berkon / wireless-microphone-analyzer

Scans the spectrum for free/congested wireless microphone channels ("RF Explorer" or "TinySA" hardware is required!)

Wireless Microphone Analyzer

The Wireless Microphone Analyzer shows the frequency spectrum captured with the "RF Explorer" or "tinySA" hardware. Wireless microphone vendors (e.g. Sennheiser, Shure etc.) have defined specific frequency ranges for their equipment which they gave proprietary names. This tool allows you to preselect these bands. E.g. if you bought a "Sennheiser WE 100 G3" in Sennheiser's E-Band, you can select this range in the app, to check whether and were there are any interferences. You can also also overlay the vendor recommended channel frequency presets, which are optimized by vendors and guarantee a intermodulation free operation of multiple microphones in parallel. The app also shows forbidden frequency ranges in red. E.g. LTE up-/downstream ranges which meanwhile overlap with old microphone frequency bands.

Connection

When starting the app, it automatically tries to detect the serial port to which scanner hardware is attached to. If this doesn't work, you can open the "Port" menu and select the corresponding port manually. In case there is still no display, please restart the app or press <CTRL><R>. It looks like sometimes the serial ports are not detected properly by the underying Electron framework.

UI Description

It is possible to show/hide each of the displayed graphs:

• Recommended manufacturer channels
• Forbidden ranges
• Congested / forbidden channels
• TV channels

by clicking the corresponding entry in the legend on top.

The following mouse/keyboard commands zoom/move the frequency range:

• Mouse wheel scroll OR Arrow up/down zooms in/out of the waveform. Which means decreasing/increasing the span width of the spectrum analyzer

• Mouse wheel tilt OR Arrow left/right moves the frequency range down-/upwards (when holding down freqency range shifts by 50%)

• <CTRL> Arrow left/right toggles between vendor channel presets within the selected vendor specific frequency band.

Installation

Windows

Download and install the .exe installer. The required drivers for Windows can be found here: https://j3.rf-explorer.com/43-rfe/how-to

Mac

Download and install the .dmg package. Also make sure to download and install the necessary USB-Serial driver according to this guide: https://j3.rf-explorer.com/43-rfe/how-to/205-h2-macosx-drivers

IMPORTANT: For Catalina (MacOS 10.15) and later, make sure to download the latest USB-Serial driver! Older versions cannot be installed anymore due to Apple's security restrictions!

Linux

For all common Linux distribuitions the .AppImage can be used without any installation (like a portable applications on Windows).

For Linux distributions using Debian packages, a Debian package is available as well. Just download the .deb package and install it as follows:

sudo dpkg -i <package_name>.deb

If the command above fails, you might need to update the dependencies with:

sudo apt install -f

In order to run the tool as non-root, you have to add your username to the "dialout" group:

sudo gpasswd --add <your_username> dialout

IMPORTANT: After adding your username to the group you should reboot your system.

For Linux normally no special driver is required, as the corresponding driver is already included in most Linux distribuitions. In case you are on a different OS and the driver is missing in your installation, you can download it from here.

wireless-microphone-analyzer's Issues

Dark mode?

Hi,

Would it be possible to get an option to have a dark mode for live use without blinding / distracting people with a white screen.

Many thanks

Software blank screen

I am running the software on a Macbook Pro M3 Pro and MacOS 14.1

When the software opens, after a few seconds, it resets the RF Explorer's scan range to 240.000 - 240.000 and won't allow me to change it using the menus.

Eventually, the screen goes white.

I have tried to re-install the software, and that didn't solve the issue.

Any advice is appreciated :)

MacOS X version - missing "Quit" Menu command, menus in wrong places.

Under MacOS X Catalina ("10.15"; possibly other versions, too), the "Quit" command is missing from the [Application Name] menu; also, the usual Command-Q keyboard shortcut also does not work for this, so the only option is to force-quit the application.

Unusually, the [Application Name] menu is displaying the manufacturer list; one would normally expect a separate menu named "Manufacturer" (or something along those lines). I'm just guessing, but this issue might just be a result of an off-by-one error in the menu numbering for MacOS X. (The usual MacOS X menu order is [Apple icon], [Application Name], File, Edit, then the software-specific menus.)

Feature Request: Export CSS for Sennheiser WSM Software Compatibility

First of all, thank you so much for this software. With the added RF Explorer Plus compatibility, it perfectly fits my needs. Since I notice you are actively developing this software, I wanted to request a feature.

When exporting the CSV, could you please add an extra option for compatibility with Sennheiser's Wireless Systems Manager (WSM) software? Specifically, WSM software requires:

Whole numbers to be divided by a comma (",") instead of a period (".").
Values to be separated by a semicolon (";") instead of a comma (",").
This feature would greatly enhance the usability of the software for those of us using Sennheiser's WSM.

Thank you for considering this request!

Contribute country/vendor specific frequency information here

This issue will be kept open forever. It is thought for all of you who can/want to contribute all sort of frequency related information. You don't need any programming skills at all. Just let me know what YOU know about specific regulations in your country or yet unknown vendors. In regards to the Wireless Microphone Analyzer this especially means:

• Forbidden frequency ranges for certain countries

• Frequency ranges which vendors use in their products (and are missing in the tool)

• Recommended channel presets of vendors

Contribution assistance if needed

In the SoundBase (soundbase.app) Discord, your amazing app has been mentioned as a way to obtain a CSV from a tinySA in a Mac & Windows way.

I noticed two things after forking this repo regarding the tinySA.

1. When switching out of band for the tinySA BASIC, it doesn't switch to the "HIGH" or "LOW" mode.
2. I've noticed through developing SoundBase Pro, with both tinySA BASIC and ULTRA, the total number of points is nearly limitless when using the "scanraw" command and you can obtain a much higher data capture density. We typically recommend 1500 points to obtain a very high resolution scan (no matter the start and stop frequency)

Do you have any ideas how I can contribute to this end? I don't want to change what you've done, and want to respect your processes.

csv. export not working

Hi!
I just found your great Software and it works perfectly so far, except that its not possible to export a .csv File :( Im running on Win10, RF Explorer Firmware is Up-to-Date... the export Window opens, i can give a Filename and hit Save (window closes normaly after that) but no File is genereated.
Is it just me having this issue?
This would be the most important Part for me, to be able to import Scan Data to Shure WWB...
thanks

p.s.: I also tried the 3 last Versions!

Scan Resolution

I find myself very limited with the resolution on the scann. I work as a sound tech, coordinating systems with 20+ RF channels and the csv export for WWB6 has not enough resolutino for me to make decissions over which frecuencies to use.

Scan 2.4G and 5G wifi bands

I am not a microphone guy, and use the RF Explorer to scan for wifi congestion on the 2.4G and 5G bands. Is is possible to adapt this software to display those frequencies? Is it a case of writing a .json file with relevant details? If so do you have any documentation as there are many folders in the frequency_data folder so not sure which I should use and what the correct format is.

Scan graph not drawn on Linux in some cases

A user notified me that on his Linux machine the graph is not drawn. The issue is not always reproducible, but I found a way how I can reproduce it in most of the cases. I'll look into this asap ...

WORKAROUND: When no graph is seen, simply zoom in/out or change the frequency range with the arrow keys or the mouse scroll wheel, then the graph should appear.

Java Script Error

Started the Programm once it worked fine, after a while it crashed and is showing a java script error when iam selecting a frequenzy band. Not showing any rf explorer signal at all.

Please provide an AppImage for download

wireless-microphone-analyzer/package.json

Line 45 in 4c230a0

"AppImage",

Please provide an AppImage for download on GitHub Releases, thank you.

Sennheiser eW 100/300/500 G3 A-Band

Here's a new table, same format as the ones found at:

wireless-microphone-analyser-master>frequency_data>presets

Data extracted from:

https://assets.sennheiser.com/global-downloads/file/11015/Overview_Radio_Mic_Frequency_charts_2014.pdf

SEN_A_G3.json.txt

Stops connecting to RF Explorer

Hi!
I have been using Wireless Microphone Analyzer since fall last year. It has been excellent for my usage!
However, after updating to 1.7.3, the RF Explorer no longer shows scan results from the RF Explorer, but it does show the USB port with a checkmark. It also does not show the RF range the explorer is set to.
Downgrading back to 1.7.1 does not seem to fix it.
Thank you!

Can you add support for tinySA?

If possible, we can send you tinySA for testing.

Black drop-down menus on Ubuntu 18

When using Wireless Microphone Analyzer on Ubuntu 18, it is impossible to read the content of the drop-down menus.

Can't export to wwb6 or 7

Seems file can't be read when trying to be imported to shure workbench

Compatability with IoT module

What is needed to make this software compatible with the RF Explorer IoT module (https://j3.rf-explorer.com/60-rfe/specifications/182-rf-explorer-3g-iot-for-raspberry-pi)? It currently does not detect the hardware, regardless of changing baud rates.

Restart needed to display new band

Hi. Thanks for making this useful piece of software.
I'm using the latest release on mac OS 12.6.9 and have noticed weird behavior. When I select a new band I can see on the rf explorer's display that it takes the new frequency range but the software displays nothing and reports the range as NaN - NaN Hz. If I quit and reopen the application then it adopts that new band the rfe is set to and displays correctly. This happens any time a new band is selected.
I'd also like to make a suggestion for a "manual" band which allows the user to input a start and stop frequency. This could be useful if you're using multiple bands or different brands mixed and want to see an overview of everything.

saving tracings

It would be incredibly helpful to automate sweeping across a range and savings the amplitude tracing so it can be imported into RF coordination software like IAS