The progression of the web browser from a tool for simple static information browsing into a do-everything computing environment has been inexorable, with package after package making the jump. Today it’s the turn of GNU Radio Companion, lowering the barrier to software defined radio considerably. It’s the work of [Marc Lichtman], who’s name you may recall if you have ever used pysdr.org.

Loading it up gives you a very familiar window if you’re used to GNU Radio Companion, and it comes with a set of example flowgraphs that cover a large range of applications. It supports a collection of software-defined radios (SDRs) including the well-known RTL-SDR, and if that’s not enough it can also use your sound card. There is even a set of recorded off-air captures to experiment with.

We’ve spent a while here playing with it, and it does everything we’re used to from the version outside the browser. The only thing we’re told it won’t do is work with a networked SDR, but that’s no deal breaker.

Thanks [Marcus Müller] for the tip.

Old-school teletext with its pixelated text and block graphics may now be largely a thing of the past, but that doesn’t mean it’s without enthusiasts or there’s no more life in the idea. [M7TJF] has a project which takes teletext and puts it on amateur radio through the magic of AX.25. It’s called CEEFAX Station, in honor of the BBC’s teletext offering from back in the day.

What you get is a Linux package or a Windows executable, which you run and presumably hook the computer up to a radio. It can either be a transmitting node or a receiving one for browsing pages, and there’s an online map to track who’s doing either and on what frequencies. This is all brand new so there’s not much on there at the moment, but we expect that as people try this mode, this will change.

Sadly it’s a little unclear on how the protocol works and how the pages are encoded, but it’s early days. Meanwhile if you hanker for the real thing, it’s still about in some places.

If you’ve got a cheap ham rig, it might not be very practical for you to receive certain transmissions out of the box. However, if you were to hack in a convenient little beat frequency oscillator (BFO) to your rig, then you’d be up and running. Here’s a simple way to do just that with a venerable old part everybody knows and loves.

The build in question concerns the use of a 555 timer IC. It’s seasoned with the right smattering of resistors and capacitors to taste, producing a 455 kHz beat frequency oscillator. This can be injected into the intermediate frequency chain of a receiver, making up for the lack of a steady carrier wave when receiving continuous-wave and single side-band suppressed carrier transmissions. Thanks to a potentiometer in the circuit, it’s tunable, too, from 455 kHz, plus or minus twenty percent or so. Thanks to the versatility of the 555, it’s possible to run the chip on a wide voltage range, anywhere from 4.5 volts to 16 volts, which makes it easy to install in just about any old radio set without requiring adding a specialized power supply. There’s also an alternative design that EDN covered in greater detail some time ago.

If you’re eager to dive into a wider range of transmissions than your radio can currently receive, this old-school ham hack could be just what the shack ordered. We feature plenty of good ham hacks around these parts, and don’t forget—we always want to hear about the freshest ones on the tipsline.

Seattle indie radio powerhouse KEXP has hired tech veteran Jyoti Shukla as its first chief product and technology officer, with an unusual mandate in an era ruled by automated playlists: to build digital products that put human connection ahead of AI algorithms.

A Seattle native who graduated from the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business, Shukla grew up singing and performing classical music and playing in bands.

She was most recently senior vice president of product design at SiriusXM, with earlier leadership roles at Nordstrom and Starbucks working on user and mobile experiences. She began her career at Microsoft.

For Shukla, taking on the KEXP role feels like coming home.

“Music has just been the center of me as a human being, and growing up in Seattle,” she told GeekWire.

Her formal involvement with KEXP began years ago on the volunteer side. While at Nordstrom, she joined the station’s digital committee, and later joined KEXP’s board around the time she moved to SiriusXM.

Now, she’s taking the product strategy skills developed at those major companies and applying them full-time to a station she has relied on as a fan for decades.

At commercial platforms, product strategy often centers on algorithms designed to maximize screen time and automate recommendation loops. But at KEXP, Shukla’s focus is inverted: using technology to elevate — rather than replace — the station’s human DJs.

Over 50 years into its operation, the station relies on real people in the booth orchestrating playlists on the fly based on personal emotion, global discovery and community connection. For Shukla, that human element is a vital counterweight to an increasingly automated world.

That philosophy is grounded in her own daily listening. She recalls tuning in recently when DJ John Richards was interviewing a local band and discussing loss — a moment that hit home just months after Shukla lost her mother.

“He was referring to the songs that were being played and the emotional connection that was being built in that conversation,” Shukla said. “It immediately created a connection with me. That’s so incredibly important in our time and age right now … when we think about things like loneliness being an epidemic. This piece of having a human curate what I’m listening to has a real impact.”

That anti-automation ethos isn’t just an internal compass. It’s a high-profile public campaign. In the San Francisco Bay Area, where KEXP expanded its broadcast footprint with the 2023 purchase of 92.7 KREV, the station put up yellow transit billboards reading simply: “Some things are better without AI.”

It’s a pointed statement in the heart of Silicon Valley where AI-related tech company billboards are the norm. But Shukla emphasizes that rejecting AI for music curation doesn’t mean rejecting modern tech altogether. Instead, her challenge is deciding where technology should step in to streamline operations and elevate the listener experience.

“There are some things we’ll look at to help support the things that we’re trying to do, but never would it be the creativity and the curation,” Shukla said. “Keeping that curation and creativity focused on the human, and having technology serve that — it’s really what I’m looking at.”

In the newly created CPTO role, Shukla oversees a core team of 12 to 15 people spanning UI/UX design, frontend and backend engineering, digital products, and broadcast engineering — the technical backbone of KEXP.

For Shukla, defining “product” at an institution like KEXP goes well beyond a mobile app or a website update. It encompasses the end-to-end listener and donor journey across a web of touchpoints, from YouTube videos and social feeds to live radio streams and the physical Gathering Space at KEXP’s Seattle Center headquarters.

That multi-touchpoint approach draws directly on her background in digital retail. At companies like Nordstrom and Starbucks, product teams obsess over seamless “omnichannel” experiences — ensuring a customer’s transition from a mobile app to a physical store counter or fitting room feels cohesive. Shukla sees the exact same dynamic at play for a modern media organization.

“If you think about Nordstrom and Starbucks being multi-channel, you’re walking into a store, talking to a salesperson, and then walking home and using the app,” Shukla said. “How do we create that connection across the board? You actually leave the app and come into the Gathering Space. How do we connect some of those dots so it’s a really inclusive experience?”

Looking ahead, her roadmap centers on removing friction for users while introducing modern product development practices. She plans to bring regular usability testing, A/B testing, and listener co-creation into KEXP’s feature planning.

Top priorities include reimagining the “first-run” onboarding experience for brand-new app users, improving how digital experiences connect listeners to live studio performances, and continuously refining internal tools so DJs can interact with listeners and publish unscripted playlists in real time without technical hurdles.

Connecting those software upgrades across KEXP’s physical and digital touchpoints is key because the station’s footprint extends far beyond Pacific Northwest airwaves. That scale is most visible on YouTube, where KEXP has built a global powerhouse with 4 million subscribers, over 2.1 billion total views, and an audience that is 86% international.

Nothing illustrates the station’s discovery pipeline better than a session KEXP recorded with the Quebec duo Angine de Poitrine at the Trans Musicales festival in Rennes, France, in December. After the station posted the footage in February, the masked, microtonal two-piece went viral — the video has drawn more than 18 million views on YouTube — and the band has since sold out shows across North America and Europe.

For Shukla, moments like that showcase how human taste and physical curation can launch global cultural phenomena that no algorithm could have predicted.

“Connecting all those platforms and dots together to create an experience is, I think, the exciting opportunity here,” Shukla said. “We want to bring light to all kinds of artists, globally.”