CubicSDR on Debian, Ubuntu, and Linux Mint
Article Index --- click here to unfold ---
Newest Pages
NEW: Ubuntu PPAs for AlacrittyNEW: Trumpists Kicking the Hornets Nest
NEW: Introduction to Catbird Linux
NEW: Skywave Linux Updated to ver 4.1
i3wm: Using i3-ipc to Float Windows
How to Record from WebSDR and OpenWebRX Sites
Programmatic RTL-SDR Frequency Claibration
Public KiwiSDR Lists
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17: Simply Mass Murder
The Anonymous Cathay Pacific Employee Letter to Hong Kong
For For Cathay Crews Crossing Borders With Electronics
Photo Gallery 9: The New Life Movement in China, 1944
E Pluribus Unum: From Many, One, Dammit
HFGCS Quick Tune SDR List
The Robert Mueller Iron Triangle Speech
A Rant About One Party Rule
Best OpenWebRX and WebSDR Servers
SDR School via YouTube
ADALM-PlutoSDR on Linux Systems
MOFO Linux: Defeating State Censorship and Surveillance
Linux: Distros, Code, and Nifty Software
NEW: Introduction to Catbird LinuxNEW: Skywave Linux Updated to ver 4.1
NEW: i3wm: Using i3-ipc to Float Windows
Skywave Linux: HPSDR, WebSDR, and RTL-SDR ready to run.
Siduction Linux with the Cinnamon Desktop
Siduction Linux with the LXQT Desktop
Andy's Ham Radio Linux 15 and QtRadio
Booting Multiple Linux Disc Images with Grub2
Porteus Linux Hard Drive Installation
UPDATED: MOFO Linux - For Unrestricted Internet
Aptosid with LXDE
Asus EeePC 1215N with Linux
Autostart Tweaks for KDE3 and KDE4
Broadband Speed Tweaks For Linux
Fixing the Firefox 3 Rendering Bug
Linux on Solid State Drives
Linux Wireless Interface Driver Updates
Setting Polkit to Automount USB Devices
Sidux with LXDE
Fixing Skype Inverted Video
SLAX Remix - kernel upgrades
Flash Drive Linux - Introduction
Flash Drive Knoppix 5.3 - Part 1
Flash Drive Knoppix 5.3 - Part 2
Flash Drive Knoppix 6.0 - Part 1
Flash Drive Knoppix 6.0 - Part 2
Flash Drive SLAX - Part 1
Flash Drive SLAX - Part 2
Flash Drive Bluewhite64 - Part 1
Flash Drive Bluewhite64 - Part 2
Flash Drive Linux - Basic Customization
SLAX Customization - Part 1
SLAX Customization - Part 2
Bluewhite64 Customization - Part 1
Bluewhite64 Customization - Part 2
Long Range Wi-Fi
Basics of Long Range Wireless NetworkingLinear Focus Parabolic Wi Fi Antenna
High Gain Wi Fi Dish Antenna
High Gain Helical Wi Fi Antenna
High Gain Yagi Wi Fi Antenna
High Power Wireless Adapters
Wi Fi Extender Antenna for Routers
Belkin F5D7050 External Wi Fi Antenna
Linksys WUSB54GC External Antenna Mod
Compat Wireless Linux Drivers
Installing WPA_Supplicant for Wi-Fi Security
Linux Wireless Interface Driver Updates
Linux Wireless Interface Driver Support
NetworkManager and Consolekit
RT73 Wireless Drivers for Linux Kernel 2.6.27+
RT2860 Wireless Drivers for Linux Kernel 2.6.27+
Radio: Amateur Radio, Aero Radio, Shortwave, etc
NEW: Programmatic RTL-SDR Frequency ClaibrationNEW: Public KiwiSDR Lists
NEW: GHFS Quick Tune SDR List
UPDATED: Best OpenWebRX and WebSDR Servers
UPDATED: Skywave Linux: HPSDR, WebSDR, and RTL-SDR ready to run.
CubicSDR on Debian, Ubuntu, and Linux Mint
Dump1090 for Linux Mint 17.1 and Siduction 2014.1
Software Defined Radio - An Introduction
QS1R Direct Sampling SDR
Chaining SDR Audio Interfaces
FLEX-6000 Direct Sampling SDR
UPDATED: RTL2832 Software Defined Radio
WebSDR Digimode Reception
Enabling FLASH in Jack Audio
Realtime Software Audio Processing
Liberation Technology
MOFO Linux - For Unrestricted InternetVeracrypt Encryption for Linux
Veracrypt Encryption for Windows
Using Google Within China
Popcorn Time and Flixtor for Uncensored Streaming Media
DNS Encryption using DNSCrypt
Galaxy Nexus Privacy and Robustness Enhancements
Galaxy SIII Privacy and Robustness Enhancements
Flash Drive Encryption for Linux
Flash Drive Encryption for Windows
Multihop VPN Connections for Strong Internet Privacy
Open and Free DNS Server List
OpenVPN Cloaking against Deep Packet Inspection The Serval Mesh Phone Project
Skype's Robust Security
Man in the Middle Wireless Security Risks
Wireless Security and Surveillance
Digital Audio
Adjusting Audio Dynamics in VLCBacking Track Prep Guide
Ipod Music Processing Guide
How To Record Record Live Music Performances
Realtime Software Audio Processing
Chaining SDR Audio Interfaces
Aerospace Radio, Aviation, Pontification, and Opinion
NEW: Trumpists Kicking the Hornets NestNEW: The Anonymous Cathay Pacific Employee Letter to Hong Kong
NEW: For For Cathay Crews Crossing Borders With Electronics
NEW: E Pluribus Unum: From Many, One, Dammit
NEW: HFGCS Quick Tune SDR List
NEW: The Robert Mueller Iron Triangle Speech
NEW: A Rant About One Party Rule
Captains Authority Versus Autocratic Airline Management
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17: Simply Mass Murder
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 - A Media Circus
High Gain Air Band Antennas
Apollo Unified S Band Communications
Chinese Anti-Stealth VHF Radar
Oceanic Communications - Procedures, Equipment, Voice and HFDL
Boeing 737NG Radio Equipment
Boeing 767 Radio Equipment
NAOC-TACAMO Monitoring
My Flight on 9/11
Joshua Chamberlain's Leadership Tips
Special Operations Forces Truths
TWA 800: Just Give Me Some Truth
Photo Gallery
Aviation Photo Gallery 1: Snapshots From My JourneysAviation Photo Gallery 2: On the Road With ATA Airlines
Aviation Photo Gallery 3: More ATA Airlines
Aviation Photo Gallery 4: Southwest Airlines is the Borg Empire
Aviation Photo Gallery 5: Starting Over, Moving On...
Aviation Photo Gallery 6: More Viva Macau
Aviation Photo Gallery 7: Mainland China Airline Flying
Aviation Photo Gallery 8: Chinese Smog and Fog
NEW: Photo Gallery 9: The New Life Movement in China, 1944
Broadcasting
BBC Radio Blooper - Adolf MerckleTV DXing the World Trade Center
New York TV after 9/11
Live Music Recording
Adjusting Audio Dynamics in VLCBacking Track Prep Guide
Ipod Music Processing Guide
How To Record Record Live Music Performances
Radio Circuit Modifications
ATS-909 ModificationsATS-909 Manuals
ATS-909 Alignment Procedure
ATS-909 Alignment Spectrograms
CubicSDR version 0.1.3-beta has been released, with significant new features and improvements. For software defined radio listeners familiar with GQRX and GNU Radio, it is worthwhile to look at this new interface. New listeners with RTL-SDR hardware will find CubicSDR intuitive, easy to use, and offering advanced features. This article gives instructions and code for installing CubicSDR on a 64 bit Linux operating system such as Debian, Ubuntu, or Linux Mint.
Of note, CubicSDR has the ability to monitor multiple frequencies (within the ADC bandwidth) simultaneously, with independent mode, squelch, and bandwidth adjustments. The webmaster very much enjoyed listening to the two ground control frequencies plus clearance delivery at the local airport - all seamlessly and at the same time! Such a capability is great for weather satellite and military satellite listening, where the action is sometimes found on a handful of frequencies at once.
Direct sampling suport for RTL-SDRs is supported and directly accessible through the settings menu.
Simply select the I or Q ADC and couple the dongle to an antenna designed for the desired frequency
range. Broadcast stations are easy to monitor in direct sampling mode. Weak signals may require the use
of a preamplifier and or filters to reject intererence from nearby broadcast stations. For example, the
webmaster found 30 meter amateur band listening is fairly easy, but annoying junk from a local multi-kilowatt
mediumwave plagues other bands. One shouldn't need preamplification on LF/MF/HF bands unless the antenna is
small or not in an ideal location.
Tuning in CubicSDR can be accomplished several ways. One can pull up a window and enter the frequency, use the mouse wheel, or click digits on the frequency display. Ditto for setting filter bandwidths, oscillator offsets, and the inherent frequency offset due to clock inaccuracy in the radio hardware.
Installing CubicSDR on a Debian, Linux Mint, or Ubuntu System
First, know that CubicSDR is now included in Skywave Linux, a live Linux system (based on Ubuntu) which can be run from a USB stick or installed on the hard drive. For HPSDR users, QTRadio is installed and there is also browser support for those nice WebSDR sites.
CubicSDR can be installed in about fifteen to twenty minutes on computers of modest performance connected to modest broadband service. A quad core machine with 10 megabit internet can probably do all of the work in ten minutes or less. Most components can be found in the Debian or Ubuntu repositories, but Liquid DSP and CubicSDR must be downloaded as source from Github, then compiled and installed.
Here is a simple script which will download, compile, and install what is needed to run CubicSDR:
#! /bin/sh cd apt-get install git build-essential librtlsdr-dev automake libfftw3-dev cmake libgl1-mesa-dev libwxgtk3.0-dev libpulse-dev #get liquid-dsp git clone https://github.com/jgaeddert/liquid-dsp cd liquid-dsp ./bootstrap.sh ./configure make make install ldconfig cd #get CubicSDR git clone https://github.com/cjcliffe/CubicSDR #compile CubicSDR mkdir CubicSDR/build cd CubicSDR/build cmake ../ make #move it to /opt mkdir /opt/CubicSDR cp x64/*.* /opt/CubicSDR #create menu entry via .desktop file echo "[Desktop Entry] Name=CubicSDR GenericName=CubicSDR Comment=Software Defined Radio Exec=/opt/CubicSDR/CubicSDR Icon=/opt/CubicSDR/CubicSDR.ico Terminal=false Type=Application Categories=Network;HamRadio;" > /usr/share/applications/cubicsdr.desktop
If using a 32 bit system, adjust the script as needed. Copy and paste the script into a text editor. Save it as cubicsdr-installer.sh. Make it executable, and run it as root with the shell command:
sudo ./cubicsdr-installer.sh
CubicSDR can be run now by clicking on the CubicSDR icon in the system's "Internet" or "Ham Radio" menu. Using the command "/opt/CubicSDR/CubicSDR" as a normal user works too!
In comparison to its closest peer on Linux, GQRX, many listeners will prefer the ease of use offered by CubicSDR. The ability to monitor multiple frequencies at once gives it an edge over GQRX, though advanced listeners may prefer GQRX's more extensive settings and tweakability. All in all, CubicSDR is quite a slick frontend for RTL-SDR hardware and my preferred way to keep tabs on the aviation, weather satellite, and FM broadcast bands.
Tags: CubicSDR, RTL-SDR, R820T2, R820, E4000, Software Defined Radio
©2005 - 2020 AB9IL, All Rights Reserved.
About, Contact, Privacy Policy and Affiliate Disclosure, XML Sitemap.