At the beginning of this month, we posted about SkyRoof, a new software program by VE3NEA for receiving and tracking ham radio satellites with an RTL-SDR and other SDRs.
Recently, Matt from the TechMinds channel uploaded a video on YouTube testing out SkyRoof. In the video, Matt explains the software's various sections and features, such as Doppler correction. He then goes on to demonstrate various audio voice signals being received with the software.
SkyRoof - A Brand New Satellite Tracking Software With Built In SDR Software - This is awesome!
Over on YouTube, Matt from Tech Minds has uploaded a video in which he demonstrates and tests an unofficial fork of the popular SDR++ software called "SDR++ Brown."
SDR++ Brown has some unique features such as the ability to connect to remote KiwiSDR WebSDRs directly within the UI, built-in FT8 and FT4 decoders with PSK reporter, a built-in DSD decoder allowing for DMR, P25 and NXDN to be decoded directly in the software, Hermes Lite 2 support, and various Android UI improvements for small screens.
Matt also notes a few bugs with the software, such as PSK Reporter and Multi-WebSDR waterfall display features being broken.
Over on X, Alexandre Rouma, creator of the original SDR++, has expressed concern about this fork. He notes that this is an unofficial fork that is not up to his standards and that support requests for SDR++ Brown should not be made to him. Instead, support requests should be made directly to the fork owner, Sanny Sanoff.
SDR Plus Plus - Brown Edition Adds New Features Including DSD!
Thank you to user theckid from our forums for submitting news about the release of his latest project called "RadioTranscriptor". RadioTranscriptor can be used for real-time speech-to-text transcription, which is especially useful when you want to log radio communications and create searchable text files. theckid writes:
I just released an open-source Python tool that does real-time radio transcription using OpenAI’s Whisper model. It uses voice activity detection to only transcribe when speech is actually happening — great for monitoring radio chatter or voice nets on HF/VHF/UHF.
It’s designed for use with SDRs (Software Defined Radios) where audio is routed into the script. It performs:
Live microphone or SDR audio monitoring
RMS-based voice activity detection (VAD)
Automatic transcription with Whisper
Timestamped logs saved per session
It’s perfect for:
Ham radio operators
Emergency scanners
Broadcast archiving
Signal analysis enthusiasts
The AI model used is Whisper by OpenAI. The software uses NVIDIA CUDA GPUs when available and defaults back to CPU if none are available.
A few days ago, we posted news that NOAA-18 was to begin decommissioning steps effective immediately due to a recent transmitter failure. Multiple reports have now confirmed that NOAA-18 has indeed shut down as of 1740 UTC 06/06/2025.
We're happy to announce that we have released a new USB-C version of the popular RTL-SDR Blog V3 and V4 dongles on our store at www.rtl-sdr.com/store!
Many members of the RTL-SDR community have been requesting a USB-C version for some time now. The dongle circuitry is identical to your favorite V3 and V4 models, but the USB-A plug has been replaced with a USB-C female plug instead.
The new V4c RTL-SDR Blog V4 with USB-C Plug
Please note that you will need a USB-C cable to use the dongle (not included); however, we always recommend using a USB cable with the dongle anyway to avoid strain on your USB ports and to get the dongle further away from the RF-noisy PC. Also, please note that the dongle is still USB 2.0, as simply changing to a USB-C plug does not change the USB spec.
So far, we have only produced a small batch of these USB-C dongles as a trial to test the market. If they prove popular, we will increase the number of dongles manufactured.
For now, we are only shipping these new units worldwide from our warehouse in China. They can be purchased at www.rtl-sdr.com/store. Amazon USA will be stocked with a few hundred of these dongles within about a month.
The talk focuses on using SDR hardware such as the RX888, RTL-SDR, and Airspy devices combined with directional antennas for radio direction finding. Interestingly, they also discuss using ultrasonic microphones to find power line noise from bad transformers or insulators. The talk also focuses on ensuring that your SDRs receive real signals and what noise might look like on the spectrum.
This talk provides a comprehensive guide to identifying and locating radio transmitters. Learn about practical techniques, common tools, and methodologies from decades of combined experience finding, squashing, and mitigating against radio frequency interference.
Supercon 2024: Justin McAllister and Nick Foster - How to Track Down Radio Transmissions
Recently VE3NEA has released a new Windows program called "SkyRoof". SkyRoof is both a satellite tracking and SDR receiver program. It supports the RTL-SDR as well as Airspy and SDRplay devices.
The software is designed for tracking and receiving ham radio satellites, and it can provide detailed information about all ham satellites, tracking them in real time, and provide pass prediction. It also shows a skymap and SDR waterfall display. The receiver software supports demodulation of SSB/CW/FM, and it automatically compensates for doppler. It can also interface with antenna rotators that support hamlib.
SkyRoof Satellite Tracking and SDR Receiver Software Screenshot
Over on YouTube Johnson's Techworld has also recently uploaded a video showing him testing out Skyroof, which may be of interest to some.
Brief review of SkyRoof, the latest satellite tracking software!
The service uses RTL-SDR dongles connected to Raspberry Pis as RF monitoring hardware. In the web UI, a user can initiate a spectrum scan using any of the distributed RTL-SDR nodes available to them. It can also automatically detect popular modulation types such as WBFM, NBFM, DMR, and P25.
A user can also initiate a TDoA scan to localize the source of a particular signal. This requires at least three RTL-SDR nodes to be distributed with good geometry around the signal source. The service synchronizes time via external wideband noise-like signals such as TV signals, cell towers, and DAB, so one of these signals must be available to be received by all RTL-SDRs used in the TDoA calculation.
For now, the service and features appear to be free. However, it looks like they will monetize the platform in the future by renting the crowdsourced RTL-SDR nodes to companies and persons that need to do band studies, radiolocation, and interference detection. They also hope to pay node owners for any time the nodes are rented.
More information about the AEDA service is available on their documentation page.
AEDA Scan with Modulation DetectionAEDA TDoA Hyberbolas from Three Distributed RTL-SDRs
