SDRs and Digital Decoding

As the use of SDRs grow, so does the list of possible applications. One that comes up from time to time is whether a particular SDR can copy digital signals on HF?

Well the answer is yes, although it takes a bit of work to get it done. In most cases, you will need to set up routing your SDR's audio to the decoding program of choice. This is done using applications such as Virtual Audio Cable or VB Cable. The program must be able to accept data in this way, and not all of them do.

The list of YouTube videos (and some PDFs) below demonstrate just a small handful of SDRs and applications that decode various modes. It's hardly complete, but it does show that decoding HF digital is quite possible. Note that a YouTube video can be deleted without warning, Additions to this list are solicited.

Links to various decoding applications can be found in our HF Software Decoders and HF Digital Amateur Radio pages. In addition, links to applications such as Virtual Audio Cable can be found in our HF Appendix article. The link for the Dream software (used in DRM decoding) along with other relevant DRM links can be found in our DRM article.

AFEDRI

Airspy

Elad FDM-S2

Funcube Dongle Pro Plus

Funcube Dongle Pro+ and RTTY Decoding Programs

Perseus

SDRPlay

Utilities

Decoding

WebSDRs and Digital Decoding

If you want to use a WebSDR and a digital decoding program like MultiPSK, you will need to be able to route the audio from the web to the input of the program. Depending on what OS you are using (Mac, Linux or Windows), the solution is rather different. Take a look at this article from Ham Radio and Vision for some selected utilities, based on the operating system of your PC.