A developer known as h0m3us3r has published w1700k-sdr, an open-source project that turns a Gemtek W1700K Wi-Fi 7 router into a wideband software-defined radio (SDR) receiver. CNX Software reported on it on 16 October 2026. The GitHub repository was created on 11 October. Instead of carrying Wi-Fi traffic, the router's radio captures raw samples and streams them to a Linux computer, where you can watch the live spectrum and a waterfall in a browser.

What the router can capture

The project uses the router's MediaTek MT7996 Wi-Fi 7 chipset to record raw 14-bit I/Q samples at 40, 80, 160 or 320 MSps on the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz bands. At the top rate that means seeing up to 320 MHz of spectrum at once. The receiver has automatic gain control, manual gain settings and analog filtering from 20 to 320 MHz. Frequency, gain, filters and band can be changed while streaming. Changing the sample rate still requires restarting the stream.

The data leaves the router over its 10 GbE port, handled by the Airoha AN7581 SoC. At 320 MSps the radio produces about 1.28 GB/s, more than a single 10 GbE link can carry. The firmware therefore packs half of the data into a smaller format without losing information, buffers it in a 1 GiB ring buffer and sends it over UDP at about 9.75 Gbit/s. According to CNX, this gives continuous streaming without the gaps of snapshot-based projects such as ESP-WebSDR.

Built without MediaTek's firmware

The project replaces the stock firmware with its own Linux system and its own radio firmware. The developer reverse-engineered how MediaTek initializes and calibrates the radio by tracing register operations, then implemented those steps without loading MediaTek's proprietary firmware. Most of the code is under the MIT license, with some kernel, bootloader and driver parts under GPL and BSD licenses.

What you need

  • a Gemtek W1700K (hardware 1.x) or W1700K2 (hardware 2.1) router, also sold as the Quantum Fiber W1700K;
  • a 3.3 V USB-to-serial adapter for installation;
  • a Linux computer with a 10 GbE network card connected to the router's WAN port.

The repository includes build scripts, installation tools and instructions for backing up the original NAND flash first. After installation, the spectrum viewer runs in a browser on port 8073, and command-line tools can record I/Q data for later analysis.

Why it is interesting for smart homes

Zigbee, Thread and most Wi-Fi devices share the 2.4 GHz band. A receiver that shows the whole band at once in real time is a handy way to see what is crowding a channel before you move a Zigbee network or a Wi-Fi access point. The catch is the hardware: the W1700K is a router from US internet provider Quantum Fiber, and installing the project means opening it and replacing its firmware.