# How To: LimeSDR + GQRX + macOS Sierra (OSX)

**URL:** <https://discourse.myriadrf.org/t/how-to-limesdr-gqrx-macos-sierra-osx/657>\
**Category:** LimeSDR\
**Created:** [28 January 2017 05:00 UTC](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/t/how-to-limesdr-gqrx-macos-sierra-osx/657 "2017-01-28T05:00:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ramsin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/858c86/32.png) [@Ramsin](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/u/Ramsin)\
**Post date:** [28 January 2017 05:00 UTC](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/t/how-to-limesdr-gqrx-macos-sierra-osx/657/1 "2017-01-28T05:00:49Z")

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~~Hello All,~~

~~I’ve gotten everything installed Pothos/Soapy, LimeSuite, etc…you name it, and it’s been installed. Aside from adding the string “soapy=0,driver=lime” into GQRX, is there something I’m missing? Or is OSX just not supported yet?~~

Please see **[this post below for details](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/t/how-to-limesdr-gqrx-macos-sierra-osx/657/19)**.

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**Author:** ![andrewback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@andrewback](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/u/andrewback)\
**Post date:** [28 January 2017 08:38 UTC](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/t/how-to-limesdr-gqrx-macos-sierra-osx/657/2 "2017-01-28T08:38:15Z")

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No, OS X should be supported. Can you try the Quick Test and let me know how you get on.

[https://wiki.myriadrf.org/LimeSDR-USB\_Quick\_Test](https://wiki.myriadrf.org/LimeSDR-USB_Quick_Test)

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**Author:** ![csete](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/discourse.myriadrf.org/csete/32/3326_2.png) [@csete](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/u/csete)\
**Post date:** [28 January 2017 09:50 UTC](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/t/how-to-limesdr-gqrx-macos-sierra-osx/657/3 "2017-01-28T09:50:19Z")

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You really need to provide more details about what you did and in particular how you installed the various packages.

The official distribution of Gqrx on OS X in the [Gqrx app bundle](http://gqrx.dk/download) and that does not yet support LimeSDR. Installing Limesuite and Pothos independently of the gqrx bundle is not going to make gqrx work.

Currently there are two options:

1. Build everything from source.
2. Wait until I or somebody else have time to create a new OS X bundle.

PS: It might be a good idea to move this under the LimeSDR category.

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**Author:** ![andrewback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@andrewback](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/u/andrewback)\
**Post date:** [28 January 2017 10:18 UTC](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/t/how-to-limesdr-gqrx-macos-sierra-osx/657/4 "2017-01-28T10:18:46Z")

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Thanks for the clarification, @csete! Moved topic.

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**Author:** ![martywittrock](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/discourse.myriadrf.org/martywittrock/32/66_2.png) [@martywittrock](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/u/martywittrock)\
**Post date:** [28 January 2017 12:30 UTC](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/t/how-to-limesdr-gqrx-macos-sierra-osx/657/5 "2017-01-28T12:30:36Z")

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Ramsin,

Just ensure that the settings where you typed “driver=lime,soa…” also show the following:

 ![](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/uploads/myriadrf/original/1X/bd1a4df762a0427a5b52456c4b2abca4f217e5cd.jpg)

If you have any issues past that then there may be underlying development still going on for OSX that you can pull if there’s been changes since the last time it was compiled.

Hope this helps - Cheers,

Marty (KN0CK)

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**Author:** ![Ramsin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/858c86/32.png) [@Ramsin](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/u/Ramsin)\
**Post date:** [28 January 2017 14:40 UTC](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/t/how-to-limesdr-gqrx-macos-sierra-osx/657/6 "2017-01-28T14:40:13Z")

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Thank you all for the responses.

Andrew, the test works, though I didn’t get as far as the transmit portion.

Alex, LimeSuite/Pothos was installed via homebrew, GnuRadio/GR components via MacPorts, GQRX was simply downloaded from the site. I will give building from source a shot to see what the outcome is.

Marty, no go, I’m assuming that you and Alex are on to something with there being an underlying issue with GQRX for now.

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**Author:** ![csete](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/discourse.myriadrf.org/csete/32/3326_2.png) [@csete](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/u/csete)\
**Post date:** [28 January 2017 14:56 UTC](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/t/how-to-limesdr-gqrx-macos-sierra-osx/657/7 "2017-01-28T14:56:04Z")

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The gqrx app bundle comes with everything included in the bundle and will only use what is in the bundle. It will not use any external libraries you may have installed.

Note that you have to build gr-osmosdr with soapysdr support, which in turn will need the soapylms plugin, then you can build gqrx to use the new gr-osmosdr.

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**Author:** ![Ramsin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/858c86/32.png) [@Ramsin](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/u/Ramsin)\
**Post date:** [28 January 2017 15:29 UTC](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/t/how-to-limesdr-gqrx-macos-sierra-osx/657/8 "2017-01-28T15:29:03Z")

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Holy Moley…haha, this may be over my head, but I’ll try. That explains why I kept getting

> Failed to set RX input rate to 1e+07  
> Your device may not be working properly.

After building GQRX. Thanks for the advice Alex, I will try that now, and report back for others that might be at this obstacle.

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**Author:** ![Kc7noa](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/discourse.myriadrf.org/kc7noa/32/144_2.png) [@Kc7noa](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/u/Kc7noa)\
**Post date:** [28 January 2017 17:32 UTC](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/t/how-to-limesdr-gqrx-macos-sierra-osx/657/9 "2017-01-28T17:32:43Z")

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isn’t this backwards ?

soapy=0,driver=lime  
shouldnt it be  
driver=lime,soapy=0

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**Author:** ![csete](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/discourse.myriadrf.org/csete/32/3326_2.png) [@csete](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/u/csete)\
**Post date:** [28 January 2017 18:46 UTC](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/t/how-to-limesdr-gqrx-macos-sierra-osx/657/10 "2017-01-28T18:46:50Z")

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I don’t think the order matters but logically I would prefer “soapy=0,driver=lime” because driver=lime is actually an option passed on to the soapysdr backend 😌

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**Author:** ![Ramsin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/858c86/32.png) [@Ramsin](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/u/Ramsin)\
**Post date:** [28 January 2017 22:37 UTC](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/t/how-to-limesdr-gqrx-macos-sierra-osx/657/11 "2017-01-28T22:37:02Z")

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I’m throwing in the towel for now, after several hours of trying to build this…build that…I just couldn’t figure it out. Thanks for the input everyone.

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**Author:** ![Ramsin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/858c86/32.png) [@Ramsin](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/u/Ramsin)\
**Post date:** [30 January 2017 03:14 UTC](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/t/how-to-limesdr-gqrx-macos-sierra-osx/657/12 "2017-01-30T03:14:34Z")

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Ok, so I reinstalled LimeSuite and SoapySDR through brew, GNURadio through MacPorts. I built gr-osmocom from source to include SoapySDR support, GQRX from source…and installing just about everything else related to SDRs…I’ve gotten to the point where…

> libc++abi.dylib: terminating with uncaught exception of type std::runtime\_error: soapy\_source\_c::set\_iq\_balance\_mode() not supported

Anyone have any ideas?

The LEDs on the Radio itself change activity, but the program exits.

Full output for reference - [Pastebin](http://pastebin.com/D3MF30cE)

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**Author:** ![n5fpp](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/discourse.myriadrf.org/n5fpp/32/80_2.png) [@n5fpp](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/u/n5fpp)\
**Post date:** [30 January 2017 03:20 UTC](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/t/how-to-limesdr-gqrx-macos-sierra-osx/657/13 "2017-01-30T03:20:59Z")

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@Ramsin did you meet all the prerequisites for gqrx? I think I have seen something like that when gr-iqbal was not installed or cmake could not find it.

-Freeman

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**Author:** ![csete](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/discourse.myriadrf.org/csete/32/3326_2.png) [@csete](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/u/csete)\
**Post date:** [30 January 2017 15:16 UTC](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/t/how-to-limesdr-gqrx-macos-sierra-osx/657/15 "2017-01-30T15:16:04Z")

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Nice work @Ramsin, thanks for posting your notes!

You could be the first person on the planet to run LimeSDR + Gqrx on Mac OS X 😃

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**Author:** ![Ramsin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/858c86/32.png) [@Ramsin](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/u/Ramsin)\
**Post date:** [30 January 2017 15:52 UTC](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/t/how-to-limesdr-gqrx-macos-sierra-osx/657/16 "2017-01-30T15:52:19Z")

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No sir, thank _you_ for the suggestions.

Only thing that sucked is leaving my u.fl to SMA pigtail and antennas at home…haha, luckily my workplace uses a Hytera DMR system that transmits every so often, so I was able to confirm that the radio is receiving using a paper clip.

I like the idea of being the first for something…finally, haha, now to see if I can make it a nicely packaged app…

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**Author:** ![Sasha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/54ee81/32.png) [@Sasha](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/u/Sasha)\
**Post date:** [4 February 2017 10:22 UTC](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/t/how-to-limesdr-gqrx-macos-sierra-osx/657/17 "2017-02-04T10:22:18Z")

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Using Ramsin’s instructions, I’ve also gotten it to work. It seemed that _soapy=0,driver=limesdr_ did work, but _driver=limesdr,soapy=0_ did not.

Also, if you are getting data but no signals at all, make sure you’ve selected an antenna - the default is NONE.

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**Author:** ![jocover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9bcb4/32.png) [@jocover](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/u/jocover)\
**Post date:** [4 February 2017 10:57 UTC](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/t/how-to-limesdr-gqrx-macos-sierra-osx/657/18 "2017-02-04T10:57:33Z")

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> [@Sasha](#):
>
> driver=limesdr,soapy=0

driver= **lime** ,soapy=0  
not “driver=limesdr”

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**Author:** ![lool](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/discourse.myriadrf.org/lool/32/570_2.png) [@lool](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/u/lool)\
**Post date:** [15 March 2017 03:38 UTC](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/t/how-to-limesdr-gqrx-macos-sierra-osx/657/20 "2017-03-15T03:38:39Z")

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Hi!

That was promising, but unfortunately I’m hitting an ABI mismatch; I guess I’ll have to rebuild GQRX too now 🙂

```
$ /Applications/Gqrx.app/Contents/MacOS/SoapySDRUtil --info
######################################################
## Soapy SDR -- the SDR abstraction library
######################################################

Lib Version: v0.5.3-gec5fdd48
API Version: v0.5.2
ABI Version: v0.5-2
Install root: /Users/alc/gqrx/runtime
Module found: /Users/alc/gqrx/runtime/lib/SoapySDR/modules0.5-2/libLMS7Support.so
Loading modules... [ERROR] SoapySDR::loadModule(/Users/alc/gqrx/runtime/lib/SoapySDR/modules0.5-2/libLMS7Support.so)
  lime failed ABI check: Library ABI=0.5-2, Module ABI=0.6-dev
done
Available factories...null, 

```

Cheers,

- Loïc Minier

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ramsin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/858c86/32.png) [@Ramsin](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/u/Ramsin)\
**Post date:** [15 March 2017 03:45 UTC](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/t/how-to-limesdr-gqrx-macos-sierra-osx/657/21 "2017-03-15T03:45:19Z")

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Don’t run that soapyutil… You should have it installed already (/usr/bin)… What do you get if you type “which SoapySDRUtul” in terminal?

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**Author:** ![lool](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/discourse.myriadrf.org/lool/32/570_2.png) [@lool](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/u/lool)\
**Post date:** [15 March 2017 03:49 UTC](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/t/how-to-limesdr-gqrx-macos-sierra-osx/657/22 "2017-03-15T03:49:07Z")

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`SoapySDRUtil --find` in my PATH just works, but I was suggesting above that the one inside gqrx.app wouldn’t since it’s built against different ABI (and indeed, I can’t see the Lime in the GQRX UI)

[Next page](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/t/how-to-limesdr-gqrx-macos-sierra-osx/657.md?page=2)