Questions & Answers

Questions & Answers:

Q: When I connect my AirSpy HF+ or SDRplay based dongle to the phone while the app is running, nothing happens.

A: When you start the app for the first time, you will see a detailed 3-step instruction how to successfully connect the RF dongle to your phone, and how to start tuning. Just follow these steps closely. Please also consider that other (previously installed) applications may block your hardware or hardware driver. Sometimes these apps need to be “killed”.

Should the app still not be able to detect your RF dongle or tune to a frequency, please ensure that your device does support USB host functionality (sometimes called USB-on-the-go). If USB host functionality is not supported by your device, you cannot attach any external USB slave devices such as USB thumb drives or RF dongles.

Even with USB host functionality supported by your device, the USB port may not provide sufficient power to drive the RF dongle. In this case there may be solutions to connect the power input of the RF dongle to a dedicated battery pack (use at your own risk!).

Q: Is my SDR RF dongle XXX supported by this app?

A: Dongle families not listed above as supported WILL NOT WORK. Still, we appreciate your feedback regarding which non-listed dongle families you intend to use, to help with the further development of the app and to ensure we can add in future support for new dongle families most widely used.

Should you use an RF dongle model that is not yet listed above but still works, we would be very happy to hear about it as well, so that we can list the model as supported and thus help other users of this app.

If your RF dongle is listed above as supported but you still experience problems, please contact us under drmsoftradio@starwaves.com and let us know your exact dongle models and the steps to reproduce the error (ideally with screenshots).

Q: Why does the STARWAVES DRM SoftRadio app cost money?

A: Many years of hard work and passion have been invested into the development of this app and its components. It is this software that takes care of all the DRM decoding and functionality, while the RF dongle just provides digital samples of the on-air signal (without knowing anything about DRM).

You surely would not expect the USB RF dongle that you purchased to be handed out for free to everybody? Therefore, we believe that this app justifies the equivalent of two cups of Cappuccino, to in return bring you the best DRM digital radio experience. 😊

Q: I found a problem with the app. Who can I contact?
A: If you have any feedback regarding this app, please contact us under drmsoftradio@starwaves.com
We appreciate your comments and suggestions to continuously improve this app.

Q: The description says SDRplay-based dongles (incl. MSi.Panadapter) only work with the 32-bit version of this app. So how can I use these dongle models on my Android device?

A: For most modern phones and Android versions, the Google App Store will by default deliver the 64-bit version of the STARWAVES DRM SoftRadio app. Unfortunately, as of present this version of the app can NOT yet support the SDRplay family of dongles (including the MSi.Panadapter model).
There is a work-around for installing the 32-bit version of this app with full SDRplay support on your modern Android device: Purchase the STARWAVES DRM SoftRadio app from the Amazon App Store. At present, the Amazon App Store will always install the 32-bit version of this app, including full SDRplay dongle support. For detailed instructions please check https://amazon.com/getappstore.