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New 3rd Party plugins for SDRuno

Since we introduced SDRuno V1.4 with plugins last month, several software authors have been busy writing their own plugins, and links to these can be found on the SDRplay Plugins page of our website: https://sdrplay.com/plugins/

Eddie from https://sdrplugins.com/ has released a plugin for using a Contour shuttle. He writes

“The Contour Shuttle Plugin for SDRuno brings you the ability to control your SDRuno application with your own shuttle device. This plugin works with the Contour Shuttle Express, Pro and Pro V2. It provides native support for the shuttle devices, meaning no more clunky mapping of shortcuts. Simply load the plugin and your ready to go. All functions available through the SDRuno plugin API are available to dynamically set to any button, the shuttle ring or the jog ring. Select the VRX you want to send command to and those commands will control that VRX. You can control the demodulator type, filter bandwidth presets, volume, squelch. Noise Blanker level, toggle squelch, audio mute , toggle the VFO and many more features…Also, the plugin is speed aware. The plugin will respond to the the shuttle wheel and jog wheel position in terms of speed and release rates, making it easy to control a function in any increment from fine to coarse.”

Eric Cottrell has released his FRAN  (FRequency ANotation) plugin which can read SWSKEDS or .s1b memory bank files and display the active stations from the files on the main spectrum window.   Eric is in the process of setting up a website for his plugins and other projects. Until it is done, click here to get Version 0.3 of FRAN.

The FRAN plugin allows annotation from memory files 

Eric is an active member of   the Independent  SDRuno Facebook group where you can ask questions about it and see news of any updates before the website is announced.

News about additional 3rd party plugins will be posted on https://sdrplay.com/plugins/ as they become available.  That’s where you can also find links to information about the plugins already provided by SDRplay for DAB radio, DX Clusters and an audio recorder.

We’ve also made this short video to clarify how best to install 3rd party plugins:

5 years since the very first RSP1 was shipped

It is 5 years ago today that we sold our very first RSP1 – to a customer in Sweden.  Our very first production units were housed in a blue and white box and had an F-type connector:

 

Many thanks to the thousands of loyal customers who have supported SDRplay ever since that first unit got shipped.

Other news:

Over on the SDRplay forum, there’s an instructional post from RSP2user with useful links for anyone interested in receiving video images from the Es’hail 2 satellite   – see http://www.sdrplay.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4755#p16575

The SDRplay forum is a great place to swap and share ideas and seek help from other users.  Due to ongoing problems including spammers who have become more and more adept at creating fake posts, we now have to moderate all posts. This does mean some delay before your post gets to appear – we do however try to minimise the delay, which can be several hours during UK night times.  Join the forum by going to: https://sdrplay.com/community/

We have also update our SDRuno software roadmap to add a couple of intermediate releases on the way to the next big release which will be Version 1.4:

1.33:
Provide backups of the ini file and a way to restore a specific backup ini file
Additional memory panel columns:
– RF Gain
– IF Gain/AGC enable
– Scanner Threshold
Scanner improvements including:
– A fix for the airband 8.33 frequency rounding error
– Separate (non-memory panel file) lockout file for range scans
– Collect statistics of frequencies in or added to the memory panel
– Use the new memory panel threshold for memory scans
Status bar for better feedback of issue to the user
Improved error handling and reporting
Bugs found in 1.32

1.34:
Improved gain table support to take account of hardware notches
– Will result in improved mil-airband scanner performance
Increase number of zoom levels in SP2 display for close in signal identification
Save VFO in each VRX
Start-up tips
Improved log support – capture commands, results and errors
Bug fixes

1.4:
Plugin support (via documented API)
Remote client support
VFO IQ and audio recording
Automatic LO system (user just sets VFO)

2.0:
Cross platform support (Windows, Linux/x86, MacOS)
Hamlib support for non-Windows platforms
GUI update – ability to lock windows together

 

 

New SDRuno Diversity software in ICQ Podcast video

ICQ Podcast recorded this interview at the SDRplay stand in Hamvention 2019. In it, Andy talks about the features of the SDRuno integrated scanning function and demonstrates the new Diversity software coming in release V1.32 (3 minutes 30 seconds in)
Andy goes on to discuss the software updates coming to SDRuno soon after that (7 minutes, 30 seconds in)

Click here to see the video: https://youtu.be/Hn4WdhHDFnI

SDRuno Roadmap

1.32: Diversity (RSPduo only)

1.4: Plugin support (via documented API)
Remote client support
VFO IQ and audio recording
Automatic LO system (user just sets VFO)
Better support for multiple VRX use (improved settings support)
Improved INI file support (backup/restore)
Improved service support (restart/recovery)

2.0: Cross platform support (Windows, Linux/x86, MacOS)

All versions will also include bug fixes and user feedback (where possible)

It is no possible to commit the exact dates of these releases but these are the priority for our software development team.

SDRplay – more about our SDRuno diversity demo

This weekend at Hamvention (Dayton, Ohio) Andy, Mike and Steve from SDRplay will be showing an early version of Diversity reception running in SDRuno with an RSPduo.

Above: New diversity reception controls in SDRuno demo shown in Dayton

The RSPduo gives users the ability to implement receiver diversity as it contains two independent tuners that are phase and time synchronous. Depending upon the usage case and reception conditions, diversity can give substantial improvements in reception performance, particularly in a mobile multipath fading environment. There are many different types of diversity, but they all basically rely upon de-correlating the signal between two antennas. This de-correlation can be achieved through different polarisations or spatial separation.

It’s important to be aware, that the key to getting decent gains from diversity lies in having the correct antenna setup and if you get it wrong, you can actually make things worse!  That said, in some circumstances,the improvements can also be dramatic.

Here’s a bit more about what’s going on. In a multipath fading environment, signal reflections can combine in anti-phase in a way that results in the signal being cancelled. This is called a deep fade. If we have two antennas that are separated by ¼ wavelength at the frequency of interest, the spatial separation can help ensure that whilst one antenna is in a deep fade, the other may not be. As a consequence, either by simply selecting the antenna with the best signal or by combining the two signals it is possible to make the receiver considerably more resilient to fading.

Similarly if you consider the same antenna setup but this time without multipath effects. You will end up with roughly the same level of signal power on each antenna. By adjusting the phase of one signal before combining the two paths, it is possible to ensure that the signals add in-phase and thus constructively giving a 6 dB increase in the signal power. However, the noise generated by each tuner is uncorrelated and so when the noise power is combined, the increase is only 3 dB. Therefore is it possible to see a net 3 dB improvement in the SNR as a result of combination of the two paths, which is equivalent to reducing the noise figure of a single receiver by 3 dB. If the amplitudes are not exactly equal , then as well as adjusting the phase, you would also adjust the amplitude of one path to ensure that they were equal before combination. This principle of trimming the gain and phase prior to combining the two paths to give the best possible SNR is called Maximum Ratio Combination (MRC) diversity.

It is important to understand that MRC diversity is not guaranteed to give better performance that what may be received from a signal antenna. For example, if one antenna is in a deep fade, combining the two signals will result in a degraded SNR when compared to simply selecting the antenna with the strongest signal. That is simply because, combining will not boost the signal power, but will boost the noise power. However, in a mobile multipath fading environment, MRC diversity will substantially improve receiver resilience to fading.

Under certain circumstances, the same principle can be used to cancel interference without substantially degrading the strength of the signal of interest. In this case the antenna positions are adjusted so that the interfering signal arrives at the two antennas with the same signal strength and in phase. If the signal of interest is arriving from a direction that is orthogonal to the source of interference, then the antennas will see the wanted signal of equal strength, but with a 90 degree phase shift. If the two paths are now subtracted (added with a 180 degree phase shift), then the interfering signal will cancel, but the de-correlated signal of interest will combine, thus resulting in a substantial improvement in the SNR.

One other useful application for such a setup is that given a known separation between two antennas, being able to measure the phase difference between the signal at each antenna, simple trigonometry allows for an estimation of the direction from which the signal has come. This approach is sometimes referred to as ‘time of arrival direction finding’. This technique will only work well with signals that are substantially free from multi-path.

The software release roadmap for SDRuno has been updated to include V1.32 in the near future as a special release of the diversity software for RSPduo owners. This is the updated sequence of releases planned by the SDRplay software development team:

1.32: Diversity (RSPduo only)

1.4:

Plugin support (via documented API)
Remote client support
VFO IQ and audio recording
Automatic LO system (user just sets VFO)
Better support for multiple VRX use (improved settings support)
Improved INI file support (backup/restore)
Improved service support (restart/recovery)

2.0: Cross platform support (Windows, Linux/x86, MacOS)

All versions will also include bug fixes and user feedback (where possible)

It is not possible to commit the exact dates of these releases but these are the priority for our software development team.

(July 11th update – Version 1.32 with MRC Diversity for the RSPduo was released this week. See https://sdrplay.com/new-sdrplay-diversity-software-for-rspduo-released-other-updates/ )

SDRconnect Preview is available to download

SDRplay is pleased to announce that a preview build of SDRconnect, our new multi-platform SDR and server software is available to download from https://www.sdrplay.com/sdrconnect/

The first few video guides are also available here 

The current preview build of SDRconnect is just at the beginning of the development process. It contains a number of features, including:

  • Multiple VRXs with basic radio controls
  • Built in support for all model RSPs except the original RSP1
  • Remote server with two streaming modes across both LAN and WAN (internet): a) Full IQ and b) Audio – a streaming mode which provides a very efficient way of displaying a large spectral bandwidth across a network with a limited data throughput.
  • Calibrated Power meter and S-Meter
  • Band framing
  • HDR mode support for the RSPdx
  • Support for RSPduo Single and Dual Tuner mode (two tuners) within a single instance of SDRconnect
  • Manual Diversity Control for the RSPduo
  • Headless server command line options
  • SNR Measurement
  • Support for un-docking and re-docking of panels
  • Saving and reloading of settings
  • Ability to allocate the Aux SP to different tuners in Dual Tuner mode for the RSPduo and for additional VRXs

SDRconnect runs on the following architectures:

x64, ARM64 (including Apple Silicon)

Please NOTE. SDRconnect will be a 64-bit solution and will NOT run on 32-bit operating systems.

Supported Operating systems:

Windows – 10, 11 and later – 64-bit only. Note SDRconnect will NOT run on anything earlier than Windows 10, so please don’t ask for Windows 8/7/XP etc. It is not possible to compile for these older operating systems with the tools used for the development of SDRconnect.

Linux x64 – Canonical Ubuntu 20.04LTS and later.

Linux ARM64 (aarch64) – Raspberry Pi OS (64bit) – Bullseye derived (we recommend the Raspberry Pi 4B or better)

MacOS x64 – 10.15 (Catalina) and onwards

MacOS ARM64 (Apple Silicon) – 13.0 (Ventura) and onwards

SDRuno plugins will not work with SDRconnect, but we will be porting the SDRplay developed SDRuno plugins so that they will be made available for use with SDRconnect as modules. The module interface will be published so that third party developers can also port their SDRuno plugins to SDRconnect modules, but we have no control over whether they will choose to do so, so please contact the plugin developers about this.

Regarding touch functionality, the first release will not support gesture recognition. This will come in a later release.

SDRconnect and SDRuno are able to co-exist on the same OS – Please note: This requires the latest version of SDRuno to be installed.

This is the latest version of SDRconnect – released August 10th 2023

Release notes for all versions of SDRconnect can be found here (https://www.sdrplay.com/docs/SDRconnect_Release_Notes.pdf)

Whilst this is the first preview version of the software, we believe that it is stable on all platforms. However, this is just the first step in the long term development of a brand new platform and future releases and modules will further enhance functionality.

You can report any bugs that you find to software@sdrplay.com – ONLY if you are using one of the supported platforms listed above. Please note that we will read any feedback sent to us but we will only respond to you if we require further information.

The first few video guides are also available here 

SDRconnect update

We have been rather ‘inundated’ with demands for updates on our software development efforts and in particularly the release date for SDRconnect.

A little over a year ago, we decided that to re-develop SDRuno as a true cross-platform SDR solution was practically unfeasible and instead commenced the development of a completely new, ‘ground up’ solution which we chose to call SDRconnect to distinguish it from SDRuno, which itself will continue to be supported on Windows.

Estimating schedules for software development is notoriously difficult because software is highly abstracted with additional variables and uncertainties when compared to hardware development. In addition SDRconnect utilises a wholly different approach when compared to SDRuno with a completely new development environment.

SDRconnect is a highly modular piece of software with a UI that will be much better suited to the wide range of modern computing platforms than SDRuno, many of which feature touch-screens.

The first release of SDRconnect will NOT encompass all of the functionality that we intend for this software. Instead, there will be a range of more frequent updates than people will have experienced with SDRuno.

The first release of SDRconnect will incorporate the following:

Hardware architectures:

x64, ARM64 (including Mac M1)

Please NOTE. SDRconnect will be a 64bit solution and will NOT run on 32 bit operating systems.

Operating systems

Windows 10, 11 and later – 64 bit only. Note SDRconnect will NOT run on anything earlier than Windows 10, so please don’t ask for Windows 8/7/XP etc. It is not possible to compile for these older operating systems with the tools used for the development of SDRconnect.

Linux Ubuntu x64 18.04LTS and later. Please note that we will ONLY be testing on Ubuntu. We make no guarantees for any other flavour of Linux

MacOS x64 and M1 version 11 (Big Sur) and onwards.

Raspberry Pi OS (64bit) – Bullseye derived.

Android and iOS will NOT be supported in the first release. These will come later .

Please note that SDRconnect is for the Raspberry Pi 4B or better and not earlier models such as the Raspberry Pi 3 etc

Features:

The first release of SDRconnect will support the following features

Support for all RSP hardware platforms EXCEPT the RSP1

Diversity support for the RSPduo

Both Master and Slave mode for the RSPduo supported within a single instance of SDRconnect

Module interface for third party software modules (formerly known as ‘Plugins’)

Completely new UI will configurable and dockable panels

Remote network server and client

A basic I/Q recorder

Multiple VRXs

Band framing

The following will NOT be in the first release, but will come in subsequent Module releases:

Scanning

Rig Control

RDS decoding

Scheduler

Because these features will be incorporated as modules, it means that there will be fewer changes required to the core SDRconnect platform which will help preserve its stability and minimise the risk of bugs being introduced.

The current range of SDRplay developed plugins for SDRuno, will not work with SDRconnect, but we will be upgrading these so that they will be made available for use with SDRconnect. The module interface will be published so that third party developers can port their SDRuno plugins to SDRconnect, but we have no control over whether they will choose to do so, so please contact the plugin developers about this.

Regarding touch functionality, the first release will not support gesture recognition. This will come in a later release.

Finally, SDRconnect will have its own embedded API. It will not be necessary to install the API used with SDRuno. However SDRconnect, SDRuno and the API used for SDRuno will all happily coexist on the same machine.

Now, whilst progress has been good, we have also experienced some setbacks that has lead to some delays from our original estimate. Our current best estimate is that the first release will be around the middle of February. Please note that this is NOT a guarantee. We fully understand the frustrations that many people may feel about delays but I would respectfully request that you avoid opening support tickets requesting updates or offering to act as a ‘beta tester’. There will be no beta test program. As soon as we have something for people to try, we will make it available and people are welcome to try it. We are doing it as fast we possibly can and external pressure simply won’t make it go any faster.

If there any significant changes to the above in terms of features or schedule, we will let you all know.

Many thanks for reading.

We have released v1.41.1 of SDRuno

We have released v1.41.1 of SDRuno – this has been primarily to apply bug fixes for v1.41. As part of these bug fixes, it has also been necessary to update the API to v3.09 and this version of the API will be rolled out across the other supported platforms.
Please note that upgrading the API may impact operation of some third party programs that also use the API
We recommend that you read through the release notes as there is also extra information regarding DPI support.

You can see the full set of changes to SDRuno 1.41.1 here: https://www.sdrplay.com/…/SDRplay_SDRuno_Release_Notes.pdf

and you can find the SDRuno download here: https://www.sdrplay.com/sdruno
With this release, we have also now released the source code for the ADS-B plugin. For anyone wishing to further develop this code, it can be downloaded via: https://github.com/…/plugins/tree/master/SDRunoPlugin_ADSB
The source code for this plugin was derived from dump1090, which contains code distributed under the GPL license terms. These licensing terms effectively precludes us from distributing the plugin software ourselves as part of the SDRuno installation procedure, but an installer can be obtained via: https://github.com/…/SDRuno_ADSB_Plugin_Installer_1.2.exe (click on the Download button on the right)
Links to this page can also be found via the software/downloads section of our website

Many thanks to this weekend’s SDRuno Zoom workshop participants

Many thanks to those who participated in our Zoom workshop yesterday which was aimed primarily at beginners but also strayed into some more complex questions too.  It was good because with all the lockdowns of the past 18 months,  the SDRplay team rely on this kind of contact to see where we need to focus future support and making it easier to find information.

Here are some of the questions which were asked and some links to resources which help answer them.

How do you use the new scheduler to record live (not scheduled)? See Page 24 of the manual (click on record): https://www.sdrplay.com/docs/SDRplay_SDRuno_User_Manual.pdf There’s a video guide to this 9 minutes 50 seconds into this video: https://youtu.be/oCsDY-0QrFE

Are there step by step startup instructions for SDRuno ? See page 123 of the manual for the “Quick Start Guide”.   There’s also a simple intro video here: https://youtu.be/k8p106BpSXU

I just purchased an RSPduo. The main focus for me is MW and Low bands DXing. Can SDRuno record full day of MW and display the whole day waterfall like in Jaguar software for Perseus? I would love to have this feature.  Yes but it needs a very large amount of memory storage. Here’s the link to the video showing examples of file sizes per minute of recording (fast forward to 7 minutes 25 seconds in): https://youtu.be/hUYTVZpNLNQ

Could you please explain in simple terms the difference between Zif and Lif and when to use each one?  The simple answer is to use Low IF for 2MHz bandwidth and below. You will only need to use Zero IF when wanting to see more than 2MHz spectrum.  The preset band buttons for HF and below all use Low IF.

Can you explain VFO and QRM?  VFO stands for Variable Frequency Oscillator and was effectively  the tuning dial of a traditional hardware radio.  Thus it means the frequency you wish to tune to. QRM is a Ham radio shorthand for “interference”  – usually man made (as opposed to “QRN” which is atmospheric – see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_code

Can SDRPlay display the MW waterfall for the entire day all in one? Very useful for propagation conditions at-a-glance, helps in stations identification, etc. MW DXers do record the entire days then gets them reviewed later for small openings of rare stations, etc.:  We have no experience of doing this, but here’s a link to forum discussion on the topic: https://www.reddit.com/r/RTLSDR/comments/3b1ulq/is_there_a_way_to_record_just_the_waterfall/

With the new ADSB plugin can it pass data to tracking site to link ADSB data with ATC data?  Yes but you would need to create your own interface. This is something we are actively encouraging plugin developers to do, building on the ADSB plugin we provide.

I ran the update of SDRuno, and then the plugins did not work as they should  – then I reinstalled the latest version and now it works –  is this a known error?  In general you should never need to do a reinstall.  It is important to keep community plugins in a separate folder:  See 2 minutes 22 seconds into this video guide to plugins: https://youtu.be/fZT5EODa9K4

What is the advantage of having 14bit ADC vs the cheaper 8bit ADC dongles?  The increased dynamic range  – examples of absolute performance measurements are published here  https://www.sdrplay.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/RSP1A-Technical-Information-R1P1.pdf )

Is there a setup for the RSP 1 or 2 that will allow me to clearly see the individual 120 Hz spikes caused by genuine power line interference sources. I find that both RSP versions I have DO NOT display these spikes well. Try adjusting the Resolution Bandwidth (RBW) settings as per page 49 of the manual:  https://www.sdrplay.com/docs/SDRplay_SDRuno_User_Manual.pdf

I have an RSPDx and did not succeed to run any of Jan’s plugins for decoding digital modes, i.e. CW, SSTV, NAVTEX and so on. All of them return an error upon plugin loading: dll not recognized. Can you help ?  We recommend contacting Jan via his github pages: https://groups.io/g/SDRPlayUsers/message/2998?

Any tips on how to use the scheduler for MW DXing? : For using the scheduler and profiles for MW DXing please review this video: https://youtu.be/fURaBmYcPbg

Where can I learn about the SDRplay spectrum analyser software?  Follow the link on https://www.sdrplay.com/misc/

(Please note that https://www.sdrplay.com/misc/ has links to many powerful resources including the ever growing SDRplay user community (Community Links, the Documentation and Vdeo catalogue, Mike KD2KOG’s HamGuides channel, Plugins, Antenna suggestions and links to these Webinars and workshops)

Any chance of an ARCAS decoder plugin?  Hopefully in time, meanwhile here’s our guide: https://www.sdrplay.com/resources/decoding_lband.pdf

Any plans on having a more platform-independent version of this software (and the Spectrum Analyzer software) using Qt or other means for MacOS or Linux? We have recently accelerated development efforts on SDRuno V2.0 which will provide cross platform support – here’s our roadmap summary: https://www.sdrplay.com/sdruno-roadmap/  although we don’t commit dates on when this will be released. Meanwhile, SDR++ offers support cross platform and works with SDRplay RSPs: https://github.com/AlexandreRouma/SDRPlusPlus

Here’s the link to the workshop: https://youtu.be/xArq7lv6FWM

 

 

SDRplay at QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo this coming weekend

SDRplay is pleased to be supporting the upcoming QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo this weekend.

We have Dallas-based Steve, KI5ENW  demonstrating the latest SDRuno release along with some of the newest plugins.   Steve’s talk is on Sunday 14th March 2021 in the session starting at 0900PDT (1600UTC)  – there will an opportunity to ask questions via an interactive Q&A session.

For more information on this event, and to register – go to: https://www.qsotodayhamexpo.com/

To view recordings of previous SDRplay presentations , demos and webinars – go to: https://www.sdrplay.com/webinars/

 

 

 

 

 

 

SDRuno V1.40.2 released

SDRuno 1.40.2 has been released. This is to fix the ini file corruption issue we posted about recently, but it also introduces some new features and more plugin functionality. Release notes can be found here:  https://www.sdrplay.com/docs/SDRplay_SDRuno_Release_Notes.pdf
Please note that the SDRplay plugins and community plugin installers that are included in the SDRuno installer are also available on our downloads page and will be updated when needed independently of SDRuno. If you are installing them separately, please make sure you get the right installer for the version of SDRuno you are using.
Added
• Hotkey to start/stop stream – P.
• Support for loading and saving profiles (supports multiple VRXs).
• Profile file area in the memory panel below the memory bank file area.
• Button in the memory panel to store profiles.
• Checkbox in the main panel settings to disable and hide the Bias-T function.
Changed
• LO and VFO for VRX#0 now separate on start-up and when loading a profile.
• ini file is only saved when SDRuno closes cleanly.
• Halved the size of the memory bank file are in the memory panel to accommodate the profile file
area.
• Overhaul of the minimise and restore functionality (now only main panel appears in the taskbar
when minimised).
• Plugin Control panel look/feel now matches the rest of the SDRuno panels.
• The default directory for community plugins is now the same as in the Community Plugins installer
for ease of use.
Fixed
• Memory panel being flagged as modified when it is not.
• Check for new version can sometimes get something other than the version number.
• HDR 630m band was non-functional due to the wrong centre frequency being used.
• If decimation had been set before the 10m band was selected, the decimation value would be
wrong after the band was unset.
• Cancelling wav file open window on start-up allowed SDRuno to continue to open with no input.
• SDRuno could crash on start-up if the memory bank referenced to be open was empty.
• Clicking on the frequency title in the memory panel to sort the frequency list could cause the
current band to be unframed.
• The Plugin Control panel will no longer allow the SDRuno Plugins folder to be selected when
using the right click method as community plugins should be stored elsewhere.
• Manual frequency entry after being band framed did not disable the notch filter.
• Pausing a memory scan could make it impossible to un-pause.
Known Issues
• SP2 CWAFC drift issue (Zoom/window size/freq display)
• IF output mode disabled SP1 spectrum mouse clicks
Plugin information can be found on: https://www.sdrplay.com/plugins/
 

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