Software Defined Radio SDR

One of the newer commercial off the shelf tech devices available to the public, is Software Defined Radio (SDR) receivers. Like all things these devices range in price and quality. In this post I wont be going over any of those, instead I’m going to show you a free web based tool that will give you the ability to use someone else’s SDR without the start up costs of setting up your own. The KiwiSDR is a 14-bit wideband receive only HF software defined radio that can receive the entire 10 kHz – 30 MHz VLF/LF/MW/HF spectrum. A large number of these receivers are connected to the internet and available online for use by anyone! A map of web connected KiwiSDR’s can be found at the link below. This is just one way these new digital SDR receivers are being used.

http://rx.linkfanel.net/

Click on the location you want to use, enter a call sign (if required) and the web based GUI will launch. Then you can select your frequency and start listening. Keep in mind these are actual receiving devices and the quality of the reception will depend on the locations antenna and interference in the area. The range of these receivers are pretty big and I don’t plan on going to in depth on what all can be done and received. I will say that one of my favorite things to do is receive radio fax images. Japan is one of the few places that still uses radio fax on a regular basis and transmission times are available on the web with some searching. Other locations also still use radio fax but the schedules are not always published.