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Open-sourcing firmware for the TEF6686 radio chip

Mark Roberts

Mark Roberts

This article on creating an open-source version of firmware for the noted TEF6686 chip (which, among other things, is the heart of the Qodosen SR-286 and DX-286 radio receivers) in the venerable IEEE Spectrum may be of interest:

spectrum.ieee.org

Hacking A Car-Radio Chip Into The Ultimate SDR Receiver

Pull in the weakest FM and AM signals with this DIY build
spectrum.ieee.org spectrum.ieee.org
 
There are a lot of TEF6686 receivers controlled by Sjef's firmware connected to the internet for online remote listening:

servers.fmdx.org

FM-DX Webserver List

An interactive map with all the available public FM-DX Webservers. This map is updated automatically. A free way to listen to hundreds of FM tuners worldwide.
servers.fmdx.org servers.fmdx.org

They aren't quite as powerful as the KiwiSDR receivers in that they're of the old-school "one person at a time" variety and you often get rude people tuning without asking or constantly flicking to their preferred station (especially on the more interesting ones - there was a Kyiv one for a while that was a shitshow). That said, they are a nice way to get a quick snapshot of the FM dial in various world locations, and if you drop lucky and are the only one connected, it's interesting to listen - I had a tune around Moscow the other day.

Some of them even have directional antennas with rotators connected - Sjef's own TEF6686 in the Netherlands does, and I think Bob Hawkins in Edinburgh IN has a rotator hooked up. I'm not sure I'd give internet randoms control of a rotator on my roof if I had one!
 
Miss Tuned said:
There are a lot of TEF6686 receivers controlled by Sjef's firmware connected to the internet for online remote listening:

servers.fmdx.org

FM-DX Webserver List

An interactive map with all the available public FM-DX Webservers. This map is updated automatically. A free way to listen to hundreds of FM tuners worldwide.
servers.fmdx.org servers.fmdx.org

They aren't quite as powerful as the KiwiSDR receivers in that they're of the old-school "one person at a time" variety and you often get rude people tuning without asking or constantly flicking to their preferred station (especially on the more interesting ones - there was a Kyiv one for a while that was a shitshow). That said, they are a nice way to get a quick snapshot of the FM dial in various world locations, and if you drop lucky and are the only one connected, it's interesting to listen - I had a tune around Moscow the other day.

Some of them even have directional antennas with rotators connected - Sjef's own TEF6686 in the Netherlands does, and I think Bob Hawkins in Edinburgh IN has a rotator hooked up. I'm not sure I'd give internet randoms control of a rotator on my roof if I had one!
Click to expand...
As someone who did operational technology security for a while, that presents an interesting problem from at least two aspects. I don't think I would do that without some form of rate limiting, or preauthorization which would be tricky. And it would be an interesting concurrent programming problem: if two people are trying to manipulate the rotor at the same time, who wins? The solution would have to be probabilistic.
 
Mark Roberts said:
As someone who did operational technology security for a while, that presents an interesting problem from at least two aspects. I don't think I would do that without some form of rate limiting, or preauthorization which would be tricky. And it would be an interesting concurrent programming problem: if two people are trying to manipulate the rotor at the same time, who wins? The solution would have to be probabilistic.
Click to expand...
A lot of the rotators seem to be locked now for users without a password, presumably because of bad/abusive behavior from some users. I think it's a fairly simple "contact the receiver owner and ask for the password" setup rather than a full authentication system.

I don't get why people use the shared receivers for listening to a preferred station (continually flicking back to it if others try to tune when these stations all stream. It's invariably some god-awful generic CHR, which suggests that it's kids doing it. I've discovered interesting new-to-me stations on the receivers, especially the US ones, and then gone away and streamed the stations some other way so as not to "hog" the radio.

The main problem at present is that a lot of them are in very similar and not very interesting locations - what you can get on FM in one part of most European countries is pretty similar to any other part of the country, so there's really no need for there to be 35 receivers in the Netherlands or 20 in Poland.
 
Miss Tuned said:
The main problem at present is that a lot of them are in very similar and not very interesting locations - what you can get on FM in one part of most European countries is pretty similar to any other part of the country, so there's really no need for there to be 35 receivers in the Netherlands or 20 in Poland.
Click to expand...
Thirty-five does seem a bit much for the Netherlands. The same national services, both public and private-enterprise, are available in all provinces; the only differences would be the public regionals and a few locals - also, neighboring countries if the SDR is near one of the borders.

I was able to pick up a couple of German FM signals in Eindhoven, so that's not far-fetched. In the west, I suspect you'd have to be south of Rotterdam before anything on FM from Antwerp showed up.

Still, with 35, there's got to be some overlap.
 
Mark Roberts said:
Thirty-five does seem a bit much for the Netherlands. The same national services, both public and private-enterprise, are available in all provinces; the only differences would be the public regionals and a few locals - also, neighboring countries if the SDR is near one of the borders.

I was able to pick up a couple of German FM signals in Eindhoven, so that's not far-fetched. In the west, I suspect you'd have to be south of Rotterdam before anything on FM from Antwerp showed up.

Still, with 35, there's got to be some overlap.
Click to expand...
I wonder if DXers are interested in how many different distant signals they can receive from these national networks? Personally, I can't get excited about receiving Capital FM from Birmingham when I can already receive it at 80dB in Manchester (and don't like the programming anyway). I've always been more interested in listening to different/unique programming and formats I can't get at home via DX than just bagging signals, but perhaps others are interested in it.

I'd rather have a greater spread of online receivers in interesting locales than yet another one attached to a dipole in a European town picking up the local state "Radio 1", "Radio 2", generic "die besten hits von mix" Euro-CHR, etc, but I can't really be selfish when I don't run one myself and rely on the generosity of others!
 
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