We recommend installing to the folder the setup wizard suggests, without changing the path. Only then will the new version take over the licence from the previous one and be ready to use straight away. In a different folder the earlier licence will not be recognised.
Version 2.0 is one installer with two looks of the program: the new one (2.0) and the classic one (1.3.5). You choose which to install in the setup wizard; the licence key works in both.
The download starts right away from our own server (pobierz.c-sdr.pl). You uninstall the program through Windows Settings and the Apps list, like any other. Decoding still needs a key. The free 7-day demo is sent by e-mail.
This is a beta, tested so far with RTL-SDR v3 and SDRplay receivers. Bugs can appear, and fixes are shipped as they are ready.
One installer, two looks
In the setup wizard you choose what to install. The licence key works in both versions, and reception, decoders, settings and your data are shared:
- NEW and OLD: both looks (recommended), about 708 MB on disk. You switch between them in the program with one button: Settings → Appearance.
- NEW only: version 2.0, about 692 MB. The new interface, the Propagation tab and nine themes; needs a graphics card with OpenGL 3.3.
- OLD only: version 1.3.5 (classic), about 597 MB. A lighter interface that also runs on weaker and older hardware.
Most of that space, about 580 MB, is the shared speech model for transcription and the translation packs. They are installed once, whichever look you choose.
Compare v1 and v2
Before you download
Decoding needs a licence key. Buy a licence, or grab a free 7-day demo key.
Choose a licence
Supported receivers
Handled by the program itself, each with its own profile and set of controls: RTL-SDR, HackRF, Airspy, ADALM-PLUTO, bladeRF, and the SDRplay RSP1A, RSP1B, RSPdx and RSPdx-R2 through the vendor API. LimeSDR and radios outside that list, the Airspy HF+ among them, go through SoapySDR. Drivers are downloaded separately, from their own authors (what and where, step by step in the guide).
The beta has been tested with RTL-SDR v3 and SDRplay receivers.
Open the guide
Minimum requirements
- Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit
- A 9th-generation Intel Core or AMD Ryzen 3000 series processor, or newer
- 16 GB of RAM
- At least 10 GB of free disk space
- For the 2.0 look: a graphics card with OpenGL 3.3 (DirectX 11 class) and up-to-date drivers
Map & transcription
There are twenty-one background sources. Most need a key of your own (MapTiler, Stadia Maps, Thunderforest, Azure Maps, Mapbox, Geoapify) or the address of your own tile server; two U.S. Geological Survey sources work without a key, but cover the United States only. Until you switch online tiles on, the program asks no map server for anything.
Transcription is not error-free: it needs a very clean and clear signal to work properly.
Antivirus warning? It is a false alarm
Windows SmartScreen, Microsoft Defender or another antivirus may warn about the installer or move it to quarantine. This is a so-called false positive: the program contains nothing harmful, but it has a few traits that antivirus software treats with suspicion by default:
- It is new and little known. SmartScreen and antivirus engines also judge files by “reputation”: how many people have already downloaded them without trouble. A fresh installer downloaded by few people has no such reputation yet.
- It has no publisher’s digital signature. A code-signing certificate costs several hundred euro a year; without one Windows shows “Unknown publisher”.
- It is protected against licence cracking. Some of the program’s resources are encrypted and embedded in its files, and heuristics associate such protection with malware tricks.
- It does things antivirus software watches. It installs a USB driver for the SDR receiver, connects to the licence server and downloads data such as satellite orbits and space weather.
What you can do: download the installer only from this site (pobierz.c-sdr.pl). When SmartScreen appears, click “More info” and then “Run anyway”. If your antivirus has quarantined the file, restore it and add an exception for that file only. Do not switch off protection altogether. You can also check the file on VirusTotal: for a new, unsigned program a few warnings from little-known engines are typical. It is worth reporting the false positive to the antivirus vendor (Microsoft has a form for submitting files for analysis). You can also write to us and we will report it.
