Thank you to Patricio (LU5AKF) for sharing with us the release of HamRadioWeb.com's new FT8 WSJTx JTDX remote control Android app. Previously, we posted about HamRadioWeb's browser-based remote FT8 and FT4 receiver, and this Android app seems like a natural continuation of their software.
Patricio writes:
The app allows amateur radio operators to remotely control their JTDX or WSJT-X station from any Android phone or PC — no VPN, no port forwarding required.
What operators can do with it:
Monitor real-time FT8/FT4 decodes and band activity, just like sitting in front of JTDX or WSJT-X
Respond to CQ calls and transmit CQ remotely
Check where your signal is being heard via PSKReporter
Explore a worldwide activity map and a public DX spot page
Keep a contact log — auto-detected or manually added/imported
Follow community rankings and chat with other operators
The station connection is handled by a free Windows companion app (HamRadioWeb Companion) that links JTDX or WSJT-X to the user's account.
No radio at hand? The app opens in demo mode with simulated data so anyone can explore before creating an account.
Screenshots from the HamRadioWeb.com FT8 Remote Control App.
Thank you to Richard Didd for submitting his new software, 'OFFgrid-SDR', a fully offline RTL-SDR receiver program in an installer-free, single index.html file.
The OFFgrid-SDR program runs in any modern WebUSB-compatible browser, can demodulate common modulation types, and includes a spectrum and waterfall display, plus RDS, weather fax, and Morse code decoders. No internet connection is required to run it in the browser.
The program's advantage is that you can put the index.html file on a USB drive and use it portably on almost any machine with a browser. However, Windows users will still need to have installed the WinUSB drivers via Zadig first, and Linux users will need to blacklist the DVB-T drivers from taking over the dongle. macOS and Chromebook should just work without any additional steps.
The code is entirely open source and available on GitHub. More information about the project can be found on the project's GitHub.io page.
OFFgrid-SDR Screenshot
OFFgrid-SDR Demonstration with RTL card and Demo Mode
Thank you to Viktor László (MusiThang on GitHub), for writing in and sharing with us his new project called sdrtop. sdrtop is a terminal-based SDR tool that is compatible with the HackRF and RTL-SDR. Viktor writes:
I bought a HackRF because I was curious how SDR works and found the whole topic interesting.
Later I wanted to understand what was actually in the radio signals, and I ended up writing a terminal tool for that. Along the way it grew RTL-SDR support too.
sdrtop is a bench instrument in a terminal: spectrum, waterfall, gain and clipping, lab-style readouts, and digital demodulation for measurement, not for listening.
I started it to learn the signal path. What it turned into is a gap I kept hitting: cheap SDRs used for real measurements over SSH, in tmux, or on a cyberdeck, where a heavy GUI just slows you down.
No audio on purpose. If RX stops, the numbers go stale instead of looking fine forever.
I care about being able to trust the numbers, so the signal path is written in Rust from scratch rather than sitting on a DSP library. The only external piece in that chain is the FFT crate. (rustfft).
On RTL-SDR it has native full support (R820T, E4000, R828D): single tuner gain + AGC, spectrum, waterfall, and the measurement panels the dongle can actually back. HackRF and tinySA are supported as well; Soapy is available in beta for other devices.
Written in Rust, open source, one-person hobby project, and still very much in active development. Classic Bluetooth is in progress; spectrum and lab are what I use every day.
sdrtop reminds us of a few previous terminal-based SDR programs such as sdrrat, as well as terminal-based ADS-B radar displays such as radar-tui and coole-radar.
Thank you to wonderingStars for writing in and sharing updates to his FoxSDR software program. FoxSDR is a new AI-coded software that supports all common protocols and SDRs.
The first update that wonderingStars notes is the addition of a node canvas where you can wire radios, decoders, speakers, and displays together. It can run up to five SDRs at the same time, each with its own decoders. This is now FoxSDR's main screen.
The second update is a map that can accept multiple inputs from multiple decoders, allowing users to plot various data streams such as ADS-B, AIS, amateur high-altitude balloons, and more on a single map.
The third update is that Linux x64 builds are now published, although they are noted to still be in development. An Android arm64 build has also been released in alpha form. To access this, users will need to sign up to test.
The final update adds a new radar sweep feature, which locates the positions of air-traffic radars around you by listening to 1090 MHz. The author explains:
Secondary surveillance radars rotate and interrogate aircraft transponders as their beam passes. Aircraft that broadcast ADS-B also report their own position, so every reply they give reveals where a radar was pointing at that moment. Radar Sweep collects these replies over hours and works out each radar's location, rotation speed and direction on its own. It then draws bearing lines towards aircraft that answer the radar but broadcast no position, and marks a position where two radars' lines cross.
It is the same idea as PlanePlotter's Beamfinder, except that Radar Sweep finds the radar sites itself instead of being given them. It is not affiliated with PlanePlotter or its authors.
In testing on a 12.8-hour recording, it confirmed two radars, each within about 5 km of a published airfield position. Bearings to held-out aircraft had a median error of 0.3°.
You need a 1090 MHz antenna, an SDR running at 2 MS/s or more, and a few hours of traffic. Radar Sweep remembers the radars it finds and never reveals your location.
It is available free to FoxSDR users in the United States.
The author also wanted to share an upcoming feature, which is the GUI builder, which will allow you to customize your own GUI.
FoxSDR: New Node Canvas + Radar Sweep
AI Disclaimer: wonderingStars describes their company as a human-gated AI company, and FoxSDR is AI coded.
Thank you to Stefanos (Steeod) for sharing a new program he created, "RF-traffic-monitor." Stefanos created this program because he initially wanted to install adsb.im (an ADS-B feeder image that also tracks ships, radiosondes, and ACARS/VDL2/HFDL) on Windows 10, but was unsuccessful in doing so, as adsb.im is written for Linux machines.
So, to get around this, Stefanos decided to fire up ChatGPT to write his own similar Windows program. The end result was RF-traffic-monitor, which is capable of tracking aircraft, ships, and radiosondes using an RTL-SDR or HackRF. It can also use the SDR to decode ACARS, VDL2, and HFDL. With a compatible WiFi adatper the software is also capable of tracking drones via Wi-Fi Remote ID.
RF-Traffic-Monitor Screenshot
AI Disclaimer: The author notes that this program was written by ChatGPT.
Back in April we posted about the release of Echo, a free iOS app designed for browsing global web-based KiwiSDR, OpenWebRX, WebSDR, and FM-DX software-defined radios. Mark, the developer of Echo, has written in to us again and wanted to share news about the release of the Pro (paid) version of Echo.
Echo Pro adds several features such as recording, on-device transcription and translation, iCloud sync, and the ability to access recordings across Apple devices. The transcription and translation service may be quite interesting, as it allows you to record an entire foreign radio program to text, and translate it to your language for later reading.
Echo Pro costs either US$4.99/month or US$39.99/year. More information about the app is available at echosdr.com.
Thank you to Christian from ebcTech.eu for writing in and sharing with us the release of his new Android app called "RTL-SDR Pager" (Google Play Store link). The app is designed to work with an RTL-SDR dongle connected to the Android device. It is capable of decoding POCSAG and FLEX messages. However, Christian notes that he hasn't been able to test FLEX decoding so far because there are no FLEX channels in his area, so he would be interested in any feedback on this.
The app also provides push alerts, allowing you to monitor for a specific RIC or keyword and allows you to save channel lists.
The app offers a free demo that allows up to 50 messages. Upgrading to unlimited messages costs $3.99.
Thank you to M Khanfar for writing in and sharing his new app for the HackRF PortaPack H4M, KhanfarRX. The program aims to make listening to HF on the PortaPack a much better experience. Khanfar writes:
KhanfarRX: Never get lost in the HF bands! A free external app for the HackRF PortaPack H4M (Mayhem firmware).
In this video I show KhanfarRX, an app that makes HF listening on the PortaPack H4M much easier.
It has an easy band plan, a band lock that keeps you inside the band you choose, and a live EIBI browser that shows which shortwave stations are on the air right now.
WHAT KHANFARRX GIVES YOU
Easy band plan: HAM HF/VHF, broadcast, airband and marine bands in one clean menu
Stay in the band: tuning wraps around inside the band edges, so you can't drift out. One tap on DisableHF returns to free tuning
EIBI "On Air Now": see which shortwave stations are broadcasting at this moment and tune in with one touch
Correct mode automatically: AM/LSB/USB for HF, NFM for marine, AM for airband, WFM for FM broadcast
Full receiver: live waterfall, RSSI, recorder, gain and squelch, like the stock Mayhem Audio app
Not mentioned in Khanfar's notes is that KhanfarRX also comes with an FT8 Geo map. This plots every received FT8 message on a map displayed by the PortaPack's screen.
