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Turns your Realtek RTL2832 based dongle into a SDR stereo FM radio receiver, with Recording and TimeShift functions.

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GPL-2.0 license
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RTL SDR FM Player

RTL_FM_PLAYER allows FM Stereo listening with TimeShift and Recording functions, using RTL DVB-T compatible USB dongles on Linux and Windows. TimeShift function can go back some minutes in time to listen your song again. 🎵 Use recording function save Stereo WAV files.

Description

RTL FM Player is a small tool to listen FM stereo radio by using a compatible RTL DVB-T dongle. Is a console application that runs on Linux and Windows, all commands like changing stations and timeshifting is controlled by keyboard keys. Outputs stereo audio to soundcard using SDL library. Record stereo .wav file format.

  • Runs on ANY Linux version (if compiled from source). 👍
  • Runs on ANY Windows version (from XP to 11). 👍

The DVB-T dongle has to be based on the Realtek RTL2832U. See http://sdr.osmocom.org/trac/wiki/rtl-sdr for more RTL SDR details.

Or you can buy from Ebay, Aliexpress searching for "RTL SDR BLOG".

You need to install a new driver to use this dongle.

Installation

Linux:

First time configuration, open a new terminal as root (sudo -s or su):

  • Disable dvb_usb_rtl28xxu kernel driver:
cd /etc/modprobe.d/
gedit ban-rtl.conf

Type this line in the text file you created: blacklist dvb_usb_rtl28xxu

Save and exit.

  • Download project file rtl-sdr.rules and save as /etc/udev/rules.d/10-rtl-sdr.rules
cd /etc/udev/rules.d/
wget -O 10-rtl-sdr.rules https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rafaelferrari0/rtl_fm_player/master/rtl-sdr.rules
  • Install required libraries
apt-get install libusb-1.0 libsdl2-2.0

Tip

Or you can compile a new one, see below in Building section.

Reboot.

Windows:

1. Download Zadig driver https://zadig.akeo.ie/
2. Plug in the RTL-SDR USB.
3. Run Zadig as administrator by right clicking it and choosing run as administrator.
4. Go to Options -> List all devices and make sure it is checked.
5. In the drop down box choose Bulk-In, Interface (Interface 0). This may also sometimes show up as something prefixed with “RTL28328U”. That choice is also valid.
6. Make sure that WinUSB is selected as the target driver and click on Replace Driver.
  • Download a compiled RTL FM Player here: >> Releases << (Win32 or Win64 versions)

Windows XP:

1. Download version **zadig_xp-2.2.exe** from https://zadig.akeo.ie/downloads/
2. Plug in the RTL-SDR USB. Windows XP does not have drivers for it, just proceed "New Hardware Wizard" window to the end.
3. Run Zadig.
4. Go to Options -> List all devices and make sure it is checked.
5. In the drop down box choose Bulk-In, Interface (Interface 0). This may also sometimes show up as something prefixed with “RTL28328U”. That choice is also valid.
6. Make sure that WinUSB is selected as the target driver and click on Replace Driver.

Usage

On Linux open a console, extract one of the compiled release file, and type ./rtl_fm_player

On Windows just double click rtl_fm_player.exe

Type S or W to change frequency. Use keyboard to control frequency, timeshift, mute and recording.

You can also open Command Prompt and type parameters manually:

C:\>rtl_fm_player.exe -h

./rtl_fm_player -h

Common parameters

Show all available parameters
rtl_fm_player -h

Start and tune to frequency in Hz 
(97.7Mhz)
rtl_fm_player -f 97700000

Tune to frequency and record audio to FileName.wav
(Keyboard controls disabled)
rtl_fm_player -f 97700000 FileName.wav

Performance

On "modern" PCs (x86, x64) mono and stereo decoding should be possible easily. "Modern" is any processor from 2002 Year and UP. 😆

Limitations

Latency increase as SDL2 audio queue becomes larger. Buffer cleared when changing stations or Timeshifting.

Building

Compiling RTL FM Player sources on Linux:

Note

Tested on Debian 10 "buster" and Debian 12 "bookworm"

  1. sudo apt-get install cmake
  2. sudo apt-get install libusb-1.0-0-dev
  3. sudo apt-get install libsdl2-dev
  4. Extract this project source to any directory
  5. Enter subdirectory [projectsourcedirectory]\build\linux
  6. Run:
    • ./1st-cmake.sh
    • ./2nd-make.sh

Compiling RTL FM Player sources using MinGW64 on Windows: (target 64 bit)

MinGW64 manual installation. You can install to any directory name without spaces in root drive, (eg: C:\MinGW64-RTL, D:\MinGWTemp). In this example we install to C:\MinGW64

Note

Target is 64bit, compiler is 64bit.

  1. Download latest mingw-w64 toolchain targeting architecture x86_64, win32 threads, seh exception
  2. Extract the mingw-w64 toolchain 7zip file to root directory, keeping the structure: 
    C:\mingw64\
          \bin
          \etc
          ...
  3. Download CMake Windows win64-x64 Zip file (not the installer)
  4. Extract CMake Zip file inside C:\MinGW64\CMake directory, keeping the structure: 
    C:\mingw64\cmake\
          \cmake\bin
          \cmake\doc
          \cmake\man
          \cmake\share
  5. Download SDL2 Development Libraries for MinGW
  6. Extract SDL2 zip file x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libSDL2.dll.a to c:\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\
  7. Extract SDL2 zip directory x86_64-w64-mingw32\include\SDL2 to c:\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\include\SDL2 
    check the directory structure:
C:\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\include\SDL2\
                                          \SDL.h

Tip

Note the x86_64-w64-mingw32 folder name.

  1. Download libusb-1.0 7zip file
  2. Extract libusb-1.0 Zip MinGW64\dll\libusb-1.0.dll.a to c:\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\
  3. Extract libusb-1.0 Zip include\libusb-1.0\libusb.h to c:\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\include\
  4. Extract this project source to any subdirectory below c:\mingw64\
  5. Enter subdirectory c:\mingw64\[projectsourcedirectory]\build\mingw64
  6. Run:
    • 1st-cmake.bat
    • 2nd-make.bat
  7. If successfull, compiled rtl_fm_player.exe will be on [projectsourcedirectory]\build\mingw64\src subdirectory.
    • Copy SDL2 zip file \x86_64-w64-mingw32\bin\SDL2.dll to src
    • Copy libusb-1.0 7zip file \MinGW64\dll\libusb-1.0.dll to src

Compiling RTL FM Player sources using MinGW32 on Windows: (target 32 bit)

MinGW32 manual installation. You can install to any directory name without spaces in root drive, (eg: C:\MinGW32-RTL, D:\MinGWTemp). In this example we install to C:\MinGW32

Note

Target is 32bit, compiler is 32bit.

  1. Download latest mingw-w64 toolchain targeting architecture i686, win32 threads, dwarf exception
  2. Extract the mingw-w64 toolchain 7zip file to root directory, keeping the structure: 
    C:\mingw32\
          \bin
          \etc
          ...
  3. Download CMake Windows win32-x86 Zip file (not the installer)
  4. Extract CMake zip file inside C:\MinGW32\CMake directory, keeping the structure: 
    C:\mingw32\cmake\
          \cmake\bin
          \cmake\doc
          \cmake\man
          \cmake\share
  5. Download SDL2 Development Libraries for MinGW
  6. Extract in SDL2 tar.gz, the file i686-w64-mingw32\lib\libSDL2.dll.a to c:\mingw32\i686-w64-mingw32\lib\
  7. Extract in SDL2 tar.gz, the folder i686-w64-mingw32\include\SDL2 to c:\mingw32\i686-w64-mingw32\include\SDL2 
    check the directory structure:
C:\mingw32\i686-w64-mingw32\include\SDL2\
                                        \SDL.h

Tip

Note the i686-w64-mingw32 folder name.

  1. Download libusb-1.0 7zip file
  2. Extract in libusb-1.0 7zip, the file \MinGW32\dll\libusb-1.0.dll.a to c:\mingw32\i686-w64-mingw32\lib\
  3. Extract in libusb-1.0 7zip, the file \include\libusb-1.0\libusb.h to c:\mingw32\i686-w64-mingw32\include\
  4. Extract this project source to any subdirectory below c:\mingw32\
  5. Enter subdirectory c:\mingw32\[projectsourcedirectory]\build\mingw32
  6. Run:
    • 1st-cmake.bat
    • 2nd-make.bat
  7. If successfull, compiled rtl_fm_player.exe will be on [projectsourcedirectory]\build\mingw32\src directory.
    • Copy SDL2 zip file \i686-w64-mingw32\bin\SDL2.dll to src
    • Copy libusb-1.0 7zip file \MinGW32\dll\libusb-1.0.dll to src

Compiling RTL FM Player sources using OLD MinGW on Windows:

Using old MinGW installer for Win32

  1. Download mingw-get-setup https://osdn.net/projects/mingw/downloads/68260/mingw-get-setup.exe/
    • Install MinGW on \MinGW (C:, D: ...) with packages mingw32-base-bin and mingw32-pthreads-w32
  2. Install CMake on \MinGW\CMake
  3. Download http://libsdl.org/release/SDL2-devel-2.0.12-mingw.tar.gz
    • extract (tar.gz file)\i686-w64-mingw32\lib\libSDL2.dll.a to \MinGW\lib
    • extract the folder (tar.gz file)\i686-w64-mingw32\include\SDL2 to \MinGW\include\SDL2
    • (tar.gz file)\i686-w64-mingw32\bin\SDL2.dll will be requered when runing rtl_fm_streamer.exe
  4. Download https://sourceforge.net/projects/libusb/files/libusb-1.0/libusb-1.0.23/libusb-1.0.23.7z/download
    • extract (7zip file)\MinGW32\dll\libusb-1.0.dll.a to \MinGW\lib
    • extract (7zip file)\include\libusb-1.0\libusb.h to \MinGW\include
    • (7zip file)\MinGW32\dll\libusb-1.0.dll will be requered when runing rtl_fm_streamer.exe
  5. Extract this project source to any subdirectory below \MinGW\
  6. Enter subdirectory [projectsourcedirectory]\build\mingw
  7. Run:
    • 1st-cmake.bat
    • 2nd-make.bat

Credits

  • This project is based on RTL SDR FM Streamer by Albrecht Lohoefener

  • RTL-SDR-BLOG library files from https://github.com/rtlsdrblog/rtl-sdr-blog

  • Libusb. A cross-platform library that gives apps easy access to USB devices

  • SDL. Simple DirectMedia Layer development library

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Turns your Realtek RTL2832 based dongle into a SDR stereo FM radio receiver, with Recording and TimeShift functions.

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rtl_fm_player 0.0.3 Latest
Jan 7, 2025
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