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soapysdr-module-rfspace

SoapySDR driver module for RFSpace networked receivers

What it does

Speaks the RFSpace protocol -- SDR-IQ, SDR-IP, NetSDR, CloudIQ and the Cloud-SDR line -- and presents those receivers as SoapySDR devices, over USB or over the network depending on model.

Why you would want it

RFSpace receivers are well-regarded HF hardware with a proprietary protocol, and outside their own software they are reachable through surprisingly little. This is what puts one in front of gqrx, SDR++ or CubicSDR. cutesdr, which this catalog also carries, is the vendor-adjacent client for the same hardware.

Before it will work

RFSpace hardware. Networked models must be reachable on the network, and discovery is by broadcast, so a router in between usually means the device is not found.

How it installs

  • apt: soapysdr-module-rfspace
  • Not on Kali or Ubuntu 26.04. Debian's soapyosmo 0.2.5-9 (2025-10-21) changelog: "Disable SoapyOsmo rfspace by default in favor of SoapyNetSDR". Testing and the releases that follow it build only the OsmoSDR and MiriSDR modules from that source; Debian 13 stable and Parrot stay on 0.2.5-8, which still has this one. The replacement Debian named, SoapyNetSDR, has no Debian package at all as of 2026-09-04 (Kali's archive lists 17 soapysdr-module-* packages and no netsdr; the tracker has no source for it), so on a testing-based machine RFSpace hardware currently has no SoapySDR path from the archive at all. Checked against the Debian tracker, the 0.2.5-11 changelog and Kali's archive on 2026-09-04.

Known problems

Built from the same soapyosmo source as the OsmoSDR module until Debian disabled it there in 0.2.5-9 -- see the install note. The maintainer does not own this hardware and nothing here is maintainer-verified (D-027); it is carried because other operators have it.

Keeping it current

  • probe: apt policy
  • strategy: apt_upgrade

Where to get help with the software itself

The Pothosware project.

Source: catalog/packages/soapysdr-module-rfspace.yaml