AetherLink-SDR-MCP puts an RTL-SDR behind 34 MCP tools

Most MCP servers wrap a database, a file store, or a SaaS API. AetherLink-SDR-MCP wraps a USB radio. That distinction matters for anyone experimenting with Model Context Protocol clients: the server does not just return records, it opens physical hardware, tunes a receiver, and runs decoders against live samples. The project describes itself as a Software Defined Radio MCP server for controlling RTL-SDR devices and decoding radio protocols through an AI-friendly interface. The README lists 34 MCP tools covering spectrum analysis, waterfall displays, signal detection, frequency scanning, FM/AM demodulation to WAV, satellite pass prediction, and protocol decoding. The intended client in the documentation is Claude Desktop, with the setup command writing the server entry into its configuration file without modifying other MCP servers. What it decodes, and what stays external The decoder list is specific. ADS-B aircraft tracking, AIS ship tracking, POCSAG pagers, Meteor-M2-3 and M2-4 LRPT satellite imaging, and ISM-band devices on 433 MHz and 315 MHz, such as weather stations and sensors, are all named. For POCSAG and AIS, the project says decoding happens in Python from the dongle’s own samples, so multimon-ng and AIS-catcher are not required, though both remain available as alternative engines. That choice removes two common installation failures for pager and vessel work. Other decoders still depend on external tools. ADS-B prefers dump1090-fa, falling back to rtl_adsb from the RTL-SDR drivers when absent. Meteor-M imaging uses SatDump. ISM decoding uses rtl_433. HackRF One support is listed as optional through libhackrf. In practice, the built-in decoders reduce the dependency chain, but a full lab setup still assembles several native