Comment by waffle_ss | Hacker News Reader

Comment by waffle_ss | Hacker News Reader

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I found WebSDR a while back and was fascinated by it, however I was surprised to find out the author, an EE/CS prof[1], has a very closed source view of both the client-side JavaScript code as well as the server-side code. I wanted to poke around the JavaScript and see what I could learn but that's explicitly disallowed by the license[2]:

> Since the intended use of this code involves sending a copy to the client computer, I (PA3FWM) hereby allow making it available unmodified, via my original WebSDR server software, to original WebSDR clients. Other use, including distribution in part or entirety or as part of other software, or reverse engineering, is not allowed without my explicit prior permission.

The server-side code is only available if you email him with plausible reasons you will use it[3]:

> Q: Where can I download the server software?

> A: Nowhere. However, I distribute it (without cost) via e-mail to people who are setting up a publicly accessible server ...

He's well within his rights of course to share his code however he pleases. But it did kill off a fun little idea I had for a Twitter bot pretty quickly since I can't touch the code.

[1]: http://wwwhome.ewi.utwente.nl/~ptdeboer/

[2]: http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/websdr-sound.js

[3]: http://websdr.org/faq.html

I've noticed that the amateur radio community tends to gravitate towards developing closed source software.

It really confuses me, given both the FCC rules about keeping the airwaves open and unobfuscated, as well as amateur radio being exclusively a community of hobbyists.

There are exceptions of course... The MD-380 firmware, FreeDV, and GNU Radio all being some good examples of open source projects. But it's far from universal, and less common than I'd expect.

From my experience, it's either

1. People who make profit and don't want to lose it to the FOSS crowd 2. People who are ashamed of their code 3. It's status symbol and they 4. They don't realize open source exists 5. They're a corporation which reuses hardware/software/IP from their commercial line of gear (such as D-STAR, Yaesu System Fusion, etc)

N1MM logger [0] fits 3.) - it's the most popular contest logger, it's totally free, absolutely packed with features, and worked on by volunteers, but it's closed source because Tom (N1MM) doesn't want to lose control, but it really seems he enjoys the limelight.

WB8ELK fits into 1.) with regards to his round-the-world high altitude balloon tracker packages [1] He sells his kit for $150, with a BOM cost of $20 and no more than 1000 SLOC. I spoke to him and all he had to say was "he has no plans of open sourcing." I assume it's because it's a good income.

I'm not sure where the WebSDR fits in, but I feel like there's a good reason.

[0] https://n1mm.hamdocs.com/tiki-index.php

[1] http://www.wb8elk.com/

Chirp is also open sourced.

I think in general it's because the ham community sees software more like hardware and less like information - it's something that you work on and make a working thing, not something you share. So closed source, and often non-free, software is common.

I was surprised by the the lack of source as well. OpenWebRX[1] appears to be a competent alternative that is AGPL. I wonder if either of them support the HackRF One...

[1]: https://sdr.hu/openwebrx

In the Netherlands reverse engineering is legal for quite a few reasons.

It's written down in the Auteurswet (Dutch): https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0001886/2009-01-01#HoofdstukV...

That's good to know, but out of respect for the author's wishes I'll continue to invest my time in other projects.

I work for the CubeSat program at my university, and I emailed him personally asking about why licensing was so strict, and if it would be possible to use the SDRs systemically with some API so I can downlink over other ground stations.

People have tried scraping broadcasts from his service without permission, and most of the places running software don't have the best internet. Scraping data from the station depends on who is running it at that side, although he did tell me he can't imagine why people wouldn't be okay with it (given it's for a university and not a private corporation).

Creating an open sourced API, although would increase popularity and satisfy use cases, would saturate the host internet and tap the physical limits of the hardware. I would really want some SDR network to exist that is open sourced, but physical limits would be reached pretty soon.

The server software is available here: http://strezhi.ru/temp/2015/websdr-dist11.tgz

Binary only, but not obfuscated or anything like that, so reverse engineering it isn't too onerous.

maybe not specifically relevant to your use case, but one excellent open source program for ham radio sdr stuff that i have found is linrad. it's got a bit of a learning curve, and is pretty fun once you get the hang of it. the author is very interesting, and has a youtube channel with lots of info on linrad and other ham radio projects.

http://www.sm5bsz.com/linuxdsp/linrad.htm

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClmNy6VRE1YqOeBHwb3o0Yg/vid...

I had this experience too, thanks for posting this, I was going to post something similar.

I experienced the exact same thing. I wanted to record/stream the audio but I found it surprisingly difficult. The Java app is easy to use but much lower audio quality. The client side js heavily relies on the audio api of browsers and I couldn't get it working in nodejs. I don't know why this guy decided on his own audio codec for broadcasting amateur radio over the web. The only viable solution I found to be using an actual browser which is a pain in the ass. This guy is very weird. He wants to share amateur radio but makes it impossible to build off of.

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