What is everyone fav Kiwi SDR to listen too?
Mine is
Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, UK
Kauwhata one near Auckland NZ
Sydney, AUS
Mine is
Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, UK
Kauwhata one near Auckland NZ
Sydney, AUS
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Kiwi SDR's
- Thread starter MarioMania
- Start date
Why? I'm not being snarky, just that this is a good idea for a thread, but the thread would be a lot more interesting if the posts discussed why each KiwiSDR was a good one. Does it receive a particularly interesting mix of stations? Does it have good reception on a certain band or bands? Is it in an interesting location? My preference is for SDRs that can pick up interesting small-town stations that I might not come across otherwise, little stations that still play country music and do farm reports.
My favorite for general listening is the one in Edinburgh, IN which is optimized for LW/MW reception. I love being able to scan the AM band across a big chunk of the Midwest. I like some of the ones around Calgary and Winnipeg which get stations from Canada and from over the US border. Further afield, some of the Japanese ones are interesting as AM is still in regular use there and Japanese radio is hard to stream. I'm not as interested in European ones, as there's not a lot on AM in most of Europe now, and what is left is fairly uninteresting. I think there is an audience that uses the UK ones to listen to geoblocked sports.
The KiwiSDR map these days is full of junk, receivers that don't appear to have an antenna plugged in or which receive 30MHz of noise, and it's a pain to sort through the crap to find a good one, so a list of our own personal favorites here is a good idea.
I have a learning disability so It's hard for me to come up with something, If something pops in my head I type it
I also listen to the London one if they have the Antenna Hooked up
I also listen to the London one if they have the Antenna Hooked up
I find myself using the Point Reyes online sdr the most. Good receiver in a quiet location, and I’m on the east coast so I can hear west coast stuff I never get here.
I also listen to the Pt. Reyes SDR, as it's useful for checking how well I can receive stuff at my location, which isn't too far from there (somewhere in the 25-50 mile range as the crow flies, I'd guess). If I hear something on one my radios, I log on to that SDR to see if it's being received there (I've discovered a bunch of birdies this way). Likewise, if I receive something on the SDR that sounds interesting, I'll try tuning into it on my radio to see how well my setup is working.
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I wasn't aware of MW SDRs on Point Reyes. Been listing for a bit this evening. It is *really* quiet. KRXA 540 sounds clean for 500 Watts at that distance.
Of all the SDRs, I've probably also used the one at Edinburgh, IN more than any other, because I once worked with the operator of that receiver.
Of all the SDRs, I've probably also used the one at Edinburgh, IN more than any other, because I once worked with the operator of that receiver.
I also make the Edinburgh, IN my default SDR. I was invited early on. It gets stations from my former home area, but by being optimized for long and medium wave reception, it is the great American scream machine. I love a great winter skip day; I've gotten as far as the Minnesota/North Dakota border.I know Bob has tried some different antenna configurations. Often during critical hours, I'll get my local and regional stations on it.
I had tried Point Reyes and it seemed they had either filtered out MW or the antenna was disconnected. Tonight it was great though. I'll look forward to using it more.
I'm on the Atlanta machine, tuning around. It's as noise-free as you can get, I've got a Cuban on 600 right now. I've also DXed some of my locals on it in the sunset period.
I miss the one that Trans World Radio used to operate in Key West, presumably to monitor their 800 signal from Bonaire, since Cuba is an area of interest for them. Since you could hear a lot of Cubans even in the daytime, it was the go-to to check out and verify Cuban signals you might be getting,
In the Northwestern part of the country, there is KA7U in Weiser, Idaho. Not a lot of locals and coverage of the West Coast and part of Canada,
My European go is not a Kiwi, but it's the first I ever tried. Yes, lots of stations disappeared but there are still opportunities. http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/
I had tried Point Reyes and it seemed they had either filtered out MW or the antenna was disconnected. Tonight it was great though. I'll look forward to using it more.
I'm on the Atlanta machine, tuning around. It's as noise-free as you can get, I've got a Cuban on 600 right now. I've also DXed some of my locals on it in the sunset period.
I miss the one that Trans World Radio used to operate in Key West, presumably to monitor their 800 signal from Bonaire, since Cuba is an area of interest for them. Since you could hear a lot of Cubans even in the daytime, it was the go-to to check out and verify Cuban signals you might be getting,
In the Northwestern part of the country, there is KA7U in Weiser, Idaho. Not a lot of locals and coverage of the West Coast and part of Canada,
My European go is not a Kiwi, but it's the first I ever tried. Yes, lots of stations disappeared but there are still opportunities. http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/
KA7U in Weiser is my go-to AM KiwiSDR (outside of the one in Kittitas WA that I am able to access through another SDR service using RemoteSDRClient).
The Haida Gwaii SDR (when on) can be a delight when Asian conditions are hot. I have heard TA and TP DX from that receiver, mostly TP of course (even as far inland as Mongolia, 1458khz Nei Menggu) plus many 1KW stations in Japan and other areas. 1575 will often have either VOA Thailand or one of the AFN Eagle relays in Japan. I have heard 531 Algeria, 1413 Moldova, the former 1215 Absolute, and even 1278 IRIB from Iran on that receiver.
The honest part of this is how there's TONS of HF/AM SDRs...and very few FM SDRs. If only there were an equivalent of VHF SDRs, especially around this time of year with sporadic-E. Milford PA is awesome, but what if all of those Kiwi SDRs had FM/VHF capability too?
The Haida Gwaii SDR (when on) can be a delight when Asian conditions are hot. I have heard TA and TP DX from that receiver, mostly TP of course (even as far inland as Mongolia, 1458khz Nei Menggu) plus many 1KW stations in Japan and other areas. 1575 will often have either VOA Thailand or one of the AFN Eagle relays in Japan. I have heard 531 Algeria, 1413 Moldova, the former 1215 Absolute, and even 1278 IRIB from Iran on that receiver.
The honest part of this is how there's TONS of HF/AM SDRs...and very few FM SDRs. If only there were an equivalent of VHF SDRs, especially around this time of year with sporadic-E. Milford PA is awesome, but what if all of those Kiwi SDRs had FM/VHF capability too?
I forgot to mention that I also like the ScratchMoney SDR down near Lafayette, LA. I particularly like it because it's one of few KiwiSDRs that's wide bandwidth (20kHz), and since KVOL 1330 is local to it, it sounds absolutely fantastic.
I'll have to check out the Edinburgh and Weiser SDRs. Maybe for fun, I can see if I can use them to DX some western stations I can get OTA).
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I'll have to check out the Edinburgh and Weiser SDRs. Maybe for fun, I can see if I can use them to DX some western stations I can get OTA).
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I played for a while with the SpyServer SDRs - you can connect to them through the SDR# software, but they were very hit-and-miss in terms of which bands were allowed, a lot seemed to be limited to air band reception (not of interest to me) or a random bit of apparently empty VHF (possibly a misconfiguration). For all their faults, they were very good for giving you a chance to listen to the FM band in locations around the world, I remember there being an interesting receiver in Moscow. The big thing is that most of them only allow one person at a time, so it was very much a quick scan around and then off to give someone else a chance (if only the rest of the world worked like me).
Haida Gwaii is probably my all-time favorite KiwiSDR for the reasons you put, but I presumed it was temporary and long gone (I seem to recall someone set it up on vacation for a couple of weeks and then took it down). Does it come and go more often than that?
The other thing I quite enjoy are the users who take bandscans and post them on YouTube. It's not quite the same as being able to tune and listen live yourself, but gives a taste of the band in different locations. There's a user in Ukraine whose videos alternate between "here's what's happening on local FM in occupied Ukraine" and "I just caught Es to China and India" - one of the most interesting radio related channels right now. I hope he's safe and okay.
I would love that. Bob Hawkins has a Global Tuner at the same site as his SDR so that's one. It rocks on FM (pet peeve on the Global Tuners system is it takes 20 seconds or so to respond). It had tropo out oo Jefferson City MO the other morning.
I hadn't used Global Tuners for years, but I just gave it another go prompted by this post and was able to log in and tune a receiver (Edinburgh, IN FM Broadcast) instantaneously. It seems to have improved a reasonable amount, but does it still have the limitation where there's one VFO, and you have to ask before tuning, etc? It seems like modern SDRs should do away with that.
That is correct, only one can tune at a time. Major limitation.
Another favorite KiwiSDR is located in Bakersville, NC, not far from the Johnson City-Kingsport-Bristol (TN-VA) market. It's been pretty busy lately. but it's the closest to me outside of the Knoxville SDRs, one which isn't bad but kind of noisy and 2 more that are deaf. It gets a lot of NC, TN, GA and VA signals during the day.
I just looked up Global Tuners, signed up for an account, and logged into a receiver on Mt. Lemmon, AZ. As I suspected, KAHM sounds much better OTA than over the internet stream, which is severely over-processed.
One complaint I have about the Global Tuner is that it apparently doesn't do stereo? No big deal, just a little disappointed.
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One complaint I have about the Global Tuner is that it apparently doesn't do stereo? No big deal, just a little disappointed.
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Several of my favorites have been mentioned here. I haven't been on the SDRs as much lately, but my favorites generally are from areas I visit frequently, whether for family or travel, or have lived, such as the one near Galveston, Texas.
The Edinburgh and Elida (Ohio) SDRs, as well as a couple in the Chicago area, are the most frequent stops for me.
I hop around, though, and mostly at night at that. I like to hear the ones near salt water to check out AM propagation first-hand, and I have stopped at others to see how well the most powerful radio station in my area, WTVN, comes in whether in its nulls or primary lobes.
The Edinburgh and Elida (Ohio) SDRs, as well as a couple in the Chicago area, are the most frequent stops for me.
I hop around, though, and mostly at night at that. I like to hear the ones near salt water to check out AM propagation first-hand, and I have stopped at others to see how well the most powerful radio station in my area, WTVN, comes in whether in its nulls or primary lobes.
There are big US coverage gaps in the KiwiSDRs that I wish would be filled, especially in the Midwest. Kansas and Iowa both have just one SDR each, both right on the edge of each state; Nebraska has none at all, nor does either of the Dakotas. I'd love to hear the bands in those locations.