SDR-Receiver 1.15: Loran-C, eLoran and controllers

SDR-Receiver 1.15 is now on the Mac App Store. It brings a new decoder for the Loran-C and eLoran radio navigation signals on long wave, and it works with hardware controllers: tune with a real knob instead of the mouse.

Loran-C and eLoran on 100 kHz

Loran-C is a radio navigation system on long wave. The stations of a chain send precisely timed pulses on 100 kHz, and a receiver works out its position from the time differences between them. Several chains are still on the air, among them the Russian Chayka chains, and eLoran stations add data to their pulses.

The Loran-C / eLoran window with a Chayka chain, its stations, the pulse and the timeline

The new Loran-C / eLoran window:

finds the chain by itself
lists the stations with their time differences, levels and signal-to-noise ratio
works out your position and shows it on a map
reads the data eLoran stations send: time, station identity and corrections

You need a receiver that tunes down to 100 kHz, such as the Airspy HF+ or the Perseus, and a long-wave antenna. Weak chains are found too: the decoder adds up the pulses over about 30 seconds.

Controllers: a real knob for tuning

The new Tools ▸ Controllers connects:

the Icom RC-28 and the FlexControl tuning knobs
MIDI controllers, over USB or Bluetooth
keys of the Mac keyboard

The big knob tunes. The other knobs, faders and buttons can change volume, squelch, bandwidth, zoom, tuning step and mode, or switch mute, AGC and I/Q recording. You choose what each control does, and the LEDs show mute, squelch and recording.

Also new since the launch

SDR-Receiver has had several updates since it came out in September. If you haven't looked for a while:

DAB+ digital radio in stereo, with the "now playing" text, the slideshow pictures, the programme guide, Journaline news and traffic events on a map
FM stereo for broadcast FM
DMR: both time slots, talkgroups, the talker's callsign or name, and the voice of the slot you choose
Aircraft data links: VDL2, VDL4 and HFDL, and the US 978 MHz UAT link in the ADS-B window
FLEX pagers in the POCSAG / FLEX window
Icom IC-7760 as a receiver, AIS on both channels, and direct sampling for RTL-SDR sticks that support it
The Demo Receiver shows example traffic in every decoder window, so you can see what a decoder does before you have the signal

The DAB+ window with the station list, the station's details and "now playing"

The VDL2 window with the ground stations and the messages of the aircraft

Get the update

The update is free for everyone who has SDR-Receiver. It needs macOS 26. Everything about the app is on the SDR-Receiver page, and the manual explains every decoder.

Questions or ideas? Use Contact Support in the app (Settings ▸ Support).

Marcus