Category: Airspy

XRIT Decoder Updated: Improved Image Quality and IR Enhancements

USA-Satcom is the programmer of XRIT Decoder, which is a popular (paid) Windows decoding application for GOES weather satellites. With a WiFi grid dish antenna, LNA and SDRplay, Airspy or even an RTL-SDR, high resolution full disk images of the earth can be downloaded from these geosynchronous satellites. Browse through our previous GOES posts for ideas and various tutorials about setting up a receiver.

Recently, XRIT decoder has been updated and now has improved image quality and an antenna alignment helper tool. A further update also adds improved processing for IR images. Over on the SDRplay forums RSP2user has been testing the updates and writes:

USA- Satcom has just released version 1.4.6985 of the XRIT Decoder software package. New features include:

1) Improved image clarity.
2) An antenna Align Mode feature.
3) And a Viterbi and Eb/No (Energy per Bit to Noise Power Spectral Density Ratio akanormalized SNR) graph over time feature. 

The improved image clarity reduces image artifacts at the Earth-space boundary of the image and improves the overall aesthetics of the colorization of the full disk images. The images are quite amazing. The resolution is far better than what can be shown here due to image size limitations for this site. Below is a full disk GOES 16 image from February 17, 2019 and a corresponding zoomed in portion to get an idea of the resolution and clarity (the actual full disk images are approximately 40MB PNG images each which are much greater resolution than the below image)

The antenna Align Mode is a great new feature that allows users to view the Signal Quality, Viterbi FEC, and Eb/No from a distance using large numeric values. This mode enables users to better view these values when fine tuning adjustments to GOES receiving antennas. The Eb/No and Viterbi graphing enables users to see how well their receiving system is doing throughout the day (e.g., over temperature and while the sun is in alignment with the receiving path).

GOES 16 Received by RSP2User
GOES 16 Received by RSP2User

More updates from USA-Satcom to the XRIT Decoder software with a new patch from today. The XRIT file manager now provides IR image enhancements for GOES Bands 8 and 13. Here are some examples:

G16 CH13 & G16 Band8 Enhancements . Images received by RSP2user.
G16 CH13 & G16 Band8 Enhancements . Images received by RSP2user.

See the post on the SDRplay forums for further details, higher res images and the full update history.

Using an Airspy HF+ with SDR# and WSJT-X to Decode FT8 + SpyServer FT8 Decoding Demo

Over on YouTube user TheGazLab has uploaded a video that reviews the Airspy HF+, and also shows how to use the HF+ with SDR# and WSJT-X in order to create a FT8 monitor. The Airspy HF+ is high dynamic range HF/VHF receiver designed for DXing.

In the video TheGazLab demonstrates to us the decoding in real time, and explains the CAT control SDR# plugin that he's using. The CAT control plugin when combined with a virtual serial port driver allows the WSJT-X program to automatically tune SDR# to the FT8 frequency selected in WSJT-X.

Later in the video he also discusses the SpyServer network which allows SDR# users to connect to remote public Airspy and RTL-SDR units over the internet. He demonstrates connecting to a public server in the UK, and decoding FT8 via the remote server. The video also shows the new SpyServer interface by  which nicely lays out the world SpyServer network on a map, making it easy to choose a desired location to listen to.

Airspy HFPlus, SDR# and WSJT-X with full CAT control decoding FT-8

Welle.io DAB/DAB+ Decoder Version 2 Released

Welle.io is a Windows/Linux/MacOS/Android/Raspberry Pi compatible DAB and DAB+ broadcast radio decoder which supports RTL-SDR dongles, as well as the Airspy and any dongle supported by SoapySDR. It is a touch screen friendly software which is excellent for use on tablets, phones and perhaps on vehicle radio touch screens.

Thank you to Albrecht Lohofener, the author of welle.io for writing in and sharing his news about the release on welle.io version 2.

welle.io 2.0 Beta 1 released

I’m happy to announce the version welle.io 2.0 Beta 1. Since the first rtl-sdr.com post roughly two years ago (Mar 2017) welle.io became the leading open source DAB/DAB+ SDR. Many people are using welle.io in their daily life and gave a lot of feedback.

With all this feedback we started developing the version 2.0. Apparently, the biggest change is the complete redesign of the user interface (GUI). It changed from a dark design to a bright design and handles easily different screen resolutions and orientations.

Many users asked for a favorite list, automatic playing of last station and a mute button. Now these features are ready to test with the 2.0 Beta 1!

Another new feature is the settings menu where users can set the hardware receiver with all the necessary settings. This is more user friendly than the command line parameters.

For people with a deep technical interest we improved the expert mode a lot. In addition to the spectrum users can also view the impulse response, null symbol and constellation diagram, even at the same time! An experimental I/Q RAW file recorder as well as a debug output window is available for systems without a text console.

In the back-end we improved the multi-path behavior and started a source code refactoring to allow the code to be easily maintained. Great thanks to the people from the Opendigitalradio association (http://www.opendigitalradio.org/) which are actively contributing to this project.

Now it is possible to build a complete DAB/DAB+ system (transmitter and receiver) with open source!

As a result from this collaboration welle-cli is available. The main use case is to monitor DAB/DAB+ transmitters networks over the internet. Thus it has a HTTP API and includes a basic Web page which shows the features.

Everyone is invited to test the new version and to report issues. For reports we recommend to open an issue at the welle.io Github page (https://github.com/AlbrechtL/welle.io/issues).

We are also looking for people who would like to contribute to welle.io (translations, web page, documentation and development).

Download link: https://github.com/AlbrechtL/welle.io/releases/tag/v2.0-beta1

We wish everyone a happy New Year!

Welle.io Standard Mode
Welle.io Standard Mode
Welle.io Expert Mode

YouTube Tutorial: Spying on Computer Monitors with TempestSDR

Over on YouTube SignalsEverywhere (aka Corrosive) has uploaded a tutorial video showing how to use TempestSDR with an Airspy SDR. Back in November 2017 we posted about how we were able to get TempestSDR to run with an RTL-SDR, Airspy and SDRplay, and showed some results. Since then several people have managed to repeat our results, but many have also had trouble understanding how to make TempestSDR work and what all the settings are for.

TempestSDR is an open source tool that allows you to use any SDR that has a supporting ExtIO (such as RTL-SDR, Airspy, SDRplay, HackRF) to receive the unintentional signal radiation from a screen, and turn that signal back into a live image. This can let you view what is on a screen without any physical connections.

Corrosive's tutorial video shows us how to tune the signal in the TempestSDR software in order to receive a clear image as well as showing the software in action.

How to Spy on Computer Monitors | TempestSDR Tutorial (with an Airspy)

World Radio TV Handbook (WRTH) Reviews the Airspy HF+

The World Radio TV Handbook (WRTH) is a directory book (or CD) of world radio stations on LW, MW, SW and FM. In addition to the directory they also do reviews of radios/SDRs, and recently they reviewed the Airspy HF+ (pdf). The Airspy HF+ is high dynamic range HF/VHF receiver designed for DXing.

According to the review, WRTH give the Airspy HF+ the award of being the best value HF SDR for 2019. The review takes note of the HF+'s excellent dynamic range and then goes on to validate the manufacturers claimed specifications. Finally they write how they tested it during a contest at 7 MHz, and found no overloading or spurious responses apart from a minor noise floor increase when an extremely strong local CW station was encountered.

World Radio TV Handbook Review of the Airspy HF+
World Radio TV Handbook Review of the Airspy HF+

Black Friday SDR Sales: Airspy 15% Off, SDrplay RSP2 $20 Off, HackRF 20% Off

Airspy

Airspy is currently running a 15% Black Friday sale over on the manufacturers website iead.cc, and on their US distributor airspy.us. The coupon code is BF2018.

This results in an Airspy Mini costing only $84.15, an Airspy HF+ costing $169.15, an Airspy R2 costing $143.65 and a SpyVerter costing $41.65. This is the cheapest we've seen these products to date.  

SDRplay

Over on Ham Radio Outlet, the RSP2 is currently reduced by $20, taking it down to a price of only $149.95. The RSP2 Pro is also reduced down to $192.95. Other SDRplay products, and products on their website appear to be not discounted.

HackRF

Over on SparkFun the original HackRF is 20% off, resulting in a price of only $239.96. It's still double the price of an Aliexpress clone, but it is an original unit. In the UK ML&S are also selling it for 15% off at £219.95. This is the cheapest price we've seen an original HackRF sold for.

Elad FDM S2

At the higher end of the SDR spectrum, we see that the Elad FDM-S2 is currently reduced by $51, resulting in a sale price of $529.

Most of these sales are expected to run until Monday, or until stocks run out.

Have you found any other great SDR deals? Let us know in the comments.

SDR# Update: SpyServer Network Browser now Available

The programmers of SDR# have just released a new version which now includes a SpyServer directory browser. SpyServer is an Airspy and RTL-SDR compatible SDR streaming server for SDR#. It allows you to access your SDR remotely over the internet or a network connection by using efficient data compression techniques. 

The new browser allows you to browse for active and publicly shared SDRs that are running SpyServer. To launch the browser in the latest SDR#, choose "SpyServer Network" in the Source drop down menu, and click on the "..." button. At the moment there are only a few servers listed, and not all work. But we expect more to show up and work as people update their SpyServer software.

For SpyServer users, the latest server version will automatically list your server in the directory, but it can be turned off in the config file.

SpyServer Network Browser
SpyServer Network Browser

Comparing the Airspy HF+ And KiwiSDR on Shortwave Radio

The Airspy HF+ and the KiwiSDR are two HF specialty SDR radios. The HF+ advertises excellent dynamic range and sensitivity, whilst the KiwiSDR has it's strength in it's internet connectivity and 30 MHz wide live bandwidth.

Over on YouTube icholakov has uploaded a video comparing the two SDRs on daytime medium wave and shortwave reception with a W6LVP amplified magnetic loop antenna. It is expected that the two SDRs should be quite similar in easy receiving conditions, but the Airspy HF+ should shine in challenging conditions with strong blocking signals and weak signals being received at the same time. The Airspy HF+ should also be a bit more sensitive in all conditions. It's not clear if there were any strong blocking signals in the tests, but the results appear to confirm the sensitivity expectations.

KiwiSDR and Airspy HF+ comparison