Multi-protocol SDR software
WaveShark and SDRangel
SDRangel has more modes, more radios and a transmitter for most of them. WaveShark decodes the whole span at once instead of asking you to place every demodulator by hand.
SDRangel is the most capable multi-protocol SDR application there is, with a longer mode list, broader hardware support and years of work behind it. If you want to drive a specific demodulator on a specific frequency with every parameter exposed, it is the better tool.
The difference is who decides what runs. In SDRangel you place a demodulator on a channel; in WaveShark every scanner inside the span runs continuously, so a sensor that transmits once a minute is caught whether or not you were pointing at it. What you get back is a packet stream with views over it rather than a rack of instruments.
The other difference is what happens afterwards. Everything heard, decoded or not, goes into a log that stores the samples, so the question "what was that burst at three in the morning" has an answer.
Where SDRangel is the better answer
- A longer list of modes, and transmit on most of them
- Support for far more radio hardware
- Fine control over every demodulator parameter
- Mature, with a large user base and documentation
Where WaveShark is
- Everything in the span decoded at once, with no channel to place
- One packet stream, with a conversation view and a device survey over it
- A local speech model transcribing every voice channel
- An MCP server, so an agent can drive the receiver you are watching
Try it on a band you know.
Point it at 433.92 MHz for an hour and see what the list fills with.
Download WaveShark