GQRX or HDSDR

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Robert11
Posts: 81
Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:00 pm

GQRX or HDSDR

Post by Robert11 » Wed Apr 24, 2019 12:26 pm

Hi,

Might anyone comment on the "ease of use" between: (have a RSP-2)

SDRUno
HDSDR
GQRX

SDRUno, incredible as it is, just seems too much for me to fully master these days.

Have more or less homed in on HDSDR since it seems simpler for me (Sr., Sr. Citizen now) than SDRUno.

Was wondering about GQRX though ?

GQRX any "easier" (than HDSDR) ?

Thought I'd ask here before I do any actual downloading and playing with.
Always get such good advice here.

Thanks,
Bob

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NK7Z
Posts: 43
Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2016 1:14 pm
Contact:

Re: GQRX or HDSDR

Post by NK7Z » Wed Apr 24, 2019 12:36 pm

I use HDSDR, as it allows for long captures, on the order of 48 hours being displayed. See:
See:

https://www.nk7z.net/category/info/rfi- ... rvey-tool/

for a few examples...

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StandingWave
Posts: 56
Joined: Mon Feb 18, 2019 6:54 pm

Re: GQRX or HDSDR

Post by StandingWave » Mon Apr 29, 2019 10:26 am

Having used all 3, I would say that HDSDR is the easiest to use and SDRplay do supply a version pre-configued with RSP drivers via their website. In its favour, SDRuno has configuration options and the latest version has a scanner feature that the others do not have. If that’s not of interest then I would say go with HDSDR. SDR# also works OK, but requires manually adding the ExtIO DLL to the program folder. I keep it around because there seem to be quite a few tutorials based on SDR# + RTLSDR. It allows me to follow the tutorial exactly and then later apply the principles to my SDR program of choice.

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Paul
Posts: 355
Joined: Fri Feb 17, 2017 9:52 am
Location: SW UK

Re: GQRX or HDSDR

Post by Paul » Mon Apr 29, 2019 1:26 pm

Hi Bob
I'm pretty old myself, but nonetheless SDRuno in it's totality may be a bit daunting, but in my opinion, well worth the effort associated with getting to grips with it.
I don't think that overall anything else comes close, although interesting and useful features do appear in other programmes, which can also be used in addition to uno as and when.
Disclaimer: I have NO Ham Radio or electrical/electronic background and am only semi-computer-literate.
However, if one spends the time and some effort uno is hugely worthwhile - just take it a bit at a time.
Decide what you want to do and take it by stages - there are very many knowledgeable and helpful people on here and the Facebook forum, who will gladly help (there's even a "mentoring sub-group" starting on the Facebook forum (one-on-one for as long as it takes).

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hfaero
Posts: 30
Joined: Tue Oct 04, 2016 8:24 pm

Re: GQRX or HDSDR

Post by hfaero » Thu May 02, 2019 1:26 am

GQRX any day of the week!

For a few years I've been trying to get myself out of this rut caused by resource hogging Microsoft Windows and kept installing Ubuntu Linux in an effort to advance my HF listening hobby but was held up by not having Linux SELCAL and HFDL decoders so had to fall back to Windows. Recently however, I discovered Wine (not the liquid type which I have known about for many years!) on Linux and that I could in fact run MultiPSK and PC_HFDL (both Windows programs) on Linux using Wine. This tipped the scales in favour of Linux and I've never looked back.

Linux provides very little in overhea in terms of computer resources and I can run GQRX with my RSP2 very nicely and at the same time run a MySQL server on the same PC collecting data from my ADS-B system, browse the internet with Firefox without stuttering the audio of my RSP2/GQRX which I found always an issue on Windows with SDRUno or SDR Console. I can also run a DNLA server streaming audio and video to my Smart TV!

GQRX is a brilliant piece of software that if built correctly shows just about all the attributes of the RSP2 front-end and the audio is sublime without having recourse to 'goldfish in a bowl' type noise reduction features, although in all fairness SDRUno is about the best I've experienced in this regard. GQRX has all the features I need including a time duration waterfall display (I can set the waterfall for anything from 2 minutes to 48 hours to see how my antenna or propagation affects reception over time), record audio, record I&Q, display station names on the spectrum and colour code them, noise blanking, bandwidths etc. etc.

I should also state that my laptop on which all this runs is an average Dell Inspiron with an AMD 7th Gen A12 processor and 8Gb of shared RAM so not quite the modern Intel i7 system required for some of today's software.

One word of warning though, if you are new to Linux then this could be an issue, you need patience, understanding, resilience and determination in order to master the near vertical learning curve of just building the GQRX software and it's many dependencies but the pay off is a very stable, secure and non-'nagware' computer system that can do everything Windows can but better!

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Cheers,
Michael (Palmerston North, New Zealand)
HF Aeronautical Specialist
RSP2 / Custom Dipole for HF / Wideband VHF/UHF Antenna

someYguy
Posts: 128
Joined: Sun Apr 10, 2016 7:12 pm

Re: GQRX or HDSDR

Post by someYguy » Sat May 04, 2019 10:15 pm

I use HDSDR for HF and SDRSharp v1361 for VHF & UHF. HDSDR is very resource friendly and easy to use. With the newest beta release, it adds some very handy features which are not present in other programs such as auto band zooming, band stacking registers, etc.

I've tried pretty much every available program which works with the RSPx on both Windows & Linux and those are the best which I've found. The Linux programs (GQRX, CubicSDR) IMO aren't as functional nor well polished as their Windows cousins. But if you do want to go the Linux route, an easy way is to download & install Skywave Linux. Skywave Liniux is a special Linux version which has the most common SDR applications already built & installed. You can read all about it here:

https://skywavelinux.com/

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