Radio meets the Computer - WinRadio/MacRadio/LinRadio
I hope to resume the digital broadcast tv conversion series next week, but in the meantime….
So many things have been achieved by asking what if… These days radio receivers, AM, FM, shortwave, etc. have wide variations, there are simple cheap sets and then there are those with all the bells and whistles, meters, etc. etc. What if you had a box that could plug into a computer and then you could just use a desktop computer to decode the signals or chart the received information? That’s basically what WinRadio is. The idea is that you buy a receiver which runs from about $500 up depending on features, coverage (shortwave/wideband/uhf/vhf/marine/etc.) This plugs into your computer and you use the WinRadio software to hear what your tuning.
So what’s the advantage of this, ok you can hear the radio on your pc right? Well, the advantage is that the software can be extended with plugins and can give you functionality as needs change. Okay, what does that mean? All right with a standalone 500 receiver could you “upgrade” it to decode DRM (digital radio Mondial?) probably not, you can with WinRadio. What if there was another digital standard to crop up? the old radio would instantly become obsolete, the winradio receiver would just need a software upgrade or plugin to decode the new encoding.
OK, so there are some nice possibilities with decoding signal, but also with metering and spectrum analysis. This is the kind of stuff that usually makes for very expensive equipment. So, the bottom line is the programming capabilities become close to unlimited.
Don’t feel like this is a Windows computer only club either… fortunately there is software to control these receivers from a Mac in the form of MacRadio and Linux in the form of LinRadio. Currently the MacRadio support seems to be primarily through the use BootCamp to host a Windows boot on the Mac.
It’s truly great to see them keeping the interface for these devices open so that, much like radios, they can be worked with and accessed with someone with enough technical know-how and skill to do it.