Gqrx is a free and open source software radio receiver that lets you listen to and explore the radio spectrum with an inexpensive RTL-SDR USB dongle or a more capable receiver. It was created by radio amateur Alexandru Csete, call sign OZ9AEC. According to the version history kept in the project repository, the first stable C++ release came out in July 2012, following early experiments in Python.
The software is licensed under the GPL v3. Recent releases are published by Clayton Smith, call sign VE3IRR, who authors most of the recent work in the gqrx-sdr repository on GitHub. Version 2.17.7 shipped on May 27, 2025, and 2.17.8 is in progress.
What Gqrx is for
Gqrx shows what the receiver picks up as a spectrum plot and a scrolling waterfall, where each transmission appears as a colored trace. Click on one and Gqrx demodulates it. It handles AM, single sideband (USB and LSB), CW and both narrow and wide FM, including stereo and RDS decoding, which displays the station name and the text it broadcasts. Signal processing is done by GNU Radio, and the interface is built with Qt.
Hardware support comes through the gr-osmosdr and SoapySDR layers: RTL-SDR dongles, Airspy, HackRF, BladeRF, FUNcube Dongle, Ettus USRP and RFSpace receivers are among the supported devices. The program can record demodulated audio or raw I/Q samples for later analysis, and it keeps bookmarks organized with tags. Several configurations can live side by side if you own more than one receiver.
Where Gqrx really stands out is in how well it works with other programs. It accepts remote commands over the network, on TCP port 7356 by default, with a mode compatible with rigctld, the control daemon from the Hamlib library. Satellite tracking software can therefore retune it in real time to correct for Doppler shift. Demodulated audio can also be streamed over UDP to a digital mode decoder, on the same computer or another one.
Compared with GNU Radio, which we also cover, Gqrx sits one level higher: it is a finished application that uses GNU Radio behind the scenes without asking anything of the user. Against SDR#, its best-known counterpart on Windows, it favors simplicity and free software, while SDR# offers more plugins and noise reduction features.
Who is it for?
Gqrx suits radio amateurs, shortwave listeners, people curious about airband or weather satellites, and anyone who has just bought an RTL-SDR dongle and wants to see what is on the air around them. The interface stays readable, and on a recent Linux distribution you can be listening within minutes. Keep in mind that in many countries the law restricts listening to some communications, such as private or emergency traffic.
Its limits are well known. Gqrx demodulates only one signal at a time, and it does not decode digital modes such as DMR, ADS-B or satellite imagery by itself, so you will need dedicated programs for those. The Windows build is new, introduced as experimental in February 2024, and the project also lists radioconda as an option there. Windows users who want more features usually look at SDR#, while those who want to design their own processing chain move on to GNU Radio. The project also recommends running the volk_profile utility before first launch to enable processor-specific optimizations.
Download Gqrx safely
Official releases are published on the Releases page of the gqrx-sdr/gqrx GitHub repository, which the gqrx.dk website points to. You will find an AppImage for x86_64 Linux, two macOS disk images, one for Intel and one for Apple Silicon, a Windows zip archive and the source code. According to the changelog, the Intel image needs macOS 13.7 or later. Most Linux distributions and Flathub also carry Gqrx, as do MacPorts and Homebrew on the Mac, although the official site warns that these packages can lag behind the latest release.
Gqrx is free and has no paid edition. Every release goes through GitHub and distribution repositories, so a Windows installer offered on a third-party portal, often wrapped in a setup wizard the project never made, is one to stay away from.
Frequently asked questions
Does Gqrx run on Windows?
Yes. Since version 2.17.4 in February 2024, each release includes a Windows archive, first limited to RTL-SDR dongles and extended to Airspy receivers in 2.17.5. Gqrx is also bundled with radioconda, the installer that brings GNU Radio to Windows.
What hardware do I need to get started?
An RTL-SDR dongle and an antenna are enough to cover a large part of the VHF and UHF bands. Gqrx also works with higher-end receivers such as Airspy, HackRF or USRP devices. Any reasonably recent desktop or laptop will do.
Can Gqrx decode digital modes?
Not directly, apart from RDS on FM broadcast stations. You can, however, stream the demodulated audio over UDP to a dedicated decoder that takes care of the rest.
