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Welcome to the second bulletin for September 2026. The big news of the last two weeks is a new release from Marcus Roskosch, the maker of SDR Control for a variety of rigs. He has released SDR RX, a long-awaited SDR receiver app. If you have any tips, news, and good ideas for the bulletin, please contact me, Andrew VK2AWN. You can also download this bulletin as a PDF.
Items are presented alphabetically; mention doesn’t imply endorsement or use, and no listings are paid for or in kind. Items are sourced through social media posts, websites, and online news services. Pricing key (USD) $=1–9; $$=10–24; $$$=25+. ???: Unsure of price. ***: Owned and used by the writer.
Applications
Enthusiast Alan Stankevitz in Mac-Hams reports: “I’m currently testing the latest version of deskHPSDR (2.7.37) on my Mac using the Anan 200D. This version by Heiko Amft uses NNR / WDSP-2. 10. NNR uses a lot of CPU cycles but is the best NR I have ever used. (Works great on my M4 MacBook Pro.) It does a fantastic job of eliminating static crashes on the lower bands and bringing in those stations just above the noise floor.” The latest releases are here.
Developer Mark Garrison reports: “Echo Pro is officially here. Echo 1.5 is now live on the App Store with recording, live on-device transcription, translation, and iCloud sync across supported Apple devices. Everything you already use Echo for is still free. Echo Pro just adds more for people who want to take it further. I’ve been working on this for a while and I’m really excited to finally have it out.”
Hamtrax (iPhone, iPad) ***
Hamtrax continues to evolve and v1.1.42 was released this week. Hamtrax is a multi-function logging app and more. The full and very detailed change log is online and many new features are on the way. The app has monthly, annual, and lifetime payment options.
I-Digi 3.0 (looking for testers)
Developer Christoph Nadig posted in Mac-Hams: “iDigi 3.0 is coming — and I’m looking for testers! This is a big release, with several new modes and a major overhaul of the FT8/FT4 decoder. The new FT8/FT4 decoder adds multi-pass decoding, deep decoding, a-priori decoding, and multi-threading to improve decoding performance — especially on busy bands with weak or overlapping signals, allowing for up to 35% more decoded messages, most of them in the sub -18 db range.”
“September 21, 2026—The Amateur Radio Safety Foundation, Inc. (ARSFI) and the Winlink Development Team are pleased to announce the public beta release of MacWinlink, a native macOS Winlink client for Apple Silicon Macintosh computers. MacWinlink represents a significant milestone for macOS users of the Winlink system. In development for nearly a year, the application is written entirely in Swift and is designed to provide a modern, native macOS experience while bringing the capabilities of the Winlink system to the Mac platform.”
Nexus (Mac)
From the website by KD9TAW: “Most stations run a decoder, a logger, a mapper, an alerter and a panadapter app, each with its own settings and its own copy of your log, all fighting over one COM port. Nexus does that work in one place, with one log, across one or multiple radios.” It runs on Apple Silicon and not Intel.
Parks and Peaks (iPhone, iPad, Web)
Parks and Peaks is a POTA, WWFF and SOTA app used in Australia and New Zealand. It has undergone a big revamp. I am a user. The developer of the iOS and iPadOS app, Sue Southcott, is a Mac user and very responsive to requests and reports. She advised: “A new version (3.2) of the Parks & Peaks iPhone/iPad app has been released to the App Store. This version gets data from the new website in New Zealand, no sync problems, it’s fast.” Here’s the change log. The developer of the website, Matt, reports: “After many years, the old parksnpeaks.orgserver has reached end of life, and a significant amount of work would be required to rewrite the existing site to work with modern software versions. Instead, at Allen’s request, ontheair have agreed to provide all the services formerly provided at parksnpeaks.org through the ontheair server. The new VK-specific version of ontheair is now available for you to try out here.” Other changes are here.
Repeater Book Connect (iPhone, iPad) $
Josh at Ham Radio Crash Course in a YouTube video reports “RepeaterBook Connect makes it simple to find and program your ICOM radios wirelessly” from your iPhone and iPad via Bluetooth. Repeater Book reports it this week added support for the Icom ID-5200A/E. In addition to working with many Icom radios, it also works with Kenwood and Yaesu units.
GW3JVB reports: “The focused RigOne operating style, taking shape for the Mac station desk.
RigOne for Mac is currently in development. The aim is to bring the same practical approach to macOS: keep the useful controls close at hand and avoid turning everyday radio operation into a complicated cockpit. The Windows version is the current public release. The Mac version is coming along for a future release.
From developer Marcus Roskosch: “It’s a native macOS app built for anyone who wants to plug a USB software-defined radio into their Mac and start listening, watching, and decoding — without wrestling with clunky, cross-platform software that was never really designed for macOS in the first place.” I purchased this app and can confirm it runs well with RTL SDR Blog V3c and V4c (but not V4L). The software is nice and a good investment. It is on par with SDR Connect for Mac (for SDR Play devices). SDR RX doesn’t work with SDR Play devices at this time. It connects directly to the Mac via USB and at this time doesn’t control networked radios (SDR ++ Server or OpenWebRX+). Marcus is very responsive to bug reports and functionality requests. The app (product page) is on the App Store for USD50.
SWL Tools (iPhone, iPad) $ ***
From the website: “SWLTools records what you hear, shows you the band, and reads the digital modes that carry text on the air — Morse, RTTY, weather fax and aircraft messages. Connect any receiver through a USB audio adapter and see what is being said, not just what is being transmitted.”
ZeusSDR reports: “ZeusSDR™ 2.0.38 is out. This update brings changes to the meters, MIDI tuning, station identification, the HUD, the G2 updater and ZeusChat”. There are many, many other changes and they’re detailed in this post. Download the latest Mac version here.
Web apps
In Mac-Hams, Peter Hopkins, W4PAH, reports: “HamDash.com and SDRcom.com were both built on and tested on macOS with electron wraps. HamDash.com is free and has 71 live API feeds with everything ham radio. If you have requests or suggestions they would be most welcomed. I just added an updated Amateur Satellite global view and updated weather. It’s community supported and zero profit”.
HamGPT.com $ ***
From Rodrigo, AK6FP: “This week, HAMgpt got a little better at answering a very simple question: What can I actually do with my station today?”. A full list of improvements is here.
POTA dot app ***
K8MRD has done a YouTube video and reports: “It’s still in Beta but the new next.pota.app website is really cool! Lots of improvements & new features to more easily navigate the site. New map, new features to the spotting page, it just goes on and on. Check it out!”
Hardware, Guides and Reviews
None this edition.
More from VK2AWN
Temporary bracket for #Icom ID-5200A/E head unit 24/09/2026
Get a UTC clock and band conditions on your #CarPlay screen with iOS27 23/09/2026
It’s worth your while taking a fresh look at widgets for CarPlay on iOS 27 – it’s got cool. 22/09/2026
My Icom ID-5200A arrived today. First impressions – it’s an ID-52A Plus on steroids. 21/09/2026
Mac Quick-ish tip – comparing apps on your Macs. 18/09/2026
About
Apple Amateur Radio is a not-for-profit pursuit of mine, Andrew Woodward, VK2AWN. I am a hobbyist, not working, derive no commercial gain from blogging and have no formal association with brands, people, goods and services mentioned. I just hope people find this helpful and I in turn learn something through your feedback. This bulletin is written from scratch by a human in Apple Pages with no AI except for proofreading. The first edition publishes on the second Friday of the month. The late edition publishes on the fourth Friday of the month (give or take a few days).
Updates from Mac Ham Radio as at 27 September 26.
ENDS