Tagged: sdrsharp

RTL433 Plugin for SDR# Now Available

UPDATE 19 Feb 2024: Marc has released an updated version of the plugin at https://github.com/marco402/plugin-Rtl433-for-SdrSharp

Recently Marc has released his RTL433 plugin for SDR# over on GitHub and his Wixsite. RTL433 is a commonly used RTL-SDR command line program that provides decoders for a wide range of 433.92 MHz, 868 MHz, 315 MHz, 345 MHz, and 915 MHz ISM band devices. Examples of such devices include weather stations, alarm sensors, utility monitors, tire pressure monitors and more.

To install the plugin, go to the GitHub page and click on the green Code button, and select Download Zip. In the zip file open the "install" folder and extract the three .dll files into the SDR# folder. Now open the Plugins.xml file in Notepad and add the following line between the <sharpPlugins></sharpPlugins> tags.

<add key="RTL_433" value="SDRSharp.Rtl_433.Rtl_433_Plugin, SDRSharp.Rtl_433" />

Now you can add the plugin to the SDR# screen using the hamburger menu within SDR# on the top left. When a device is discovered it will open up a window for that device, logging data from it over time.

RTL433 SDRSharp Plugin
RTL433 SDR# Plugin Device Windows

SDR# Updated: Improved Performance and Better RTL-SDR Compatibility

SDR# (SDRSharp) is one of the most popular free software defined radio programs available with RTL-SDR support. Recently it has been updated to version 1811 and the new version brings improved performance and also improves RTL-SDR compatibility with some systems. The changelog reads:

Date:   Mon Mar 29 15:03:09 2021 +0200
Commit: d5cb6c3

More DSP optimizations;
Many fixes for RTL dongles (mainly workraounds for old libs);
Revert to libusb 1.0.20.11004 for backward compatibility;
Revert to portaudio 2016 for backward compatibility;
Code cleanup.

@lambdaprog (the SDR# programmer) has also tweeted showing how well SDR# can run on a 10 year old i7 4700 laptop with the new performance improvements. With a huge 160 MSPS baseband IQ file, the software is seen to be using very minimal CPU. 

SDRSharp Guide by IZ1MLL Updated

Thank you to Paolo Romani IZ1MLL for letting us know that he has updated his popular SDRSharp users guide that we posted about previously last December. The guide is available on the Airspy downloads page. SDR# (aka SDRSharp) from Airpsy.com is designed for Airspy SDRs, however it is one of the most popular SDR receiver programs that is used with RTL-SDRs as well. Paolo's guide covers all of the settings and features in SDR# as well as some third party plugins. Paolo writes:

In the last month I have completely rewritten the guide for other devices and for the latest radical changes to the software. From today, version 2.1 is available in Italian and English for all interested guys.

We note that the guide has also been translated in Spanish and Russian, although at the time of writing those translations are still only for the older guide. 

SDRSharp Guide

Getting Started with Developing Plugins for SDR# on .NET 5

Recently we posted about how SDR# was updated to the latest .NET 5 framework, and this brought with it a new plugin SDK for developers. If you're wanting to get started with plugin development, Petri-Veikko Alajärvi (OH1GIU) has uploaded a tutorial showing how to get started with the free Visual Studio 2019 Community IDE. His post shows how to create a new project, how to add references to the SDRSharp plugin files and how to set up and test a basic GUI via an RDS information display example.

Creating a new SDR# Plugin with the .NET5 Plugin SDK

SDRSharp Upgraded to .NET5 with New Plugin SDK For Developers

The popular SDR# (SDRSharp) software has recently been updated to version 1788, and now runs on the .NET5 SDK. Most of the upgrades are behind the scenes, but generally the new version appears to be more memory efficient and loads faster. The new version also brings more theme and layout customizations and as explained further below an improved plugin SDK for developers. 

In order to install the latest version you will need to download .NET5 runtime from Microsoft which may not already be on your system. For RTL-SDR users you can then run install-rtlsdr.bat then start the software as usual.

One of the most exciting new developments is the new .NET 5 plugin SDK that is now available. This allows third party developers to easily code up plugins for SDR#. While a plugin SDK already existed before, the new version appears to make development much simpler, and also comes with a few examples to help get developers started quickly. The result is that we should start to see more plugins appearing in the future with more features.

SDR# .NET5 Plugin SDK Example Code

One plugin called Scytale-C for Inmarsat STD-C channel decoding has already been updated to the new SDK. The developer notes that the plugin now works great with the SDR# "slicer" feature, which allows users to decode multiple STD-C signals within the received bandwidth at the same time. 

We've also recently seen reports of Twitter users having success with running this new SDR# version on WINE under Linux. Unfortunately direct USB still doesn't work under WINE, but it would still function via SpyServer or rtl_tcp.

New SDR# User Guide Available

Paolo Romani IZ1MLL has recently created a SDR# users guide document which comprehensively explains all the features and settings available in the program. SDR# (aka SDRSharp) from Airpsy.com is designed for Airspy SDRs, however it is one of the most popular SDR receiver programs used with RTL-SDRs as well.

Paolo's guide appears to build on our own guide at www.rtl-sdr.com/sdrsharp, providing new information and updates since many changes and new features have been released in SDR# since we wrote that guide a few years ago.

The guide can be found on the airspy.com/download page and is available in English, Italian and Spanish.

SDRSharp Guide

A Few More Demonstrations of the SDR# FM and AM Co-Channel Cancellers

Over on YouTube a few more videos showing the new AM and FM co-channel cancelling algorithms available in recent versions of SDR# have been uploaded. In the first video YouTuber channel "Peter .DXChannel" shows an example of broadcast FM Sporadic E signals (temporary long range reception due to Tropospheric ducting) being recovered with the FM co-channel canceller.

A demonstration of the SDRsharp FM Co Channel Canceller with Es signals

In the second video "icholakov" shows the AM co-channel canceller recovering a weaker signal being broadcast directly on top of a stronger one (zero carrier offset).

SDR Sharp Co-channel interference AM canceller. Several tests using Airspy HF+ Discovery

Running SDR# On Ubuntu 20.04 Linux via WINE

SDR# is a very popular Windows SDR program often used with the RTL-SDR and Airspy SDR. One drawback is that it lacks native Linux compatibility. In the past it has been possible to run SDR# via WINE, however some newer updates were thought to have broken that ability. WINE is a Windows emulator that allows some Windows programs to run under Linux.

However, recently on Twitter we've seen a Tweet by @albinstigo indicating that SDR# can indeed run on Ubuntu 20.04 via WINE 5.0. In a Tweet he explains the steps which are quite simple:

  1. Install WINE via apt.
  2. Install dotNET 4.8 via winetricks.
  3. Install the Verdana font via winetricks.
  4. Enjoy SDR

One limitation is that the emulated SDR# cannot connect to the SDR natively via the USB. So you will need to use TCP server software such as rtl_tcp or SpyServer to get it to work. Basically, run the server on the native Linux environment, then connect to it in SDR# running on the emulated Windows environment.