UberSDR - Software Defined Radio Platform

Open Source Web Based HF SDR

A powerful, web-based SDR platform for amateur radio enthusiasts, providing real-time access to the entire HF spectrum and multi-band WSJT-X skimming. Support for third party software via SoapySDR as well as a native desktop client. Based on the affordable RX-888 MKII and generic PC hardware. Powered by ka9q-radio.

🗺️ View Available Instances 🔧 Build Your Own Learn More

Features

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Real-Time Spectrum Analysis

Monitor all HF bands in real-time with background data collection. Historical data is stored enabling analysis of propagation patterns over time.

👥

Many Users

Supports tens or even hundreds of simultaneous users, each independently accessing any HF band at the same time.

Efficient architecture ensures minimal resource usage per user for both demodulated and IQ channels.

🔊

Multiple Decoders

Support for all-band skimming of various digital modes including FT4, FT8 and WSPR.

PSKReporter and WSPRnet support built in.

📊

Band Conditions

Track propagation conditions and band activity with integrated monitoring tools.

🔌

SoapySDR Driver

SoapySDR driver with authentication for wide IQ streams. Connect external SDR applications with secure access control.

CW Skimmer

Includes driver and monitoring tool for VE3NEA's Skim Server (8x192 KHz).

🤖

MQTT Support

MQTT support for real time metrics and decoder data. Perfect for automation and dashboards with Home Assistant and Node-RED.

📈

Prometheus Endpoint

Prometheus endpoint for integration into Grafana to generate useful metric visualisations.

⚙️

Admin Control Center

Web based Admin control center for configuration, management and access control. Includes configuring background decoders and monitoirng system health.

🔓

Public or Private

Owners can make their instance public or keep it private. Public instances are discoverable by any client application.

Fully compatible with Cloudflare Tunnel or traditional port forwarding. Use your own domain or enable a free and automatic subdomain on ubersdr.org.

⚡

API Driven

Frontend is entirely API driven, making creating custom client applications easy.

Spectrum and decoded data is also available via APIs for offline analysis.

💻

Modest Hardware

Minimal CPU requirements means even 10 year old mini PCs can support 50+ simultaneous channels.

Even an Intel N100 can support multi mode all band skimming with plenty left over for web users.

Public Instance Directory

Explore publically accessible instances of UberSDR. The owner of each instance can choose to make it public and be added to the directory service.

The directory is integrated into all clients to make discovering other instances quick and easy.

🗺️

View Interactive Map

Click to see all available UberSDR instances worldwide

Desktop Client

Download the UberSDR desktop client for your operating system to access SDR instances with a native application experience.

Public instance discovery
CAT control (Rigctl/OmniRig)
MIDI controller support
High bandwidth IQ streams
CW Spot Graph
Noisefloor Monitoring

Windows

Download client for Windows

⬇️ Download

Linux

Download client for x86_64 Linux

⬇️ Download

Desktop Client Screenshots

Multiple Windows Support

Band Conditions Monitoring

CW Spots Display

Instance Discovery

Drivers

Drivers for third party applications so they can talk to UberSDR instances.

CW Skimmer

Driver for SkimServ. Connect to your local instance for CW skimming.

VE3NEA's Skim Server DLL, also works with CWSL.

⬇️ Download

🔌

SoapySDR

Driver for SoapySDR. Supports both local and public instances.

Works with SDR++, Gqrx, GNU Radio and many others.

⬇️ Download

Third-Party Application Screenshots

CW Skimmer Monitor

SDR++ with UberSDR

Gqrx with UberSDR

Build Your Own UberSDR Instance

Set up your own UberSDR instance with affordable hardware and our Docker-based software. Join the network and share your local radio spectrum with the community.

What You Need

$150

SDR Hardware

RX-888 MkII

High-performance SDR receiver available from AliExpress. Offers excellent dynamic range and wide frequency coverage.

📡

$10-50

Antenna

Receive Antenna

An active loop or random long wire make great receive antenna choices for HF reception.

Optionally add a low and/or high pass filter.

~1 MHz high pass filter
~40 MHz low pass filter

$100

Computer

Low-Power PC Options:

N100/N150 based mini PC (new)
HP EliteDesk or similar (used from eBay)
Any x86_64 system with a recent CPU and USB 3

🐳

Software

Docker-Based Deployment

UberSDR runs in Docker containers for easy installation and management. Simply pull the image and configure your setup.

Why Build Your Own?

🌍

Contribute to the global SDR network

🔧

Full control over your SDR setup

💰

Affordable hardware options

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Low power consumption

Installation Instructions

Grab Your Mini PC

Will need a monitor/keyboard and USB memory stick to install Ubuntu.

Install Ubuntu

Create a bootable Ubuntu USB memory stick and install Ubuntu Server 24.04. Ensure to choose Ubuntu Server as we do not want a GUI. Make sure you select to install OpenSSH Server when asked.

Plug in RX-888 MkII

Using the provided USB 3 cable plug the SDR into the computer. Probably a good idea to attach the antenna at this point. Ensure it is plugged into the SMA socket marked 'H'.

Install UberSDR

SSH into your newly installed UberSDR computer and run the following commands:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install -y curl
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/madpsy/ka9q_ubersdr/main/install-hub.sh | bash

⚙️

Configure UberSDR

Open a web browser on your desktop/laptop: http://ubersdr.local:8080/admin.html and log in with the password you set during install.

🌍

Download Desktop Client

Download the desktop client for your operating system. You can also access the web interface directly.

🔓

Enable Public Access (optional but encouraged!)

If you have bandwidth to spare and want to make your instance publicly accessible, use the public access wizard. Free DNS service for https://callsign.instance.ubersdr.org including an automatic TLS certificate.