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Author Topic: Which online KiwiSDR receivers do you use, and for what stations/targets/etc ?  (Read 2887 times)

Offline ChrisSmolinski

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There's lots of online SDRs, hundreds by now. While they're extremely handy to use, unfortunately many have RFI/antenna issues.  I'd like to create a listing of hand curated high quality KiwiSDRs (and other online SDRs) on the HFU Wiki. The HFU Wiki! Remember the Wiki !?!? The best kept secret on the HFU!  :)  OK, I digress, back to the topic...

Here's how you can help. Do you have some favorite go-to online SDRs that you use, that do a great job of receiving, with minimal RFI/noise issues?  If so, please reply to this thread with a listing of the KiwiSDRs you use, and what you use each for. For example: stations from what part of the world, which bands in particular, etc. Whatever best describes how you use that SDR. And it's OK if someone else has already mentioned some of your favorite SDRs, please post your uses/observations as well.

I'll compile these onto a page on the HFU Wiki. The Wiki! Remember the Wiki???  ;D

To help my end of the task, for each SDR you list, please give the "name" of the SDR (usually how it appears at the top of the page and in the KiwiSDR receiver list) as well as the URL, and then your description.

For example:
N1NTE / ΣSDR2 - CT/MA Border, Northeast USA
http://sigmasdr.ddns.net:8074/
Good reception of pirates for the northeast USA, and the 80m band.

Thanks!
« Last Edit: December 31, 2020, 1508 UTC by ChrisSmolinski »
Chris Smolinski
Westminster, MD
eQSLs appreciated! csmolinski@blackcatsystems.com
netSDR / AFE822x / AirSpy HF+ / KiwiSDR / 900 ft Horz skyloop / 500 ft NE beverage / 250 ft V Beam / 58 ft T2FD / 120 ft T2FD / 400 ft south beverage / 43m, 20m, 10m  dipoles / Crossed Parallel Loop / Discone in a tree

Offline Ct Yankee

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I have enjoyed listening to almost everything on this SDR in London with a Wellbrook Active Loop (No Name):
http://sdr.m0taz.co.uk:8073. The range is from 0-30 mHz
Among the things I enjoy listening is live sports, especially football blocked on web streams is US, on BBC 5Live on 909.

I discovered the above on this listing but I have not tried them all out. 
https://www.larches-cottage.co.uk/rx_antenna/web_sdr.php

However, the one in Bedford, UK was pretty decent for all types of listening. (Bedford UK SDR)
http://remoteradio.changeip.org:8073

Of course, there is the U Twente sdr
http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901

Besides sports, I use all the sdr's for European pirates, Channel 292 and other private European broadcasters, and some Governmental Programming that is tough for me to receive in English in the US

Quite an undertaking, resolution?, for the New Year!



« Last Edit: December 31, 2020, 1613 UTC by Ct Yankee »
Tecsun H501x (broadcast received on this unless noted), Zenith T/O G500, Zenith T/O Royal 7000, Emerson AR-176, Zenith 8S154, T/O 7G605 (Bomber), Tecsun PL-600, Tecsun PL-880, Zenith 5S320, Realistic DX 160 using 40 feet of copper wire.  With apologies to Senator Gramm for his thoughts on firearms, "I have more radios than I need but not as many as I want."
QTH:  Durham, Connecticut (rural setting, 15 miles north of Long Island Sound)
qsl please to:  jamcanner@comcast.net  (Thank you)

Offline refmo

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I am not a frequent user of remote SDR's but I do occasionally use them to hear a pirate station that I am not able to tune in locally.
I also use them to monitor how my amateur radio signal sounds at various locations around the world.
I am fairly picky about which SDR's I use, they need to be sensitive, low noise, and not overloaded.  They also need to perform well over all of the HF spectrum rather than only covering a band or two.

A lot of the best ones are difficult to access as all the slots are usually full, so this list is SDR's that normally are not full, yet have good performance.
I may be shooting myself in the foot by putting this list here.

I do use Chris' SDR's - http://sdr.hfunderpants.com:8073/ in Maryland - as well as Sigmas - http://sigmasdr.ddns.net:8073/ - near the CT/MA border.
Others that I use in  eastern North America are:
http://rx2.wa2zkd.net:8073/ in Maine
http://w1nt.onthewifi.com:8073/ in New Hampshire
http://raleigh.twrmon.net:8073/ in North Carolina, a little noisier but good sensitivity and not overloaded
http://38.86.67.206:8078/ in Indiana

In western North America:
http://ka7u.no-ip.org:8073/ in Idaho
http://tokenradio.proxy.kiwisdr.com:8073/ in California (Token's Kiwi)
http://ciw321.cfars.ca:8174/ in Alberta (VE6JY)
http://kiwisdr.ve6slp.ca:8173/, also in Alberta

In Europe:
http://server.ol7m.com:8073/ in Czech Republic (excellent station)
http://sdr-bayern.spdns.de:8073/ in Germany, Upper Bavarian Forest
http://fenu-radio.ddns.net:8073/ in Switzerland
http://sdr.tambov.gq/ in Russia

I have not found a good performing HF Kiwi in Australia/New Zealand.
I usually use this one http://tecsunkiwisdr.access.ly:8073/  (at least it is not overloaded)

I also have not found any Kiwis in all of Asia that are consistently good performers.
http://202.127.177.27:8073/ in Japan is sensitive but noisier than I would like.
There was another in Hong Kong that I have used but it seems to be offline now.

I am looking forward to seeing what Kiwis others use (especially in Asia, Africa, and Australia)

Northeast Kentucky
Please eQSL to refmo[at]outlook[dot]com
Radios: Afedri AFE822x, Airspy HF+, RX-888, RSPdx, Tecsun PL880
Antennas: 700' Loop Skywire, Wellbrook ALA1530LN Loop, 400' Beverage, 34' Vertical, low dipoles on upper bands.

Offline cj468

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+1 for Ct Yankee's recommendation of M0TAZ.

Also
Farnham - KiWi WEB SDR (South East UK | Grid: IO91of)
http://kiwi.farnham-sdr.com:8073/
is pretty good for most stuff (ham, SWBC, etc)

They also have a VHF/UHF SDR (50/70/144/146/430/433/435Mhz) but probably of less interest to users on here.

Both above are close(ish) and equi-distance from my QTH so I use as a check against direct reception.


QTH: S.E. UK

Offline Rob.

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This is a good KiwiSDR with a real antenna up in the quiet environment of Vermont:


Mountaintop Radio, W1EQX - Central Vermont
now with eight waterfall receivers
Shrewsbury, Vermont, USA | Grid: FN33om, ASL: 521m,
Antenna: 82m (270ft) center fed doublet @ 20m (65ft) VLF through HF

http://sdr.w1eqx.com:8073/


- Rob
- Rob

CT/MA border
Email: n1nte.rob@gmail.com
KiwiSDR (x4) online - http://sigmasdr.ddns.net:8073/
ΣSDR Blog - https://n1nte.blogspot.com/

Online Shortwave_Listener

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I just found this thread, and I think this is a great idea! This is my list:

K3FEF in Milford, Pennsylvania: http://kiwisdr.k3fef.com:8073/
Used for listening to most North American pirates. Very strong reception of many stations.

Raleigh, North Carolina: http://raleigh.twrmon.net:8073/
I check this Kiwi if reception of a North American pirate is particularly weak using the K3FEF Kiwi, sometimes reception is better on this one.

Northern Utah: http://kiwisdr1.sdrutah.org:8073/
Sometimes reception of pirates from eastern North America is good here after the band goes long.

KFS Omni in Half Moon Bay, California: http://69.27.184.58:8073/
Used for listening to the few pirates from west of the Rockies.

PY2GN in Pardinho, São Paulo, Brazil: http://pardinho.kiwisdr.com.br:8073/
Good for listening to Brazilian pirates and Peskies. Infested with bots unfortunately.

PY2-81502 in São Bernardo do Campo, São Paulo, Brazil: http://186.193.231.135:9001/
For when the PY2GN Kiwi is full.

Northwest Ireland: http://irelandnorthwest.proxy.kiwisdr.com:8073/
Good for shortwave Europirates and Dutch mediumwave pirates.

GB3WB in Weston-super-Mare, United Kingdom: http://websdr.uk/
Also good for shortwave Europirates and Dutch mediumwave pirates.

Tambov, Russia: http://sdr.tambov.gq:8901/
Good for Russian mediumwave pirates.

Tambov, Russia: http://troyka.tambov.gq:8902/
Good for Russian pirates on 3 MHz.

OE6ADD in Graz, Austria: http://graz.sytes.net:8073/
Good for all European mediumwave pirates except Russians.

Jakarta, Indonesia: http://swloi33.proxy.kiwisdr.com:8073/
Good for some Indonesian pirates, but high noise on some bands.

YG1AIG in Bandung, Indonesia: http://ptlen.proxy.kiwisdr.com:8073/
Good for Indonesian pirates, less noise.

LU1HCW in Alpa Corral, Argentina: http://190.123.83.42:8073/
Good for some Latin American pirates.
Lucas Bandura
eQSL appreciated! lucasnerite@gmail.com
Songs are identified with Shazam if needed. I usually use KiwiSDR receivers. Reception from my QTH is using an SDRPlay RSP1A for SWL with a 40 meter band Inverted V at 40 feet. Kenwood TS-570D for ham use.
My website: https://swl7.wordpress.com/
Shortwave Radio Archive: https://www.youtube.com/@SW_Archive
https://archive.org/details/@shortwave_radio_archive

Offline Zoidberg

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As of late 2022 (because things change), I'm mostly skipping between a few US based SDRs, mostly for (presumably) US based transmissions:

The Maryland SDR with 250 foot V-beam. It's quieter than most and among the few that get decent reception of low power stations across the pond, such as the Spanish language pop music station on 6931 AM. It's also among the quickest, lowest resource drain on my end, with a feeble 10 year old low end laptop and vintage early 2000s DSL internet "speeds": http://sdr.hfunderground.com:8074/

Various options on the Utah SDR. These often get very good reception this year as the 6800-7000 kHz band goes long early. Only downside is these SDRs shift much of the processing burden to the user's PC. So it's often laggy and stuttery if I'm trying to do anything else on my low end laptop and slowpoke DSL. Otherwise an excellent receiver. If you have a fast PC and internet, you probably won't experience any lag: http://websdr1.sdrutah.org:8901/

The CA SDR near San Francisco is occasionally a good alternative to Utah when the band goes long: http://websdr1.kfsdr.com:8901/

The Milford PA SDR is in the sweet spot for reception of many piratical shenanigans, with excellent reception, low noise and reasonably quick performance even on my ancient gear: http://websdr.k3fef.com:8901/

This school district's SDR in Dahlonega GA often gets better reception than others when the band goes sorta-longish. Interesting alternative GUI compared with the standard SDR screens: http://websdr.lumpkinschools.com/

And I skip around between the other Maryland SDRs, mostly because they're among the few that don't lock out certain frequency ranges and entire bands. Some other SDRs make it impossible to tune to the 4030 kHz and 4185 kHz (approx) frequencies occasionally used by some pirates.

There are many other pretty good SDRs but those are often restricted to certain ham bands only.
That li'l ol' DXer from Texas
Unpleasant Frequencies Crew
Al: Palstar R30C & various antennae
Snoopy: Sony ICF-2010
Roger: Magnavox D2935
(Off-air recordings.)

Offline Rob.

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This school district's SDR in Dahlonega GA often gets better reception than others when the band goes sorta-longish. Interesting alternative GUI compared with the standard SDR screens: http://websdr.lumpkinschools.com/

I like the magic eye tuning on that one! :)

- Rob
- Rob

CT/MA border
Email: n1nte.rob@gmail.com
KiwiSDR (x4) online - http://sigmasdr.ddns.net:8073/
ΣSDR Blog - https://n1nte.blogspot.com/

Offline ChrisSmolinski

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There are five KiwiSDRs here for your listening pleasure, with a variety of antennas:

http://sdr.hfunderground.com:8073/ - 120 ft T2FD Antenna ( 73.133.143.121:8073 )
http://sdr.hfunderground.com:8074/ - 250 ft V Beam Antenna aimed to Europe ( 73.133.143.121:8074 )
http://sdr.hfunderground.com:8075/ - 58 ft T2FD Antenna ( 73.133.143.121:8075 )
http://sdr.hfunderground.com:8076/ - 500 ft Beverage Antenna aimed to Europe ( 73.133.143.121:8076 )
http://sdr.hfunderground.com:8077/ - 900 ft Horizontal Sky Loop Antenna ( 73.133.143.121:8077 )
Chris Smolinski
Westminster, MD
eQSLs appreciated! csmolinski@blackcatsystems.com
netSDR / AFE822x / AirSpy HF+ / KiwiSDR / 900 ft Horz skyloop / 500 ft NE beverage / 250 ft V Beam / 58 ft T2FD / 120 ft T2FD / 400 ft south beverage / 43m, 20m, 10m  dipoles / Crossed Parallel Loop / Discone in a tree

Offline Pigmeat

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Your Beverage is great for daytime dx'ing SW Euro-pirates, Chris. I prefer the V-Beam for Euro's at night.

I use a private KIWI with a skyloop for LW/MW/and  NA SW pirates going long in W.PA. I promised not to give the location/addy up so I won't. The Hudson County nuisance is way down where it belongs out there.

 

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