Tagged: sdrsharp

SDR# FM Co-Channel Canceller Added

A few days ago the developer of SDR# added a very useful AM Co-Channel canceller plugin, and just today he has also added a new FM Co-Channel canceller. A Co-Channel canceller allow a user to remove an interfering station, allowing a buried station to be received cleanly. This is especially useful for DXer's where strong local and weak distant overlapping stations are likely to be received at the same time. The plugin works with all SDR# compatible SDRs including the RTL-SDR.

On a related note, we wanted to point out that recently the Airspy website and downloads have been getting flagged by some antivirus software, however we believe these detections to be false positives caused by the very frequent update schedule of SDR#.

SDRSharp FM Co-Channel Canceller

Over on Twitter we've seen a couple of videos from @K7al_L3afta demonstrating how well the new FM Co-Channel canceller works.

SDR Sharp Slicer Now Supports RTL-SDR and other SDRs

Youssef, Author of the SDR# software has recently updated SDR#, now extending the Sharp Slicer functionality which we posted about earlier to RTL-SDR and other supported software defined radios. The latest version of SDR# can be obtained from the Airspy Downloads page as usual.

This feature allows SDR users to open multiple instances of SDR#, each able to tune to a seperate signal within the currently tuned frequency range of the SDR. This is somewhat similar to the old multi-VFO plugin from rtl-sdr.ru, however the advantage of Slicer is that you can have seperate spectrum and waterfall graphs for each signal.

Other recent changes include 'true dBFS' automatic scaling, where 0 dBFS now indicates that the ADC is likely saturated.

SDR# Sharp Slicer Monitoring 5 Broadcast FM Stations Simultaneously.

Testing Sharp Slicer: Multiple Spectrum Slices via SDR# with an Airspy SDR

Youssef the author of SDR# has recently released an update which adds a feature called "Sharp Slicer". This feature allows Airspy SDR users to open multiple instances of SDR#, each able to tune to a seperate signal within the currently tuned frequency range of the SDR. This is somewhat similar to the old multi-VFO plugin from rtl-sdr.ru, however the advantage of Slicer is that you can have seperate spectrum and waterfall graphs for each signal. This could be especially useful for monitoring multiple narrowband HF modes with an Airspy HF+ Discovery. 

To use Sharp Slicer you must have an Airspy SDR, be it an Airspy Mini/R2 or HF+/Discovery. Unfortunately it will not work with RTL-SDR or other SDRs. Once the SDR is running in SDR#, simply press the "+" button on the top left to open a new Slicer instance. It seems possible to open as many instances as you want, and probably the only limitation is your CPU. On our Intel i7-6700 we tested up to 8 instances running at the maximum bandwidth of an Airspy Mini, and the SDR# CPU utilization was only at 50%.

A nice touch is that you can also see the location of each VFO on the master SDR# instance, and the color can be changed on each Slicer instance.

Over on Twitter @ea3ibc has also been testing:

SDR# 1717 Officially Released: Dark Mode and Other Skins now Available

Release 1717 of the popular SDR# software that is commonly used with RTL-SDR dongles has just officially been released (actually already up to r1722 at the time of this post). This release brings with it UI theme customization including a very nice looking dark mode. Over on the Airspy/SDR# groups.io board programmer Youssef wrote:

We are pleased to announce the release of SDR# r1717 with the Telerik User Interface.

This is quite a big jump from the old UI components that will allow us to add many fancy features in the upcoming revisions.
For now, the functionality of the software was ported "one to one" with full support of the existing plugins.
A new Plugin API for the tool bar was added which allows plugin developers to add/remove special buttons for quick access.

Despite a slightly longer loading time at the startup of the application, many performance improvements should be noticed in run time, especially the CPU usage.
The package is now distributed with a set of skins/themes you can select in the control panel under "Display". Later on, we will add custom skins loading capability so you can customize the look and feel of the whole program.

Please note that some themes have slower rendering than others. You will have to experiment until you settle with something that is acceptable for the eye candy and the CPU usage / UI reactivity.

Some older plugins may not support the "Dark" themes and will have some rendering problems. The last unskinned version of SDR# will be still available for download in case you really need it. In any case, plugin developers are invited to support the new skins by either using Telerik UI components or at least setting the display properties of the old components so they render properly.

SDRSharp Dark Theme
SDRSharp Dark Theme

SDRSharp Community Plugin Package Now Available

The SDR# developer in conjunction with Rodrigo Pérez have recently endorsed and released a "community plugin package" over on the SDR# downloads page. This consists of a SDR# installer that automatically downloads and installs a whole plethora of SDR# plugins.

In addition to the plugins it also automatically installs the RTL-SDR drivers, and the RTL-SDR (R820T) special interface which has the ability to use decimation and has individual controls for each of the three gain stages. You can also use it to automatically install the LimeSDR and PlutoSDR interfaces.

The .exe is a simple installer and you can select what plugins you want during the install. The installer automatically puts the SDRSharp folder in the C: drive.

SDRSharp Community Plugin Package
SDRSharp Community Plugin Package

The plugins included are:

  • Base Windows SDR Software Package (same as above)
  • Plugin Audio Processor
  • Plugin Audio Recorder
  • Plugin AUX VFO
  • Plugin Avia band 8.33 calculator
  • Plugin Baseband Recorder
  • Plugin Calico CAT
  • Plugin CTCSS decoder squelch
  • Plugin DCS decoder squelch
  • Plugin DDE Tracker
  • Plugin Digital Audio Processor
  • Plugin DSDtcp
  • Plugin File Player
  • Plugin Frequency Lock
  • Plugin Frequency Manager
  • Plugin Frequency Scanner
  • Plugin Gpredict Connector
  • Plugin IF Processor
  • Plugin IF Recorder
  • Plugin Level Meter
  • Plugin LimeSDR
  • Plugin Meteor Demodulator
  • Plugin MPX Output
  • Plugin PAL/Secam TV
  • Plugin Pluto SDR
  • Plugin RTL-SDR 820T
  • Plugin SDRSharp Net Remote
  • Plugin Time Shift

mySdrPlayback: MacOS Software for Browsing Through IQ Recordings from SDR#, SDRUno and More

mySdrPlayback is a program for MacOS that allows you to easily browse through IQ recordings created from multiple SDR programs. Recently the software's author (@ChrisSmolinski) 
Tweeted that he's added support for SDR# and SDRUno IQ recordings
. The program is described below:

Why use this app? It makes it easy to slog through lots of recording files, looking for interesting signals. Load a file, and a waterfall for the entire file is created. You can scroll around, and if you see anything that looks interesting, you can drag select it, and then demodulate it. You can even save the demodulated audio as a WAVE file, that you can listen to later, send to someone else, or play into your digital decoding software, if it is an RTTY, SSTV, etc. transmission.

Support for other SDR recording file formats is possible, you'll need to work with me by providing sample files and details on the format. This program is presently for macOS only. Support for Windows may happen... stay tuned!

mySdrPlayback now supports SDR# and SDRUno IQ Files.
mySdrPlayback now supports SDR# and SDRUno IQ Files.

SignalsEverywhere: Common Modulations Tutorial Video

This week on the SignalsEverywhere YouTube channel, host Corrosive gives us a tutorial on common modulations that you'll see on your software defined radio. His tutorial covers Amplitude Modulation (AM), Frequency Modulation (FM), Single Side Band (SSB) and Conintuous Wave (CW) modulations. In the video he shows what they look like and how to select the correct mode and bandwidth settings in SDR#. Corrosive uses an Airspy in the video, but the same concepts are valid for any SDR, like the RTL-SDR.

If you're new to SDR then this is a great introductory video to watch and learn from.

New SDR# Plugin Adds Support for Contour Shuttle USB Controllers

Contour ShuttlePro V2
Contour ShuttlePro V2

The Contour Shuttle Express and Pro V2 are USB controller accessories for PCs. They consist of a knob-like wheel with multiple buttons and they are designed as a keyboard replacement for improving the productivity of video/photo editors. However, several people have found them useful for controlling software defined radio receiver programs like SDR#.

Recently SDR# plugin developer Eddie Mac has released a new SDR# plugin that provides native support for the Shuttle devices from within SDR# itself. The plugin allows you to dynamically map the Shuttle's buttons and wheels to functions within SDR#.

Eddie also writes:

There was no wrapper available for Contours Windows SDK so I created a managed .NET wrapper around contours dll. If anyone wants to develop their own software for these devices I will happily provide them with my .NET wrapper for free as well as a demo app to instruct on its usage.

Contour Shuttle Plugin for SDR#
Contour Shuttle Plugin for SDR#