welle.io

This repository contains the implementation of an SDR DAB/DAB+ receiver.
Please see the project website https://www.welle.io for a user oriented documentation.

Build status

• Linux (Flatpak x86_64 and arm64):
• Windows (Installer x86_64):
• Android (APK): build workflow is currently disabled because a new, skilled maintainer for Android package is required to fix bug https://github.com/AlbrechtL/welle.io/issues/814# in the workflow.

Table of contents

• Download
• Usage
• Supported Hardware
• Building
  • General Information
  • Debian / Ubuntu Linux
  • Windows 11
  • macOS, Android and FreeBSD
  • CMake
• welle-cli
  • Usage
  • Backend options
  • Examples
• Limitations
• Development
• Acknowledgement
• Sponsors

Download

Stable binaries

• Windows
• Linux (flatpak version is recommend because Linux distribution packages welle.io can be outdated.
  • Flatpak
  • Full list of supported Linux distributions
  • Debian or Ubuntu 19.04+:

    $ apt install welle.io`
    

  • Fedora 35+ (uses the RPM Fusion package sources)

    # Enable the RPM Fusion sources
    $ sudo dnf install -y https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm` 
    
    # Install welle.io
    $ sudo dnf install --refresh welle-io
    

• macOS Unfortunately the macOS welle.io is unmaintained, currently. You still can use the 2.4 version (only Intel processor support).
  • Installer
  • MacPorts

    $ sudo port install welle.io
    

• Android (Unfortunately unmaintained, currently. You still can use the 2.4 version)
• FreeBSD

  $ pkg install welle.io
  

If you discovered an issue please open a new issue.

Developer version

welle.io is under development. You can also try the latest developer builds. But PLEASE BE WARNED the builds are automatically created and untested.

• welle.io nightly builds (Windows, Linux)
• Build artifacts in Actions runs

Usage

Since welle.io is a GUI program simply start it.

Command-line parameters

Parameter | Description ------ | ---------- -h, --help | Show help -v, --version | Show version --dump-file | Records DAB frames (.mp2) or DAB+ superframes with RS coding (.dab). This file can be used to analyse X-PAD data with XPADxpert (https://www.basicmaster.de/xpadxpert). --log-file | Log file name. Redirects all log output texts to a file.

Keyboard shortcuts & hotkeys

Keystroke | Action ------ | ---------- F1-F12, 1-9, 0, Ctrl+1-9, Ctrl+0 | Play the station no. 'x' in the stations list: <br />1 for station no. 1, <br />0 for station no. 10, <br />Ctrl+1 for station no. 11... S, Media Play, Media Stop, Media Pause, Media Play/Pause | Start playback/Stop N, Media next | play next station in list P, Media Previous | play previous station M, Volume Mute | mute/unmute Ctrl+Up, Volume Up | Volume Up Ctrl+Down, Volume Down | Volume Down

Supported Hardware

The following SDR devices are supported

• RTL2832U
  • rtl-sdr
  • rtl_tcp
• Airspy R2 and Airspy Mini
  • Limitation: Airspy HF+ is not supported due to limited bandwidth
• I/Q RAW file
• SoapySDR: All SDR-devices that are supported by SoapySDR, gr-osmosdr and uhd. These are too many devices to list them all. To see if your SDR is supported, have a look at the lists at SoapySDR and SoapyOsmo.
  • Devices supported by gr-osmosdr are supported via SoapyOsmo
  • Devices supported by uhd are supported via SoapyUHD
  • Notes
    • LimeSDR: Connect the antenna to the RX1_W port and configured SoapySDR antenna option to LNAW. SoapySDRUtil --probe=driver=lime may show other possible options.
    • USRP: Configured SoapySDR driver arguments option to driver=uhd. Configure also antenna and clock source option. To list possible values for antenna and clock source use the command SoapySDRUtil --probe=driver=uhd.
    • One limitation is of course that the SDR devices must be tunable to the DAB+ frequencies.

Building

General Information

The following libraries and their development files are needed.

• Qt 6.8 or above
• libfftw3
• libfaad
• librtlsdr
• libusb
• libmpg123
• libairspy
• libmp3lame
• libsoapysdr

Debian / Ubuntu Linux

This section shows how to compile welle.io on Debian or Ubuntu (tested with Ubuntu 24.04).

1. Install the base requirements

sudo apt install git build-essential

2. Install the following non-Qt packages

sudo apt install libfaad-dev libmpg123-dev libfftw3-dev librtlsdr-dev libusb-1.0-0-dev mesa-common-dev libglu1-mesa-dev libpulse-dev libsoapysdr-dev libairspy-dev libmp3lame-dev libflac++-dev xxd

3. Install the Qt via the Qt online installer. It is recommend to use the newest Qt version. Besids Qt you need the additional Qt libraries:

• Qt 5 Compatibility Module
• Qt Charts
• Qt Multimedia

4. Clone welle.io

git clone https://github.com/AlbrechtL/welle.io.git

5. Start Qt Creator and open the project file welle.io.pro inside the folder "welle.io".
6. Build welle.io
7. Run welle.io and enjoy it

Windows 11

This section shows how to compile welle.io on Windows 11. Windows 10 and 7 should also be possible but is not tested.

1. Install the Qt via the Qt online installer. It is recommend to use the newest Qt version. Besids Qt you need the additional Qt libraries:

• Qt 5 Compatibility Module
• Qt Charts
• Qt Multimedia

2. Clone welle.io https://github.com/AlbrechtL/welle.io.git e.g. by using TortoiseGit.
3. Clone the welle.io Windows libraries https://github.com/AlbrechtL/welle.io-win-libs.git.
4. Start Qt Creator and open the project file welle.io.pro inside the folder "welle.io".
5. Build welle.io
6. Run welle.io and enjoy it

macOS, Android and FreeBSD

These operating systems are not maintain, currently. You can find the original compiling insturections in the old README.md.

CMake

As an alternative to Qt Creator, CMake can be used for building welle.io after installing dependencies and cloning the repository. On Linux, you can also use CMake to build welle-cli, the command-line backend testing tool that does not require Qt.

1. Create a build directory inside the repository and change into it

mkdir build
cd build

2. Run CMake. To enable support for RTL-SDR add the flag -DRTLSDR=1 (requires librtlsdr) and for SoapySDR add -DSOAPYSDR=1 (requires SoapySDR compiled with support for each desired hardware, e.g. UHD for Ettus USRP, LimeSDR, Airspy or HackRF). By default, CMake will build both welle-io and welle-cli. Use -DBUILD_WELLE_IO=OFF or -DBUILD_WELLE_CLI=OFF to compile only the one you need.

cmake ..

or to enable support for both RTL-SDR and Soapy-SDR:

cmake .. -DRTLSDR=1 -DSOAPYSDR=1

If you wish to use KISS FFT instead of FFTW (e.g. to compare performance), use -DKISS_FFT=ON.

3. Run make (or use the created project file depending on the selected generator)

make

4. Install it (as super-user)

make install

5. Run welle.io and enjoy it

welle-cli

If you compile welle-io with cmake you will also get an executable called welle-cli which stands for welle-io command line interface.

Usage of welle-cli

Receive using RTLSDR, and play with ALSA:

`welle-cli -c channel -p programme`

Read an IQ file and play with ALSA: (IQ file format is u8, unless the file ends with FORMAT.iq)

`welle-cli -f file -p programme`

Use -D to dump FIC and all programmes to files:

`welle-cli -c channel -D` 

Use -w to enable webserver, decode a programme on demand:

`welle-cli -c channel -w port`

Use -Dw to enable webserver, decode all programmes:

`welle-cli -c channel -Dw port`

Use -C 1 -w to enable webserver, decode programmes one by one in a carousel. Use -C N -w to enable webserver, decode programmes N by N in a carousel. This is useful if your machine cannot decode all programmes simultaneously, but you still want to get an overview of the ensemble. By default, welle-cli will switch every 10 se