SDR++ decoder plugins expand to WSPR, JS8, Q65, CW and PSK31

The SDR++ decoder plugin we covered just a day ago has grown into a two-plugin suite that now covers most of the digital and text modes heard on the HF bands, and it is no longer limited to Mac users.

Developer ReLLL has renamed the original Advanced FT8/FT4 DX Decoder as the Kondor Weak Signal Modes Decoder, according to RTL-SDR.com. Alongside FT8 and FT4 it now decodes WSPR, FST4, FST4W, JS8 and Q65. It keeps the day/night DX map with SNR-colored spots and adds station and country statistics, a bearing display showing where DX activity is coming from, searchable tables, logging to SQLite and CSV files, and optional forwarding of decodes to GridTracker.

The second plugin, the Maverick Text Modes Decoder, was previously called CW Notebook. It handles CW, RTTY, JS8, Olivia, PSK31 and PSK63, producing a CW transcript saved as Markdown logs. It can watch several frequencies at once in separate tabs, scan the spectrum to find signals, pin priority signals, and show received SNR.

For newer hams, these are receive-side tools: they turn an SDR into a monitor that shows who is active and where a band is open, without keying a transmitter. WSPR and FST4W are low-power beacon modes used largely to study propagation, while JS8, Olivia and PSK31 are keyboard-to-keyboard modes.

Both plugins run on standard SDR++ 1.2.0 and SDR++Brown 1.2.1 on Apple Silicon Macs with macOS 15 or later. A Windows preview build for SDR# is also available to download.

ReLLL is asking for reception reports, bug reports and interface suggestions through the project's GitHub Issues page or on X at @FoxOnTheRunTr.