Photo source: John (AE5X)
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, John Harper (AE5X), who notes that he recently worked with an FCC crew to find the source of noise that was affecting a weather radar site. In the process, John got to check out, first hand, RF Hawk and some of the equipment the FCC uses to locate interference (including pirate radio stations).
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Grayhat, who writes:
Maybe it’s old news for you, I just discovered it and thought you may
be interested, the commercial circuit simulator “Micro-Cap 12” which
was sold at around $4,500 for each license is now *free*, I found the
information here along with some further details:
https://hackaday.com/2020/01/08/commercial-circuit-simulator-goes-free/
The decision of releasing it as freeware seems to be related to the
fact that the company selling it (Spectrum Software) closed (not sure
for the reasons); anyhow, since the site or the download link may
disappear in some time, I think it would be a good idea to pick a copy
of the software, the full CD image including the program, libraries and
everything else can be downloaded from this page
http://www.spectrum-soft.com/download/download.shtm
Thank you for the tip! I agree with you about grabbing a full install of the application while you can!
(Source: Jon Hudson with SDRplay)
Happy new Year from all of us at SDRplay.
Here’s an update on additional software for the RSPdx. SDRplay’s SDRuno fully supports the RSPdx but it takes several weeks for other software to catch up to the capabilities offered on the other RSP models.
Simon Brown has released his latest version of SDR Console V3 which supports the RSPdx (Version 3.0.18 dated January 1st) over on https://www.sdr-radio.com/ (make sure you download the latest API 3.x from our downloads page first)
We have released an EXTIO plugin for the RSPdx which will enable the RSPdx to work with any EXTIO-based software (e.g. HDSDR) although it doesn’t support HDR mode. HDR mode will not be added and the source code for the plugin can be found on our GitHub repository (https://github.com/SDRplay/ExtIO_SDRplay) we will not be supporting the plugin source code or extending the plugins capabilities. They are all free to be modified.
It is important to note that the RSPdx ExtIO plugin does NOT, AND WILL NOT, support HDR mode. If you need HDR mode, then SDRuno is the best option. HDR mode requires the end application to work in a certain way and this is not something that can be controlled via the ExtIO protocol.
Work has also begun on supporting RSPdx for SoapySDR based applications such as Cubic SDR (again this won’t include HDR mode). A Gnu Radio source block for the RSPdx will follow.
We are working with Steve Andrew, author of the Software Analyser software programme (see https://www.sdrplay.com/spectrum-analyser/ ) to help get compatibility for the RSPdx – this is a slightly longer process so this will take several more weeks.
Regarding stocks of the RSPs, SDRplay and most of our resellers on www.sdrplay.com/distributors/ have plenty of stock of RSP1A and the RSPduo. However there continues to be a shortage of the RSPdx whereby many of the resellers have sold out of their first deliveries. SDRplay is queuing up their replacement orders on a first come, first served basis. We also have our own quantity planned in there to allow us to sell direct from our website. We still hope that by the end of January we will have supplied this second wave of RSPdx demand.
For newcomers to SDR, see also, the glossary and links included in the news item on: https://www.sdrplay.com/happy-new-year-and-an-rspdx-update/
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dennis Dura, who shares the following GoFundMe campaign by Steven Clift to help with the continued development of the 1 Radio News application. Here’s the summary from Steven’s GoFundMe page:
1 Radio News needs a total rebuild to work great on Android 9 and 10.
I’ve kept this world radio news hobby alive with just enough revenue to cover developer costs since 2013!
Unfortunately, Google and Android change what is required to keep what once worked great functioning well.
Without your help, 1 Radio News will be no more.
With your support, I will pass 100% of your donation to developers to make this happen. We need to raise $1000 by the end of January.
EVERY donor, at any amount, will get a free pass for a new 1 Radio News Pro in-app subscription for the life of the app.
The new Pro will be launched with a simple $1/month subscription to cover the cost of feature improvement and updating the radio streams and curated collection of the best hourly and daily news. If you don’t want to chip in now, you’ll be able to help us on a monthly or yearly basis later.
1 Radio News Pro is Dead! Long live the 1 Radio News!
The current 1 Radio News Pro “as is” will sunset at a date to be determined in 2020. If you’d rather get a refund for the current 1 Radio News Pro and not participate in our effort to keep this app alive, just get in touch via the app and I’ll give you your money back even if you used the app for half a decade.
Photo by Benjamin Lizardo
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Michael Bird, who shares the following story from RadioInfo.com.au:
In an example of radio industry cooperation during adversity, commercial network Grant Broadcasters is working with the ABC on the South Coast of NSW to keep transmissions on air during the fires in that area.
As fires raged through the area last week, the ABC’s Mt Wandera transmission site at Bateman’s Bay was disabled by flames (see pictures below) and is expected to take some time to repair.
The ABC, through its transmission provider Broadcast Australia (recently renamed BAI Communications) asked if it could share Grant Broadcasters’ nearby transmission mast and infrastructure, and has now combined its transmissions onto the Grant Broadcasters antenna.
Local radio services, including ABC South Coast, are now back on air, but operating at reduced power. The ABC’s television transmitter on the site is also off air.
BAI has also established additional temporary low power facilities at Batemans Hill for ABC Local Radio (operating on 101.9 MHz) and ABC television (operating on Channel 41). As this facility operates from a lower altitude and at lower power than those at Mt Wandera, its coverage will be largely limited within the town of Batemans Bay.
On the South Coast, the Grant Broadcasters stations 2EC and Power FM had “no issues with transmission coverage” and have so far remained on full power. Diesel generators have 4-5 days capacity and are being refuelled continuously.
[…]Communications Minister Paul Fletcher has commended media and transmission providers for their efforts to keep services operating:
“I commend the network operators’ efforts in responding, which has included deploying temporary facilities to restore communications services for impacted communities, particularly those that are isolated. Many of the outages are due to power supplies being cut off, and in some cases are the direct impact of fire on network infrastructure. The current fire situations across Australia have made access difficult and unsafe at some sites to assess and restore services…
“In many cases, a portable transistor radio with a spare set of batteries is a vital way to receive emergency information, in the event there is a loss of mains power or mobile coverage.
“The ABC and other local radio stations are doing an excellent job transmitting vital emergency information to Australian communities. Telstra and Optus are offering targeted relief packages in affected regions in NSW and Victoria, including free use of payphones, call diversions from affected lines and other financial assistance.”[…]
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following note posted by Paul McClane at Radio World:
For those who want to sound off to the FCC about using all-digital on the AM band — either “fer it” or “agin it” —- the comment deadlines now are set.
Comments are due March 9, reply comments are due April 6.
As RW has reported, the FCC recently released a notice of proposed rulemaking to establish rules governing all-digital broadcasting by AM radio stations in the United States.
Read the NPRM here. The NPRM number is 19-123.
Click here to read at Radio World.
As we mentioned yesterday, this proposal is certainly in the final stages at this point.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, who discovered via Gilles Letourneau’s YouTube Channel that the popular SDR.hu KiwiSDR portal now requires registration and a ham radio callsign.
I almost didn’t believe this at first, but then checked on the SDR.hu FAQ page to find this message:
What is a callsign and how do I get one?
An amateur radio callsign is issued by the appropriate authority in your country (e.g. FCC in the US). The amateur radio callsign allows you to both transmit and receive with amateur radio equipment, and you need to pass an exam to get one. (If you are not familiar with this, please search Google about amateur radio.)
Can I access the receiver list if I do not have a callsign?
No.
Why do I need a callsign to access the receiver list?
The purpose of the site is to serve amateur radio. I decided to restrict access to the receiver list in order to protect the site and its purpose in the long term.
To be clear: this doesn’t imply you need a callsign to access the KiwiSDR network. This only applies to the SDR.hu KiwiSDR portal operated by András Retzler. I’m guessing he’s doing this to regulate his site’s resources. (See UPDATE below.)
kiwisdr.com/public/ provides a list of all active KiwiSDRs.
As Dan points out, there are a number of other KiwiSDR portals that do not require registration or a call sign.
Here are a few:
If you prefer another KiwiSDR portal, please comment with a link. I’ll try to update this post with any new additions.
UPDATE – Many thanks to Cristiano Amaral who shares this update sent by Andras to all of the OpenWebRX contributors:
Hello,
You are receiving this e-mail because you were listing a public OpenWebRX receiver on SDR.hu in the last 3 months.
I wanted to let you know that the OpenWebRX project is discontinued [1], which means that it will not receive any updates (including security fixes) from me. I hope that you will be able to run your receivers without problems in the next years, and hopefully the community will be able to help each other even if I’m not working on the project anymore.
It is also important to know that starting from next year, Python 2, a dependency of OpenWebRX is not maintained either, at least officially by the Python team [2], as it is deprecated in favour of Python 3.
If you want to keep running your public receivers securely, you should be looking for a Python 2 fork that is still patched against the latest security vulnerabilities. There is a possibility that Anaconda [3] or Red Hat [4] will keep patching Python 2.
As a note, you can also find unofficial Python 3 ports of OpenWebRX online, though I’m not involved with those either.
Thank you for participating in the project, and I wish you a Happy New Year!
VY 73!
Andras, HA7ILM
—
sdr.hu