The pocket software-defined radio receiver

Install, activate, power on

RX·ONE ships as a single app for two platforms: an Android package for tablets and phones, and a self-contained Windows executable for the desktop. Both share the exact same interface — a virtual communications receiver with a waterfall display, control keypads and a main tuning dial. This section takes you from a fresh download to your first decoded signal.

Installation

Android (tablet or phone)

1. Copy the RX-ONE.apk file to your device, or open it directly from your browser's downloads.
2. If prompted, allow installation from your file manager or browser under Settings → Apps → Install unknown apps. This is normal for apps delivered outside the Play Store.
3. Tap the APK and confirm Install, then Open.
4. On first run, grant the permissions RX·ONE asks for — location (to sort servers by distance and centre the ADS-B map) and, if you plan to use a dongle, USB device access.

Windows (desktop)

1. Unzip the RX·ONE package anywhere you like, or run the portable RX-ONE.exe directly — nothing is written to the system.
2. Double-click to launch. The receiver opens as a frameless, always-available window you can drag anywhere on the desktop.
3. The RTL-SDR helper (rtl_tcp) and its drivers travel inside the app, so a plugged-in dongle works with no extra install — see Local RX for the one-time Windows driver step.

Activation

On first launch, RX·ONE shows the activation gate. Your license is verified online once and then bound to the device, so no account or subscription is required afterwards.

1. Copy the license key you received at purchase.
2. Paste it into the key field on the activation screen.
3. Press Activate. RX·ONE checks the key online and unlocks the receiver.

Power-on self-test

Each launch runs a short power-on self-test on the LCD. Read it like a pre-flight check — every line should report OK before Receiver Ready appears:

• Firmware — the running version of RX·ONE.
• Display — the detected screen resolution and layout.
• Directory — how many WebSDR / OpenWebRX servers are loaded.
• Favorites & memories — your saved channels, restored from storage.
• Audio chain — the demodulation and output pipeline.
• Decoders — the decoder set available on this device.
• Local RX — whether a dongle is detected and ready.

Quick start — your first signal in a minute

New to RX·ONE? This is the shortest path from launch to listening. No hardware required.

1. Launch RX·ONE and pass the activation gate.
2. Press SRV on the receiver keypad to open the SDR Directory.
3. Leave the sort on distance and tap TUNE on a nearby green (free) server.
4. Back on the receiver face, press BAND and choose 40 m — a lively shortwave band day or night.
5. Set the mode to LSB (the standard for 40 m voice) and turn up AF Gain.
6. Spin the main dial across the band until a signal peaks on the S-meter and you hear audio.

Your control surface

The main screen is modeled on a high-end communications receiver. Everything you need for day-to-day listening is one tap away here; deeper tools live behind the MENU key.

Anatomy of the screen

From top to bottom, the face is organised into clear zones:

• Status bar — the connected server or dongle, your grid locator (LOC), distance to the server (DIST), the live UTC clock and the green RX indicator.
• Frequency readout — the large tuned frequency in MHz, with the current band beneath it.
• View tabs — REC · DECOD · SIGNAL · AUDIO · SPECT down the centre, which change what the display shows.
• S-meter — an analog signal-strength meter with a matching digital S reading and dBm value.
• Mode / bandwidth pills — the active mode (e.g. LSB), the filter (NOR 2.7k) and the SPECT toggle.
• Display — the spectrum and waterfall (or audio scope / analyzer), framed by the ZOOM · CON · RNG · OFS knobs.
• Memory bank — M1–M12 with page selector FN 1/6 and the MEM store key.
• Receiver keypad — the twelve control keys (see Control keypad).
• Right rail — the Main Dial, the –/+ step buttons, Power, Menu and the AF Gain knob.

Signal, Audio and Spectrum views

The view tabs change what the top display shows without interrupting reception — switch freely while listening:

• Signal — the RF spectrum and waterfall of the band around your frequency, with automatically labeled signals.
• Audio — a live oscilloscope of the demodulated audio waveform, useful for judging modulation and noise.
• Spect — an audio-spectrum analyzer (0–3.4 kHz) of exactly what you are hearing, handy for centring CW and data tones.

Read the band at a glance

The waterfall scrolls the recent history of the band so you can spot activity before you even hear it. RX·ONE overlays signal markers — beacons, FT8 segments, channel markers, utility stations — so you always know what you are looking at.

Working the display

Four knobs and one key shape the display. Drag a knob up/down (or use the on-screen control) to adjust:

On a touch screen you can also pinch to zoom and drag to pan the display. Tap anywhere on the spectrum to jump the tuned frequency straight to that point.

The control keypad — key by key

The twelve keys below the display are your primary controls. They are grouped in three rows:

Along the right rail: the Main Dial tunes up and down; the – / + buttons step by exactly one STEP; Power stops the receiver; Menu opens the full menu; and the AF Gain knob sets listening volume. On the desktop, a small pin control keeps the window always-on-top.

Bands, modes and direct entry

There are three ways to land on a frequency: pick a band, spin the dial, or type the frequency directly. Mode and bandwidth are set independently so you can shape reception for exactly the signal you want.

Band selector

The Band Select page lists every amateur and utility band from 160 m up to 70 cm and PMR, each with its frequency range.

1. Press BAND on the keypad.
2. Tap the tile for the band you want — RX·ONE jumps to that band's calling area and remembers the last frequency you used there.
3. For the most common bands, use the one-touch shortcuts on the band keypad instead of opening the full list.

Mode selector & bandwidth

Press MODE to choose the demodulation mode; the passband filter shape updates live so you can see exactly what the filter is doing. Choose the mode that matches the signal:

The NAR / NOR / WID buttons (or the BW key) cycle the filter width for the selected mode — narrow to dig a weak signal out of interference, wide for full-fidelity audio.

Direct frequency entry

When you already know the frequency, typing it is fastest:

1. Press Manual — the memory bank swaps for a numeric keypad.
2. Type the frequency in MHz (for 7.074 MHz, type 7.074).
3. Press Enter. RX·ONE jumps there instantly.

For fine adjustments afterwards, set a small STEP (e.g. 10 Hz) and nudge with the dial or the – / + buttons.

Remote servers & local dongles

RX·ONE receives in two ways. Remotely, it connects to thousands of public WebSDR and OpenWebRX servers around the world — no hardware needed. Locally, it drives your own RTL-SDR or HackRF dongle for antenna-to-speaker reception with no internet at all.

The server directory

The SDR Directory is a searchable list of 1,399 receivers. Open it with the SRV key.

Each row shows the server's flag, name, location, distance, its SNR or an OWRX badge, current load, and a one-touch TUNE button. Tap the ♥ on any row to keep it in your favorites.

1. Press SRV to open the directory.
2. Type a place or callsign in the search box, or pick a country and band.
3. Sort by distance for the strongest local servers, or by SNR for the cleanest.
4. Tap TUNE to connect — the receiver face returns, now fed by that server.

Once connected, the server-band picker lists the bands that particular receiver publishes — from HF ham bands to specialty feeds like 1090 MHz ADS-B, AIS or radiosondes.

Keeping the directory fresh

The server list ships built-in, but receivers come and go. The ⟳ Update button at the top of the directory refreshes the whole list on demand, so you always browse a current roster.

1. Open the directory with SRV.
2. Tap ⟳ MAJ / Update in the toolbar.
3. RX·ONE downloads the latest OpenWebRX and KiwiSDR rosters, shows live progress, and merges them in — the count updates when it finishes.
4. The refreshed list is cached on the device, so it is there next time you launch, even offline.

The server map

Prefer to browse geographically? The Map view plots every KiwiSDR and OpenWebRX receiver on a world map, clustered by region and color-coded by availability — green for free, orange for partial, red for full — so you can pick a strong nearby server in a tap.

1. In the directory, tap 🗺 MAP.
2. Drag to pan, pinch or use +/− to zoom into your region.
3. Tap a marker, then Tune on its popup to connect.

Local reception — RTL-SDR & HackRF

Plug a compatible USB dongle into your PC or tablet and open Local RX (the 📻 Local RX button, or via the menu). RX·ONE drives an RTL-SDR through its bundled rtl_tcp helper, or a HackRF One directly over USB.

1. Connect the dongle and its antenna.
2. Open Local RX and choose your device — RTL-SDR or HackRF.
3. Set the front-end controls for your antenna (see below), then tune as usual.

Front-end controls available for local reception:

Reception troubleshooting

• No audio, but the S-meter moves — check MUTE is off and raise AF Gain; confirm the mode matches the signal (LSB/USB/AM).
• "Server full" or dropouts — pick another server (sort by free slots), or use the map to find a green one nearby.
• Nothing on a local dongle — verify the antenna, the Zadig/WinUSB driver, and that no other SDR app is running.
• HF signals weak on RTL-SDR — enable direct sampling (Q branch) or use an upconverter.

Turn signals into information

RX·ONE decodes the most useful digital and data modes in real time. On a local dongle the decoding runs on your device; on an OpenWebRX server it uses the server's own decoder.

The decoder picker

1. Tune to the signal you want to decode (or to a known decoder segment).
2. Press DECOD to open the picker.
3. Tap a mode — its output appears in the top display, or opens a dedicated full-screen terminal.

A decoder for every signal

The picker lists each decoder with a short description — from aviation ACARS and HFDL, to marine AIS and DSC, to the FT-series data modes and classic CW. Image modes such as SSTV and weather FAX paint their picture straight to the page.

FT8 & FT4

FT8 is the busiest mode on the ham bands — short, error-corrected messages exchanged on a strict 15-second cycle (FT4 uses 7.5 s). Decoding it is the fastest way to see how far the band is open.

1. Tune to an FT8 segment — try 7.074, 14.074 or 10.136 MHz.
2. Press DECOD and choose FT8 (or FT4).
3. Wait for the cycle to sync — decoded traffic scrolls with callsigns, grid squares, country flags and computed distance.

For serious operating, open the full-screen FT8 terminal. It adds its own waterfall and a sortable decode table (UTC · dB · DT · Hz · DIST · message). The control pad drives a full QSO:

CW / Morse

The CW decoder reads Morse straight off the air and prints it as scrolling text above the waterfall — handy for following a ragchew or pulling a callsign out of the noise.

1. Tune the CW signal so its tone sits in the filter (use Spect view to centre it).
2. Press DECOD and choose CW.
3. Read the decoded text as it scrolls; narrow the BW to reject nearby signals.

ADS-B aircraft radar

Tuned to 1090 MHz, RX·ONE decodes ADS-B Mode-S transmissions and tracks aircraft in real time. This needs a local dongle (or a server that publishes 1090 MHz).

1. Connect a dongle with a 1090 MHz antenna, or tune a server's ADS-B feed.
2. Press DECOD and choose ADS-B; the receiver retunes to 1090 MHz automatically.
3. Watch aircraft populate the List; switch to Map or Radar to see them positioned.

Radar, map and list

Switch between a geographic Map, a circular Radar (PPI) scope with range rings around your position, and a sortable List. Select any aircraft for its full detail card — altitude, ground speed, heading, vertical rate — with one-tap links out to Flightradar24 and ADSB Exchange. The RANGE −/+, SORT and CENTER keys frame the scope.

All 34 decoders

On an OpenWebRX server the complete set is available — 34 digital, data and image modes, each launched from the same picker:

On a KiwiSDR or a local RTL-SDR / HackRF dongle, the on-device decoders are FT8, FT4, CW, RTTY, FSK, SSTV, FAX, DMR and ADS-B.

Shape what you hear

The Audio Lab (the AUDIO key) is a complete monitoring and processing chain: Bandpass → EQ → Notch → Out. Every stage is transparent when switched off, so you enable only what you need.

EQ, bandpass & notch

1. Press AUDIO to open the lab.
2. Drag the 6-band graphic equalizer — the frequency-response curve reacts live as you move each band.
3. Enable Bandpass to narrow reception to the voice range and cut splatter and hiss.
4. Enable Notch to remove a single interfering heterodyne (whistle).
5. Watch the audio spectrum monitor and the analog VU meter to set a clean output level.

Recording received audio

The Audio Recorder captures what you are hearing straight to a file — perfect for saving a rare DX catch, a data burst to decode later, or an off-air log.

1. Open the recorder (from the Audio Lab or the menu).
2. Choose a format — WAV for uncompressed quality, or OPUS for a small file.
3. Press REC to start; the TIME and SIZE counters run live.
4. Press REC again to stop, then SAVE to write the file to your device.

Menu, memories & tools

Main menu

The MENU key opens everything RX·ONE can do, grouped into categories — Receive, Decoders, Memories, Connection, Log and System. Pick a category on the left, then a function tile on the right; the dial and OK key work here too.

Memory manager

RX·ONE stores up to 72 memory channels across six pages of twelve. Each memory keeps a frequency, mode and label.

Store a channel

1. Tune the frequency and set the mode you want to keep.
2. Press MEM, then tap an empty slot (M1–M12) — use FN 1/6 to change page.

Recall & manage

1. Tap any stored slot to jump straight to that frequency and mode.
2. Open the Memory Manager to rename, reorder or erase channels.

QRZ callsign lookup

Heard a callsign and want to know who it is? The built-in QRZ Lookup queries the hamdb and HamQTH databases for operator and DXCC information, with one-tap links to the full listings on QRZ.com and HamQTH.

1. Open QRZ Lookup from the menu.
2. Type a callsign and search.
3. Read the operator and country details, or tap through to the full online listing.

Gestures & keys

Specifications

Frequently asked questions

Do I need any hardware to use RX·ONE?

No. Out of the box you can browse and listen to 1,399 public WebSDR/OpenWebRX servers worldwide with only an internet connection. A dongle is optional, for antenna-to-speaker local reception.

What dongles are supported?

Any RTL-SDR (RTL2832U) via the bundled rtl_tcp helper, and the HackRF One directly over USB. On Windows an RTL-SDR needs the WinUSB driver installed once with Zadig.

Can I transmit?

RX·ONE is a receiver. The FT8 terminal's CQ/TX controls drive a transceiver where one is connected in a station setup; on a receive-only server or dongle they are inactive.

Why do some servers show no SNR or user count?

OpenWebRX servers appear with an OWRX badge and do not publish live signal-quality or load figures the way KiwiSDR receivers do, so those columns are blank for them.

Does the license expire?

No — it is a lifetime license for two devices. Use Release this device on the activation gate to move a seat to a new machine.

Where are recordings saved?

To your device's storage in the format you chose (WAV or OPUS) when you press Save in the audio recorder.