Running SDRs on ARM-Powered Windows PCs: What to Expect

Updated 13-DEC 06:40Z

All of the six PCs I use for my SDRs are Intel-based. And they are all, for practical reasons, desktop PCs. The PC I use when relaxing in my recliner was a Dell Latitude laptop which was recently replaced with a Microsoft Surface Laptop. Instead of an Intel CPU, the processor is a Snapdragon. This new (for Windows) ARM64 architecture is said to have some compatibility issues with older software and hardware. It's my first Surface for around 10 years.

2 x USB-C, 1 USB-A, 13.8". And such a wow-feeling compared to my old Latitude.

So what about SDRs and SDR software? They obviously were developed long before Snapdragon became a PC thing. So, I decided to do a test. After all, "Test" is my middle name.

What we do know at this stage is this: As per its user manual, ARM is not supported by the Perseus22. We also know that the Winradio G31DDC does support ARM, by their latest software update late 2024.

For SDRPlay, we know that Linux ARM64 and macOS ARM64 are supported. No details on Windows but after the test I was informed that the SDRPlay SDRs work with SDRUno.

The laptop I bought runs on Windows 11-Pro, 64-bit. The SDRs I'm testing are the legacy Perseus, Perseus22, Winradio G31DDC and SDRPlay RSPdx.

So, first off: SDRPlay: I downloaded the install file for SDRconnect, and this was what met me when I tried to proceed:

Not a good start! However, after downloading the v3.15 API, I did get the RSPdx to run with SDR Console and HDSDR. Since they aim to replace SDRuno with SDRconnect I assume (or actually expect) that a future SDRconnect version will play on this platform.

Winradio G31DDC, v1.73 which is ARM64-prepared according to release notes. And....does it work? Yes, and I was able to record an IQ file, and play it back. I then opened Definitions in SDR Console, added the G31DDC and it played beautifully. I also checked release notes for the G33DDC but despite a very recent software update there was no mention of ARM64 support.

Perseus22 - stated in the manual as incompatible with ARM64. And yes - during installation I was notified that the WestBridge driver which should be installed (and later replaced), was unaccessible. Theoretically one can build one. I don't feel tempted.

Perseus - Will a 17 year old SDR play game? "Unknown unit" - "Remove this unit". Right....

So. Out of four SDRs tested, only one, the Winradio G31DDC installed and worked with its native software.

For playback of IQ files, SDR Console, Jaguar, HDSDR and WavViewDX are all good choices. So, they needed to be tested. After all, it's not likely that I will be using this laptop for live DX-ing.

SDR Console: I installed v3.4 (a beta), which went well, and opened a Jaguar file for playback. No problems, and with API 3.15 it also runs the RSPdx

HDSDR is by far the oldest software in this test, especially if we count the Winrad years. Installs fine, loads fine, plays back Jaguar files fine! And, with API 3.15, it runs the RSPdx.

Jaguar: Starts and works without any problems, and plays back IQ files. All that I could ask for. Of course since Perseus driver installation failed it can only be used for playback.

WavViewDX: Returned an error message from the installer. However a direct download bypassed the problem and WVDX works well on this platform. Hopefully the installer issue is temporary.

So then. Definitely mixed results. Out of four SDRs, Perseus, Perseus22, SDRPlay RSPdx (likely all of the SDRPlay range if you use SDRconnect), failed to install. Only the Winradio, with recent software update to comply with ARM64, worked. SDRPlay devices (at least the one I tested) do work with HDSDR and SDR Console with API v3.15.

Out of four "playback" softwares, all candidates seem to work well, although WavViewDX has a small issue with the installer.

What can we learn from this? Don't buy a Windows PC running on Snapdragon for use with SDRs unless you have checked hardware compatibility.

Brief Pre-Xmas Visit To The KONG-HQ

Driving in darkness with a full moon and clear skies during winter is a magic experience! But cold - down to -20C inland so I wasn't tempted to stop to take pictures until I arrived at the KONG-HQ. I'm amazed at how these 'night mode' settings on my mobile phone seem to magically transform a dark night, albeit moonlit, into almost broad daylight.

The aurora to my southwest is a sign of troubled RF conditions. Indeed, after a couple of useable days in the beginning of December, reception on polar paths is now very poor.

Anyway, part of the reason I went was to collect SDRs of different makes for a compatibility test at home. More as it happens.

KONG HQ November Logs

Yes. Not just one, but two! The thing is: The vast majority of stations we hear, we don't log. Why? Because we're lazy buggers! And we're always looking for the rare stations, and in particular those we haven't logged before. So, I thought this time I'd share a log of stations we don't log! Or at least some of them - November's been a bad month for MW DX-ing. The "Common" log is comprised of stations that we in the Arctic part of the Nordic countries hear more or less every time propagation opens up across the North Pole. Some of them are literally daily catches, like KBRW-AK 680, KJNP-AK 1170 and CFFB-NU 1230 - stations that would raise more than one eyebrow when logged in Central Europe.

So here it is: The "Common" Log!

I guess I could add a hundred more if conditions were better and I had been a bit more systematic when logging. Also, I could have added lots of stations from Asia, notably Japan which is the country I'm really interested in.

So, with "Common" out of the way, the "usual" log has been altered a bit.  The September and October logs have had new catches formatted in bold. Now the rest of the logs we may hear relatively often or very seldom. So, "rarely heard" stations are now formatted in italics. "Daytime log" under "Details" means the station has been heard prior to powering down by local sunset. A few October logs are included after checking more IQ files.

Far less stations logged in November than October. No surprise, considering the poor conditions we have had. The Preliminary November Log.

A brief weather update: On my previous post on November 1 I complained about the lack of winter. A few days later I didn't have to worry anymore. Lots of snow, and periods with quite cold weather, down to -12 Celsius. The past couple of days have been mild with rain and wind but we will see "blue" figures again on the thermometer on Monday. So maybe we can dream of a white christmas.

The image below is a week old, taken during a jog at home in Vadsø. At noon! We are now well into the Polar Night.

Vadsø, lonely bird looking across the Varanger Fjord at -8C.

KONG HQ Preparing For Winter

Winter? What winter? One could ask after experiencing an October with one - 1 - day with sub-zero temperatures. I could have driven here with summer tyres without problems had I wanted to. Unheard of at 71N. But winter cold will come, eventually. So, I have to cut the external water tubing, empty and remove the pressurized water tank in the basement (which will freeze), and move food and beverages that can freeze into the living room which should be above zero even during the coldest winter days. I have a few 25-litre water tanks to help me when I visit here during winter.

All of that will be done tomorrow Sunday though. Today I'm going through recordings from the past few days, which prove to be very interesting indeed with new stations logged! But with the clear weather outside I decided to take a quick photo session with my Pixel. Below are the best ones in my opinion (you won't see the other ones anyway...)

The waxing Moon is 14° above the southern horizon, 81% illuminated. Nice reflection off the beach. The Aurora is to the south of us, not a good sign.

Yes, this is the KONG-HQ, traces of Aurora.

Image to the right of the first image

Finally, a photo of my part of the radio equipment.

3 x PCs (one Dell MFF, two Intel NUC), 3 x Perseus (+ one in reserve), 5 external HDDs, power supplies, splitters, preamps. Ethernet for everything that needs to communicate. RSPdx/RSPdxR2, PC, HDDs not visible.

KONG HQ October Log

October was somewhat less productive than September, although the first few and the last few days were good. Unfortunately, the rather poor period coincided with the KONG51 DX-pedition, which had to suffer from a proton event. 

Quite a few new logs for me in October. My preliminary log can be viewed here. As usual, common stations are not listed (but maybe some of the listed stations here actually are quite common).

The weather is still strange. Calm, a little bit of rain now and then, and 3-5 Celsius. It will likely stay that way for the coming week as well. This should be snow storm season.

To end this post, here is an image taken from my car on the "cold" day during KONG51. The KONG HQ is actually to the extreme left on the other side of the fjord.

KONG51 Day Ten (Last Full Day And Last Dinner)

Finally some good trans-polar signals! Carriers were visible after 21:00 UTC yesterday and we noted stations like WLQV-MI 1500 80 minutes prior to their sunset and KXEL-IA 1540 70 minutes prior. It was difficult to find eastern daytimers or stations that powered down at sunset since westerly stations were already dominant.

No area in particular had enhanced signal levels, which usually means that the stations we hear have been heard before. Some were worth mentioning: KORT-ID 1230, KRYN-OR 1230, KIT-WA 1290, KRSC-WA 1400 all night and morning, KGRZ-MT 1450, KCLX-WA 1450,  KBKR-OR 1490

For non-Jaguar users, a bit of info about the software and the "what you see is what you hear" DX. The image below shows around 5 hours of carrier traces on 1450 kHz. The width of the window is 100 Hz, covering 1449.95 to 1450.05 kHz. Currently around 130 US stations and 4 Canadian stations use 1450 kHz. Quite a few of those stations are visible, but few are audible. Actually, the number of stations make GY channels difficult to DX since many signals are at the same level and you can't separate one from another. Last night, WPGG-NJ dominated in the early hours (up to midnight UTC). In the morning at 07:00 KONP-WA was the dominant station. 

But then suddenly, a rare or previously unheard station can pop up for a few seconds, and by luck send an ID.

Live frequency analysis is unique to Jaguar. Which means you also need a Perseus SDR. There are alternatives though, but you need to do the processing after the IQ recordings have been made. I made a blogpost about WavViewDX earlier this year, and below is a post-recording processing made today of 1450, from the same IQ recordings as Jaguar. As with Jaguar, you can move both in the time and frequency domain, and you can choose if you want to see stations on 9-kHz spacing or 10-kHz spacing. This is extremely useful if you are in North America hunting European or Asian stations, or if you are in Europe/Asia and hunting stations from the Americas.

Below is a detailed view of 1450 kHz in WavViewDX, covering part of the time span in the Jaguar image above:

So, how do they sound like? I recorded a TOH ID with both software from KONP Port Angeles WA with as equal parameters as possible. Hearing is a subjective matter, so this is not a "which audio is best" competition. I'm quite satisied with both, maybe one is better in my opinion. Clarity is king when it comes to identifying weak and distorted stations. KONP wasn't particularly weak at this time. Both files are 12-13 seconds long, around 100 kB, MP3 64-bit, 44.1 mono.

Audio 1 (Jaguar)

Audio 2 (WavViewDX)

DX towards Asia/Pacific started off promising, but the signal levels didn't rise fast enough for us to catch the local NHK-1 ID at 10:00 UTC. Tonga-1017 and Majuro-1098 carriers were visible around 06:30 and were audible around 09:00. We also noted some of the few remaining stations in Hawaii, KLHT Honolulu 1040, KAOI Kihei 1110, KWOE Kahului 1240 (well into late afternoon) and KNDI Honolulu 1270.

Japan's NHK-2 network signed off at 15:05 today. Very strong signals, but most were heard before, except JOVB Hakodate 1467, 1 kW.

Dinner—early! But only after we’d wrangled the alt-Loran gear, which was no joke in the wind and snow. With sunset at 14:20 local, we had to get moving early. By 14:50 we were done at alt-Loran, and at exactly 15:00 we rolled into the parking lot at Restaurant Oliver in Berlevåg.

Oliver is one of this region's superb restaurants, and Ole and I started with Scampi Taco and Chicken Taco. For the main course we both opted for reindeer burgers, served with mushroon stew, bacon, locally picked lingonberries and chips in butter and herbs. Wow. If you're ever in the northeastern part of Norway, you must visit Oliver! A few pictures to follow (most photos: Ole Forr).

This is the place!

Empty because it was 30 seconds after they opened

A hungry Ole

Proper burgers (and a hungry me)

So, tomorrow Monday morning at a little after 06 local we will drive off in the snow and wind. A great DX-pedition albeit with mixed results and one vital missing link - OJ - who will be back next year.

KONG51 Day Nine

There was a strong wind advisory for last night and early morning, and yes, it was windy first part of the night but nothing out of the ordinary for October - 15 m/s middle wind and gusting at 24 m/s. The temperature is quite stable at 3-4 Celsius, with occasional showers. So, this is as good as it gets this time of the year. And there's something soothing about falling asleep in a warm, cozy bed while the wind howls outside your bedroom window.

Blustery morning

Even more blustery morning

However, signal levels were low overnight, and the  weather-induced noise didn't make reception any better. Have a listen to this rain noise on 1450 (and all across the MW band) coming and going this morning. So, when the station of interest overnight is KGYM-IA 1600, there isn't much to brag about.

We went out early to alt-Loran to replace battery and SSD. It was dry when we were there, but huge ocean swells had developed during the night and I had a hard time keeping my eyes on the road instead of the nearby waves.

So, here's another photo from my living room window (same as the first one), with a low sun, taken at 13:30 local. Minutes later a hefty snow shower swept through the area.

Around that time another loaf of bread was done with satisfactory result.

Afternoon conditions towards Asia were poor as auroral conditions persist. The usual dominant on 1548, ABC Capricornia (AUS) has been demoted by a pirate unofficial station in Thessaloniki, Greece.

Nothing we can do, except make a good dinner! Today we chose a traditional Norwegian course from the Arctic coast, fried haddock loins with fried onions, potatoes, sour cream and shredded carrots, served with Kim Crawford white wine. For dessert: Chocolate pudding and custart. And.... Grappa.

Dinner!

This was in fact our last dinner at KONG51. Tomorrow Sunday we will drive into Berlevåg after collecting the alt-Loran beverage and treat ourselves in one of the best restaurants in this part of Norway.

We will definitely report back with pictures and a review. Having had serveral meals there before, I have no worries.

Final weather update today: Light winds, dry, 3 Celsius. Increasing wind and precipitation along with a bit cooler weather tomorrow afternoon.

KONG51 - Day Eight - Proton Levels Back to (Almost) Normal, And Many More Photos

Quite OK trans-polar conditions overnight towards North America. Not top-notch, but many more stations were audible than the day before, including WLEC-IL 1450, though not a rare guest. Graveyard (GY) channels can be both challenging and rewarding, so may I recommend this excellent and recently published "spooktacular" look at the history of GY channels, and how to "hunt the haunted": Digging Up the AM Radio Graveyard - Radio World. Not surprisingly it mentions our team member OJ Sagdahl as one of the world's most prolific "Graveyard diggers".

Signals from Asia/Pacific came early today, fade-up started just before 10:00, another sign that propagation is improving. Nothing much came out of it though. The 14:45 NHK-2 signoff didn't show us any stations of particular interest. The NHK-1 local ID slot at 20:00 was even worse - Romanian and Italian stations dominated the NHK-1 frequencies.

While Ole took care of the dishwash, I took a walk outside in the fair weather to take a few photos. This blogpost continues after the photo break ;-)

 

FM DX Antennas ready to fight another winter storm (and listen another summer).

310-deg beverage termination point (far end)

Dual (phased) 340-deg beverage termination point (western wire)

Dual (phased) 340-deg beverage termination point (eastern wire)

50-deg beverage termination point. Is that New Zealand we see in the distance?

My beach (pt. 1)

My beach (pt. 2)

My house (the KONG HQ)

Things that were washed ashore

Eroding sandstone cliffs

And here's what's inside the alt-Loran Zarges case deployed 30 km away: A 100-Ah battery, an Intel NUC PC, an external SSD, a Perseus SDR, a 4G/5G modem (external antenna) and a Bodnar Mini-GPS. And of course connected to a 1000-metre beverage antenna.

Alt-Loran Zarges case

At around 13 local we had our daily 60-km return trip to replace the battery and SSD at the alt-Loran site. We prolonged the trip to Berlevåg to shop fresh fried fish cakes from the local fish shop. Alas, all the fish had been sold already, so we'll have to look in the freezer for tomorrow's dinner. Trust me, we're not going to starve.

The alt-Loran didn't bring a lot more to our logs. Some "less common" ones: "Amor Radio" KMNQ-MN 1470, WWWL-LA 1350, WBAE-ME 1490, KZZJ-ND 1450 - and that's all we had time for before blog deadline. 

In the late afternoon I set another dough of bread, which will rise for 12-15 hours.

Dinner: Day Five again! We had made enough Fårikål to last for two dinners, and as they say, fårikål only gets better when stored cool. This time we chose beer, not wine, for the meat. Locally produced, the Nå9 pilsner is a playful nod to the Finnish word Noniin, a catch-all phrase meaning just about anything, and celebrates the region's rich Finnish heritage.

We had also made enough apple pie, so again that was our dessert, served with whipped cream. And a bit of Disaronno. And Grappa.

KONG51 Day Seven - Proton Rule - End in Sight?

Enhanced proton levels don't go away just like that, but the intensity does seem to wane off a bit so we're hoping for better propagation in the coming days.

This morning at around 05Z the polar signal path opened up a bit and we could at least see some signals, although the noise level was high and readability poor. Despite that, many more of the most usual stations we heard yesterday were audible. Progress! Sort of...

So, in the afternoon propagation to Asia got better and at 14:45 at NHK-2 network close down we got a nice selection of IDs including two not previously logged on this DX-pediton, JOKB Okayama-1386 and JORB Kochi-1152. Very strong signal from the most common Aussie here, ABC Capricornia QLD-1548. Newcastle NSW-1512 was also audible.

The NHK-1 network local ID at 20:00 was uneventful although we heard a few. A tell-tale sign of disturbed northerly paths is that the usual super-dominant on 1485, NRK Svalbard, is subdued in favour of Spain's SER Santander.

Unrelated to long-distance DX I let two SDRs record the MW band overnight from the 50-degrees beverage. Its backlobe points to western Europe. I used the usual Perseus/Jaguar combo on one PC, and an RSPdxR2/SDR Console combo on another. While hearing is a subjective matter, and the RSPdxR2 had less amplification than the Perseus, I think it's reasonably safe to say that for audio near the noise floor Jaguar does have the edge vs. Console. And that's the kind of audio we're chasing.

And then it's time for this DX-Pedition's second signature dish: Reindeer tenderloins. Local product from animals that may have grazed around these antennas. 60 seconds each side in a hot pan, then cautiously baked a few minutes at 100 degrees Celsius. Served with a paste of root vegetables - carrots, parsnips, potatoes, swede/rutabaga, seleriac. A brown, quite fat and tasteful sauce to follow. A good red wine from Rhône completed the course.

For dessert another local variety and tradition often used in major celebrations - fresh cloudberries in whipped cream. Grappa and Disaronno with the dessert.

Quite nice weather today. Windy overnight, but calm, cloudy and mostly dry today with up to 4 Celsius. Snow gone! In the evening light rain and calm and a bit warmer with 5 Celsius.

KONG51 Day Six. We Didn't Need This!

 Woke up to a frosty (-4 Celsius), clear and calm morning - and another good DX day. Or so we thought.

Icy windscreen, and view to the east

Because, what's this??? The sun is calm, K-indices are down, and then we're having a proton event? It doesn't make sense. But there we are, trans-polar paths are very poor. Proton events are the worst the sun can throw at us. The only properly working signal path now is to the south.

Bad, bad news

We did hear a few seconds or minutes of audible signals between 22:00 and 22:30 yesterday from usual dominants like WLAC-TN 1510, WLQV-MI 1500, WWKB-NY 1520, WCKY-OH 1530 and CBEF-ON 1550, and indeed also from a few North Dakota and Manitoba stations. But few other stations made it through the "proton barrier".

During our drive to replace battery and SSD at the alt-Loran site, we also encountered this autumn's first snowfall at the coast. Not that the white stuff will hang around for much more than a day or two. The photo at the bottom shows the alt-Loran site today with its Zarges case which we saved from that rising pond yesterday, in tarpaulin camo.

First snow

alt-Loran

So, today's catch from North America apart from those mentioned above were KNOX-ND 1310 (and likely KWTL-ND 1370), CJRB-MB 1220, CHSM-MB 1250. And I found TWR Africa, Benin, 1476.

Another task we had scheduled for any windless day was repairing the connection between the feedline and antenna for one of my two FM antennas. Today was that windless day. We needed to lower the mast with the FM antennas and after a bit of work (and likely a bit of luck) we managed to get the non-working antenna up and running again. They are directed towards northwest (Iceland, Greenland, will I ever hear Canada?) and east (will I ever hear China?). The one-hop European scene is mostly done on my part, so an antenna pointing south towards another Es towards western Russia, the Baltic etc. isn't very interesting. Polar FM DX-ing is in some ways fundamentally different from DX in southern latitudes.

Dinner! We have two signature dishes on the KONG DXpedition, and King Crab (KONGekrabbe in Norwegian) is one. The other is scehduled for tomorrow. But first things first, it was prepared in a - for us - traditional way. Crab legs baked on a bed of sea salt in a Dutch oven - actually the same pot as today's bread was baked - including dried seaweed, spices and slices of lemon. Served with Pasta Carbonara and a Kim Crawford white wine from a favourite radio target for us - New Zealand.

A few words on weather to round up this blogpost: Throughout the day light precepitation as sleet or rain, just above zero so to make things extra wet. It seems that tomorrow will be more of the same.