Tagged: DAB

SDR-Receiver: A Native macOS SDR App with 25+ Decoders, Now Including Loran-C / eLoran

Thank you to Marcus Roskosch (DL8MRE), the developer of 'SDR-Receiver', for writing in about its latest updates. SDR-Receiver is a native macOS app with 25+ decoders for USB SDRs such as the RTL-SDR, HackRF, Airspy and PlutoSDR. The app supports ADS-B, AIS, ACARS, APRS, POCSAG, RDS, CW, speech transcription, HFFAX, SSTV, WSPR, FT8, FT4, FT2, ALE, RTTY, NAVTEX/SITOR-B, DSC, Selcall, EFR and time signals.

Version 1.15 adds a Loran-C / eLoran decoder for the 100 kHz long-wave navigation chains, including Russia's Chayka chains. It automatically finds the chain, shows your position on a map, and decodes eLoran data. Marcus tested it with an Airspy HF+ and a long-wave antenna, and the manual notes that an RTL-SDR in direct sampling mode also works.

Version 1.15 also brings Icom RC-28, FlexControl and MIDI controller support, and version 1.16 adds a TETRA decoder. SDR-Receiver costs US$49.99 on the Mac App Store and requires macOS 26 or later. A Demo Receiver lets you try it without hardware.

SDR-Receiver Loran-C, DAB and VDL2 Decoder Windows
SDR-Receiver Loran-C, DAB and VDL2 Decoder Windows

OFFgrid-SDR Updated to V2.1: Adds DAB, DAB+ and DRM xHE-AAC Decoding in the Browser

Back in October, we posted about OFFgrid-SDR, a fully offline RTL-SDR receiver program that runs in a WebUSB-compatible browser from a single index.html file. Richard Didd has now written in again to let us know that the project has passed 10,000 downloads and views, and that version 2.1 adds DAB, DAB+ and DRM digital radio support.

The DAB decoder is written in JavaScript directly from the standard, while DAB+ (HE-AAC) and original DAB (MP2) audio are decoded by FAAD2 and pl_mpeg compiled to WebAssembly. DRM also now supports xHE-AAC audio via Android's libxaac decoder. Richard tested DAB off-air on the BBC National DAB multiplex, but can't receive any xHE-AAC DRM stations from the UK, so reception reports from anyone in range would be welcome.

Richard also points out the AUTO mode, which listens to a signal for a couple of seconds, identifies it, and switches to the right mode or decoder. It recognizes CW, RTTY, PSK, NAVTEX, weather fax, SSTV, FT8/FT4/WSPR, ACARS, APRS, AIS, DRM and DAB, among others. OFFgrid-SDR is open source under the GPLv3 licence and available on GitHub, with more technical details in the Hackaday.io project log.

OFFgrid-SDR Receiving the BBC National DAB Multiplex
OFFgrid-SDR Receiving the BBC National DAB Multiplex

VMA Radio Lab: DecSAT Extended into a Multi-SDR Receiver with DVB-T/T2, DAB+ and Analog PAL TV

Last week we posted about DecSAT, an open-source program by CasualArclamp that turns a HackRF One into a DVB-S/S2/S2X satellite receiver and analyzer. Now Vitor Martins Augusto has written to share his fork, 'VMA Radio Lab' (initially called DecSAT-VMA), which extends DecSAT into a general-purpose broadcast receiver and measurement tool.

The biggest difference between DecSAT and VMA Radio Lab is multi-SDR operation. VMA Radio Lab can run several SDRs at once, each with its own VFOs, including the HackRF, PlutoSDR, USRP B210, RTL-SDR, SDRplay RSP1 and Airspy. One SDR can be dedicated to a sweeping wideband overview, such as the full 950 - 2150 MHz satellite IF. It also pulls in DVB-T/T2, DAB/DAB+ and TETRA decoding from CasualArclamp's sibling projects DecDVB-T, DecDAB and DecLAB, and adds analog radio, PAL color TV with teletext, measurement tools such as a vectorscope and transport stream analyzer, and control of CrazyScan-compatible TBS tuner cards for LNB power and hardware DVB reception.

Meanwhile, the original DecSAT remains satellite-focused. Since our last post it has added support for Fobos SDR, Airspy and network IQ input (including rtl_tcp), and has merged some of VMA's early RTL-SDR, PlutoSDR, B210 and analog TV code.

VMA Radio Lab is GPLv3 and available as a Windows 64-bit build and source zip on the website. We note that TETRA audio needs a separate ACELP codec DLL that isn't included for legal licensing reasons, and the bundled development notes describe several of the newer decoders, such as AIS and ACARS, as experimental. 

Decscat-VMA Screenshot
Decscat-VMA Screenshot

AI Disclaimer: The original DecSAT lists Claude as a contributor. While VMA does not disclose it, the development notes included with the VMA Radio Lab source suggest that its extensions were also written with the help of AI.

Muxwright: A Multi-Standard Radio and TV Test Transmitter for the PlutoSDR

Thank you to Peter Holzhauser for writing in and sharing Muxwright, a multi-standard radio and TV test transmitter for the ADALM-Pluto (PlutoSDR). Peter has in the past submitted his ESPSoup, and Etherbulb projects. Muxwright is intended for home lab testing only, with the Pluto connected to the receiver under test via cable and attenuator or inside a shielded box, as radiating broadcast standards over the air requires a frequency assignment.

Muxwright can generate FM stereo with RDS/RBDS, DAB+, DVB-T, DVB-T2, DVB-C, DVB-S/S2, ATSC 1.0, ISDB-T, DTMB and analog PAL/NTSC TV, plus DVB-S2 DATV for QO-100 and other amateur bands (which of course requires an amateur radio license). The digital TV modulators run directly on the Pluto and everything is controlled from a browser dashboard. The Pluto's RX input can also be used as a monitoring receiver for expected vs. actual test reports.

The software runs on Windows 10/11 via WSL2 and is currently at Beta 0.4. The README notes that it has only been verified on the original Pluto Rev. B, and that DVB-T2, ATSC, ISDB-T and DTMB are still untested with real TV sets. The code is MIT licensed (with the FM/RDS module under GPL-3.0) and available on GitHub, however, the Windows installer is only available by request via email from the website.

Muxwright Transmitting DVB-T with a PlutoSDR
Muxwright Transmitting DVB-T with a PlutoSDR

AI Disclaimer: The project's GitHub commit history lists Claude as a co-author.

DAB SDR GUI: An Open-Source DAB+ Receiver for the RTL-SDR and SDRplay

Thank you to Tomas Krajco for writing in and sharing DAB SDR GUI, a Windows program for listening to DAB+ digital radio with an RTL-SDR or SDRplay RSP. DAB+ is the digital broadcast radio standard used in much of Europe and Australia, and is transmitted in VHF Band III (174 - 240 MHz).

The program scans Band III and saves the stations it finds, then plays the selected station while showing its logo, ensemble name, and song text. It also has a 10-band equalizer with presets and a spectrum analyzer with RTA bar, FFT curve and LED bar display modes. Note that the analyzer shows the decoded audio rather than the RF spectrum, so this is a program for listening rather than signal analysis.

Decoding is handled by Tomas' own plain C DAB/DAB+ library called dab-lib, and both the library and the GUI are open source under the GPLv2 license. The latest Windows installer is v0.1.5, and older Android (RTL-SDR) and Linux AppImage (SDRplay)
builds are also available on the SourceForge files page.

DAB SDR GUI Playing a DAB+ Station
DAB SDR GUI Playing a DAB+ Station

AI Disclaimer: Recent commits to the dab-lib GitHub repo, including the port of the GUI to WinUI 3, list GitHub Copilot as a co-author.

Guglielmo FM and DAB Receiver Software Updated to Version 0.7

Thank you to Marco for letting us know that his Guglielmo software has recently been updated to Version 0.7.

Guglielmo is an FM and DAB receiver for Linux, Windows and MacOS. It supports all major SDRs, including RTL-SDR, Airspy, SDRplay, HackRF, and LimeSDR. It is designed to be easy to use for media users rather than hobbyist technical users.

Version 0.7 adds the following features:

  • Raspberry PI appimage
  • UI improvements
  • Basic skins support
  • Logo handling

The new Raspberry Pi appimage, and binaries for other platforms can be found on the GitHub Releases page. Just expand the "assets" tab.

Guglielmo: Screenshot of the DAB Interface

Receiving DAB and FM Signals with an RTL-SDR and Engima2 on OpenPLi 9.0

Thank you to "Radioto bg" from DXing.org for writing in and sharing with us his latest YouTube video showing how to receive DAB and FM signals with an RTL-SDR and the Enigma2 application running on OpenPLi. OpenPLi is an open-source Linux distribution for TV set-top boxes and Engima2 is a TV reception application used within the distribution.

RADIOTO shows how an RTL-SDR can be added to the system, allowing it to also receive DAB+ and FM radio.  In a previous post RADIOTO also showed how the RTL-SDR could be used as a DVB-T receive in Enigma2 and OpenPLi.

Turn Your Enigma2 Receiver into a DAB+ & FM Radio with RTL-SDR v.3! 🔥 Full Tutorial with OpenPli 9.0

Guglielmo FM and DAB Receiver Software Updated to Version 0.6

Thank you to Marco, Guglielmo's programmer, for letting us know that his software has recently been updated to Version 0.6.

Guglielmo is Linux, Windows (and, in this recent update, x86 MacOS) based RTL-SDR FM and DAB tuner software that supports SDRs, including the RTL-SDR, Airspy, SDRplay, HackRF, and LimeSDR. It is designed to be easy to use for media users rather than hobbyist technical users.

Version 0.6 fixes bugs and adds the following features:

  • Software automatic gain control
  • Support for multiple devices for RTL-SDR and SDRplay
  • Support for RTL-SDR V4
  • New RTL-SDR and SDRPlay device drivers
  • New Portaudio sound driver
Guglielmo: Screenshot of the DAB Interface