Voyeur Mode

Voyeur Mode · Net Monitor

Voyeur Mode turns OpenHPSDR Zeus into an unattended net secretary: park the radio on a net frequency, walk away, and come back to a complete, searchable log of everything that was said — each transmission recorded, transcribed to text, with callsigns picked out, looked up on QRZ, and a plain-language summary of what was discussed. Everything is generated on your own computer — no cloud service, no account.

As of v0.9.0, Voyeur Mode ships as an optional plugin (com.kb2uka.voyeur) rather than a built-in panel, so operators who don't use it carry none of its weight.

Installing it

1. Open Settings → Plugins.
2. In the registry browser, find Voyeur Mode · Net Monitor (under monitors) and click Install. (Or, if you have the release zip, use Install from file.)
3. Add the panel: Add Panel → Tools → Voyeur Mode · Net Monitor.

Requires Zeus 0.9.0 or newer (the plugin uses receive-side hooks added in that release). If you previously ran the in-core Voyeur from a nightly build, the plugin automatically adopts your existing logs, downloaded engines, and models — nothing is lost.

First-time setup — speech & AI engines

Transcription and the "what was discussed" digest need two small on-device engines (the open-source whisper.cpp for speech-to-text and a tiny local language model for the summary). These are not bundled into the main Zeus download. The first time you enable transcription, the panel offers a one-time, terminal-free download of just the pieces you need. It works on every platform (Windows, macOS Intel + Apple Silicon, Linux x64 + arm64).

Until the engines are installed, Voyeur still runs in capture-only mode — it records each over so you can replay it later; it just won't transcribe.

Using it

• Press LISTEN to start monitoring the radio's current frequency. Zeus records each transmission ("over") as it happens, at below-normal priority so it never interferes with receive, transmit, or PureSignal.
• Each captured over appears in the log with its time, length, transcript (once transcription is on), and the best-guess callsign.
• The Roster view rolls those up into "who checked in" — each station with its name (from QRZ), how many overs, and when first/last heard.
• Press STOP to end the session. Sessions are saved automatically; pin one to keep it from being pruned, rename it, or delete it (records + audio).

Callsign attribution

Voyeur extracts candidate callsigns from each transcript (including NATO and common non-NATO phonetics) and validates them against your QRZ account:

• Confirmed — QRZ resolved a real licensee; the operator's name is shown.
• Tentative — a well-formed callsign QRZ didn't resolve (DX / unlisted).
• Unknown — nothing decodable in that over.

It reuses the QRZ credentials you've already set up in Zeus — no second login — and is rate-limited so a busy net never starves your own manual lookups.

"What was discussed" digest

When a net wraps up, click Digest to have the local language model read the session transcript and write a short, plain-language summary of the topics covered — so you don't have to re-listen to an hour of audio. The digest appears in both the Log and Roster views and is saved with the session.

Searchable archive & replay

• The archive is searchable across every session by callsign, name, or transcript text.
• Any recorded over can be replayed in-panel with one click. Audio is saved under your Downloads/zeus-voyeur folder so you can find and share it.

Privacy

Transcription and summarization run entirely offline on your machine. The only thing that ever leaves your computer is the QRZ callsign lookups you already use elsewhere in Zeus.

Notes & limits

• Receive-side only — Voyeur observes the main receiver's audio and never touches transmit, the audio sink, or PureSignal.
• Monitors the main receiver; audio from a second receiver (SubRX / diversity) is not captured.
• Best results on reasonably clean SSB; very weak or garbled overs may transcribe poorly or be skipped as silence.