Tagged: digital audio broadcast

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

Testing DAB Decoders: SDRAngel versus Welle.io

Thank you to the team from DXing.org for submitting their video where they compare the DAB decoding performance of SDRAngel and Welle.io using an RTL-SDR Blog V3 dongle.

Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB) is a digital replacement for analog broadcast FM. It provides high quality digital audio at the expense of higher cost receivers, and possibly greater difficulty with reception in weak or challenging RF environments. DAB is mostly only used in Europe and Asia Pacific regions, and is not found in the USA. SDRAngel and Welle.io are both RTL-SDR compatible programs with DAB decoding capabilities. Both can run on Android, PC, MacOS and Linux devices.

In their tests they find that the Welle.io DAB decoder works perfectly without issues, however the SDRAngel DAB decoder struggles and has difficulty with decoding. Given that Welle.io is a dedicated DAB decoder, and SDRAngel is a multipurpose tool this could be expected. But we are unsure what is wrong with the DAB implementation in SDRAngel.

The team note that the test was carried out in Sofia, Bulgaria, Europe, using a Serbian DAB+ signal from Yastrebac, with a distance of 175km.

Test android apps with DAB+ signal Welle.io vs. SDRangel, receiver rtl-sdr v.3

Guglielmo FM and DAB Receiver Software Updated to Version 0.5

Thank you to Marco, the programmer of Guglielmo for letting us know that his software has recently been updated to Version 0.5.

Guglielmo is a 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 an easy to use program designed for media users, rather than hobbyist technical users.

Regarding the release of Version 0.5, Marco writes:

This release sports full mac (x86 only, sorry) and windows installers, DAB and FM scans and a preset editor.

Guglielmo: Screenshot of the DAB Interface

Guglielmo FM and DAB Receiver Software Updated to V0.4

Thank you to Marco Greco for writing in and noting that V0.4 of his Guglielmo software has recently been released.

Guglielmo is a Linux (and now Windows) 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 an easy to use program designed for media users, rather than hobbyist technical users.

The latest additions in V0.4 include support for MPRIS controllers, support for the SDRplay V3 API and support for Windows building (although at this time there appears to be no binary file available).

The AppImage can be found here https://github.com/marcogrecopriolo/guglielmo/releases

Guglielmo: Screenshot of the DAB Interface

DAB+ Decoder Welle.io Version 2.4 Released and YouTube Demonstration Video

Version 2.4 of the RTL-SDR compatible DAB/DAB+ decoder called welle.io has recently been released for download on GitHub. The main changes include various bug fixes, the addition of Windows 11 support, and the return of the Android APK (but only with rtl_tcp support).

The author has also released a new YouTube video tour, demonstrating the software in action, and explaining all the features.

Showing welle.io a SDR to listen DAB/DAB+.

Guglielmo FM and DAB Receiver Software Updated to V0.3

Thank you to Marco Greco, author of Guglielmo for writing in and noting that v0.3 has now been released. Guglielmo is a Linux 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 an easy to use program designed for media users, rather than hobbyist technical users. He notes:

In the last two releases I have substantially improved FM and RDS decoding and added support for MOT slides.

MOT slides allow DAB broadcasters to send JPEG or PNG images files over the DAB broadcast, and compatible receivers will display it.

A ready to use Appimage for Linux systems is availalble on the Github Releases page.

Guglielmo: Screenshot of the DAB Interface

Guglielmo: RTL-SDR FM + DAB Tuner Software for Linux

Thank you to Marco for submitting news about the release of his Linux based RTL-SDR FM and DAB tuner software package named Guglielmo. The code is based on the Qt-dab and sdr-j-fm packages, with some bug fixes, a new GUI and new audio features implemented. Marco writes:

Guglielmo implements a simple FM and DAB receiver based on Qt and the Qt-dab and sdr-j-fm packages.

The primary reason it is being developed is there is a lack of media centre quality Open Source Software Defined Radios: most of the packages out there focus more on hobbyist features, such as signal and content monitoring, leaving out media features like a volume slider or MPRIS control.

Yes, I have blown the ribbon tweeter fuses on my maggies because my previous go to SDR DAB receiver started at full blast, and I run my media centre headless: I don't really want to scramble for a VNC session when I want to stop the music, when I could simply use KDE connect on my phone.

There is also a distinct lack of FM SDR receivers, which is disappointing, since, at least in the UK, for reasons of cost, most stations transmit at a fairly poor bitRate, if not downright in mono, and FM stations seem to still be a better proposition in terms of sound quality.

If you're interested in trying it compilation instructions are available on the GitHub, and there is also a ready to use AppImage on the GitHub releases page too. 

Guglielmo: Screenshot of the DAB Interface