Thank you to Wolfgang (OE1MWW) for writing in and sharing with us his software called "Marine VHF Scanner". Although its title suggests it's a Marine band scanner, Wolfgang notes that he has since evolved it into a general-purpose narrowband scanning tool. Wolfgang writes:
Marine VHF Scanner began as a purpose-built receiver for VHF marine channels using an RTL-SDR USB receiver.
It has evolved into a general-purpose narrowband receiver and scanner. User-editable channel databases support marine, airband (AM), 2 m and 70 cm amateur radio (FM), and other AM/FM services within the RTL-SDR tuning range of approximately 24 MHz to 1.7 GHz.
Recent additions include manual and unattended frequency-range sweeps (Section 4.7) and two configurable keyboard hotkeys (Section 4.8) for quickly saving interesting frequencies.
A note on its development
Although the project consists of around 4,000 lines of Python code, I did not write those lines myself. The code was generated - completely - by Claude.ai under my supervision. I developed it iteratively by specifying features, requesting changes, and reporting operational logic errors (views, handling etc.) until reaching Version 6.6.17.Unique features
- Pre-recording and recording to WAV files (where permitted by local laws!)
- Frequency-range scan in Discovery Mode, registering and storing where signals have been heard
- Frequency-range scan with automatic stop on detected signals - Continue button to go to the next signal.
- Dual-channel monitoring (helpful for duplex split-frequency stations)
- Remembers recent settings, the last-used database, and window position
- Priority Channel button (the same frequency must be twice in the database, once marked PriCh)
- Database editor for the CSV frequency database
- JSON settings editor for viewing and editing configuration files
The ZIP package includes English and German manuals and additional documentation.
Download: http://oe1mww.work/marine_vhf_scanner.v6.6.17.zip
The program is supplied as a compiled Windows executable (.exe), together with configuration files (.json), example frequency databases (.csv), recent rtlsdr.dll files, and detailed documentation in the ZIP package.
No Python installation is required. Download, unzip – read the manuals – start it!
To protect your ears, Mute is enabled at startup. Set the volume low and click Unmute before listening.
The Python source code is available on request
