In this weeks Frugal Radio episode Rob explores some low cost "Step Up" radios that for a moderately higher price, can give improved receiver performance when compared to RTL-SDRs .
In the video Rob overviews and compares the Airspy Mini ($99), SDRplay RSP1A ($119), Airspy R2 ($169) and the Airspy HF+ Discovery ($169). He discusses their differences such as the tuning ranges, bandwidths and ADC bit depths and why these parameters matter.
Back in July we posted about the release of Viol Tailor's "uSDR" software, which is a lightweight general purpose multimode program for Windows which supports the RTL-SDR, Airspy, BladeRF, HackRF and LimeSDR radios. Recently Viol has updated the software to V1.4.0. The new release brings SDRplay support, and various performance and GUI improvements listed below.
The software can be downloaded from SourceForce.
This week on the Tech Minds YouTube channel Matthew introduces the "Cloudmarkers" plugin for SDRuno. SDRuno is the official software for the SDRplay RSP line of software defined radios, but the EXTio version also supports the RTL-SDR.
Cloudmarkers is a plugin that allows users to query the online Cloudmarkers database to determine what an unknown signal at the currently tuned frequency might be. The database is created by other Cloudmarkers users, so if you have your own information to add you can add information about particular frequencies to the database for others to query later.
In the video Matthew shows the Cloudmarkers plugin in operation and notes that the plugin can work with both SDRplay SDRs and the RTL-SDR.
Last week SDRplay released version 1.41 of their SDRUno software platform. SDRuno is the official software for the SDRplay line of low cost software defined radio devices. The main new feature is the addition of the scheduler facility which allows users to easily schedule recordings. This is great if for example you wish to automatically record a shortwave programs playing overnight.
SDRuno V1.41 was fully released today. It includes the much requested full scheduler facility which allows you to set up numerous recording events for your RSP. As well as providing all the expected calendar options (time of day, date, start and stop times, repeating options and so on), you can also set the ‘profile’ for each recording – this allows you to pre-set frequencies, bandwidths, demodulator options (AM/FM/USB/LSB etc.), choice of filters and antenna port selection. Additionally you can choose the settings for connectivity to other third party software or the running of a specific plugin.
The new version also includes a finalized version of their ADS-B aircraft tracking plugin. Last month TechMinds tested the ADS-B plugin beta, noting that it worked well, but there were bugs with the built in mapping feature. In the official tutorial video the ADS-B plugin is demonstrated and shows that the mapping problem is fixed.
This week on the Tech Minds YouTube channel Matthew tests out the SDRuno ADS-B aircraft tracking plugin beta. SDRuno is the official software for the SDRplay RSP line of receivers, and the beta can be downloaded from their website (note the plugin will not work for the RTL-SDR).
In the video Tech Minds shows how to set up SDRuno to work on his active ADS-B antenna by activating the bias tee, and how to load and activate the ADS-B plugin. He goes on to show how you can then use another program called Virtual Radar Server to connect to the ADS-B plugin data output, and plot local aircraft on a map.
He notes that the plugin itself will have it's own map display available via a web browser, however in the current beta the mapping output is incorrect.
Skinwalker Ranch is a History channel conspiracy theory reality TV series where a team of scientists and researchers are sent to look for various explanations for "otherworldly" activities supposedly occurring on the ranch. In some episodes the team have made use of an SDRplay RSP software defined radio with SDRuno software to monitor the radio spectrum.
In the series the team are constantly surprised to see unexplained activity occurring on the spectrum. Are these signals just RF noise or man made activity? Or something else? You can decide from the RSP SDRUno waterfall and spectrum display which is shown clearly in the clips below. In the first clip they discover wideband spectrum noise on HF frequencies. In the second clip (from 2:40 onwards) they discover a suddenly active signal at 832 MHz when attempting to setup their drone which experiences calibration issues.
We've posted about various fake clones of various brands of SDRs a few times on this blog, and recently this week SDRplay reiterated their warning noting that the fake SDRplay clones may not work with official SDRplay software.
There are sellers of fake RSPs on the internet. They are selling counterfeit devices some of which appear cosmetically the same as the genuine SDRplay® devices. There is a high likelihood that these devices will not work – according to unsuspecting buyers* who have contacted us.
These counterfeit devices attempt to make use of:
- Stolen IP
- Stolen software product (SDRplay proprietary API and driver software)
In addition, the counterfeiters have no access to our rigorous production test solution and so these devices are probably untested.
* Here’s what one AliExpress customer posted:
The rest of the post goes on to highlight how you can be sure that you are not purchasing a fake clone.
A new RTL-SDR compatible DRM decoding Android app called "STARWAVES DRM SoftRadio" has recently been released on the Google Play store for US$5.49, and on Amazon DE for EUR4.49. The author notes that a Windows version will also be published soon. Digital Radio Monodial (DRM) is a type of digital audio shortwave radio signal that is used by some international shortwave radio broadcasters.
The STARWAVES DRM SoftRadio allows you to conveniently enjoy any DRM live radio broadcast on your Android smartphone or tablet. No Internet connection required. All you need is an SDR RF dongle or receiver connected to your device via USB.
DRM or Digital Radio Mondiale is the global digital radio standard used for all digital international transmissions as well as for national and local services in many countries. To learn more about DRM and its features visit www.drm.org.
The STARWAVES DRM SoftRadio is designed for ease-of-use and supports all core features of the DRM standard:
- Listener-centric and easy to navigate app design and user interface
- Multiple user interface languages. Currently supported: English, German, Simplified Chinese
- Convenient frequency tuning and DRM Service selection
- DRM Service labels and graphical service logos
- Full service metadata: programme/app type, language, country of origin, etc.
- All standardized DRM audio codecs incl. xHE-AAC with optimized tune-in performance for a quick start of audio playback
- Journaline, DRM’s advanced text application, allows to interactively browse through latest news, sports and weather updates, programme background information and schedules, distance learning/RadioSchooling text books, travel information, and much more
- Full Journaline feature set including hot-button interactivity, geo-references and embedded/linked images
- Convenient and fast Journaline information access with update notifications for page-content (and automatic updates for menus), as well as persistent caching for instant content access when switching between DRM services
- DRM text messages incl. DL+ support
- Slideshow images
- Unicode support for all textual elements: service labels, text messages, Journaline
- DRM EWF – Emergency Warning Functionality within the DRM transmission: in case of an emergency alarm signal, automatically re-tunes from the current service to the emergency programme; presents the emergency audio along with multi-lingual Journaline content to provide in-depth instructions with interactive access and to serve non-native speakers or hearing impaired users
In addition, STARWAVES DRM SoftRadio is designed for maximum tuning flexibility and performance:
- Free tuning to any DRM broadcast frequency
- Supports all DRM frequency bands – from the former AM bands (LW/MW/SW) to the VHF bands (including the FM band), depending only on RF dongle functionality
- Supports all DRM robustness modes (A-E), modulation parameters and on-air signal bandwidths
- Optimized frequency tuning and re-sync performance
- Graphical spectrum view to check the signal on the tuned frequency
For live reception, an SDR RF dongle must be connected to the device’s USB port (with USB host functionality). The following SDR RF dongle families are currently supported, along with a range of specifically tested models:
- Airspy HF+ family: Airspy HF Discovery, Airspy HF+ (Dual Port). (Note: Airspy Mini and R2 are NOT supported.)
- SDRplay family: SDRPlay RSP1A, SDRPlay RSPdx, SDRPlay RSPduo, SDRPlay RSP1, SDRPlay RSP2, SDRPlay RSP2pro, MSI.SDR Panadapter (Note: SDRPlay family support on Android is currently limited to the 32-bit version of this app.)
- RTL-SDR family: The experimental support for RTL-SDR based RF dongles requires that you manually start the following separate tool before opening this app (on standard port '14423'): The app 'SDR driver' can be installed from the Google Play Store and other Android app stores.
