Go to kiwisdr.com to learn all about these amazing little self-contained worldwide Internet-accessible radios that are made here in New Zealand.
They are shipped ready to plug and play. No computer is required. Just plug in a 5V power supply, an Ethernet cable to your network, and an HF antenna and it will be accessible from anywhere in the world from the Internet. No programming or software installation is required. It can be unboxed and running in less than five minutes.
You do not need a fixed public IP address as KiwiSDR operates a free proxy server so the KiwiSDR will work even with systems like Starlink which do not have a fixed public IP address. The KiwiSDR will work perfectly fine even behind a corporate grade firewall.
The KiwiSDR displays the signals as a spectrum scope and waterfall. No software is required at the receiving end. You just use a web browser on any computer to remotely operate the KiwiSDR.
They are designed and supported by John Seamons, a ham radio operator (ZL4VO/KF6VO) who lives here in New Zealand.
The KiwiSDR 2 has a custom designed aluminium enclosure with good ventilation so no fan is required.
The KiwiSDR needs a low noise 5V 1A supply for best performance
In addition to purchasing a KiwiSDR of your own you can use any web browser to connect and listen to over 800 of these radios all over the world that have been made available by their owners for public access, see rx.kiwisdr.com and map.kiwisdr.com
The KiwiSDR receivers tune from 0-30 MHz. They can receive and decode many signals including:
Amateur radio AM, FM, USB and LSB voice and CW signals from around the world.
Decode amateur radio FT4, FT8 and WSPR digital signals and CW.
Decode and display weather FAX signals.
Medium, Long Wave and Very Low Frequency (VLF) stations.
Shortwave international broadcast stations
DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) digital broadcast decoding
International airline voice traffic direct from the cockpit and control tower during flight
Aircraft decoded digital flight data HFDL
SSTV decoder
Digital Selective Calling (DSC) decoder
FSK/RTTY decoder
NAVTEX decoder
ALE (Automatic Link Establishment) 2G decoder
International Beacon Project (IBP) scanner
Aircraft digital flight data (HFDL) decoder
Other stuff like (some rather suspicious) numbers stations
The KiwiSDR also has a unique mode called TDOA (Time Difference of Arrival). This mode allows you to connect to three KiwiSDRs at the same time and the built-in TDOA software will find the source location of any signal. This feature has proven invaluable to locate interference sources including intentional QRM.
Many hams use the KiwiSDR radios to see if their signal is reaching another country and also to check their audio quality.
The radios are very popular with hams who have noisy home locations who can transmit from their home station while listening to the other station on a remote KiwiSDR.
Each KiwiSDR allows four people to connect at the same time and tune to different frequencies. Some owners of these "Kiwis" have three or four Kiwis connected to a single good quality antenna so those locations can have 12 or 16 people connected at the same time.
KiwiSDR is a small cottage industry that has manufactured and shipped the radios from New Zealand since 2016. It consists of just three hams – John Seamons ZL4VO/KF6VO (the product designer and programmer), David Bray ZL2BA who does the assembly, programming, testing and shipping and Peter Munn ZL2P who manages the ordering, manufacturing and the online store www.kiwisdr.nz.
There is also a global community of people who have contributed software for the project.
The Kiwisdr after sales support is fast and personal.
John Seamons has never stopped adding new software features for the KiwiSDR radios that have been requested on the KiwiSDR forum (see kiwisdr.com). New software versions are automatically downloaded to all online radios (if that feature is enabled by the owner).
One of the best KiwiSDR sites in our part of the world is the Ironstone Range setup out of Adelaide, Australia. It is run by Paul Hoffman VK5PH. He has Kiwis connected to a large duoconical wire antenna at a very quiet remote solar powered site with a radio Internet link. The duoconical is considered to be one of the best omnidirectional wideband HF antennas but they do need a lot of real estate.
The new KiwiSDR 2 has a custom designed aluminium enclosure with good ventilation so no fan is required other than under extremely hot conditions. There are a large number of holes top and bottom so it would be easy to add a small external fan if desired.
The KiwiSDR needs a low noise 5V 1A supply for best performance. The KiwiSDR draws about 700mA when running but on startup the BeagleBone draws a short high current pulse up to 2A. Many supplies do not deliver enough burst current which causes the BeagleBone power protection to disconnect from the supply.
Our tests have shown that the original Apple 5V 1A and 2A USB chargers that were supplied with every iPhone and iPad for many years will deliver the initial burst current and are also very low noise power supplies. Even if you have never owned an IPhone, plenty of your friends will have one or more of these chargers laying around. Ask them nicely if they will sell you one and they might even give it to you for free :-) Most Apple clone chargers are very noisy so be sure that you only use a genuine Apple supply. You can buy an optional USB to 5V cable from our store when you buy your Kiwi.
73 Peter Munn ZL2P
KiwiSDR NZ