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.
AM FM SSB and CW | Common Modulation You'll See on SDR
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!
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.
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.
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.
Awesome! SDR# Sharp Slicer.
The best day since the covid pandemic started. Multiple instances of SDR# running under a single Airspy device.
SDR# 17.42 + Airspy Discovery HF + Youloop inside the house.
I need a wider screen. pic.twitter.com/1mqDbZCgQe
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.
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#.
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:
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.
1. Install wine via apt.
2. Install dotNET 4.8 via winetricks.
3. Install the Verdana font via winertricks.
4. Enjoy SDR.
I'm using it via spyserver at the moment.
— Albin Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. (@albinstigo) November 2, 2020
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Check the latest and greatest SDR# release with more performance optimizations and better processing quality for #airspy devices. The #rtlsdr crowd will also be happy with the improved compatibility.
@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.
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.
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.
Paolo Romani (IZ1MLL) has recently released version 3.0 of his SDRSharp PDF Guide which we posted about last in March of this year. As before the document is a detailed guide about how to use SDRSharp, which is the software provided by Airspy. While intended for Airspy devices, SDRSharp also supports a number of third party SDRs, including the RTL-SDR, and it is the software we recommend starting with when using an RTL-SDR.
The guide is now 61 pages long, and covers all the settings, UI customization, included and third party plugins, and use of some external decoders.
Paolo Romani (IZ1MLL) has recently released version 4.2 of his SDRSharp PDF Guide. The book is available for download on the Airspy downloads page, just scroll down to the title "SDR# Big Book in English".
As before the document is a detailed guide about how to use SDRSharp, which is the software provided by Airspy. While intended for Airspy devices, SDRSharp also supports a number of third party SDRs, including the RTL-SDR, and it is the software we recommend starting with when using an RTL-SDR.
Paolo writes:
My new v4.2 SDRsharp PDF is out. The guide is now 139 pages long, and covers all the settings, UI customization, included and third party plugins, and use of some external decoders and software, now with Spyserver integration with Raspberry Pi 3/4, etc etc...
Paolo Romani (IZ1MLL) has recently released version 5.3 of his SDRSharp PDF Guide. The book is available for download on the Airspy downloads page, just scroll down to the title "SDR# Big Book" and choose your language.
As before the document is a detailed guide about how to use SDRSharp (SDR#), which is the software provided by Airspy. While intended for Airspy devices, SDRSharp also supports a number of third party SDRs, including the RTL-SDR, and it is the software we recommend starting with when using an RTL-SDR.
Paolo writes:
Youssef Touil hasn't rested for a moment and the SDR# releases have been moving forward in leaps and bounds with new Denoisers (NINR), CCC, Audio/Baseband records and the new menu features.
I also had to re-update my Big Book PDF to v5.3 as a result!!
I have also implemented the SpyServer section a lot in multi OS and a chapter "Ideas and Suggestions" with two paragraphs: SDR & MacOS and the other using SDR# with two multiple monitors.
Paolo Romani (IZ1MLL) has recently released version 5.5 of his SDRSharp PDF Guide. The book is available for download on the Airspy downloads page, just scroll down to the title "SDR# Big Book" and choose your language. (At the time of this post only English and Italian are available for 5.5, but multiple languages are available for the older guides).
The latest version brings the book up to 214 pages in length, and adds information about the RTL-SDR Blog antenna kit, and new SDR# plugins like ListenInfo.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.SDRSharp Big Book V5.5
SDR# is a popular software defined radio program that is compatible with RTL-SDR, Airspy and several other SDR devices. One feature is the ability for third parties to develop plugins for the software.
One recently released plugin that is gaining popularity is the "ListenInfo" plugin. The ListenInfo plugin uses a publicly available database of shortwave stations to display frequency station info for the LW, MW, SW bands within the SDR# spectrum display.
If you've ever been browsing the shortwave bands and wondered where a station is broadcasting from, and what it's transit power, beam direction and transmit schedule are like, then this will be a very useful plugin for you.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.SDR# ListenInfo Plugin
