KiwiSDR Operating Information

Updated 3 March 2021

New Kiwi owners:


Be sure to initially give your Kiwi a connection to the Internet and let it update to the latest software release. This process can take up to 60 minutes. If you're using the software installed by the factory (v1.2) you may not hear audio due to recent browser changes preventing the autoplay of audio and video. This is especially true with Firefox.

The software version is displayed on the "Stats" tab of the main control panel. The image below shows a version of "v1.282"

The easiest way to update is to power-up or restart when a connection to the Internet is available on the local network. The Kiwi checks for new software whenever it starts.

If it is successfully updating you will get an "update in progress" message when attempting to connect.

There is also an "Update" tab on the admin interface (see below) for controlling various aspects of the update process.


Beagle root password:


Did your Kiwi not have a Beagle/Linux root password set and now it's asking for one?
Recent security changes have automatically applied a password to any root or debian account passwords that were blank/unset. To find out what the password was changed to please
see this forum post.

Introduction:
For everyone:
For owners / admins:
How it works

The KiwiSDR is always accessed over a network connection using a browser running on another computer or mobile device. This can be from your local network or by anyone on the Internet if you have chosen to make your KiwiSDR publicly available. The user interface is only moderately optimized for mobile devices and there are no mobile apps yet for Android or iOS. The software does not support attaching a monitor or keyboard/mouse directly to the Kiwi BeagleBone.

Connect to the local network using an Ethernet cable between the Kiwi and your Ethernet switch, router, cable modem or firewall. An IP address for the Ethernet port is usually assigned by a DHCP server that is likely to already be running on your network. See the network configuration section for complete details.

Please consider making your Kiwi publicly available to Internet users by listing it on rx.kiwisdr.com Particularly if your Kiwi is located in an interesting or under-represented part of the world. There are options for limiting public access to a subset of the four available channels.

Just tell me how to connect to my local Kiwi

If this computer is on the same local network as your Kiwi try clicking on one of the two links below: If that doesn't work use one of the methods below to find the Kiwi's IP address. Then use the IP instead of "kiwisdr.local", e.g. 192.168.1.123:8073 Type this into the address bar of your browser.

More information about Kiwi networking.

List of third-party extensions and software packages

Here is a list of Kiwi extensions and related software packages available from third parties.
When installed the extensions will appear in the Kiwi extensions menu.

Extensions:
Software packages:
Installing the KiwiSDR and software

This additional Quick Start Guide gives information about: A printed copy of this guide is included in every KiwiSDR shipping box.


Network configuration

Additional information:
The two cases of network configuration
In certain circumstances you may not have to do any network configuration at all. The Kiwi will just work out-of-the-box after you plug into the local network. There are two cases. First case, local only use:
It is likely your local network already has a DHCP server that will automatically assign an IP address to the Kiwi. This function is usually performed by your network firewall / router. The kiwisdr.local hostname resolves to this IP address via software on the Kiwi and the host computer you're connecting from (the one running your browser). But the kiwisdr.local hostname may not be recognised by all systems, particularly Windows. For a workaround to this problem, or if you need to specify the IP address manually (e.g. 192.168.1.10:8073), see below for how to find your Kiwi's IP address.

Second case, public access:
For public access you face a couple of issues.
Allowing public access on port 8073
For the public to connect, your KiwiSDR must answer on port 8073 at a fixed public IP address. Although any port number, e.g. 80, can be configured (see below). If you are on a residential network a single public IP address is sometimes shared by multiple computers, usually via Network Address Translation (NAT). You must modify the NAT configuration of your router, modem or firewall to route connections to port 8073 of your public IP address to whatever local IP address was assigned to your Beagle (port mapping). To do this you'll need the network information provided using the methods described below.

The other issue is that port mapping requires the local IP address of your KiwiSDR be unchanging over time. After all, you have to enter a fixed local IP address when the port mapping entry is made. Your KiwiSDR was likely initially assigned a local IP address with DHCP (dynamic host configuration protocol) from your router, modem or firewall. DHCP does not guarantee that the same local IP address will be assigned each time the KiwiSDR is booted. To solve this problem most routers have another table to assign local IP addresses based on the unique MAC address associated with the Beagle. The MAC address is provided using the methods described above. You must then pick an unused local IP address that is outside the range of local IP addresses that DHCP uses yet still part of your local IP address space.

For example, our local network uses the address block 192.168.1.1 - 192.168.1.254 and is allocated as follows:

IP address fixed address?
192.168.1.1 yes router
192.168.1.2 start of DHCP allocated space
192.168.1.99 end of DHCP allocated space
192.168.1.100 yes web server
192.168.1.101 yes public KiwiSDR
192.168.1.102 yes development KiwiSDR

The port mapping and fixed IP tables are then setup in the router as follows:

NAT port mapping:
public
IP address 		port maps
to 		private
IP address		 port service
103.26.16.225 80 ----> 192.168.1.100 80 web server
103.26.16.225 8073 ----> 192.168.1.101 8073 public KiwiSDR

fixed IP assignment:
local
IP address 		Beagle MAC host
192.168.1.100 1C:BA:8C:A1:BE:EF web server
192.168.1.101 84:EB:18:E2:0E:A2 public KiwiSDR
192.168.1.102 1C:BA:8C:E3:3D:0B development KiwiSDR


Using UPnP to open the router port automatically
Beginning with release v1.65 of the Kiwi software your router can be contacted by the Kiwi using the Universal Plug-and-Play (UPnP) protocol and asked to open port 8073 automatically. Not all routers support this protocol, or have it enabled by default. This Kiwi feature is designed to save you from performing this task manually which can sometimes be difficult if you are not familiar with Network Address Translation (NAT) rules and the operation of your router.

For security reasons this feature is disabled on the Kiwi by default. To activate, go to the network tab on the admin page (e.g. kiwisdr.local:8073/admin) and set the button called Auto add NAT rule on firewall / router? to "yes". Then click the server restart button when it appears. When you return to the network tab after the restart a message should say:
Automatic add of NAT rule on firewall / router: succeeded
If there is a different message in any other color the automatic add didn't work and you'll have to add an appropriate NAT rule for port 8073 (or another port you've configured) to your router manually.

Finding the Ethernet IP address of the KiwiSDR
Figuring out the IP address assigned to your KiwiSDR is the first step in manual network configuration. In most network setups a DHCP server on your router, modem or firewall will assign this IP address to the Ethernet port on the Beagle of your KiwiSDR. The problem is figuring out what this address is. Here are some suggestions:
Use my.kiwisdr.com to connect to the Kiwi
If your Kiwi is able to contact kiwisdr.com when it starts up it will register its local IP address. Then when a browser from a computer on the same local network connects to my.kiwisdr.com it will automatically be redirected to the Kiwi. The local IP address will appear in the browser address bar. If multiple Kiwis are present on the network the browser will display a table allowing you to connect to each Kiwi individually.

Use "kiwisdr.local:8073/admin" to connect to the Kiwi admin page
The network information about your KiwiSDR is available on the "network" tab at kiwisdr.local:8073/admin So if you can connect to the Kiwi this way the Kiwi itself can tell you its IP address for use in further network configuration. But this method may not always work.

Most versions of Windows don't recognize the kiwisdr.local hostname. Here is a workaround. But do not use this workaround for Window 10 or later. There appears to be some sort of conflict and using kiwisdr.local will result in connections that have lots of audio overrun problems. Use one of the other methods listed here to find the IP address.

If you install Apple iTunes for Windows then the Apple Bonjour mDNS-based location discovery software gets installed. Now kiwisdr.local should be recognized. It is possible to uninstall iTunes but leave Bonjour/mDNS working with the right Windows control-panel manipulation. We understand that future versions of Windows may include mDNS by default. So try using kiwisdr.local before using the workaround.

Read the IP address from the Beagle LEDs
Beginning with version v1.174 of the software, the four LEDs on the Beagle (lower board of the two board stack) will display an encoded status message. This message includes the IP address, either assigned by DHCP or set statically. See the section: Getting the IP address (DHCP-assigned or static) from the LED pattern.

Use the free Fing network scanner app for iOS/Android at www.fing.com
There are also free third-party network scanner apps. We use one called Fing for the iPhone / iPad. After the scan, look for an entry where the Ethernet MAC address vendor has decoded to "Texas Instruments". TI is the manufacturer of the processor chip on the BeagleBone where the Ethernet controller resides.

Check your router's list of DHCP-assigned IP address
Of course your router, or other device running DHCP, knows the IP address allocated to the Kiwi. If you know how to access this device you might be able to determine the latest "new" device added to the DHCP list and hence the IP address.

Specifying the connection URL
This is the second issue to consider for the case of a Kiwi with public access. The method used to establish a public connection to your Kiwi is specified in the connect tab on the admin page. This includes specifying your own domain name, using the detected public IP address of the Kiwi or specifying your own IP address. Also the advanced techniques described below.

Configuring the dynamic DNS update client (DUC)
An issue you must consider for public access is how the outside world will contact your Kiwi. Do you already own a domain name (e.g. bob.com) and has your Internet provider assigned you a static public IP address? Great, you're all set. All you have to do is create a sub-domain, say kiwisdr.bob.com and point it to your public IP. Now your Kiwi will be reachable at kiwisdr.bob.com:8073/ assuming you're using the default port 8073.

But for many people this is not the case. They don't own a domain and their relatively inexpensive residential Internet service supplies them a dynamic IP address that changes every so often. To overcome these issues what you want is something called "dynamic DNS (DDNS)" where a company like noip.com allows you to use one of their generic domain names. And also gives you a program (dynamic update client, "DUC") to run on your local computer that tells them when your ISP has changed your dynamic IP so the generic domain name can be updated.

To simplify this process beginning with release v1.83 a DUC for noip.com has been built into the Kiwi software and can be configured on the connect tab of the admin webpage. You can use either the free DDNS noip.com service that requires a manual acknowledgement every 30 days or one of their paid plans without this restriction. Go to noip.com and create a unique hostname for one of their generic domains (e.g. kiwi1234.ddns.net) and setup an account. Then on the connect tab of the Kiwi admin page select "DUC domain" on the menu. Then enter the noip.com account information, host name and hit the "click to (re)start DUC" button. In the status field below you should see the response "DUC started successfully" or an error message if there is a problem. To start the DUC every time the Kiwi restarts change the "enable DUC at startup?" switch to "yes".

Configuring a reverse proxy
Due to capacity problems, we are only accepting proxy requests for a very specific set of circumstances. If you have a Kiwi you want to setup for public access, and you need the proxy to overcome the limitations of a 4G network connection (e.g. no incoming connections allowed) then you may request a proxy key.

At this time we are unable to grant proxy requests solely for the simplification it provides in network setup. Since there are alternative solutions described elsewhere in this document you must make an effort to use them.


Reasons you may not ultimately be able to open a router port include: To address this issue we are offering a reverse proxy service. proxy.kiwisdr.com is used as a third-party server to overcome issues with NAT and ISP restrictions. When configured to use the reverse proxy your Kiwi will register with proxy.kiwisdr.com on startup. The URL to access your Kiwi then becomes hostname.proxy.kiwisdr.com:8073 where you choose the unique hostname. If you are listing your Kiwi on rx.kiwisdr.com this URL will be used.

Proof of purchase required

It costs us money to provide the proxy service. So we offer it only to confirmed purchasers of genuine KiwiSDR hardware. When requesting a proxy user key via email you must include a photo of the KiwiSDR board with the serial number showing (a 4-digit number in the white box on the circuit board). Follow these instructions to configure the proxy: You only need multiple user keys if you are running multiple Kiwis using the proxy simultaneously. Email us and we will create secondary user key(s) you can use.

You should now have access to your Kiwi at host-name.proxy.kiwisdr.com:8073 where host-name is the name you entered. Note that port 8073 must always be used with proxy.kiwisdr.com and is not configurable.

If this works you can complete the Public tab on the admin page using your user key. As long as reverse proxy is selected on the menu a proxy connection will be established whenever your Kiwi server is (re)started.

It is possible to run multiple Kiwis using the proxy behind a single Internet connection.

Configuring an Ethernet static IP address
If you are unable if get your router to associate the Beagle Ethernet MAC to a fixed local IP then there is an alternative. It is now possible to configure the Kiwi to use a static local IP address rather than obtaining one via DHCP. You'll have to get initial access to the Kiwi using one of the methods above. But then you can go to the admin page (e.g. kiwisdr.local:8073/admin) and then the network tab and change from DHCP mode to a static IP appropriate for your local network. The Kiwi Beagle will use this IP address on the Ethernet interface when next booted.

Using a USB network connection for initial Beagle access
If your network is very limited and has no DHCP server at all you can get initial access to the Kiwi by using a USB cable between the Kiwi Beagle and another computer as the network connection (micro-USB for BeagleBone Green, mini-USB for BeagleBone Black). This is a standard feature of the Beagle and instructions are available here. Note that it requires the installation of a USB networking driver on your computer. Once logged into the Beagle root account using the SSH (Linux) or PuTTY (Windows) program setup a static address for the Ethernet interface by editing the file /etc/network/interfaces on the Beagle. Change the entry for eth0 from using DHCP to using a static address. Use the entry for usb0 a guide.

But note the Kiwi software itself does not support using USB networking. This method is only for gaining initial access to the Beagle in order to change the Ethernet configuration so the Ethernet can subsequently be used.

Using a serial connection
As a last resort it is possible to connect a serial cable between the Beagle and a host computer. You'll need to purchase a USB-to-serial cable that is designed to connect to the Beagle serial port header. More information is here. Be certain to buy a cable that presents 3.3V to the Beagle and not 5V (the 5V cables are more common). You'll need to remove the Kiwi board in order to access the Beagle's serial header. Use a serial com program to login to the Beagle at 115.2k baud as the root user with no password. Then edit the file /etc/network/interfaces and change the configuration of the eth0 (Ethernet) interface from dhcp to static. Use the settings for usb0 at the end of the file as a guide.

Point-to-point Ethernet connection to a host computer
Note: This procedure seems not to work with Windows 10 anymore. There is no workaround.


Some users simply want to install an Ethernet cable between the Kiwi and a laptop or PC and not involve other equipment like switches/routers/firewalls and not involve the Internet. This might be because they are traveling or only have a wireless connection between their PC and an Internet access device that has no Ethernet ports. We now have a solution for this case.

Starting with the v1.47 release the Kiwi software uses something called avahi-autoipd which takes over when the Kiwi is unable to locate a DHCP server to get an IP address for the Ethernet port. A random-but-unique link-local IP address in the 169.254.0.0/16 range is then assigned to the Ethernet. Similar software present on all modern Macs and PCs does the same thing. Now the PC and Kiwi should be able to talk to each other. Since you don't know what IP address has been assigned to the Kiwi you instead use the name kiwisdr.local. On Windows this currently requires the Bonjour/mDNS package to be installed with the workaround described here. Macs are already setup. So now you can connect to the Kiwi by using kiwisdr.local:8073/ and kiwisdr.local:8073/admin to administrate.

It's also now possible to observe the Beagle LEDs to see what IP address was assigned.

Note that it takes
more than 60 seconds
after the Kiwi boots before it decides there is no DHCP and it should assign a link-local address. So please be patient before trying to connect from the PC.

A question remains however. If your PC only has a wireless connection to the Internet, and your new Kiwi was delivered with an installed software version prior to v1.47 (which is going to be true for quite a while) and you can only plug the Kiwi into the PC, then what can you do? The answer is to download a special version of the Kiwi software from the Internet onto your PC. Then copy it to a micro-SD card. And finally re-flash the Kiwi on-board filesystem from the SD card. Follow the instructions here.


KiwiSDR configuration from the admin webpage

Almost all configuration and administration of the KiwiSDR is done through the admin web interface at kiwisdr.local:8073/admin (adjust hostname as required). Each tab at the top of the page selects a group of related configuration parameters or status information. A restart button for the server will appear when certain parameters are changed. Use it when you have made all of your changes in all of the tabs.
Control

Restart, reboot and power off
The status tab has restart, reboot and power off buttons. Restart can be used when the server is behaving oddly. Reboot of Debian can be done if the system has been running for many days or weeks and seems to have problems that might be Linux related. It is especially important to use the power off button before removing power from the Kiwi as this first halts Debian in a safe fashion that will prevent any possible filesystem corruption.

The Kick button can be used to close all active user connections (i.e. kick everyone off the SDR). This is useful when there are users who have been logged in for a very long period of time.

The Inactivity time limit field can be used to limit the amount of time a user can be connected when not actively changing the SDR controls (i.e. parked on a specific frequency for a long period of time). The timeout period is reset as soon as some adjustment to the controls is made. A value of zero disables any time limit checking. This is the default.

Similarly the 24 hour per-IP address time limit field can be used to limit the amount of time a user from a specific incoming IP address can be connected during a 24 hour time period. This period is independent of the inactivity limit described above. A value of zero disables any checking. This is the default.

connect

The configuration on the connect tab is used to define the URL used to connect to your Kiwi from the local network and, optionally, from the public Internet. Here also is the configuration of the DDNS DUC and reverse proxy as described in the network section of this document.

Config

The sensitivity of your antenna will determine how the base waterfall colors will appear. We suggest changing the Initial waterfall min field to compensate. Here is an example of base waterfall colors that are "washed out" with too much green because the default value of WF min on the main control panel is too low at -110 dBFS: (click for larger)



Here is the same waterfall with WF min set to -80 dbFS: (click for larger)



Once you have found a good value of WF min set that value in the Initial waterfall min field on the Config tab of the admin webpage.

The Max receiver frequency menu allows the top reception frequency to be increased to 32 MHz. This is to accomodate some users who want to down-convert signals into the 30 - 32 MHz region. Note that due to the KiwiSDR ADC clock frequency (66.67 MHz) there will be increased aliasing and spurious responses above 30 MHz.

Configuration when using a down-converter
The Kiwi frequency scale and other places where the frequency appears and is entered can be adjusted to account for any VHF/UHF down-converter (transverter) you have installed ahead of the Kiwi antenna input. The Frequency scale offset (kHz) field is used for this purpose.

Enter the number of kHz necessary to bring the converted frequency to the correct position on the scale. For example to map 50-52 MHz to 28-30 MHz place 22000 kHz in the field (50000 - 22000 = 28000). To map 144-148 MHz to 28-32 MHz set the field to 116000 kHz (144000 - 116000 = 28000) and set the Max receiver frequency menu selection to 32 MHz to get the extended receiver coverage. Inverted tuning when the converter uses a high-side LO is not yet supported (common for 23 cm / 1296 MHz converters).

The Coverage frequency low/high fields on the Public tab help rx.kiwisdr.com use the correct frequency icon if you have listed your Kiwi there. Enter the frequencies covered by your down-converted setup. For example setting 118000 and 138000 in the fields will make rx.kiwisdr.com display the icon "Airband". For other frequencies a frequency range in MHz will be displayed. So if you entered 50000 and 52000 then "50MHz - 52MHz" will be displayed.

The coverage fields can be used even if you are not using a down-converter. Suppose you have a Kiwi specializing in the AM MWBC band with attenuation outside those frequencies. You could set the fields to 540 and 1710 and "0.5MHz - 1.7MHz" would be displayed.

Webpage

Map field
Note: Consider specifying coordinates that don't reveal your exact location. You can get the "Google format" map reference by Googling the name of your location (town etc.), clicking on Google maps from the search result, then clicking on the "share or embed map" item from the Google maps menu at the top left. Place in the Map field the last part of the link that begins with "https://www.google.co.nz/maps/place/" You can use the check map button to verify.

Grid square field
If you are not familiar with grid squares just click on the check grid button. A webpage will appear where you can enter your location name and receive a 6 character grid square identifier to enter in the field.

You can replace the default startup background photo with your own. Scale a photo file (jpeg, png, etc.) to be 350 pixels high. Starting with the v1.17 release there is a "file chooser" dialog so you can download the file to the Kiwi directly using the admin page. Although there is a Photo height field, changing it from 350 pixels currently doesn't work. Change the Photo title and Photo description fields as appropriate for your new photo.

The Owner info field allows you to display a message, including HTML, in the middle part of the top bar. Add your own logo here, short message or maybe a Paypal donation button to help defray your Internet costs for a publicly-accessible Kiwi.

Note that the Title field can contain HTML, like a link, just like the Status field even though there is no preview shown.

Public

Note: Your Kiwi will appear on other sites like rx.linkfanel.net and ve3sun.com/KiwiSDR if it is registered on rx.kiwisdr.com

Note: Consider specifying coordinates that don't reveal your exact location, although the various maps add some dither to the location when zoomed-in as a privacy measure.

Listings limited to genuine KiwiSDR hardware

It costs us money to provide the listing service. So we will offer it only to purchasers of genuine KiwiSDR hardware. Consider it as a portion of your purchase price going toward the cost of providing the service.

Registration on rx.kiwisdr.com
On the Public tab are the parameters for rx.kiwisdr.com registration. No API key is necessary. Just fill-out your listing information (name, location, etc.) and set the register switch to Yes. The registration status field should eventually show a message (this can sometimes take several minutes).

Make sure your location on the various map sites (e.g. rx.linkfanel.net) shows the correct latitude and longitude. A common mistake is not specifying a negative longitude for the Americas or a negative latitude for locations in the southern hemisphere (we've made this mistake ourselves). You can use the check map button to verify. Note that the latitude and longitude are entered as signed decimal degrees, surrounded by parenthesis, e.g. "(-37.631016, 176.172019)". Not hours-minutes-seconds, no "N S E W" notation, no "degree" symbols, etc. If you zoom in you'll notice that the map sites dither the location a fair amount to help protect your privacy.

If the GPS is running, and has a fix, a blue button labeled set from GPS will appear. Use it to fill-out the location field automatically. The same is true for the grid square field.

See Configuration when using a down-converter for a description of how to use the Coverage frequency low/high fields.

Extensions

WSPR
If you don't have a Ham radio callsign, but would like to contribute your Kiwi's WSPR decodes to wsprnet.org, set the Reporter callsign field to something like "SWLRF82". Where "SWL" is the well-known abbreviation for "shortwave listener" and "RF82" is a 4-character grid square describing your Kiwi's general location available from this site. There are other conventions as well, e.g. "SWL/ZL" where "ZL" is a Ham radio callsign prefix for New Zealand.

Security

Public/private channels
On the admin security tab you will find a setting allowing you to disable the password prompt for a subset of the 4 channels (none, 1, 2 or 3) when an overall user password has been set. This allows you to divide the 4 channels into two sets: a publicly-available set requiring no password and a private set requiring a password. Owners of the more popular Kiwis have long complained that the channels are always full and they, or their friends, can never get in without restarting the server and dumping everyone off. It is hoped this feature may persuade some owners of completely closed Kiwis in desirable locations to make some of their channels public.


Controlling the server from a Beagle root login

Although most of the control and configuration of the server is accomplished via the admin webpage, there are some shell commands that can be used. Login to the Beagle from another computer as the root user. On another computer use the SSH program with Linux, or PuTTY on Windows. Change to the Beagle_SDR_GPS directory. A shortcut for this is the cdp command alias (change directory project). Once there a number of commands can be used to control the server: Most of these features as also available on the admin webpage. For example the log files can be viewed under the Log tab and the server can restarted with a button on the Control tab.


Special access-related configuration

There are several configuration options related to admin access of the Kiwi. For security reasons these are specified by files in the /root/kiwi.config directory on the Kiwi rather than directly in the web-based admin configuration. The file names and their contents are:

Manual frequency calibration

If your GPS antenna is connected and receiving signals then the KiwiSDR clock frequency will be continuously calibrated automatically. If not you can perform a manual calibration. There are two sources of clock oscillator error. Inherent error due to manufacturing variations and error that changes with the ambient temperature. A manual calibration will correct the inherent error, and error due to the current temperature, but will not track error due to future temperature changes. Follow these steps:

Tune to a station transmitting a carrier on a known, accurate frequency like a time station (WWV 15 MHz in this example). Use the highest frequency station possible as this will show the most offset (i.e. an HF station rather than LF/VLF). Zoom all the way in and select the exact center of the carrier line in the waterfall with the mouse. The yellow vertical bar of the passband should align with the waterfall carrier line. See image below. Note the WWV -/+100 and +600 Hz modulation shown in addition to the carrier (frequency scale ticks are 100 Hz).




Right-click to bring up the menu and select cal ADC clock (admin). You will be prompted for the admin password if necessary. On a laptop there are usually options for generating a right-click if your trackpad doesn't have left/right buttons (i.e. with a double-tap, control-tap, etc.)




A confirmation dialog will appear showing how far the clock must be adjusted to get to the nearest 1 kHz. In this case +81 Hz is needed to get the carrier on 15000 kHz. The normalized ADC clock adjustment in parts-per-million (ppm) is shown, 4.9 ppm in this case.




As soon as confirm is clicked the waterfall will shift to reflect the new calibration. This new calibration value will be remembered and applied on every Kiwi restart. It will be reset to zero when GPS corrections are occurring.





Optionally downloading the software (if you lost the SD card etc.)

This procedure is normally not necessary since each KiwiSDR comes with a micro-SD card containing all the software. In addition, if you purchased the Kiwi "kit" version, which includes a BeagleBone Green (BBG), the software is already pre-installed on the BBG. However there are cases where you might want to download the software: your micro-SD card doesn't work or you want to get a head-start on installing the software if you've ordered just the Kiwi board and are supplying your own Beagle.

In case you are unfamiliar with the process of installing software on a Beagle here's how it works. The micro-SD is what's known as a 'flasher'. Each time you boot your Beagle from the micro-SD card it will copy its contents to the on-board flash memory (eMMC) of your Beagle. In other words all the software previously installed on your Beagle will be
completely overwritten and lost
. So be very careful in using a flasher micro-SD. Remember, the copy operation will only occur when you boot from a micro-SD flasher. It is possible to insert a flasher micro-SD into a running system so that it may be read or re-written like any other card. But be certain to remove it immediately after you're done. Otherwise the next time you reboot the Beagle the flashing operation will begin (if the card is still a flasher). Even we make this mistake occasionally and it is very annoying to lose all your work that is stored on the Beagle's on-board filesystem.

An image file from the Internet must be downloaded and copied to a micro-SD card to turn it into a flasher. This can be done on the Beagle itself running whatever version of Debian Linux happens to be installed†. It is also possible to use programs on Macs and PCs that write image files to micro-SD cards. Proceed as follows. After you have an SD card with the flasher image insert it into the Beagle and power-up. When booted from the SD card the LEDs will display a "back-and-forth" pattern as the image is copied to the Beagle on-board filesystem. The Beagle will power off when done (all LEDs will go dark). Takes about 5 minutes for a Class-10 SD card. IMPORTANT: Remove the micro-SD card when finished.

Your Beagle now has the KiwiSDR-customized version of Debian installed and a snapshot version of the KiwiSDR server software itself (currently v1.390). When the KiwiSDR server is first run it will automatically update itself to the latest version by downloading from Github since the download image is always older than the most current version.

† Note that if you have an older Beagle running the Angstrom distribution, instead of the more recent Debian, this script won't work. Use the micro-SD delivered with your Beagle or follow the various guides on the Internet showing how to upgrade your Beagle to Debian first.


KiwiSDR discussion forum

The KiwiSDR forum is here.


Viewing the source code change log

To see the comments from recent changes to the source code look at the Github change log. If any comment there is followed by an ellipsis box (...) click on it for more information about the change.

By popular request there is also a summary CHANGE_LOG file that is easier to understand than the detailed Github commit log.


Power supply advice

The Kiwi must be powered using the round connector DC jack on the Kiwi board (2.1mm ID, 5.5mm OD). Powering over the micro-USB connector of the BeagleBone Green doesn't work because it can't supply enough current. The power management chip of the BBG will not allow more than 500 mA to flow on this connection. The Kiwi plus BBG draws over 1A and peaks approaching 1.5A.

Also note that many power supply DC plugs are actually meant for 2.5 mm center pin jacks, not 2.1 mm the Kiwi uses. This means they will fit loosely in the Kiwi jack and may cause unexpected power downs as the Kiwi or cable are moved around.

Be careful when using precision bench supplies

Be sure to set the current limit high enough (>= 2A) to catch the peak current requirements of the Kiwi and Beagle. A precision supply will react much more quickly to over-current situations than an ordinary linear supply using a big output capacitor to ride through peak current demand. A bench supply will instantly drop the output voltage the moment the current limit is reached. We've had several users observe bizarre behavior using precision supplies (random Beagle shutdown, SD card write failures, repeatable server "freeze" during certain operations, etc.)

Under-voltage due to cable voltage drop

The power management controller chip (PMIC) on the Beagle will refuse to power up the Beagle and Kiwi if the 5V input is below about 4.75V. Worse, if a momentary increase in peak current draw causes the input to drop below 4.75V due to losses in the cable the Beagle will unexpectedly power down. This problem has been seen by several customers and even ourselves. It is caused by cables with insufficient wire gauge. See this forum post. A 22 AWG USB-to-2.1mm adapter cable known to work is this one from Adafruit.

Using a quiet linear power supply to power the KiwiSDR / Beagle will significantly reduce received noise, particularly on the LF/MF bands. This is because almost all of these small line-powered units are switch-mode power supplies (SMPS) with inadequate filtering. The switching frequencies are typically in the 20 - 170 kHz range with harmonics sometimes extending well into the shortwave bands. Worse, the oscillators are almost always unregulated resulting in unstable carriers many kHz wide. Their emissions might meet regulatory requirements but that doesn't stop them from wrecking havoc when used to directly power an SDR. Check out this interesting article comparing the emissions and safety of common 5V USB SMPS chargers.

Transformer-based, regulated linear supplies are now more difficult to find. Particularly the wall-mount (plug-pack) type. This is partly due to new energy conservation laws requiring higher standby-mode efficiency from power supplies. It's pretty easy to make an SMPS draw minimal current when plugged-in but not in use. But it's difficult for a transformer-based supply due to the unloaded losses present in the transformer even when there is no connection. There is also the issue of poor conversion efficiency compared to SMPS.

We have tested two classes of linear supplies with good results:
There is a group of people who care about quiet power supplies for their digital devices: the audiophile community. And for this purpose there are transformer-based, 5V linear supplies available on Ebay and AliExpress. We have evaluated one of these units and it worked great. All have IEC 60320 C14-style AC input connectors so you can use a mains cord specific to your region.

Jan 2019 update:
We've had a couple reports of the supplies from Ebay above showing up DOA or unable to meet the Kiwi current requirement such that the Kiwi doesn't power up (even though the supply puts out 5V under no-load conditions). The supplies were replaced by the seller, but caveat emptor.. This one is a little expensive but the transformer can be strapped for 115 or 230 volts. It's an open-frame supply with all connections via solder lugs so you must add your own cables. Consider cutting off the cable with a 2.1mm circular connector from an old, crappy wall-mount supply you have lying around. For a line cord with a region-specific plug you can scavenge from old equipment or sacrifice a cheap extension cord (i.e. cut the receptacle end off and just use the plug and cable). Please add an inline fuse to your line cable (we did!) And insulate all line-voltage connections, particularly at the transformer. When dealing with line voltages please be careful, go slow, don't work alone and ask for help if you need it. We don't want any fatalities or injuries as a result of advice given here.

If you absolutely must use an SMPS then consider this one which we have found to be fairly quiet. It uses a standard IEC C14 input connector which means you can find an adapter cord that that matches the mains plug requirement of your country/region. And the price is right at about US $13.
Antenna advice

Many of the Kiwi beta sites use simple wire antennas (dipoles, verticals, etc.) with good results (although LF/VLF usually suffers unless an active antenna is used). As with noise reduction, experimentation with antennas is usually an incremental process. If you are new to antenna building then start with a simple random wire. You will hear something. Then you can try a more complex antenna and see how much improvement there is.

There are many commercial sources for E-field (whip, probe) and H-field (loop) active antennas. Here are some in no particular order: Clifton Laboratories is no longer in business, but their Z1501D active antenna is legendary if you can find one.

There are a number of active antennas, both kits and pre-built, on Ebay. Most are based on the design of the PA0RDT Mini-Whip.

It is also not that difficult to construct your own. We're a fan of the designs from Chris Trask, N7ZWY, of Sonoran Radio Research: Complementary Push-Pull Amplifiers for Active Antennas

Articles about active antennas including advice about grounding of unbalanced (coax) and balanced feedlines:
The Seeed Bazaar sells relatively inexpensive SMA adapters: We used this inexpensive 3.3V GPS active antenna during our development and a similar one ships with the Kiwi "kit" version.


ADC overload

The top right of the S-meter shows a red "OV" indicator when ADC overflow/overload is detected. Tests with a signal generator show the ADC overflows when a single-tone exceeding -15 dBm (almost S9+60) appears on the antenna terminals.

If you're in Europe be careful about ADC overload in the early evening from the gigantic SWBC transmitters nearby. It can also occur from very strong local AM MW BCB signals. Use a smaller antenna or an inline attenuator if necessary. An attenuator can be as simple as a low-value potentiometer. Sure, the pot won't maintain a 50 ohm impedance like a proper Pi-network, but this is not critical. Adjust the pot until the overall waterfall noise floor drops to normal under high-signal conditions (roughly -100 to -130 dBFS shown on the spectrum display when fully zoomed in on a quiet frequency). Or until the "OV" indicator no longer shows.

One user cleverly notes that since the SMA and terminal block inputs are in parallel if you are connecting the antenna via the SMA connector you can place a swamping resistor or pot across the terminal block.

Martin, G8JNJ, has an excellent article on constructing simple series-tuned shunt filters to attenuate specific problem frequencies.

Our friends at RTL-SDR.com are now selling an inexpensive broadcast AM block high-pass filter. Note the -3 dB point is 2.6 MHz so 160m will be attenuated in addition to LF/VLF.

One user has found some very inexpensive inline SMA attenuators on Ebay. At those prices you can afford to buy a range of values and connect them in series to get the optimum attenuation.

There are several forum topics giving details about the OV indicator and MW band attenuation ( here, here, and here) including excellent work by Jim, WA2ZKD.

The images below show severe overload from two extremely strong signals on 720 and 810 kHz (exceeding -20 dBm, S9+53) in the AM broadcast band from a Kiwi located in a major city. Note the harmonics of the BCB extending into HF and the raised noise floor from all the reciprocal mixing. Zooming you'll find mixing products every 9 or 10 kHz up and down the band from VLF to 30 MHz (9/10 depends on regional BCB station spacing). The existing antenna is necessary for adequate HF reception so some sort of BCB filtering will be necessary. Click on images for larger.








Noise reduction advice

Finding and reducing noise sources is an incremental process. We find it helpful to take a screenshot of the Kiwi waterfall before and after a particular noise reduction technique is tried. This will help you gauge how effective a fix is and even if a fix to one problem makes another worse.

E-field active antennas are compact and relatively easy to deploy, but are very sensitive to the local noise environment. Consider H-field loops and loopsticks as an alternative.

Mouser & Digi-Key free international shipping

Although they don't seem to advertise it, Mouser in the USA has free international shipping to many countries for orders over USD $50. So if you buy a Bel power supply and a bunch of toroids from them it can be very cost effective. We get free delivery to New Zealand in only 3-4 days. It's the best thing since sliced bread!

Digi-Key now offers the same deal.


Element14 / Embest BeagleBone

We need to mention a possible problem when using the Element14 BeagleBone with your KiwiSDR. When we first tried one about a year ago there was a very large increase (over +20 dB) in spurs and noise from the BeagleBone compared to using the original BeagleBone Black manufactured by CircuitCo or the BeagleBone Green manufactured by Seeed. We have spoken to others who had experienced similar issues trying to pass FCC certification of their cape while using the Element14 Beagle.

We tried another one more recently and there was absolutely no problem. It was just as quiet as the others. So perhaps this was just an issue with the components used in a particular early build or something. So just keep this in mind if you plan on using an older E14 you've had lying around for a while. We would have no hesitation in using one more recently manufactured.


Troubleshooting advice


Getting the IP address (DHCP-assigned or static) from the LED pattern Updated

Important: The pattern described below does not appear on the LEDs until about one minute after the Kiwi has restarted / rebooted. The pattern displayed prior is defined by the Debian OS and is documented elsewhere.

When the Kiwi software is running the four blue LEDs on the outer edge of the Beagle board (lower board of the two board stack) will display an encoded status message. Currently the message includes the IP address of the Beagle Ethernet interface and whether this address was set by a DHCP server or manually in the Kiwi configuration (network tab of the admin page).
IP address in this context means an IPv4 address (i.e. not IPv6).

The trick is to decode the message from the pattern displayed on the LEDs.

The structure of the message is as follows:
cylon-3x type cylon-2x content cylon-1x all-on-5-secs all-off-3-secs (repeat)

A cylon is a pattern where one lit LED travels quickly from left-to-right, and back again, either one, two or three times.

Type is a single digit (see below for digit definition)
'1' -- means content is an IP address set by DHCP server
'2' -- means content is an IP address set statically

If no IPv4 address has been assigned content will consist of 32 quick flashes of all LEDs.
This might happen if the DHCP server is slow (or failing) to set the IP address of the Kiwi or there is a problem with the configured static ip.

If the network uses only IPv6 addresses (i.e. not dual IPv4/IPv6) then content will consist of 16 quick flashes of all LEDs because display of IPv6 addresses is not supported.

An IP address is displayed as follows:
<3rd-digit> digit-sep <2nd-digit> digit-sep <1st-digit> num-sep

This is repeated four times to give a complete 12-digit IP address ABC.ABC.ABC.ABC,
where ABC are the 3rd, 2nd and 1st digits respectively, and digit-sep appears between each pair of digits and a num-sep appears where the dots ('.') are between the 3-digit numbers. IP numbers are always 3-digits and left padded with zeros if necessary, e.g. 192.168.1.23 is displayed as 192.168.001.023

Definition of LED patterns:

Digits are displayed in binary with the exception of zero which is displayed with
all four LEDs on. In the following * means LED on, - means LED off.

'0'   * * * *
'1'   - - - *
'2'   - - * -
'3'   - - * *
'4'   - * - -
'5'   - * - *
'6'   - * * -
'7'   - * * *
'8'   * - - -
'9'   * - - *

I.e. the values of the LEDs are the usual binary 8-4-2-1 code when read left-to-right with the left LED (value=8) toward the outside edge of the Beagle. Each digit is displayed for 3 seconds. If you are not good at sight-reading binary values this should give you time to write the LED pattern down. You might have to observe several repeats of the message in order to catch (or confirm) all the digits.

The digit-sep (digit separator) is two quick flashes of all the LEDs.

The num-sep (number separator) is six quick flashes of all the LEDs.

At the end of the message, after the cylon-1x, all the LEDs are lit for 5 seconds then are dark for 3 seconds. Then the message repeats beginning with the cylon-3x pattern.


Kiwi user interface

Here are some aspects of the user interface that are not immediately obvious. In the descriptions below option/alt refers to the keyboard key usually marked "option" and/or "alt". Control refers to the key marked "ctrl" or "control". The "windows" key on Windows keyboards and the "command" key on Macs are not used. The "fn" (function) key is not used.

Clicking refers to left mouse button clicking. Right button or scroll-wheel clicking is specifically called out in the text to distinguish from ordinary clicking. We don't yet handle mice that have been configured for lefthand use where the button assignments are reversed (i.e. the right button functions as the left button normally would).

All of these shortcut choices need to eventually be customizable by each user.

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

FAQ — Setup
FAQ — Operation
FAQ — Admin
FAQ — Publicly-accessible KiwiSDRs
FAQ — Design
FAQ — GPS