SDR++ and Linux

[mbott]

I am primarily a Linux user (currently Linux Mint 21), but to access my Airspy HF+ and SDRplay RSPdx, I keep Windows 10 on my desktop system. The amount of Windows-based really decent software for both pretty much makes this a no-brainer.

On my day-to-day laptop, I did add GQRX quite a while ago so I could access a second Airspy HF+. But, I wanted more. About two weeks ago, I installed the SDRplay API using their install script and added SDR++. So now my laptop can access both my spare Airspy HF+ and my spare RSPduo using SDR++. The SDRplay Linux API at times appears to be a bit finicky. But it does provide the necessary Linux support to make SDR++ a decent Linux-based alternative to Windows SDR software.

Plus, the more I use and learn about SDR++, the better I like it.

--
Mike

 

[LimaZulu]

The only reason I still keep SDR# is because of TETRA plugin. In every other way SDR++ is the superior alternative. The way faster response time from this piece of software is a love at first sight
I do run a few SDR++ servers on a Raspberry PI 4, 4 gig version, running Dragon OS. The control over the SDRs is shared across multiple users and never heard any complaints from any of them. So far the only way to experience some bad behaviour is to set all of the clients with sample type 16 or over and turn the compression off. Server side seems to handle well throughput up to 100 Mbps. If 2 clients run sample type int16 without compression, close to 100 Mbps is pushed over the network and frames start to drop while CPU remains low. Still can't say this is 100% software issue because it could be easily network related, but so far I do not have enough control over it to test and edit.
Raspberry Pi4 seems to not bother the amount of servers running that much. Despite the number of active clients, the CPU is pushed up to around 15% with compression off and around 28 with compression on.
The only real complain that I have is the lack of step presets options to choose from.
So in conclusion SDR++ is fast, lightweight, very responsive - definitely a toy to play with it

 

[Zeh]

I am primarily a Linux user (currently Linux Mint 21), but to access my Airspy HF+ and SDRplay RSPdx, I keep Windows 10 on my desktop system. The amount of Windows-based really decent software for both pretty much makes this a no-brainer.

On my day-to-day laptop, I did add GQRX quite a while ago so I could access a second Airspy HF+. But, I wanted more. About two weeks ago, I installed the SDRplay API using their install script and added SDR++. So now my laptop can access both my spare Airspy HF+ and my spare RSPduo using SDR++. The SDRplay Linux API at times appears to be a bit finicky. But it does provide the necessary Linux support to make SDR++ a decent Linux-based alternative to Windows SDR software.

Plus, the more I use and learn about SDR++, the better I like it.

--
Mike

I'm mostly a Linux user also and looking into purchasing my first SDR. I've narrowed it to two popular options, either Airspy HF+ and SDRplay RSPdx. Which of these is easier to interface with external decoders? Right now I have Fldigi, QSSTV, wsjtx, and Multipsk (under wine) installed. I also plan on installing SDR++ from the Arch user repo.

 

[mbott]

I'm mostly a Linux user also and looking into purchasing my first SDR. I've narrowed it to two popular options, either Airspy HF+ and SDRplay RSPdx. Which of these is easier to interface with external decoders? Right now I have Fldigi, QSSTV, wsjtx, and Multipsk (under wine) installed. I also plan on installing SDR++ from the Arch user repo.

Windows (just finished the upgrade to Win11) is my SDR heavy lifter. It's just nice to have some radio capability with Linux and SDR++ & GQRX gives me what I need for it. Don't even have fldigi installed (thanks for the reminder), but about the only thing I use with either piece of SDR software on Linux is Audacity.

As for SDR++ itself, I'd suggest getting it directly from Github ... the appropriate nightly build. A basic scanner module is new, like within the last two days. I did install GQRX via the package manager only because it's not actively being developed. The author of SDR++ does have a Discord presence for pretty quick support issues.

At the present time, I'd go with the Airspy HF+ over the RSPdx. The little bit of instability in the SDRplay API can get a little frustrating when it acts up. The is a updated API (3.11?) in the works that is supposed to be a major improvement for Linux. That was released to testers earlier this week, I believe..

 

[Zeh]

Thanks for the suggestions and info. I was zeroing in on the Airspy HF+ as it's supposed to be more easily compatible. All of the decoding software is working well under Linux... Because it's only processing what's coming from a USB soundcard interface connected to a hardware radio! But, it would be great to see more at a glance to get a better sense of what the bands are doing. I'm not so interested in UHF/VHF at the moment, more HF and below DX'ing. Looks like we'll have to wait a while before the SDR experience will be on par with Windows. I'll just set up SDR++ with an Airspy on both laptops and see how it goes!