Made for KiwiSDR [Amazon Alexa Echo Show]
If there is anything so close to made for KiwiSDR, it’s Amazon Alexa Echo Show devices in various versions, partially thanks to the nifty embedded browser Amazon Silk, and in larger part, to Amazon’s generous acoustic offerings and super bright touch screen access!
while KiwiSDR is not included in Alexa command strings, it is still possible to let Alexa control the volume and nearly always return to last station you were playing from your online KiwiSDR! Just say “ Alexa, go to Silk! “, there you with your AFN you were listening. No other devices or technology capable of doing this!
There were two quakes with Amazon Silk for KiwiSDR:
- Amazon Silk could not access “ KiwiSDR.local:8073 “
- Kiwisdr on Amazon Silk couldn’t record and save.
Advise and trouble-shooting for accessing “ KiwiSDR.local:8073 “ on Amazon Silk are most appreciated.
Merry Christmas to you all!
-Cui Litang
Comments
Being able to use <hostname>.local depends on the Alexa OS (whatever it uses) supporting a network protocol called mDNS. It probably doesn't have this. Does Silk allow you to create a bookmark or "home screen" icon (like an iPhone) where you can specify the ip-based URL of the Kiwi? (e.g. 192.168.1.101:8073)
The Silk browser needs to implement audio recording to files. It may not do this since the Alexa is an "IoT" consumer device. Where would it record the file to? How would you access it after? I don't know anything about Alexa devices and what their limitations are.
Thanks! Amazon Silk is android 5.1.1, capable of book-marking and browsing both web addresses and IP addresses, but somehow, it doesn't load either kiwisdr.local:8073 or 192.168.1.101:8073, or seems to take forever to load, which is not the case elsewhere. DNS could be buttoned on or off which doesn't make any difference for kiwisdr.local:8073...
Nevertheless, kiwiSDR has been very enjoyable on Amazon Silk than never before.
I just found this thread and thought to try one of my Echo Show 8's and it works great! I can type in the IP address:port and the Kiwi UI pops up. To get to the frequency entry window and front panel controls turn off the info panel with the black Off button. Clicking the icon to the right of the Silk bookmark to switch from Desktop to Tablet mode changes the way the control panel works - you get a keyboard when you click in the frequency window in Tablet mode, but it's easier to get round and use the Kiwi normally in Desktop mode.
Try " Alexa/Amazon/Show, go to Silk" and sometimes you get it back to play your KiwiSDR radio which makes an additional feature no other radio does, so far...