A workspace for your radio
Connect a supported receiver, tune a channel, inspect spectrum and waterfall data, or capture I/Q for replay. Explorer supports repeatable field surveys and annotated captures. A synthetic spectrum demo offers a first look without hardware or radio audio.
BrowserSDR processes your own receiver’s signals locally. It is not a directory of remote radio streams. See supported hardware and validation limits, or start with the demo.
Radio data and privacy
RF processing, decoded content, audio and local recordings stay in the browser unless you explicitly export or save them. Saving a prepared capture to SigIntAtlas is a separate opt-in authenticated action that transfers the selected recording and metadata.
Automatic error reporting is on by default. You can disable it in Diagnostics, and a saved opt-out is respected. Compatibility reports require review and manual submission. Reports can contain app errors, bounded performance counters, a coarse browser and operating-system description, sanitized receiver configuration and an optional description. Exact tuned frequency is excluded unless you explicitly include it.
Reports exclude I/Q samples, radio audio, spectrum/waterfall contents, decoded messages, USB serial numbers, imported capture metadata and survey locations. The report collector does not store IP addresses or IP-derived identifiers. Individual reports are retained for 30 days by default; anonymous fingerprint aggregates have a separate default retention of 90 days.
The published visitor total is derived from existing server access logs with known bots filtered out. No analytics cookies or new browser identifiers are added for that counter. The public total includes operator visits and is not a measure of search traffic.
Application and component licences
BrowserSDR first-party software is licensed under the unchanged PolyForm Perimeter License 1.0.1. Personal, educational and ordinary business use are permitted for noncompeting purposes. Providing a competing product or service using the covered software is excluded, even when free. The full licence defines the permissions and conditions; the application notice identifies its scope.
Bundled third-party components retain their own licences, as listed in the third-party notices. The RTL-SDR browser driver, WebRTLSDR, and its signal-processing helpers use Apache-2.0. The bundled Analog Devices no-OS receive driver uses BSD-3-Clause. The app’s About page displays the full application licence, notices, current version and release identity.
Device image provenance
bladeRF FPGA and USRP FX3/FPGA images are imported by the user from the exact official sources identified by the app. BrowserSDR verifies the expected version, size and digest before volatile RAM loading. It does not redistribute those images, write flash or EEPROM, or enable transmit.
Reception and evidence
Reception depends on hardware, antenna, browser capability and RF conditions. Software tests do not establish physical reception, and compatibility pages identify where physical validation remains pending. Signals and relative power measurements are not promises of continuous reception or calibrated field strength.
Use BrowserSDR in accordance with applicable local radio and data-protection rules. RTL-SDR setup and recording and replay explain the practical workflow.