanoFarfield is a kit comprising a NanoVNA, custom measurement software, two tripods, a transmit antenna, and an Azimuth-rotating platform for the receive antenna. The idea is to enable low-cost antenna radiation pattern measurements by leveraging the low multipath characteristics of a wide-open field. This is much cheaper than hiring an anechoic chamber.

Over on YouTube, Gabe from the saveifforparts channel has received an early prototype and put up a video of his tests. In the video, Gabe unboxes the unit, shows all the parts, and then sets it up in a field to test the included antennas, as well as a homebrew Pringles Wi-Fi cantenna.

Overall, he notes that the system worked well, producing the expected radiation plots. There were some downsides noted, such as the cheap tripods not being stable enough and falling over in the wind, and that the manual and software may still need a little work.

Testing Antennas With NanoFarField Portable Antenna Lab (Prototype Version)

Watch this video on YouTube

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June 18, 2026

V2X2MAP: Visualize European 5.9 GHz V2X Vehicle and Traffic Signal Messages with an Android App and ESP32

Thank you to Peter for writing in and sharing news about his Android app called V2X2MAP, which makes Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) radio traffic visible on a live map via an attached ESP32 board. The app is not free but costs only a small US$2.49 fee.

V2X is a cooperative wireless system in which vehicles and roadside infrastructure continuously broadcast small messages in the 5.9 GHz band. Equipped cars broadcast their position, speed, heading, and brake status about 10 times per second, while traffic signals broadcast their phase and timing, lane geometry, and event-driven hazard warnings. It can be thought of as something like ADS-B or AIS for cars, though at a much shorter range (typically a couple of hundred meters), with the added feature that roadside infrastructure also transmits.

V2X is designed to enhance vehicle safety, allowing vehicles to know about obstacles, traffic phases, and road geometry in advance. Currently, two incompatible standards are used: the older DSRC (Wi-Fi-based) and the newer C-V2X (cellular-based). Most markets are moving towards C-V2X because it provides short and long-range communications.

The V2X2MAP Android app works together with a $20 Waveshare ESP32-C5 board, which has an onboard 5.9 GHz WiFi 6 radio. The ESP32 receives the older Wi-Fi DSRC signals, particularly the ITS-G5 standard, which appears to be used only in Europe. Once running, V2X2MAP and the ESP32 decode the surrounding V2X broadcasts and plot live vehicles, hazard warnings, and traffic-light countdowns on a map of your immediate area.

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June 18, 2026

HamDash: A Free Real-Time Ham Radio Dashboard with a Browser-Based RTL-SDR Receiver

Thank you to several readers who have pointed us to HamDash. HamDash is a new free real-time ham radio dashboard that aims to be the always-on monitor for your radio shack. Built by Peter (G0LIW), the web-based app combines HF propagation, space weather, DX cluster spots, POTA and SOTA activations, a contest calendar, and a greyline map into a single customizable view. There's no account or subscription, and it runs in any browser, making it a good fit for a dedicated second monitor, a tablet, or a Raspberry Pi sitting in the shack. We note that despite being free, the project doesn't appear to be open source, as we could not find any public source code repo.

The dashboard includes live solar flux, K-index, X-ray flare, and aurora data so you can tell when the bands are open, plus VOACAP-based propagation predictions and Met Office/MeteoAlarm weather alerts useful for portable operating. A Visual Layout Builder lets you arrange modules into rows and slots exactly how you want, and a touchscreen-friendly on-screen keyboard makes it usable on a mouse-only or kiosk-style setup.

Of interest to RTL-SDR users, HamDash includes a browser-based SDR receiver called SDRCOM that works with an RTL-SDR V3 or V4 dongle over WebUSB, so you can run it in Chrome or another Chromium browser like Edge or Opera directly. The free SDRCOM Lite edition is included with HamDash and covers AM/FM/SSB/CW tuning, a waterfall display, an FT8 decoder, a basic 3-band EQ, and a 100-slot memory bank. There's also a paid SDRCOM Pro edition for a one-year license with no auto-renewal $9.99 fee that adds enhanced waterfalls, FT8 and FT4 decoders, an ADS-B engine with 3D aircraft tracking, 4-band noise-reduction DSP, an auto-lock band scanner, a WAV recorder with scheduler, and a 1000-slot memory bank.

AI-Disclaimer: While not advertised as AI-coded, the author's company, Nemeta AI Software Services LLC, and the UI-style hints at AI development tools having being used.

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June 11, 2026

NRSC5 Studio: A New Feature-Rich Windows GUI for the nrsc5 HD Radio Decoder

We've recently had several submissions about the release of a new program called NRSC5 Studio, a new native open source Windows and Linux supported GUI for the nrsc5 HD Radio decoder. We note that in the past, we've posted about nrsc5 and the NRSC5-DUI interface.

nrsc5 is an open source decoder for the proprietary HD Radio digital audio standard used by FM broadcasters in North America, and it works with low-cost RTL-SDR dongles. NRSC5 Studio is written in Rust with an egui-based dockable interface, and it wraps nrsc5 to provide tuning, HD1 to HD4 subchannel selection, station presets, and now-playing metadata with album art and station logos.

NRSC5 Studio appears to be quite feature-rich. There's a live FFT spectrum and waterfall display tapped from the same I/Q stream feeding the decoder, a QPSK constellation viewer driven by live MER readings per sideband, and a closed loop AGC that automatically tunes the R820T2 gain table to maximize MER. Other extras include a rolling 8-hour album art collage heat map, a 24-hour song log with CSV export, and TPEG traffic map and animated weather radar decoding on stations that broadcast it (currently iHeartMedia stations only).

A portable zip release is available on the GitHub releases page, requiring no installer or admin rights.

AI-Disclaimer: The software Readme credits GitHub Copilot, an AI tool.

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