Tag Archives: SDR-Console

SDR Console Version 3: A Holy Grail SDR application for the radio archivist

Encouraged by SWLing Post contributors Guy Atkins and Ivan Cholakov, I recently installed the latest version of SDR Console on my PC.

I had not tried SDR Console in many, many years, but after Guy announced that SDR Console had moved from preview to Beta, I decided it was time to try it once again.

All I can say is: WOW!

As someone who evaluates a number of software defined receivers and who regularly makes off-air audio and spectrum recordings, I’m simply amazed by SDR Console’s versatility.

The recording functionality, as Guy previously stated, is phenomenal–perhaps the best of any SDR application I’ve used to date save, perhaps, that of the Titan SDR Pro (which is proprietary).

Though I still haven’t logged a lot of hours on SDR Console, I can already mention several powerful features that I love:

Virtual receivers

So few SDR applications allow you to run multiple virtual receivers and–especially–make independent recordings from them simultaneously.

When I started writing this post last night, I was listening to and recording the Voice of Greece on virtual receiver #1,  Radio Guinea on #2, and WRMI on #3 using the brilliant little AirSpy HF+.

Audio recording options

When you start a recording of an active virtual receiver, a dialog box pops up allowing you to make a custom file title–it pre-populates the date, start time, frequency and mode. This is a simple but time-saving feature as most SDR applications save files according to global application settings–not for each individual recording. With the SDR Console dialog box, I can insert the name of the broadcaster in the file title which makes organizing recordings later a breeze.

Additionally, you can choose between MP3, WAV or WMA file types for each recording. I know of no other SDR app that gives you this flexibility.

Scheduled recordings

I’ve yet to use the scheduler feature, but based on Guy Atkins’ feedback, I know this will be an invaluable resource for collecting off-air recordings while I’m away from home.

So many features to discover…

As both Guy and Ivan have shown us in past posts, SDR Console allows for multiple application “instances”–meaning, you can run two independent SDRs simultaneously. This is a fantastic feature for those of us who make multiple spectrum recordings. Of course, it’s an ideal platform to compare SDR hardware as settings can be easily matched between both units (something very difficult to do when using different SDR applications).

I’ve so much to learn about SDR Console, but I can tell I’ll be spending a great deal of time with the application this year, attempting to learn every nuance.

I took Guy Atkins’ suggestion for new users of SDR Console and downloaded Paul Jones’ (NN4F) PDF manual.

I sent a donation to Simon (G4ELI) last night after having only used SDR Console for a few minutes. SDR Console is totally free, but I’m a firm believer in supporting creators who are doing amazing things! If you use SDR Console, consider sending Simon a donation as well.

I’ve a little free time this morning and plan to set up SDR Console to run my Elad FDM-S2, RTL-SDR dongle, SDR Play RSP1A and RSP2. It’ll be a bit revolutionary to have one SDR application to unite them all!

Post readers: Any other SDR Console fans out there?  What are your favorite features?

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Popular SDR-Console V3 Software Moves from Preview to Beta

Simon Brown, G4ELI’s widely used, free SDR-Console V3 was upgraded from “Preview” to “Beta 1” level today. Many SDR enthusiasts have waited for this next step; even in Preview form, Version 3 has performed nearly as well as a production release in many ways.

I have briefly used SDR-Console (V2 and V3) off and on for a few years, but it wasn’t until acquiring AirSpy HF+ receivers that I took a serious plunge into V3. Now that I’ve gone through its modest learning curve, I like this SDR software quite a bit!

There are many things I enjoy about SDR-Console, not the least is the power and ease of use of the Recording Scheduler, a feature that’s important to medium wave DXers. I’m sure others who like to set up unattended WAV I/Q recordings for later review benefit from this also.

I’ve not found a list of improvements between Preview and Beta 1, but I suspect Simon has made the upgrade because the Preview has shown itself to be quite stable already. He did publish a list of a few known bugs:

  • External Radio using IF output does not work.
  • Remote Server using the SDR-IQ has stutter.
  • Kits are not signed – a code signing certificate has been purchased from Comodo but is not yet available.

Simon indicates that these bugs will be worked on in the next few weeks.

If you use and benefit from SDR-Console software, please considering support the development efforts through a PayPal donation. Links to download the newest Beta 1 version, and/or to donate, can be found here: http://www.sdr-radio.com/Downloads

Here are a couple YouTube videos which show SDR-Console V3 (Preview build) in action:

Guy Atkins is a Sr. Graphic Designer for T-Mobile and lives near Seattle, Washington.  He’s a regular contributor to the SWLing Post.

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A comprehensive SDRplay and SDRuno how-to video series

The SDRplay RSP2

Mike Ladd, with SDRplay, has done an amazing job putting together a comprehensive series of how-to videos for those of us with the SDRplay RSP1 and RSP2 receivers. His first set of videos have focused on using SDRuno (SDRplay’s custom SDR application), and now he’s started an SDR Console series as well.

I’ve embedded much of his video series below, but you can also find them at the SDRplay YouTube channel.

If you own an SDRplay RSP, take time to watch some or all of these videos as they’ll help you unlock RSP functionality you likely never knew existed. I’ve learned something new in each one I’ve watched.

Below, I’ve embedded 23 SDRuno how-to videos, a new SDR Console video and PDF/printable SDRplay documentation. Enjoy! (And thanks again, Mike!)


SDRuno Videos

#1 SDRuno Basic layout and settings

Click here to view on YouTube.

#2 SDRuno with VAC 1 of 2

Click here to view on YouTube.

#3 SDRuno VAC 2of 2 (showing MultiPSK)

Click here to view on YouTube.

#4 SDRuno Noise reduction intro on HF.

Click here to view on YouTube.

#5 SDRuno Memory Panel part 1 of 2

Click here to view on YouTube.

#6 SDRuno Memory Panel part 2 of 2

Click here to view on YouTube.

#7 SDRuno Calibrate your RSP-1 & RSP-2

Click here to view on YouTube.

#8 SDRuno VAC & DSDdecoder

Click here to view on YouTube.

#9 SDRuno Notching filter function

Click here to view on YouTube.

#10 SDRuno FM Broadcast RDS data decoding

Click here to view on YouTube.

#11 SDRuno, FTDX 3000, Omnirig & LOG4OM Logger

Click here to view on YouTube.

#12 SDRuno, FTDX 3000, Omnirig & LOG4OM Logger In Action

Click here to view on YouTube.

#13 SDRuno EX-Control Module

Click here to view on YouTube.

#14 SDRuno with CSV user list browser using virtual com ports.

Click here to view on YouTube.

#15 SDRuno & MultiPSK decoding APRS

Click here to view on YouTube.

#16 SDRuno & MultiPSK decoding ACARS

Click here to view on YouTube.

#17 SDRuno with the TM-2 USB Controller

Click here to view on YouTube.

#18 SDRuno Tune-LO-LO Lock

Click here to view on YouTube.

#19 pre-selection filters of the RSP-1 and RSP-2

Click here to view on YouTube.

#20 SDRuno and the VRX feature

Click here to view on YouTube.

MISC SDRUno videos

SDRuno EXT/IO Edition for a range of SDRs and dongles

Click here to view on YouTube.

SDRplay RSP with the DX Engineering RTR-2

Click here to view on YouTube.

Using the RSP-1 for the IARU HF World Championship

Click here to view on YouTube.

SDR Console videos (Brand new series)

#1 SDRplay RSP 1 & 2 with SDR Console v3

Click here to view on YouTube.

SDRplay How To documentation

Brand new SDRuno User Manual
http://www.sdrplay.com/docs/SDRplay_SDRuno_User_Manual.pdf

Frontend Reset
http://www.sdrplay.com/docs/SDRplay_Software_reset.pdf

Optimizing WIndows 7 for SDRuno
http://www.sdrplay.com/docs/SDRuno_Windows7.pdf

Setting up VSPE
http://www.sdrplay.com/docs/SDRuno_VSPE.pdf

Setting up VAC
http://www.sdrplay.com/docs/SDRuno_VAC.pdf

Decoding APRS using SDRuno and MultiPSK
http://www.sdrplay.com/docs/SDRuno_APRS.pdf

Decoding MIL-ALE using SDRuno and MultiPSK
http://www.sdrplay.com/docs/SDRuno_ALE.pdf

Decoding AIS Marine messages using SDRuno and MultiPSK
http://www.sdrplay.com/docs/SDRuno_AIS.pdf

Decoding ACARS messages using SDRuno and MultiPSK
http://www.sdrplay.com/docs/SDRuno_ACARS.pdf

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SDR-Console V3 Preview now supports the SDRplay RSP2

Many thanks to Jon Hudson at SDRplay who has just informed me that SDR-Console V3 Preview supports the new SDRplay RSP2.

SDRplay posted the following on their blog:

Many thanks to Simon Brown for updating SDR-Console V3 Preview to fully support both the RSP1 and the RSP2- you can download the software from http://sdr-radio.com/v3_preview_downloads  (be sure to click on the software link  under where it says ‘Downloads’ unless you want to download the software from the advertisers who support Simon’s work!)

As new YouTube demo videos of SDR-Console V3 in action become available, we will add them to the playlists on our YouTube Channel:  www.youtube.com/c/SDRplayRSP

Click here to read on the SDRplay blog.

Very cool, Jon!  Happy to see app support for the new RSP2 is propagating. Thank you for sharing!

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