Check supported hardware

Radio Bench receives through an SDR source and controls a transceiver separately through Hamlib CAT. This page lists what the 0.8 release family supports.

Computers

Platform Architecture Package
macOS Apple silicon (aarch64) Disk image
Windows 64-bit (x86_64) Installer
Linux 64-bit (x86_64) AppImage

Every package includes Airspy HF+, RTL-SDR, and Hamlib support. No separate SDR library installation is required.

Intel Macs and ARM Linux computers are not supported in 0.8.

SDR sources

Source Connection Devices
Airspy HF+ USB Airspy HF+ and HF+ Discovery
RTL-SDR USB RTL2832U dongles with E4000, FC0012, FC0013, FC2580, R820T family, or R828D tuners
RTL-TCP Network Any receiver attached to a server that implements the RTL-TCP protocol
SpyServer Network Any receiver attached to a SpyServer endpoint
IQ WAV File Stereo IQ recordings in 16-bit PCM or 32-bit floating-point WAV format

Each source page lists the controls that Radio Bench shows for that source family.

Transceivers

Radio Bench controls transceivers through Hamlib. Check the Hamlib supported radios list for your model.

The available operations depend on the transceiver and its Hamlib backend. Frequency and mode synchronization, PTT, CW text, and meter readings each require support from the radio.

See Configure CAT rig control for connection settings and the meters that Radio Bench can show.

Not supported

Built-in sources for HackRF, Airspy R2, Airspy Mini, SDRplay, and general SoapySDR hardware are not included in 0.8.

A network server can still expose one of those receivers. Connect the receiver to a compatible RTL-TCP or SpyServer program on any computer, then select that server in Radio Bench.