The Kiwi has Landed!

Listen to our new KiwiSDR at http://websdr.mwrs.org.au:8073, and watch the July 2024 lecture, VK2MB KiwiSDR Secrets to learn how to use it.

It’s been a long wait, but the Society is back in the webSDR business! For those who have never used one, a webSDR is a web-connected Software Defined Radio, accessible from anywhere on the World Wide Web.

An SDR uses software to decode radio signals, giving it great flexibility over hardware-only receivers. New capabilities can be added to existing receivers without having to modify the underlying hardware.

When it came to webSDRs, the KiwiSDR has long ruled the roost (hard to avoid avian jokes here!) . All over the world, KiwiSDRs have provided radio reception in 0 – 30MHz bands to any visitor with a web browser, and they continue to do so today.

That was back in the old BC (Before Covid) days, then along came the COVID-induced “supply chain issues”, and the components required to make KiwiSDRS became “unobtainium”. Even the knock-off versions disappeared form the online stores.

But now the Kiwi is back, with an updated design, and just as important, it’s available for purchase. The first batch of KiwiSDR 2s started shipping in February 2024, and the Society has managed to grab one of them! As of 8 March, the second production run has sold out, and a third production run is scheduled for April or May

We will soon be installing a multiband HF vertical antenna for the receiver for omnidirectional coverage; and initial tests with other antennas are showing that the Kiwi has good ears!

We have also given the Kiwi some extra front-end protection, in the form of an Array Solutions AS-RXFEP.

We’ve made a few enhancements to the standard configuration.

Note: you need to have the “stored DX database” selected to see these – if necessary, press the backslash key until the left edge of the frequency scale shows “database: stored”.

Amateur bands

On most KiwiSDRs, the band selector list has broadcast stations at the top, and you have to scroll down to find the Amateur bands. On our Kiwi, the Amateur bands take their rightful place at the top of the list. Also, the band limits shown are as per the Australian band plan rather than the slightly different IARU Region 3 limits. We’ve also added the separate 80m “DX window”.

There are two lesser-known Amateur bands, labelled on most Kiwis as the “LF” and “MF” bands; on ours, they are now labelled as the “2200m (LF)” and “630m (MF)” bands, as per the Australian band plan.

Frequency “bookmarks” added:

Directly above the frequency scale, you’ll see “DX labels”: tags that name the frequency and automatically set the correct mode. If the right-hand side of the tag has a black bar, clicking on the tag will also open a relevant extension, such as a fax or STTV reader, CW decoder, etc.

Among the DX labels we’ve added are:

• – Our club 80m and 40m net and chat frequencies;
• – ARNSW broadcast and beacon frequencies; if you select the VK2WI Morse practice beacon on 3699kHz, or the VK2RSY 10m beacon, the Kiwi’s Morse decoder opens automatically;
• – The Australian Travellers Net;
• – The Australia, New Zealand and Africa DX Net;
• – Royal Flying Doctor Service;
• – CREST NSW Inc;
• – Various New South Wales club HF nets, as published on the weekly ARNSW news broadcasts, and others heard on air;
• – HMAS Vampire (VK2VMP) preferred operating frequencies;
• – The VKE237 HF Radio Club and VKS737 Radio Network channels;
• – Austravel Safety Net Selective Calling (Selcall) channels;
• – Other Selcall and Digital Selcall channels;
• – On the Medium Wave broadcast band, ABC, SBS and RPH stations in NSW and ACT;
• – Aviation non-directional beacons around NSW, plus a few in Queensland;
• – International Amateur Radio Union Region 3 emergency and WICEN frequencies, as per the Australian Band Plan;
• – 5MHz channels AX404 and AXF405, licensed by the WIA for potential future WICEN emergency use. Note that these are non-Amateur channel allocations: in Australia, Amateurs do not have access to the 60m/5MHz band.
• – APRS;
• – JS8Call;
• – VarAC calling frequencies
• – VK & ZL Winlink gateways (updated Feb 20205 – now includes VK2SKY);
• – VK 10m FM repeaters and gateways, as listed in the WIA Repeater Directory;
• – VK 10m propagation beacons, as listed in the WIA Beacon Directory;
• – ZL 10m beacons;
• – Various cross-band liaison and calling frequencies, mostly on 10m, again as per Australian Band Plan;
• – Assorted Australian and South Pacific shortwave broadcast stations, supplied by Stuart VK2BMX;
• – Radio New Zealand Pacific (formerly RNZ International);
• – National Coastal Radio Network;
• – Sydney to Hobart race;
• – Australian Antarctic Division research stations;
• – 27MHz Marine channels;
• – 27MHz CB channels; you can also jump there using the band selection dropdown list;
• – Jamboree on the Air CW and SSB frequencies, as listed in the JOTA-JOTI Ham Radio Handbook.

Again, you can switch between EiBi DX database, the KiwiSDR community database, and the VK2MB DX database by pressing the backslash key.

Service web links

Something you won’t see on other KiwiSDRs (for now at least): where a web site related to the DX label exists, you’ll often see a link icon (🔗) beside the station name, as shown in the example below. If you click the link icon, a new tab will open in your browser to view the web site, where you can can typically find other station frequencies, broadcast schedules, etc.

For more examples, check out the medium wave broadcast band and Non-Directional Beacon (NDB) utility band.

You can try out the club webSDR at http://websdr.mwrs.org.au:8073. Our multiband vertical HF antenna was refurbished and installed at the April working bee. It seems to be performing pretty well.

The KiwiSDR can also do HF direction finding! Josh KI6NAZ has a great tutorial on his Ham Radio Crash Course YouTube channel.

The KiwiSDR2 replaces our old webSDR, which had experienced various technical issues and unavailable replacement parts.

Tip: Not sure what’s out there to explore? The ACMA’s Australian radiofrequency spectrum
allocations chart will get you started! If you prefer an American version, the US Department of Commerce has you covered.