No matter what you do, it's always better to start small. Start small, make small mistakes. Start big, make big mistakes. The important thing is to experience a little of everything while spending as little as possible. Then, you can make your money go further, to maximize your fun and experience.

Don't get all-in-one radios. They're expensive, and if you break something, nothing works. It's better to get a bunch of separate radios that are a lot cheaper, so if something breaks, you're not off the air.

u/ElectronSpiderwort recommended a Kenwood TM-D710GA:

• Kenwood TM-D710G, Kenwood TM-D710GA APRS Mobile Radio
  
  Absolutely consider getting this radio. Even if you get other radios, you will still love this one. You can do so many different things with it, it will keep you busy for a long, long time, even if that were the only radio you got. My favorite feature is the ability to send text messages. You can even send to cellphones via email. Each phone company has an email alias for SMS messages, so search for the SMS email address for the particular phone (phone company) you want to reach, and you can send text messages to that phone even the user is not licensed. They can watch your travel on a map if they want to see where you are.
  
  It's an expensive radio, but you can save a lot of money buying it used. People take care of these things, so you should have no trouble finding one in near-new condition. Buy two, one for your vehicle and one for home.
  
  A Mirage B-320-G 200 watt 2 meter amplifier is the only amplifier you will ever need, if you need one at all. It will work equally well with a handheld, or a mobile radio, and at 200 watts, it's not in the price-capability region where it's cheaper to just buy a dedicated high-power radio. You can buy it for a mobile, or buy it for a handheld, and eventually use it for both. It actually puts out about 240 watts at full power. That's impressive, and way more than you will ever need. If you put lower input power, it outputs lower power, so it basically covers everything, which is awesome.
  
  One HF radio I would like to have is a Motorola Micom 3, because it can work any HF frequency, and it does a great job of it, but it's almost $8000 with no accessories:
  
  
• motorola micom - Google Search
  
  Marine is a big part of life in Maine, and having access to marine frequencies could be helpful. I have forgotten if a Micom is type accepted for marine used, but if it is, you might save money by getting one. It's as good mobile as it is at home, and there's even a backpack version if that's your thing.
  
  A Motorola APX 8000 handheld costs about as much as a new Micom at $7000+, but you get 4 bands and lots of features. I would prefer to get a Yaesu FT-60R with the AA NiMH pack. It's cheap, works great, and it's designed for AA NiMH batteries! I currently use a Kenwood TH-F6A, which is much more expensive with amazingly fast scanning speed on 2 receivers simultaneously, but the radios I use the most are Motorola MT352R FRS radios I can buy nearly new after holidays for about $23 each (people return them and they get sold as "open box" or refurbished for half price). The performance beats any ham radios I have ever used, and they're so cheap you can loan them out like candy. I keep them in plastic bags so they're always clean and new, and nearly waterproof. They are also designed for AA NiMH! AA batteries are important. See r/AAMasterRace.
  
  I have a nice selection of fine quality BNC telescoping antennas tuned to all the frequencies I care about, from Smiley Antennas. Put a low profile BNC adapter on your new radio as soon as you get it, and get those big antennas from Smiley. The Kenwood TH-F6A goes down to 0.050 watts, so with a big antenna, you save battery above all. People think of antennas as being for a lot of various purposes, but they don't often think of battery life, because most radios can't go as low as the Kenwood TH-F6A. With the big antenna, the low power gets out just fine, and no matter how rich you are, batteries are bulky and heavy and it's always better if you don't need more of them. I got the biggest 2 meter and 440 MHz antennas Smiley makes. I got their tri-band antenna, and antennas tuned for FRS, MURS, marine, and probably a few other things I have forgotten. Be sure to mark your antennas so you know what frequencies they're tuned for.
  
  An ADS-SR1 simplex repeater with the larger memory option will get a lot more use out of all your handheld radios and mobile. It runs on AA batteries, and it has a voicemail system. It's not a lot of money to greatly expand your capability.
  
  I want an MTR3b_LCD, because it's the only radio small enough to EDC that can go around the world, on 40, 30, and 20 meters. Nobody else has a smaller, more capable radio. The radio, the antenna, and batteries, will all fit in your back pocket. Ridiculously amazing.
  
  Contact K1EL and tell him to make a Morse code keyer that emulates a USB keyboard, so you can practice Morse code in your routine PC usage at 45 WPM. You will become an expert very quickly that way.
  
  Begali Adventure Mono will work equally well portable as it does on a desk. If you buy one key, this will do it all. Don't get a 2-lever iambic key, they suck. All the fastest Morse code operators use single lever keys. NOBODY codes faster with an iambic key. NOBODY. I have no idea why people think they must have this useless feature. Palm Pico Single, N3ZN-SL (single lever), American Morse Equipment Mini-B, and any nice touch key, would round out your collection of keys. Again, avoid iambic 2 lever keys like the plague. They are poison.
  
  An Elecraft KX3 (10 watts) with a KXPA100 (100 watts), and a KPA500 (500 watts), along with all the other accessories like a PX3 (SDR waterfall display) etc, will cover all of your regular ham radio HF needs, from portable QRP, to high power at 500 watts. You will have a lot of flexibility with this setup, and it's not super expensive. The best part is Elecraft gear has a high resale value, so you will have no trouble dumping it if you decided it's not for you.
  
  If you like luxury gear, take a look at Elecraft's other radios. You might decide to buy nothing but Elecraft. A lot of people do, and Elecraft has rightfully earned that loyalty.
  
  Airspy HF+ SDR. It's the most bang for your buck, and outperforms most radios at any price, but it only costs about $160, if I remember correctly. You can never have too many inexpensive, high quality receivers.
  
  RTL-SDR. It's $30, and does everything up to gigahertz range with mediocre quality, which is what you would expect from a receiver that costs 5 times as much. This thing is versatile. When you just need to test something, or monitor something extra on the side, these are handy. Many people own 2 or more. I like to dedicate mine to monitoring FRS frequencies, because I wouldn't want to dedicate a more expensive receiver to such a low job. An RTL-SDR is probably the smartest first purchase you can make, especially if you believe in my "start small" philosophy. Even when you go big, you will still find uses for these things.
  
  
• AmazonSmile: RTL-SDR Blog R820T2 RTL2832U 1PPM TCXO SMA Software Defined Radio with 2x Telescopic Antennas: Electronics
  
• AmazonSmile: BlueRigger USB 2.0 Type A Male to A Female Active Extension/Repeater Cable - 32FT (10M): Gateway (get 2 maximum for each RTL-SDR)
  
  You need test equipment, like dummy loads, watt meters, SWR meters, antenna analyzers, etc. And power supplies. You need to know what your equipment is doing or not doing.
  
  Get a nice antenna system. You don't need to spend a lot of money at first, but antennas should be on your mind while you're selecting radios. Antennas make or break your station, regardless of what radios you have.
  
  That's all I can think of for now. I'm sure you will have a lot of fun shopping for new gear!

Getting into the hobby for cheap can certainly be done. Asking for 20 miles out of a cheap set up is going to be where it gets tough...

Long story short, your communication abilities can range from <1mile to hundreds of miles, even thousands of miles depending on a ton of variables. It doesn't really matter what radio you use (yes, some are better than others) but in the end, it's environment, conditions and ANTENNA, ANTENNA, ANTENNA! Power (linear amplifiers) certainly helps too, but it mainly comes down to those 3 topics.

Where are you transmitting/receiving? In a city with buildings and lots of RF background noise? On top of mountain with wide open land for miles around? Obviously, you'll perform much better the higher you are and the less obstructions you have.

Now we are on top of mountain, what kind of antenna do we have? Do we have a 6" rubber duck antenna on a handheld? Or are we running a 102" whip or big base antenna? I can assure you that no matter how high this mountain is, that rubber duck ain't getting out of a paper bag. Whereas I've talked barefoot (no amp) on a 4ft Firestik about 50miles as the crow flies when I was on a local mountaintop. With more antenna and/or more power, I could extend that range exponentially.

For an entry level set up, I'd recommend a few things. A good mobile set up could include;

Radio - Uniden PRO505XL 40-Channel CB Radio. Pro-Series, Compact Design. Public Address (PA) Function. Instant Emergency Channel 9, External Speaker Jack, Large Easy to Read Display. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005ZLB0E4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_h7bmDbXMZGZ2J

Antenna - K40 K-30 Automotive Accessories https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000H2W270/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_N8bmDbSDJ2RW1

This radio and antenna is a cheap, effective mobile combo that you can expect decent performance from. In poor to good conditions, you'll get 1-5 miles of transmit/receive. In optimal "top of the mountain" conditions, you could easily get 10-20+ miles. There's also this phenomenon called "skip". I'll let you research what that's all about, but basically it's using specific atmospheric conditions to bounce or "skip" your communication over vast distances. Plenty of YouTube vids explaining skip, so I won't get into that here.

For a more dedicated, base type set-up, I'd recommend a better radio and more substantial antenna. You can still use mobile radios in base setups, but there are also "base" specific rigs too. Same wattage, just in a desktop version and are generally 110, not 12V. My current base set-up is cheapish, and has proven to be very effective, as I have made contacts to several out of state stations. Again, these are just recommendations from equipment I've personally owned. There is tons of kick ass gear out there, and finding what works for you is all part of the fun.

Base radio - Uniden BEARCAT 980SSB 40- Channel SSB CB Radio with Sideband NOAA WeatherBand,7- Color Digital Display PA/CB Switch and Noise Cancelling Mic, Wireless Mic Compatible https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007B5ZAES/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_alcmDbH8DQMGD

Base antenna - Solarcon A-99 CB Base Station Antenna https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0017J7NQ2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_RlcmDbFSJ9T95

Hope all this info helps. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. This is a great sub with tons of knowledge! Have fun on the waves!

There is /r/cbradio, but I pretty much just googled everything. I bought these items and I'm pretty happy with them:

Uniden 520XL - Nice, small, cheap radio

Cigarette Lighter Power Adapter

K40 Magnet Mount Antennae with wiring - it is 15 feet of wire so that should be enough to go from the trunk lid to your dash.

SWR tester - this is to test your SWR and make sure the antennae is tuned properly, it also comes with a jumper wire to connect to your radio

If you need help with anything let me know. The CB has been very helpful on I-75, but on Daniels in Fort Myers and Golden Gate Parkway in Naples I have not had any success getting traffic updates etc. which I expected, but it's definitely super helpful on the interstate.

I'm another one of the /r/askreddit crowd, and have always had a bit of an interest in amateur radio but never wanted to spend the cash to get started. That thread was exactly what I needed to get going!

My NooElec NESDR SMArt bundle arrived Monday afternoon, I had it and SDR# set up in no time and even managed to pick up some air traffic radio during my test run! I came back to the radio multiple times throughout the day never really finding anything else of interest, I was a bit disappointed. Luckily I made one last attempt before bed and found two gentleman having a conversation on 70mm short band!!! It was so exciting, I couldn't believe what I was listening to, with the stock telescoping antenna no less. Man I'm still excited.

The coolest thing about all of this though was that my girlfriend sat next to me while we searched the waves and she was just as interested and as excited as I was. She's agreed to let me put a discone antenna in the attic of our townhouse, and even pick up a HAMitup converter. I'm so happy. :) We're even discussing getting our HAM operator licenses this fall!

So I have some adapter questions about upgrading my setup with this discone, some RG-8 coax, and a HAMitup converter. I know the dongle and upconverter have SMA connections but I have absolutely no idea how to figure out which adapters I would need to connect it all together. Any advice would be very much appreciated, thank you!

Edit: /u/ivebeenfurthereven thanks for sharing that comment man, I've found my new hobby and it's because of your post. Cheers!

Edit 2: The folks at NooElec answered my question on Amazon, they are replying to almost every single question on there, top notch customer service!

Just launched a balloon this week using this set-up. It worked beautifully. I'm assuming you're following the makezine article? If so, be careful to adjust the values of a couple of the surface mount resistors in the software because the trackunio expects values of like 10kOhm and the article lists like a 6.x kOhm one. There are variables to do so either way.

A few quick notes: learned the hard way, it's better to over-inflate your balloon than under inflate it. A difference in 1m/s ascent rate can have big effects on your time to go retrieve things. It pushed us into a really heavily forested area and made retrieval hard. I'd make a complete dummy payload that you attach to your filling apparatus, so when that lifts off the ground, you know you have the right mass + free lift. Then remove the dummy payload and attach your real flight line. It can be hectic at launch but our transmitter worked for much longer than the 4 hour duration of the flight (used disposable AA lithium batteries) so you've got some time to go. Likewise, our CHDK hacked camera worked well past landing. Patience at launch will save you frustration later.

Secondly, the trackunio code we used wasn't well configured when it comes to repeats. I thought I had fixed it but apparently I didn't flash the most recent code over to uno. Anyway, we ended up asking for repeats through the whole flight, and not just when we were less than 5kft above the ground. I feel pretty bad about this because balloons cover a big area and I don't want to clog up 144.390. In hindsight, I should have tested this by setting my threshold below my current altitude when I was driving around.

For recovery, i found typing the exact lat/long (in hours, min, sec) into http://www.sygic.com/gps-navigation and putting it in pedestrian mode to work beautifully. Got us to within 50 feet of the balloon, with a countdown of how far away we were. This was great.

While I used aprs droid to decode things out of my 2m radio, I actually got better performance from a cheap sdr receiver and gqrx. We didn't fail to decode a single packet with that set up and a cheap magnet mount 2m antenna, while APRS droid + the dedicated radio missed a couple. I'd highly recommend the little dongle if you don't have one. They're loads of fun outside the ballon.

Finally, just in case you've not seen them balloon performance calculator and landing predictor.

So I know you want to get on HF and I definitely encourage that. However, if you want to just work on getting more contacts for now, you may want to look into a few things via the computer and 2M.

First, EchoLink is a PC/Android/IPhone app that will let you connect to other hams and use their radios to get on their local repeaters. Obviously, you're using the Internet to connect to a radio far away, but it's a good low-cost way to talk with other operators. I find you can learn a lot just by listening to operators discussing their setup on the air.

Check out WAN Repeater. They have an EchoLink node (W3WAN) AND a huge number of repeaters linked in. I hear traffic on these repeaters almost all the time. So it's a good system to listen and talk on.

Second, you can actually tie your PC and EchoLink into a radio. So if you can find a cheap 2M mobile/base radio at a hamfest or ebay (I've picked up various 25W 2M radios for ~$40) and connect it to your computer, you can add a -L to your call on EchoLink. Now, you can talk to the "base" radio using your handheld, and have that go out over echolink to another radio somewhere else.

Third, you may just want to look at a bigger 2M radio, or even just a better antenna for the UV-3R. I love my UV-3R, but it is only 2W. With a $30 mag-mount antenna you may find yourself reaching out even further and hitting other repeaters.

I've done this. It's not trivial, but it's also not all that difficult, either. I'm going to assume that you want a live view of the device (meaning you'd be able to view where the car currently is located, and track it in near-real-time), not a data logged view (meaning you'd drive around, offload the data later, then view it).

This is going to be a very high-level overview; you will likely require some kind of coding and database experience, along with familiarity with the Google Maps JavaScript API. It would simply be beyond the scope of this sub (and my willingness) to post every line of code and every step of setting things up.

First, the equipment you'll need for the Pi:

• A working pi, obviously, with OS installed and configured
  
• A USB GPS receiver (like this one)
  
• A USB 2G/3G/4G dongle (like this one, with associated SIM card (if applicable) and airtime
  
  First, you need to get the Pi communicating on the mobile network with the 2G/3G/4G aircard. You can follow the instructions here, but realize that tutorial references a specific 3G breakout board for the Pi. You're welcome to use that instead of the 3G one I linked above.
  
  Once you have the Pi communicating on the mobile network, you need to get the GPS receiver working. You can follow a tutorial for that here, realizing again that this tutorial references a Pi-specific GPS receiver, but should work with the USB one I linked above.
  
  Once you have those two things, you'll need to set up some kind of server somewhere to receive the data from the Pi (I used a standard LAMP setup: Linux, Apache, mySQL, php). A simple home-based server accessible over the internet, or perhaps an Azure or Google Cloud VM would work. In my solution, I simply did this:
  
  
• On the Pi, write a script that, on a timed interval (30 secs or so, adjust to your liking), requested GPS data from the USB GPS device, parsed it, then sent that info over the 3G network to the server. The server would then take that data, parse it out again, and insert it into a database (mySQL for simplicity).
  
  
• Then, I created a web page on the server that overlaid this GPS data from the mySQL database on top of a Google Map. I wrote it such that it would automatically update the GPS data on the map on a timed interval, so I could load the page and watch the slowest game of reverse-Pac-Man ever, so to speak.
  
  
• Then, I configured the Pi to execute any scripts, GPS daemons, and 3G connectivity processes on boot, so that I could simply power up the Pi headless (using a USB battery pack, like this, for portability) and start tracking immediately.
  
  Like I said, it's a straightforward list of steps to take, but requires some coding and database knowledge in order to completely pull together all the pieces. There might be "plug-and-play" solutions available (I did this back with the original Pi B, so some years ago), but I did it all custom just as a proof-of-concept.
  
  I work closely with telemetrics and GPS tracking as my profession, and honestly, unless you're looking to hone your skills or have a hobby/pet project, there are off-the-shelf solutions that would get you up and running with vehicle/personnel tracking much, much quicker and easier.

Welcome to the sub! Congrats on passing your Tech.

First up pick up an RTLSDR, these are great little receivers that will cover 30MHz-1700MHz which covers a tremendous swathe of spectrum. Definitely check out the different types of antennas you can make over on Antenna-Theory, the RTL-SDR blog and /r/rtlsdr

Then if you want to transmit on the post popular amateur bands for techs (which are local to your area) pick up a VHF/UHF Baofeng radio like a UV-B5, UV-82 or UV-5R. Not a whole lot of difference between any of them; I think the UV-B5 is the better one, since it has a better antenna and a rotary encoder. But it's very much up to you as to what you get (style > substance after all :) ).

Now from there its a question of what where you are. City? Rural? Nearby airport? Ports or ocean?

Edit: I should start linking to the wiki more often: Baofeng radios and Your First Radio are good places to start.

The radio would be in a basement, so it looks like my best bet would be to get an antenna like this one and mount it somewhere in my garage upstairs for now, and eventually move it outside. Some of the reviews show improved reception with the antenna mounted inside. It seems to me like the extra $20 is worth it for something like this that I can keep higher up instead of down in the basement. I had no idea antennas like that could be so cheap and seem to be so well reviewed.

I appreciate the long answers. You're packing in a ton of useful information that's really helping me out.

>What modes/frequencies are you looking at using?

I really have no idea. To be honest, looking at the band allocations, I genuinely don't understand the difference between the bands. Is it basically just if there's people on a particular frequency, then you find another in your band allocation? I suppose it would be difficult to listen to the higher bands without having a huge antenna?

>Are you comfortable with used equipment?

Sure, but the only issue is that since I have no idea what to look for when buying amateur radio equipment, I don't know whether something is trustworthy or not. Since it's expensive electronics and stuff, I feel like that can easily go wrong and I might need a warranty/return, and used equipment scares me a bit. Nevertheless, if there's a way to make an educated decision when buying used equipment that you could help me with, I'd appreciate it.

>Are you near a city/town that has a club presence and possibly a club rig you can book time on?

There's a club presence but it's basically just a bunch of old guys who meet once a month to talk about ridiculously complicated electronics stuff which I don't really understand yet. I think (???) my university has an amateur radio club, so I'll try to visit them, but other than that I have no other contacts.

>Are you interested in exploration/listening/making contact? (SDR dongles can be a huge cost saver if looking at passive comms).

Not really too concerned with making contacts, more about learning about the equipment/science/electronics so that I can make projects of my own in my dorm/college so that I can talk about it to job interviewers. I have an SDR dongle, but I still really don't understand it that well. Can it basically receive everything that a regular transceiver can, but more? Or are there limitations? I understand that it can't transmit and that's cool, but I really get confused by the software aspect. Also, apparently my dongle has a direct sampling feature that can be accessed via software, but to get to the HF frequencies, do I need to actually buy/make my own special antenna just for the HF frequencies or can I use the little telescoping antenna included?

The big question I have is that there are so many frequencies/bands but I don't know what the difference is/what they're used for. All I'm doing now is just going up and down the regular FM bands while also slowly going through the RTL-SDR manuals to understand it. I just think it might be nice/helpful to actually have a hardware transciever that I can play with and hopefully learn about the hardware side when making my own systems/projects (which again, I don't know what I can do, maybe make some repeaters or something no idea) that I can talk about to employers in the telecom/networks field.

It's not perfect, it won't do over 1.2Ghz iirc, but for $30 it's totally worth it to get started. Having a sdr, just for reception, is a super powerful tool. I've used mine for all kinds of things. It's not a scientific instrument and I can't use it that well anyway but I like the peace of mind in verifying compliance.
Edit: forgot the link www.amazon.com/dp/B011HVUEME

• Potato
  
• Fancy Potato
  
• DMR Potato. $110, but close enough.
  
• Nice Mobile Antenna + mount
  
• Cheapie, but still good mobile antenna
  
• RTL-SDR
  
• Upconverter for your new RTL-SDR
  
• A snazzy enclosure for your new upconverter for your new RTL-SDR
  
• A bunch of RG8X coax
  
• Or about half as much RG-213
  
• A chest harness if you do event volunteer work or just like to play whacker.
  
• A nice desk stand to organize all your HT's
  
• Dry or wet dummy loads
  
• Raspberry Pi starter kit
  
• A Ham Radio Deluxe license
  
• A bitchin' yagi antenna
  
• Hamsticks and dipoles and verticals, oh my!
  
• High Sierra JAWS mount. Ridiculously useful.
  
• Antenna tuner or a nicer one for a tad over.
  
• Antenna analyzer
  
• Cheap straight key or a nice paddle for a bit over budget.
  
• Coax switch
  
• Powerpole all the things!
  
• Rigrunner for all the stuff you just powerpoled.
  
• Scanner
  
• Headset
  
• Analog or a digital SWR/watt meter
  
• A Pelican case to start working on your go box.
  
• A sweet atomic wall clock for the shack.
  
  That's all I can think of for the moment. I may add to the list as I think of more cool sub $100 ham toys.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Get a Tivo Premiere, a good antenna, a good signal amplifier, Some RG6 cable, a ground block, a crimp set with ends, an antenna mount, and antenna rotator. Put it all together and hook it to your home network.

What you will get:

Most of the OTA signals withing 50 miles of your home. (I currently receive 32 channels from OTA signals. a lot of them are duplicate ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, CW, FOX stations from different cities but there are a lot more channels in there then I thought I'd get and surprisingly there's good stuff to watch half the time, especially for my kids)


A DVR that gives you a guide of upcoming shows that appear on the OTA channels you receive (there is no programing channels on your part), and lets you setup your season pass recordings for the shows you want off those channels.

If you have a Hulu Plus or Netflix subscription, the TiVo lets you access those from the comfort of your couch as well as youtube and Amazon.

From Amazon, you can rent newly released movies and TV shows and download them directly to your Tivo from anywhere (sometimes I buy shows at work and have them download before I get home) TV shows run anywhere from $1-$3 an episode and you can get most new episodes anywhere from 1-7 days after they air on traditional cable. However, a lot of stuff is available on Hulu or on the networks website for free eventually if you're not in a rush.

It's a steep initial investment and it requires dedication but once it's paid for itself and you only have the $15 monthly fee you'll be saving a ton of money (even if you're buying the occasional TV show you just have to watch) and you'll realize how much TV you can really do without.

1. Awesomeness! I ended up getting a Super Antenna MP1DXTR80 portable vertical when I bought the radio. If it doesn't work out, though, I'll definitely check out this loop!
   
2. Great minds think alike! =)
   
3. That's the route I'd probably take as well.
   
4. Yes, very nice.
   
5. PM'ed you, begging for more pics! =)

I'm going to focus on AM broadcasting in my reply. I'm not going to go into the whole groundwave/skywave thing, since others are going to address that. But, this could serve to be a very interesting introduction to AM DXing.

AM broadcast stations, during the day, operate differently than they do at night.

https://www.fcc.gov/media/radio/am-stations-at-night

TL;DR, Many AM broadcast stations DROP their power significantly at nighttime or cease operations, so they don't interfere with other AM broadcasters.

So, an AM station like WABC out of NYC broadcasts at 50kw daytime and nighttime.
WABC-AM

HOWEVER, same city, WNYC (public radio) transmits at 10kw during the day, but at 1kw at night.
WNYC-AM

Now, for the cool part... I went to college in Indiana. During the night, I could hear 770 WABC out of NYC. So, I could listen to Yankee games. So, that leads me to...

Something really fun to do at night is AM DXing, especially during winter. You don't need much. A "solid" sort of portable AM radio, like a portable SW receiver that has a ferrite core. A passive AM antenna.

You don't even connect the antenna to the radio. You just put the two of them next to each other, and you just tune the antenna to create nulls in different directions to pull-out AM stations that you want to hear.

Anyway, here is a URL to get you started in AM DXing if I have piqued your interest: http://www.amdxing.com/

Sup all !
I just ordered a RLT-SDR Blog V3 with antennas (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011HVUEME/)
--
And as a total newb on the hardware, what should I worry from the start? Should I put a metal base on the antenna that comes with it, should I use a indoor TV atenna or make a new one? Is there an easy way to start HF with it with not much hardware to buy? Any tips for a beginner with this model?

Apart from that I will read more about SDR while it arrives here, I don't know what to search from the frequencies yet haha. I use Fedora Linux and will use only *nix software and they look awesome! :D
Any tips welcome, and sure I will read the sidebar of course :) Thanks !

I got you. I have a similar setup. So here’s what you need.


Wilson Electronics Wideband Directional Antenna 700-2700 MHz, 50 Ohm (314411) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J14YEHQ/

Buy two of these. Place on a pole as high as you can get it. Mount them 45° and -45°. That’s how LTE is polarized.

Example: https://www.solwise.co.uk/images/images3g/4g-ren6702709-lpda-5.png


Heavy Duty Weather Proof Multi... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N4FSKZM

Put the M1 in this on the pole too.

Use this to send power up the Outdoor cat6 cable:


TP-LINK TL-PoE150S PoE Injector Adapter, IEEE 802.3af Compliant, up to 100 Meters (325 Feet) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001PS9E5I/

And this to pull the power out of the Cat6


ANVISION Gigabit PoE Splitter,... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PW9FJNT

Then convert the mini to USB C:


ARKTEK USB-C Adapter, USB Type C (Male) to Micro USB (Female) Syncing Data Transfer and Charging Converter for Chromebook Galaxy S10 Note 9, Pixel 3 and More (Black/White, Pack of 4) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01I0ZAJXO/

Ok.

That’ll get you where you want. Don’t get a booster or anything else. It’ll make your signal slower.

Put the whole thing on the pole because if you leave it inside you’ll get a lot of signal loss along those long cables.

———

Now the M1 is a 4x4 MIMO which claims it can get you gigabit speeds. But once you plug in the external antennas you’ll get 2x2 MIMO. the only way to solve this is a bit hacky.

You’ll need this:

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F183651187710

(This isn’t me but it’s the only guy I’ve seen selling these wires)

Then you’ll need two of these:

weBoost Outdoor Directional Yagi Antenna with N Female Connector 301111 for 700/800/900 MHz Band https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006H4FVM/

These will be you MAIN antennas. While the other covered ones will be your additional.

To explain. LTE towers send out 45° 800mhz, -45° 800mhz, 45° 2700 MHz, and -45° 2700 MHz You need an antenna for each. This will get you the fastest speed and best reliability. But this is hacky. I haven’t done this, YET. I’ve just planned it all out. I’m using a LB1211 with two covered yagis. I’ve gotten up to 70mbps with just that 2x2 setup (in a valley).

I plan on getting an M1 with 4 antennas soon, but right now my pole situation sucks. I need to figure out a better solution first. Then I’ll be comfortable spending that much more money. But just getting those two covered yagis and putting you M1 up until the pole, you’ll get a much better issue

I like that kit you recommended. Here's the same kit on Amazon - out of stock, but it has a more direct URL, and lists things better.

The kit looks like a great value, but I can't tell - does that kit have an adapter included with all the the other stuff that will let me plug in my FM antenna (f-type connector)? If not, I have to buy one separate.

Shortwave broadcasts from NHK and Radio Nikkei in Japanese are easily heard on the US West Coast. Tune in a few hours around sunrise and sunset. These stations can be strong all evening long. Radio Nikkei has no English language broadcasts. NHK English language broadcasts are difficult to find on the West Coast as none are targeted to North America. Here is the current NHK schedule.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/resources/brochure/pdf/rj_frequency.pdf

The only NHK English language broadcast I have heard recently is the Vatican relay 9860 kHz at 0500 UTC ( 9 p.m. PST). Getting this signal right now is pretty much a DX proposition for me.

Shortwave signals can reach inside wooden framed and sided houses pretty well. For other housing construction types, not so well. This is why listening outdoors works better or using an outdoor antenna.

For external antennas a ordinary reel-type random wire works better than a telescopic whip antenna. There are several to choose from. https://www.amazon.com/Sangean-ANT-60-Short-Wave-Antenna/dp/B000023VW2 All of these antennas are about 23 feet long to avoid overloading inexpensive radios and some may be either clipped to a whip antenna or plugged into the 3.5mm antenna jack on the radio.

Better quality shortwave radios like Sangean ATS-909X, Tecsun PL-880 and Eton Grundig Edition Satellite (or Eton Executive Satellit) can handle ransom wire antennas of any length without overloading. All include a 3.5mm (1/8 inch) external antenna jack.

If your radio has a front end that can handle it and you want to move up a step from the reel-up antennas a longer random wire antenna is a good step up. You will need a 3.5mm plug, soldering equipment, wire, insulators and an assortment of hardware store fasteners to put up the antenna. I'm pretty sure a PL-380 will overload on wires much longer than 25 feet, though.

• Part of the problem could be the mismatch in speakers. This will be worse in your case as you're mixing a horn and a dome tweeters in the front three. Optimally you want all three front speakers to be the same speaker or series of speaker.
  
  
• The rears shouldn't have anything to do with dialogue and should be fine for now.
  
  
• After upgrading the fronts be sure to run your auto calibrate feature on your AVR. This will help get your levels to the correct spot. You can also go in and adjust the center up if you're still having issues with dialogue.
  
  The problem you'll have in upgrading is trying to match the fronts to the center. With a budget of $300 it's going to be hard to get three new front speakers so you'll need to try to match the Klipsch center you have.
  
  You currently have an older center so the best we can do is try to get a new version of the matching bookshelf speaker. The R-14m is currently on sale for $100. This is the smallest version but still should work. The larger R-15m is more at $250 but has the same size mid/bass driver as the center. While not prefect this is the closest that we are going to get without going used. Changing the front three to horn tweeters will help as will getting them to the same brand.
  
  The only other solution is to replace the front three with something else the only thing that comes to my mind would be the Micca MB42X and MB42X-C. My reservation about these is they are much less efficient than the Klipsch. For a large room efficient is good.

Shortwave radio is great because you can listen to all the HF bands, and with a good antenna, listen to what is being broadcast from around the world if the conditions are right. (The ionosphere plays a big part in wave propagation, so certain bands/frequencies are better at different parts of the day, or sun cycle).

most entry level HF transceivers cost upwards of $800-$1000, so this is a great option if you just want to listen in on what is going on around the world.

The Shortwave portion of this radio is listening somewhere between the AM and FM bands, but it does have specific modes for AM and FM as well. (and it looks like the VHF aircraft bands it picks up is just out of range of the NOAA stations). I've read that this antenna works pretty well for this unit too.

The Uniden 520 is a great choice for a basic radio. I've been using one for years with excellent results. It's really hard to beat for the size/money.

Consider the K30 magnet mount antenna for an alternative in that size.
I've used both it and the Little Wil and found the K30 to perform noticeably better. It's also less expensive:

http://www.amazon.com/K40-K-30-Stainless-Magnet-Antenna/dp/B000H2W270/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1417900765&sr=8-2&keywords=K30

The other commenter that suggested getting an SWR meter is also correct. These antennas all require some degree of adjustment for optimal performance. Just a basic meter will work fine.

http://www.amazon.com/Astatic-PDC1-100-Watt-Meter/dp/B004ULN610/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417900872&sr=8-1&keywords=SWR+meter

And the jumper:
http://www.amazon.com/Procomm-Coaxial-Cable-Jumper-Connectors/dp/B003DRJ738/ref=pd_bxgy_auto_text_y

The meter and jumper is something you'll very rarely need (just when moving the setup to a different vehicle, for the most part) so if you husband has a friend into CB or HAM operation, he may be able to borrow one for a few minutes rather than buying.

Finally, you'll need some way to power the radio. The easiest way is with a lighter plug:
http://www.amazon.com/Roadpro-Fused-Replacement-Cigarette-Lighter/dp/B0016LG0CY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417901045&sr=8-1&keywords=lighter+plug

Just cut the connectors off the ends of the wires and splice it with the ones on the radio.

Alternatively, you can connect to the fuse box with an Add-A-Circuit. These come in different sizes depending on the fuses in your car. You can get one of these for less than $10 at any auto parts store.

Thanks very much :-). I will keep trying. I am using a 23 foot plug in antenna made my Kaito here:

https://www.amazon.com/Kaito-T-1-Radio-Antenna/dp/B00066Z9XG/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=kaito+antenna&qid=1575000752&sr=8-1

I am guessing it will be behind the CODAR making things even more difficult, but I guess it is possible to pick it up from the US. I wonder if it would be a good idea to check the weather in russia to see if it is heavy atmosphere over there (thus bouncing the signal more and all) Funnly enough I have the same story with the Squeaky Wheel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMcV8TYt--g&list=PL9LiN2Y2lKDGk-6-7L8UwwwEIZkA0hFJK&index=11&t=0s Only to not hear it again since. I was wondering what would be a best time of year as well? Thx.

>what I should order for at home and for mobile?


For base , something like this works well.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QVPGKHU/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_.VxJDbJ8CDNAM

The higher you can get it teh better of course.

As for mobile ... Be careful putting that in something operated on public highways without proper permits. In NY for example , that would be unlawful. A pure receiver 'capable of receiving police transmissions' is frowned upon in the VTL equipment section. You ham ticket would cover you if it had transmit capabilities and just so happened to be able to scan.

I dont know of any really good multi band scanner ants for mobile. If it was me , I would likely figure the band I would be most interested in and use a single band that has some gain.

Ziptie and heatshrink is a good way to keep it safe and well positioned. Otherwise, 3D prints and antenna tubes I guess.

The fli14+ has rssi on channel 14, so you should be able to safely manage with one antenna. Just do some testing to figure out your range at different orientations.

I've had these in my Amazon cart for a while, ready to pull the trigger as soon as one of mine goes. You could cut the connector off and solder to the fli14+ easily enough. iFlight 2.4G Receiver Antenna with IPEX Interface Compatible with Futaba FrSky Silver-plated Feeder (20pcs) (non-affiliated amazon link)

As for soldering, you basically strip the outer layer of insulation, squash the shielding down and pull it to the sides, then strip the inner wire. From there, you've got the signal and ground wires to solder like normal.

you would be better off with one of these. https://www.amazon.com/RTL-SDR-Blog-RTL2832U-Software-Telescopic/dp/B011HVUEME/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1500058787&sr=8-1&keywords=rtlsdr

they have a protective metal case which helps with interference.

antenna wise you could build a planar disk antenna, it's pretty simple.
http://www.wa5vjb.com/references/PlanarDiskAntennas.pdf

the stock antenna is OK for FM and will receive a lot more than you expect. but with a good antenna the weak signals will just get stronger and more signals will pop up. but I easily went a few months before I wanted to have something stronger than the stock antenna.

Flat water is a great conductor of radio waves. Drive down to the water, late at night, and tune your AM radio to a station there. It will probably be coming in loud and clear.

105mi is a bit of a trip for during the day and especially on FM, but if you have a receiving antenna like a dipole you might be able to tune in. (Not affiliated with that Amazon seller, it was just the first link that came up for dipole. Super easy to make one of your own.)

Lastly, radio stations in Cuba are available on livestream. Unless the US government blocks it, of course.

>How exactly would I install or use something like the MOFI 4500?

Basically you get a compatible SIM, install it in the Mofi, configure it, and you're ready to go. Configuration is often as easy as logging into the Mofi and changing the default passwords with the rest being plug and play. If it doesn't fire right up things can get a little fiddly as Mofi documentation is not great.

>Is this what I want? MOFI4500? Is it just a router that picks up the signal from the tower and turns it into a regular router?

Yes that's it, it's basically like a normal cellular hotspot except is has ethernet ports and can use an external antenna. The external antenna is the key part for you, probably.

>Could I attach a stronger directional antenna to it such as This?

Yes you can. Make sure to get a compatible cable (example)

>Also, what would I do about the Verizon sim card? Isn't it possible to get an unlimited one somewhere?

If you don't care about unlimited you can just get one from Verizon. You could buy a hotspot plan and just take it out of their hotspot. Not sure if they would sell you a bare SIM with service, never tried. They will throttle you to 600Kb after 10GB of data.

If you want unlimited then you're into something like Unlimitedville or grey market eBay (example, this is not an endorsement). The grey market sellers are often happy to send you just the SIM versus a whole hotspot. Note the risk with those guys is there is no contract, so if they terminate service and disappear with your money you have no recourse. But, you pay month to month so generally your risk is limited to one month's fees.

​

I don't think there is much overlap between quads and 4g antenna (someone smarter can correct me if I am wrong).

I had a mobile 4g booster setup that used this antenna...

Wilson Electronics 19-inch 4G Truck and RV Spring-Mount Antenna w/ 14 ft RG58 cable, SMA Male Connector https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FUF1JAY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_ZiBRDb30P3G9E

I had the antenna hooked up to a 4g booster cradle that the phone sat in and was powered by USB battery. It was all hooked up in a backpack I could walk into the forest with and get great 4g signal. I could then sit on top of a mountain to do my work 😎 best office I ever had.

I can't imagine putting that antenna on a quad 🙃

The Kaito KA-1103 was my first shortwave radio, and remains a personal favorite. They actually make a variety of affordable radios to get your feet wet, and you'll want to pick up this easy-to-use 20' wire antenna. It has a nice compact design that doesn't leave you dealing with untangling it, and I put a cheap clip on it so I can hook it to a tree or something while outside. The adapter it comes with makes it so you can either plug in to an ANT IN port, or just clip it to the existing telescopic antenna on most radios.

Just out of curiosity, where abouts are you in the world? Location does matter, a bit. For example, I live in Michigan in the US and often struggle to pick up anything other than the preachers in the Southern half of our country. That being said, I have had some really wonderful nights where the atmospheric conditions were just right, and I was able to get signals from Europe and Africa, which is pretty exciting.

The AM and FM radio bands are very different in wavelength, so different antennas are required. Some antennas physically contain two antennas, one for each band.

AM is always going to be tricky to receive indoors, but some antennas are better than others. The antenna I use https://www.amazon.ca/Kaito-Tunable-Passive-Antenna-Panasonic/dp/B001KC579Q/ref=pd_lpo_23_tr_t_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=XPQE8X6G7ESS12QW0Z95 is fairly large but works well. Most importantly it comes with a decent length of cable so you can relocate it to where your reception is best, and it has a tuning knob so you can optimize it for the frequency of the AM station you want.

For FM, you have a few choices depending on how good/poor your reception is. In most areas, a simple dipole antenna works fine and these can be made yourself or bought for a few dollars. The key is that they need to be fully extended for optimum reception. At our cottage we hid one of these inside the walls and it worked great, but they're kind of ugly if visible. The lower they are and the less extended the arms of the dipole are, the more poorly they work. The other option is to use a VHF TV antenna. In our area, TV is on VHF so I just run a splitter and a short coax run to my receiver and use the TV antenna for my FM reception. Many areas have UHF TV and antennas for these frequencies aren't optimal for FM radio, unfortunately.

It's really easy and inexpensive ($30 USD), unlike most ALL of my other hobbies. For hardware, you need a PC (Windows Linux or Mac. I only use Windows), a SDR (Software Defined Radio) USB Dongle, an antenna (I'm using a homemade one made of coathangers), and a place to to put the antenna outside where it will have a reasonably clear view of the sky.

​

This is the kit that most of us start out with, and will start you getting decent images. It comes with everything you'll need, except the PC.

​

RTL-SDR Blog V3 R820T2 RTL2832U 1PPM TCXO HF Bias Tee SMA Software Defined Radio with Dipole Antenna Kit https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011HVUEME

​

A really good tutorial to start getting the NOAA satellites is here. https://www.rtl-sdr.com/rtl-sdr-tutorial-receiving-noaa-weather-satellite-images/

The Meteor M2 like is in this picture takes a bit more effort, but not extremely hard. Start with the NOAA, then move up if you want.

​

There's also a new subreddit called r/amateursatellites specifically for this hobby. Everyone is extremely helpful, so if you need any help or ideas, just ask.

Mine is not built up completely yet, but I'll give you my parts list for everything I have and what I'll be getting as well. :) These prices are close to what I paid for at the time.

What I have:

24" Front LED Bar -$75

36" Roof LED Bar -$180

Rally Armor Universal Basic Mud Flaps -$16

N1 4" Muffler -$40

Curt Roof Rack -$120

Primitive Racing Skid Plates (Front, Transmission (thanks /u/Pizza_The_Hutt), and Rear -$450

5" PA Speaker -$12

K40 CB Antenna (mine came damaged) -$30

Less battle oriented mods:

Nexus 7 16GB (2012)- $199

Sound System- $950

What I'm getting next in order:

SJR 2" Lift Kit -$300

5 General Grabber AT2s -$560

Tube Bumper -$300-$400

That's pretty much everything. So just including off-road related mods, I have spent $923 so far and when I'm done will have spent about $2133.

I hope this helps. :)

What exactly did you buy? There might be a compatibility issue but if you bought something like this it should be relatively easy and will work on GNU Radio. Making a simple spectrum analyzer require something like 3 blocks and that's it. Here's a good link to get you started Also, if you're new to linux, setting up GNU Radio for RTL_SDR might be a little tough (you should just go easy route and just do the apt-get along with some extra dependency to be able to connect to your RTL_SDR) or might be an over kill depending on what you want to do. What exactly do you want to do? Another method is to use SDR# with things like wine, I forgot how I've done it but it's definitely possible to run SDR# on linux though it was kind of pain in the arse. I'd say if you want to do something kind of complicated, use GNU Radio, if you just want to look up nearby spectrum, use something like SDR#.

Welcome to the hobby! To improve reception, you need to improve your antenna. For short wave listening (SWL), a long wire is a good start. If you radio allows for an external antenna, you might consider something like this.

Don’t forget OTG cable. Thats more important IMO.

Here’s a link, not sure if this is same brand but they’re probably more or less the same: Threeking Foldable Parabolic Signal Booster Range Extender Antenna Extender Compatible for DJI Mavic Pro/Mavic 2 Pro/Mavic 2 Zoom[Not fit DJI Smart Controller]/Spark/Mavic Air Remote Controller https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072HFCC2S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_biKRCbE656R2Y

Edit: Also important to note that it was a clear day with completely unobstructed line of sight. In my experience even one tree in line of sight can have significant
effect on range.

A hood channel mount like this firestik or this procomm with an antenna like this Tram or this firestik should work well and not look terribly out of place on a small car. A small mag mount like a K30 or lil will would be another good, non-permanent option.

>...would like to get crunk with some tunes at night...

How backwoods are we talking about? You can go a little crazy with yagi or even rhombic antennas to receive FM radios, but you really need to know what station you want to hear and what direction it's coming from. You're going to need line of sight in most cases unless the FM signal is really strong.

>...followed by the news in the morning...

Now if you wanted news at night, you would probably be in luck. It's nearly forgotten in this day and age by most people, but at night, AM signals can travel half the country. The atmosphere and the ground work together to act as a kind of wave guide, and also many local AM stations reduce power to almost nothing so select stations can be heard. If you're anywhere on the east part of the lower 48, you will probably be able to tune in WFAN (660 kHz), WLW (700 kHz) and so on after the sun goes down.

As for radios, in the old days the champ was called the "GE Superadio II" but nowadays you'll probably want something with a Silicon Lab's chip in it. I have the RadioShack 12-586 in my kit. Here is an old review. The Tecsun Radio PL-380 is another popular low-cost model, and you'll get shortwave bands too.

For AM reception, a tunable loop antenna can really help bring in the local stations. Search: AM DX loop for DIY plans, or you can just buy something.

i happen to already have this antenna for my TV, but i rarely, if ever, use it. i just bought this dongle and i intend to try using it with it and comparing it to the supplied antennas. i'd like to also build a dual planar because it looks fun. i'm also open to anyone who's really into antennas seeing this, if they'd like me to open up the RCA to check out it's guts, or do some tests with it

Get the first one - https://www.amazon.com/RTL-SDR-Blog-RTL2832U-Software-Telescopic/dp/B011HVUEME/ . You can turn the bias-t on and off and HF capability through software. The HF is not good but it works. An upconverter like the Airspy Spyverter will work better for HF but that dongle will give you a taste of HF. The antenna kit will not pick up HF though. It is only good for VHF/UHF. You'll need about 30ft wire and most people get the Nooelec 9:1 unun. https://www.amazon.com/NooElec-Balun-One-Nine-Applications/dp/B00R09WHT6 . Then go here for guides and tutorials - https://www.rtl-sdr.com/

For the minimal price difference I'd still get a 5.x or 7.x receiver and in your case a Yamaha since they have a multitude of DSP enhancements that would help your 2.0 setup. If you like movies you may very well find that you may want to move to at least a 2.1 or 3.1 system.

So, were this me I'd get:

Receiver $170: http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/yamrxv377bl/yamaha-rx-v377-5.1-ch-x-70-watts-a/v-receiver/1.html

2 options on the speakers if you purchase soon...

$99: https://smile.amazon.com/Klipsch-Reference-Bookshelf-Speakers-Bundle/dp/B01LWX3U4Y/ref=sr_1_12?s=aht&ie=UTF8&qid=1479314831&sr=1-12&keywords=bookshelf+speakers

$90: https://smile.amazon.com/Micca-MB42X-Bookshelf-Speakers-Tweeter/dp/B00E7H8GG2/ref=sr_1_18?s=aht&ie=UTF8&qid=1479314831&sr=1-18&keywords=bookshelf+speakers

Normally I do not recommend Klipsch speakers as I find them abnormally bright to the point of being harsh. Some people love them. Either way they are well built, quality speakers and the ones I list above were a good deal at $190 so they are a very good deal at $99. The Micca will have a more balanced sound but won't be as loud overall. With the receiver you have the option of adding a bluetooth module for about $50 if you want to stream audio from your phone/tablet.

To get started you'll need:

• An RTL-SDR (I've used these two with success: 1 2)
  
• Zadig & Install-RTL-SDR
  
• dump978 source
  
• compiler (I used Visual Studio)
  
  Once you have the pieces, you'll need to:
  
  
• Install RTL-SDR following their instructions
  
• Build dump978 and uat2Text
  
• Run rtl_sdr -f 978000000 -s 2083334 - | dump978.exe | uat2text.exe and see some output.
  
• uat2Text is useful to make sure you are receiving UAT data, but not the greatest as an intermediate step in processing data
  
• Figure out some way to convert the demodulated UAT frames into something your application can use (maybe gen_gdl90).
  
• The best option here really depends on what you want as input on your display: GDL-90, just a list of lat/lons, a json request interface, etc.

Check out this laptop for the computer part. Also I recommend this antenna kit since it is very portable. A long as you are doing mostly digital modes, check out this SDR which may be all you need if 5 watts is ok. They have a 50W amplifier too that is pretty small if needed. Those three items are together less then half your budget :)

Real CH2 and CH6 are down near the FM frequency range, your antenna won't even see those signals. Your signals are strong enough that an FM antenna would probably work and you don't need the amp. I'd get a FM folded dipole antenna (the T-type that you tack to the wall) like THIS and connect it to a Balun like THIS and then use a regular two-way coax splitter like THIS to combine the signals from the FM antenna and the 1ByOne into the TV/Tuner.

Wilson Electronics Wideband Directional Antenna 700-2700 MHz, 50 Ohm (314411) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J14YEHQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_TH6LDbGN1REV7

Just an example, they can be mounted on walls ceilings or any type of pole. The tripod would just make it stronger if the area is pron to storms.

Your mentioned a greens area, yes most likely wifi if it's near a college commons area.

Also some colleges will use antennas like these as a dedicated connection between buildings.

Ones for the mavic will fit the spark Signal booster

They boost the signal to help quality when flying within range of your bird of choice. Mavic or spark

ABC is a VHF-low channel so a small antenna isn't likely to work all that well. The easiest thing to try would be good old rabbit ears (you might want to get the type that can adjust all the way flat). The other thing to try would be a separate FM antenna and depend on the fact that real ch 6 is right next to the FM band. Something like this:

• https://www.amazon.com/Parts-Express-FM-Dipole-Antenna/dp/B000M9EREE/
  
  ... and one of these ...
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/RCA-VH58-Matching-Transformer/dp/B00005T3EZ/

That antenna only works on Band 13. You want something that can support all of Verizon's bands, like this: https://smile.amazon.com/weBoost-700-2700-Directional-Antenna-Connector/dp/B00J14YEHQ/

I've used this one with great results.

Recommendations will depend on your budget. The little unidens that have already been recommended are good. For an antenna, this here is sort of the king of base station cb antennas. We're talking 50 miles instead of 5.

Solarcon A-99 CB Base Station Antenna https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0017J7NQ2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_e-qXCb5Q4M2MB

Just check Amazon for base station cb antennas, to find one in budget and if you're not wanting it on your car. They'll be easier to mess with than adapting a mobile, IMO.

First rule of CB, ANTENNAS!! You can have a 1000$ radio hooked to a bad antenna and never hear anyone, and kill your fancy radio. Hook a 30$ uniden to a good, properly set up antenna and you'll hear for miles.

Learn what SWR is before you ever use your radio to transmit. Listen all you want without transmitting, but you'll need to tune your antenna before transmitting. Keeping asking questions and googling. Good luck!

Best RTL SDT (receive only) package for the money (this is where you should start if you are just getting into the SDR scene):

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011HVUEME/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B011HVUEME&pd_rd_w=1DTrQ&pf_rd_p=8a8f3917-7900-4ce8-ad90-adf0d53c0985&pd_rd_wg=tgM18&pf_rd_r=0PM9Y1TK2D846DA8KW0E&pd_rd_r=4a354acc-8203-11e9-b5fd-65c62fe45754

​

you can do all of this with it: https://www.rtl-sdr.com/big-list-rtl-sdr-supported-software/

​

If you want to transmit as well as receive you will need a more expensive SDR.

Pluto SDR: https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/analog-devices-inc/ADALM-PLUTO/ADALM-PLUTO-ND/6624230

LimeSDR mini: https://www.crowdsupply.com/lime-micro/limesdr-mini

XTRX: https://www.crowdsupply.com/fairwaves/xtrx

And of course all of the Ettus USRP SDRs, I would recommend the Ettus B-200 mini for starters.

This one! It came with a nice super huge antenna that goes up to the ceiling

There are many non-Verizon brand hotspots out there, I can't say that the one I use is the best as its the only one I've tried but the one I use has ports for antennas and 4 ethernet ports to hard wire in your computers which i needed for my work from home computer.

There is a workaround involved with getting this activated on Verizon prepaid which involves you owning a Verizon brand hotspot, registering that hotspot for the prepaid plan and then simply moving the sim into this device. i purchased a $30 Verizon Jetpack on ebay for this purpose.

MOFI4500-4GXeLTE-SIM4 4G/LTE Router AT&T T-Mobile Verizon Embedded SIM with Band 12

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EY11K40/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I also use the following products to get the best signal possible, currently:

(Quantity 2): Wilson Electronics Wideband Directional Antenna 700-2700 MHz, 50 Ohm (314411)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J14YEHQ/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

(Quantity 2): Wilson Electronics 20-Foot WILSON400 Ultra Low Loss Coax Cable with N Male Connectors - White

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003NQ3P3M/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

(Quantity 2): MPD Digital UC-5FHC-9DB9 N Female to SMA Male Right Angle Pigtail LMR-200 Double Shielded Coaxial Cable, 6-Inch

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CJWQJ2U/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

​

Signal Strength: -51 dBm (100 %)

Speedtest results (extremely dependent on location but these are my results for my location):

Ping: 28 ms Download: 82.55 Mb/s Upload: 15.97 Mb/s

https://www.speedtest.net/result/8022626633

​

Here are the videos I used to build my system (just a heads up there is nothing about Verizon Prepaid in these videos):

Fast Unlimited 4G Internet Router for RV or Van or Rural Off-grid: How to Setup the Mofi 4G Router

https://youtu.be/pKyf9BQsduU

RV Internet - Get The Fastest Mobile Internet & Wifi On The Road - "How We Do It!"

https://youtu.be/7m_I9i0eTnM

I just went through the process of setting up an M1 with external antennas and can give you my experience. For background, I'm located in a pretty rural area where satellite is the only option for internet, so I was probably willing to put in a little more time and money than the average person.

Initially, with no antenna, I was getting around 3-4Mbps most of the time. Occasionally, I had issues connecting at all.

Added the following equipment (x2 of everything for MIMO):

• Antenna https://www.amazon.com/Electronics-Wideband-Directional-700-2700-314411/dp/B00J14YEHQ/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=wilson+antenna&qid=1573746790&sr=8-4
  
• Cable (LMR-400 low loss) https://www.amazon.com/Wilson-Electronics-Black-WILSON-400-N-Male/dp/B0018PVVBS/ref=pd_bxgy_107_3/139-1718440-5788748?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B0018PVVBS&pd_rd_r=8d6f1840-34a4-4572-8713-4822574eecf0&pd_rd_w=VYOji&pd_rd_wg=nasqR&pf_rd_p=09627863-9889-4290-b90a-5e9f86682449&pf_rd_r=99B6JM5BAAC48ZBM3Z3B&psc=1&refRID=99B6JM5BAAC48ZBM3Z3B
  
• Pigtail connector https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07LBRK94Q/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
  
  With these antenna at a high point (~25ft above ground level) in my attic at +45/-45 degrees, I'm getting consistent 25Mbps minimum and frequently 60+Mbps, no issues with connectivity or slow speeds since moving it. Before getting the antenna up high, I could only ever connect to band 12, but moving to the attic allowed me to pick up bands 2 and 14 which I assume is where I picked up the massive speed increase.
  
  This wasn't a cheap setup, unfortunately, but I am very pleased with it overall.

I got one like this and it has worked like a dream to pull in stations I am quite far from. I’m 45 miles away from the classical station I like to listen to. It was a big improvement to a t antenna mounted inside by a window.

Outdoor FM Antenna OMNIDIRECTIONAL https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DHHOZBI/

I don’t know if it could be mounted in a wall and do so well, but it doesn’t look objectionable at all on a pole. It doesn’t look like a classic antenna so you don’t really notice it outdoors.

What excellent advice, thank you. I've eyeballed that at5888uv and I'm really interested to hear what you think. I like your idea of the slim Jim jpole but I don't have anywhere to put it outside as I rent and there's just no spot for it. Would I slowly nuke myself if I hung it inside the house in a back, empty bedroom?

As for mobile, I did grab a magnetic from Amazon that I checked with a friend's swr meter that showed a 1.5, so good enough! Lastly, I grabbed a better mobile antenna than the stubby that is still untested with a transmit but receives well.

Thanks again for your suggestions.

Awesome feedback! I look forward to trying this out. I did attempt to attach these two antennas to the FM Transmitter without too much difference in the signal strength:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DHHOZBI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06W55JW3X/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Seems there is definitely a learning curve to RTLSDR. Reading it reminds me of this video Retro Encabulator

Edit: TL;DR Seems like get this then download one of these and finally have fun.

Software defined radio. It's a $20 usb dongle that lets you listen to HF (high frequency) stations as well as vhf and uhf. Really useful for digital modes cause it's all run on the computer. I use some software called sdr# and fldigi. There is another flavor called wsjt-x that's useful as well.

You can listen to people from around the world including stuff like ares nets from the hurricanes. Ares is a amateur radio emergency group that lets anyone with an hf rig call in and give checkups then they disseminate info to the authorities.

The next thing I am gonna use my sdr for is to listen to hd fm radio. A guy has a git repo with the software.


Rtl-sdr.com

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B011HVUEME/


I may not be on my sdr as much coming up since I just got my general license and ordered a full blown hf radio.

That metal tube I believe is the AM Antenna. What you can do is buy something called an FM Antenna. It looks something like this. That is American side, I do not know the UK equivalent. I would recommend just going into your generic audio parts shop (Whatever the UK equivalent of radio shack is and getting help).

Second you need to fix your speakers. Put both on A Speaker Right and Left. Or B Speaker R + L but not as it currently is B Speaker Right and A Speaker L. A + B speakers are there for you to hook up two sets of speakers and allows you to change from A to B speakers via dial or you can use both A + B speakers together although the volume will be a little less overall since you are trying to power more.

It depends on what you want to do with the setup HF, vhf, ect. Personally I would start out with an sdr setup like this https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011HVUEME/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_i_vEt1CbG4069E9
I've bought 8 of these little sdrs over a few years for monitoring the the entire 2m and 70c ham bands and occasionally playing around with weather sats. They are essentially the baofeng of sdrs.
If you're interested in a higher quality sdr I would look into something like an airspy r2 or mini. https://airspy.com/

[later post than the one below/above]

another amateur radio different than you has advised me too to have a look at RTL-SDR USB dongles

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011HVUEME/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=sl1&linkId=e6b872ce4bf757ba9f71fbd35a53742e

I will then maybe definitely buy one (there are out of stock now and will be back on march 15th).

I will hope my laptop will have enough battery for the day when I will need to use the USB radio dongle.

Thanks again

This is what I would recommend. It includes a metal casing for better heat dissipation, comes with 2 antennas, and has a more common SMA connector.

As far as location goes you mostly have to worry about high power broadcast stations, a strong FM station would be one example. Either way you'll likely have something interesting that you can still listen to.

Here is the one I ordered. Seems to work pretty alright for what it is(the antenna mounts have no grounding plane and the dongle get a bit warm). But I can receive ADSB from barstow to almost san diego, and get a partial images from NOAA just having it suction cupped to my bedroom window.

Definitely would recommend to anyone looking to fiddle about with SDR.

I've been having some fun with /r/RTLSDR too. It's amazing how far a crummy little antenna can get you. https://i.imgur.com/6uZtGv8.jpg

35$ for the SDR and the whip antenna, ~20$ for a bag of SMA to big 'ol radio connectors.


https://www.amazon.com/RTL-SDR-Blog-RTL2832U-Software-Telescopic/dp/B011HVUEME

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0132N1DM0

Noob here as well. I was pretty frustrated with my dongle and it's stock antenna. I got this https://www.amazon.com/Tram-1410-Discone-Scanner-Antenna/dp/B00QVPGKHU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1495759802&sr=8-1&keywords=discone+antenna and I'm satisfied now. Before, it seemed that all I could get was FM radio. Now I listen to hammers when I'm lucky to run across them, aircraft flying overhead, and I'm getting a strong enough signal for my DSD+ to actually half work when listening to emergency services.

Get one with a R820T2, better sensitivity.

https://www.amazon.com/RTL-SDR-Blog-RTL2832U-Software-Telescopic/dp/B011HVUEME/

Listening is a great gateway to ham radio. You will be able to hear local VHF/UHF ham traffic with any rtlsdr. The one I linked includes the direct sampling mod, so you would also be able to hear HF traffic going long distances. More info at /r/amateurradio

I got one of these a couple of months ago and it works great. If you're new to SDR (like I am) I think it's a good deal.

Thanks for the tip about the tripod and/or the guy wires. I'd like to put as few holes in my shingles as possible. I'm starting to consider a gable end mount instead, like the one below.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001DFTGUQ/ref=s9_simh_gw_p23_d0_i4?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-1&pf_rd_r=0Z130RFVXT4NRKG2NQR8&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=1970559082&pf_rd_i=desktop

Contact local city planner and ask if there are issues or when expansion is planned. They might be able to help you who to contact next. It's also possible you need to contact the FCC.

Since you're using a 4g hotspot you might also consider a cellular antenna similar to this.

I hope you find a solution.

I have a peak roof and mounted it on the back of the house. Here's and image of it mounted. This bracket I bought from Amazon for $26 bucks. It's very strong and I have no worries that it would fall off. I bought a Preamplifier to help boost the signal. The mast I bought from a local store, so hopefully you can find one in your area. Hope this helps, if have any questions just let me know.

I did find this:
https://www.alternativewireless.com/machine-to-machine/home-phone-connects/netgear-nighthawk-hotspot-antennas-boosters.html

Which would be paired with two of these:
https://www.amazon.com/Electronics-Wideband-Directional-700-2700-314411/dp/B00J14YEHQ

That's $300-$400 for a maximum of +10.6 dBi gain

Where as a Mikrotik LHG LTE kit-US is $160 for +17 dBi gain

This one.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B011HVUEME/

Haven't tried it much yet as I had to tear down a laptop to clean out its fan, but I've heard quite a few good things about this kit.

First, go to Antenna Search and locate the tower you want to pull from. Then find the contact person for that tower by clicking on it. Email that person explaining your problem, and then you'll have a local expert helping you out.

When I ran in to this issue I got 2 yagi antenna, the proper low loss cabling, the adapters to connect to the antenna and to my hotspot, a mounting pole, and put them at a 45 degree angle pointed right at my tower. Then I set the band priority on the hotspot based on what the tower tech told me was the optimal band coming from that tower.

When you get in to the world trying to optimize your LTE connection, you will probably want to join up with the LTE Hacks group on facebook.

RTL-SDR v3 is like $20-$25. Has a little antenna and seems pretty versatile from what I understand.

It seems like a good starting point. I picked one up not too long ago, then magically shelled out around $400 for other shit.

Tune to 145.8MHz while the ISS is overhead and you should see a constant signal. If there's nothing there, wait about 2 minutes for the next image to start. Once you have the signal, it can be decoded using something like MMSSTV, MultiScan 3B or even Robot36 for Android. Edit: They're using SSTV mode PD120.

You'll generally get better results with a directional antenna like the one I used but it is possible to receive signals from the ISS with an omnidirectional antenna. The one that comes with the dongles from China isn't all that good, but the telescopic one bundled with the rtl-sdr.com v3 dongle is much better.

Are you looking for the hardware? Software?

This is the hardware I picked up.

This is the software I compiled.

Then it just spits out JSON, which is easily parseable in "pick your language":

rtl_433 -F json -R 40

Registering protocol [1] &quot;Acurite 592TXR Temp/Humidity, 5n1 Weather Station, 6045 Lightning&quot;<br />
Registered 1 out of 83 device decoding protocols<br />
Found 1 device(s):<br />
  0:  Realtek, RTL2838UHIDIR, SN: 00000001<br />
<br />
Using device 0: Generic RTL2832U OEM<br />
Found Rafael Micro R820T tuner<br />
Exact sample rate is: 250000.000414 Hz<br />
[R82XX] PLL not locked!<br />
Sample rate set to 250000.<br />
Bit detection level set to 0 (Auto).<br />
Tuner gain set to Auto.<br />
Reading samples in async mode...<br />
Tuned to 433920000 Hz.<br />
{&quot;time&quot; : &quot;2017-11-27 14:26:41&quot;, &quot;model&quot; : &quot;Acurite 5n1 sensor&quot;, &quot;sensor_id&quot; : 1013, &quot;channel&quot; : &quot;B&quot;, &quot;sequence_num&quot; : 0, &quot;battery&quot; : &quot;OK&quot;, &quot;message_type&quot; : 56, &quot;wind_speed&quot; : 10.909, &quot;temperature_F&quot; : 71.800, &quot;humidity&quot; : 37}<br />
{&quot;time&quot; : &quot;2017-11-27 14:26:41&quot;, &quot;model&quot; : &quot;Acurite 5n1 sensor&quot;, &quot;sensor_id&quot; : 1013, &quot;channel&quot; : &quot;B&quot;, &quot;sequence_num&quot; : 1, &quot;battery&quot; : &quot;OK&quot;, &quot;message_type&quot; : 56, &quot;wind_speed&quot; : 10.909, &quot;temperature_F&quot; : 71.800, &quot;humidity&quot; : 37}<br />
{&quot;time&quot; : &quot;2017-11-27 14:26:41&quot;, &quot;model&quot; : &quot;Acurite tower sensor&quot;, &quot;id&quot; : 9877, &quot;channel&quot; : &quot;B&quot;, &quot;temperature_C&quot; : 21.000, &quot;humidity&quot; : 40, &quot;battery&quot; : 0, &quot;status&quot; : 68}<br />
{&quot;time&quot; : &quot;2017-11-27 14:26:41&quot;, &quot;model&quot; : &quot;Acurite tower sensor&quot;, &quot;id&quot; : 9877, &quot;channel&quot; : &quot;B&quot;, &quot;temperature_C&quot; : 21.000, &quot;humidity&quot; : 40, &quot;battery&quot; : 0, &quot;status&quot; : 68}<br />
{&quot;time&quot; : &quot;2017-11-27 14:26:42&quot;, &quot;model&quot; : &quot;Acurite tower sensor&quot;, &quot;id&quot; : 14480, &quot;channel&quot; : &quot;B&quot;, &quot;temperature_C&quot; : 20.200, &quot;humidity&quot; : 41, &quot;battery&quot; : 0, &quot;status&quot; : 68}<br />
{&quot;time&quot; : &quot;2017-11-27 14:26:42&quot;, &quot;model&quot; : &quot;Acurite tower sensor&quot;, &quot;id&quot; : 14480, &quot;channel&quot; : &quot;B&quot;, &quot;temperature_C&quot; : 20.200, &quot;humidity&quot; : 41, &quot;battery&quot; : 0, &quot;status&quot; : 68}<br />
{&quot;time&quot; : &quot;2017-11-27 14:26:42&quot;, &quot;model&quot; : &quot;Acurite tower sensor&quot;, &quot;id&quot; : 14480, &quot;channel&quot; : &quot;B&quot;, &quot;temperature_C&quot; : 20.200, &quot;humidity&quot; : 41, &quot;battery&quot; : 0, &quot;status&quot; : 68}

I suggest either the RTL-SDR Blog kit or the NooElec NESDR SMArt Bundle. The RTL-SDR V3 has one advantage over the SMArt, which is that it has a bias t.

Both kits include a selection of antenna. Attach the magnetic mount to a piece of metal, and go to town.

This will satisfy your AM loop requirements pretty well

I use something like these for my phantom and they work well. I see a 20-30% distance increase with them on.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072HFCC2S/ref=cm_sw_r_tw

Nice! So something like this would allow direct sampling? https://www.amazon.com/RTL-SDR-Blog-RTL2832U-Software-Telescopic/dp/B011HVUEME

There's always something better - it's how much you're willing to pay and how much effort you're willing to put in. Thirty miles for a college radio station is really pushing the limits no matter what you use. The thing is, a stronger antenna like this isn't just going to pick up their signal, it's going to pick up every signal of their strength and stronger - and weaker ones as well. So, you could very well end up with just more chaos than you have now. Why not just listen to the webcast?

Please use clean amazon links: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0093N20D0/

New Ham Here. Santa treated me well. I need to pick up a power supply and I should be all set.

Yaesu FT-2900R 75 Watt 2 Meter VHF Mobile Transceiver Amateur Ham Radio https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004WKH00M/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_1sIFwbVF2MQ4A

Dual Band VHF / UHF Gain Base Station Antenna ANLI A-100 Amateur Radio https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0093N20D0/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_UrIFwbBKED42G

I use the CC Radio SW with this antenna and I get decent reception from stations all over the world! Night time is the best time to listen.

[this works great. ](http://www.RTL-SDR.com/ Blog R820T2 RTL2832U 1PPM TCXO SMA Software Defined Radio with 2x Telescopic Antennas https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011HVUEME/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apap_5V8nii1dBta4M) You might need a short USB extension if other ports are in use.

Afaik, all SDRs currently available support Linux and most (if not all) will compile on ARM. Many people have used SDRs on the Pi 3, so the Pi 4 should work fine. Your main considerations will likely have to be frequency range, sampling bandwidth, sensitivity, and cost.


For $30, [this](RTL-SDR Blog V3 R820T2 RTL2832U 1PPM TCXO HF Bias Tee SMA Software Defined Radio with Dipole Antenna Kit https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011HVUEME/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_2LkiDbECBPWMK) is a good receive only starter kit.


Also, the Adalm Pluto often sells for $99, has better bandwidth, sensitivity, and can transmit.


But, with either of these, you'd require something like a Ham-it-up to operate on the lower frequencies. (<80MHz).


I'd suggest checking out rtl-sdr.com for more SDR information. They also have a store on their site, but their SDR info still seems unbiased in my opinion.

Super Antenna MP1DXTR80 HF SuperWhip Tripod All Band 80m MP1 Antenna with Clamp Mount and Go Bag ham Radio Amateur https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BDPDKTI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_ZJZXDbWNCJSB4

Would something like this work, how much would it increase the range by https://www.amazon.com/Tram-1410-Discone-Scanner-Antenna/dp/B00QVPGKHU?SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&tag=duckduckgo-d-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B00QVPGKHU

Honestly if you have some wire around the house start with that. You can start off getting something, and then try to figure out how good or bad it is compared to a more optimal solution. The commercial add-on antennas for shortwave radios, which isn't what you have, tend to be in the 20 foot range, and they get the commercial bands on 3/7 Mhz etc.

I'm adding a link to a commercial shortwave antenna. I don't think you should buy it, especially since jack doesn't work with your sdr, but you'll see it's not particularly elaborate. Some extremely thin wire that rolls out and has a clip to try to get some height on one end, it's not even really designed to be resonant on a particular frequency:

https://www.amazon.com/Sangean-ANT-60-Short-Wave-Antenna/dp/B000023VW2/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=tecsun+antenna&qid=1573145462&sr=8-3

I bought some cheap 22 gauge four wire telephone wire at the local hardware store and started with that because I thought the housing might keep the small wire from breaking, and stapled it up around my back porch.

But as you're just getting started, don't overthink it and just start seeing what you get.

I run DShot1200 on 32bit ESCs and don't use signal ground. I probably should. I just didn't feel like running the extra wire ;)

I feel like getting some thin coaxial cable might be the best option for noise rejection, though. Maybe I'll try that out this weekend.

EDIT 1: This oughta work: https://www.amazon.com/iFlight-Receiver-Interface-Compatible-Silver-plated/dp/B06XGH751J/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1511283014&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=2.4g+antenna+ipex&psc=1

EDIT 2: Actually, maybe not... I'll need to test for impedance.

I ordered him the Wilson Wideband Directional Antenna found here:
https://www.amazon.com/Electronics-Wideband-Directional-700-2700-314411/dp/B00J14YEHQ/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=wilson+yagi&qid=1569347723&s=gateway&sr=8-2

I'm waiting on an adapter to connect the antenna cabling to the LB1120 modem, so I can't give any insight on speeds yet. (I recommended he get two for a MIMO setup, but he would like to try one first before doubling up)

All together, here is what we purchased:
AT&T Prepaid Sim ($10)
Nighhawk AC1750 Router ($80)
Wilson Wideband Directional Antenna (700-2700 MHz, 50 ohm) ($50)
LB1120 4G Modem ($100)
32 ft of N Male to RP SMA Male cabling ($15)
Connectors to convert to a TS9 plug ($6, part I'm waiting on)

All this for under $275, not too shabby. If he decides to go with the second antenna, add $70-ish. I'll report back once the connector is in on Thursday.

It's fantastic with this loop.

Cannot agree more. The RTL-SDR.com Blog V3 has a kit with really good antennas. Should be available by itself for $11 on Amazon too.


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011HVUEME/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_CZfrDb96GXQR4

rtl_sdr software with one of these

http://www.amazon.com/RTL-SDR-Blog-RTL2832U-Software-Telescopic/dp/B011HVUEME/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1462501770&sr=1-1&keywords=rtl-sdr
it creates a file, you do with that file as you please.

I can pick up meter readings for half of my town.

This should help you out. Be careful while hanging it - stay away from power lines.

EDIT USA (.com) link in place of Canada (.ca) link.

Well. Let’s see here. I first purchased this antenna and this mast holder once I made the decision this year to cut the cord. Reading this sub, I quickly realized that I could use this mast amplifier to obtain about 10 more channels and this distribution amplifier to run the signals into 7 rooms of my house.

I configured and tested my setup in the middle of the summer thunderstorm season so I installed this UPS to prevent the brownouts that were occurring all too often during this time. I still had two television sets that were analog/CRT, so I purchased this set top converter which gave me the added bonus of Broadcast DVR when I purchased this flash drive to plug into them.
I then purchased two Roku3 units to supplement my broadcast programming. I also discovered that even when using a dual band router , I was only able to obtain a reliable 18 Mbit wireless stream in my far bedrooms from my Laundry Room equipment location. While this was sufficient for managing two simultaneous streams of HD for now, I was concerned that we would need to have 3 or 4 simultaneous streams or need to upgrade for UltraHD in the next year or so. I then purchased some Cat5e cable and ran 3 separate cables to each of 7 rooms and centralized all the lines into this switch which acted as my Ethernet distribution network.

I had an idle desktop PC with an AMD FX-8350 processor which I upgraded with gigabit LAN, 8GB DDR3 RAM, and five 3TB Disk Drives. I installed Plex Media Server based on recommendations from this sub and I have been torrenting like a madman to fill a little more than half this disk space in the past 4 months. I connected the media server to my Ethernet switch via a Gigabit link and have had no issues with lag even while transcoding on the fly. I plan to purchase some more streaming devices which will probably be Roku3 or Chromecast units depending upon the price and suitability.

My next step is to look at high quality music streaming and how I might integrate some vintage (1980s) audio equipment into this setup.

Thanks again Stephen. Question about your proposed setup: do I need another adapter to convert my 3.5 mini plug into an RCA male input?

Here is link to antenna I'm using Sangean reel antenna

Here! Even better if somebody 3D Prints you a v dipole bracket for them.


RTL-SDR Blog R820T2 RTL2832U 1PPM TCXO SMA Software Defined Radio with 2x Telescopic Antennas https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011HVUEME/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_UYb7Cb4PF42HV

You can simply use a pair of wires, other wise there are other compact dipole antennas around that can sit behind it.

https://www.amazon.com/Parts-Express-FM-Dipole-Antenna/dp/B000M9EREE

Check to see what 2.4GHz or 5.GHZ channels are congested then pick a channel that is not heavy used. In addition to an OTG cable, you can try this antenna booster. I've had mostly positive results with it. I've gone out to a mile with video only cutting out for a second or two.

I was planning on getting this: https://www.amazon.com/RTL-SDR-Blog-RTL2832U-Software-Telescopic/dp/B011HVUEME/

How do you orient the antenna correctly or do you just make a V shape and point straight up to the sky?

Heavens above says 10 degrees and gives me an azimuth but I am not sure if I need to point it straight up or not

If you can manage to get a decent signal at the edge, I would highly recommend one of these gable mounts: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001DFTGUQ

I had previously tried one of the hinged mounts like they use for satellite dishes, and it would occasionally collapse and I would find my antenna pointing at the side of my house. The gable mount has been rock solid.

You can also use a Pi with an RTL-SDR USB dongle to receive AIS using OpenCPN. A good dongle is $27 on Amazon. There are also many tutorials for setting it up. One is here:

https://www.rtl-sdr.com/setting-up-a-raspberry-pi-based-ais-receiver-with-an-rtl-sdr/

You can use 3M double-sided tape or Velcro strips to stick this type of device on your tablet:
https://www.amazon.com/Receiver-Antenna-Gmouse-Laptop-Navigation/dp/B073P3Y48Q


Typically they work better when separated from the metal chassis of the tablet though, so I would not permanently attaching it.

For about the same price of the Predator, you can get yourself an A99 on Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/Solarcon-99-Base-Station-Antenna/dp/B0017J7NQ2/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Solarcon+A-99&qid=1567992827&s=gateway&sr=8-1 - though if the Predator is what you already have on hand (or height is currently restricting), then why not..

I've seen people use a cookie sheet as a ground plane on a magnet/drilled mount - but your mileage may vary...

I highly recommend this thing:
----- https://www.amazon.com/RTL-SDR-Blog-RTL2832U-Software-Telescopic/dp/B011HVUEME

User guide here:
----- http://www.rtl-sdr.com/rtl-sdr-blog-v-3-dongles-user-guide/

SDR# (SDR 'Sharp') Software here:
----- http://airspy.com/download/

Picks up from ~170khz to 1.7Ghz without modifications. Even has a built in bias tee that can be enabled by software to power LNBs and the such.

Also you are not limited to that software. There are many that will work with that dongle. That's another thread, though.

Most of the mobile hotspots have TS9 RF ports. At that point it is all about finding what fits and your specific use case.

This is a good place to start https://www.amazon.com/Netgear-6000450-MIMO-Antenna-Connectors/dp/B00DN3J03O and if you are a little more serious, a tripod, along with a TS9 male to N male adapter, and this antenna https://www.amazon.com/Electronics-Wideband-Directional-700-2700-314411/dp/B00J14YEHQ/ can pull in signals that normally are unusable.

I'd check this with /r/RTLSDR as well. If you have an up-converter or an RTL-SDR.com receiver like this one, which has been modified for direct sampling for HF, (or, really, and modified RTL-SDR set up for direct sampling), then any antenna that will get you outside the steel and concrete box you're probably in is a good choice.

Apartments are hard for radio, especially since some of them only have one wall that's to the exterior. I had a balcony the last time I lived in one, and my receive was much better out there. I ran a random wire out through the sliding glass door and connected it to the telescoping antenna I connected to my SDR. It worked pretty well for anything. After all, I was just receiving.

I'm not really sold on the idea of active antennas. I have one, but it doesn't seem to really do much for me. Of course, this was a kit antenna, and my soldering skills are still abysmal, so I may have wired something in wrong.

Search for FM Dipole antenna.

​

Something like this https://www.amazon.com/Parts-Express-FM-Dipole-Antenna/dp/B000M9EREE

To add to this, would something like this work:

http://www.amazon.com/MAGNETIC-Mobile-ANTENNA-Radio-Meter/dp/B002L0BXIK/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1410005770&sr=1-1&keywords=2+meter+and+440+MHz+%2870+cm%29+mobile+antenna

Looks like one of [these](https://www.amazon.com/weBoost-4G-OTR-Cellular-Antenna-Truck/dp/B01FUF1JAY/ref=asc_df_B01FUF1JAY/?, meant for trucks

Something like that https://www.amazon.com/Threeking-Controller-Extender-Parabolic-Accessories/dp/B072HFCC2S/

>would a ferrite loop work at all inside a 22 gauge steel box,

Not well at all, no.

>is there a standard port I could add to the cabinet to suport an external removable AM antenna,

Use whatever connector you have lying around that's easy to work with. It doesn't matter very much. 1/8" audio jacks would be good. You could probably repurpose an antenna for a Countycomm GP-5.

Or maybe something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Eton-NGAN200-Grundig-Indoor-Antenna/dp/B001PNNXGO

Yeah, I have a lot to learn with antennas. How does this one look?

Out of curiosity what are you trying to listen to?

You can get a rtl-srd dongle and listen to that and a lot more with it from a computer.

I recommend this one but you can find outers with lower quality components for like $10.

This is the one I just replaced my older one with. It is totally worth $5 more for the TCXO option.

It's quite possible that you're overloading the front end when you clip it directly to the antenna. Placing the antenna wire near the radio creates an inductive coupling, similar to how one of these works for the AM broadcast band.

I have installed (Weboost)Wilson Boosters for several clients and I myself have them at home work and Vehicle.

This is NOT what you want.

It will really do nothing for you.

You have to go with a Booster.

Wilson has renamed their setups to Weboost after FCC started to regulate them.

They have different levels of boost and pricing goes from about $400 to $899.

https://www.weboost.com/

You need to buy the 4G versions which is available at each level.

Second is DO NOT directly Connect these to your Modems antenna. They come complete with an inside repeater antenna. If you do the power will blow your modems receivers.

Wilson/Weboost used to make a M2M setup that you could connect directly to the Modem but they quit making them. M2M stands for Machine To Machine. Think Being able to connect your Vending Machines/Interactive Billboards located in the middle of nowhere and controlling them over the internet VIA 4G

Last is if you must give it a try the Omnidirectional will not suffice go with the YAGI Directional in 50 Ohms.

https://www.amazon.com/Electronics-Wideband-Directional-700-2700-314411/dp/B00J14YEHQ/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=weboost+yagi&qid=1556673233&s=wireless&sr=1-3

The Yagi has to be pointed directly at the tower you are receiving from. Not hard to setup just have to watch when you rotate it. Your signal bar on the modem will peak when pointed at the tower.

For $9 bucks these might be worth trying?

https://www.amazon.com/Eton-NGAN200-Grundig-Indoor-Antenna/dp/B001PNNXGO
For low power, these RX mag loops work nicely for transmitting. I use one when demonstrating radio to young'ins at the museum.

These have been recommended to me. I have not tried them yet.

Wilson Electronics Wideband Directional Antenna 700-2700 MHz, 50 Ohm (314411) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J14YEHQ/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apa_i_6PQQCbGMC2RMT

I'll link a $35 sdr kit. Gimme a bit

Edit: it's actually $27 on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/RTL-SDR-Blog-RTL2832U-Software-Telescopic/dp/B011HVUEME/

I bought this from Amazon.

Software Defined Radio

For $30 you can get a USB dongle that will let you pick up all kinds of signals. ATC talk, plane location ADS-B data, standard AM/FM and shortwave stations, CB, all the power/water meters in your area, even pager traffic.

Check out /r/RTLSDR Half that subreddit is people picking up NOAA satellites, which is cool, but I'd start with the simpler stuff. Just pick up a local FM station and go from there.

Spend $30 and get one of these USB dongles + antenna and listen to all sorts of radio transmissions, from local police, fire, and scanner trasmissions, to FM and AM radio, to shortwave and HAM radio from around the world.

Speaking of shortwave and HAM. you can listen to all of that using a virtual radio on the web. This will connect you to folks who are sharing their software radios with the world. You can tune in and listen to any band they are able to receive. Go here: http://www.websdr.org/

Their radios can't tune to FM. I'm not broadcasting on the channel the store uses for communication, I'm broadcasting on an FM radio channel. My radio will switch over to my coworkers' frequency if there's any chatter on that channel, then switch back to the (unused, in this area) FM radio channel I've got my audiobooks playing on.

I use this SDR. My handset has a scanning feature that could theoretically have done the job, but this allows me to survey a much broader spectrum much more quickly.

I'm 150 miles from one, and 175 miles from another. I'm assuming the pager carrier broadcasts the messages over a wide area, regardless of where the page originated.

This is the kit I'm using. Then you just use Virtual Audio Cable, SDRSharp, and PDW to receive and decode the data. There are tons of YouTube videos on it.

I work in IT as well, and hadn't heard of it either. It's alarmingly easy to do.

1 of Netgear 6000450 MIMO Antenna with 2 TS-9 Connectors

Also have 2 directional antenna setups using dual Wilson Electronics Wideband Directional Antenna 700-2700 MHz, 50 Ohm (314411)

I only got the netgear from amazon; but those should still be the same models.

You mean this? https://www.amazon.com/Sangean-ANT-60-Short-Wave-Antenna/dp/B000023VW2

Doesn't it have a external antenna plug? Many of the cheaper shortwave wind up long wire antennas have a clip adapter to clip to the end of the whip, like this.

75 ohm antenna

thing that makes impedance 300ohm

They work the same, the adapter is to hook up rabbit ears to use for a fm antenna

http://www.amazon.com/Parts-Express-FM-Dipole-Antenna/dp/B000M9EREE/

So I thought it was a single wire but it turns out it's not.

Here's what the connector looks like. Is this the correct type of antenna to get?

You can actually use speaker wire for an antenna or buy some Parts Express FM Dipole Antenna https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000M9EREE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_-SfyCbXCP3R9J

This is what I bought. Use rg6 and a metal pole to mount in the attic.

Get a discone antenna...great for scanners.

Just get an rtl-sdr dongle for $25 and be done with it. Unless you snag an old crystal scanner at the swapmeet for $15.

Probably this kit.

https://www.amazon.com/RTL-SDR-Blog-RTL2832U-Software-Telescopic/dp/B011HVUEME/ref=pd_aw_fbt_23_img_3/134-9726562-0830052?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B011HVUEME&pd_rd_r=7fb5f220-9c5e-11e9-9c69-1d3c8f2acdb3&pd_rd_w=Ocse9&pd_rd_wg=8WNg6&pf_rd_p=3ecc74bd-d08f-44bd-96f3-d0c2b89f563a&pf_rd_r=TKY3CV92KZVSGH06DB85&psc=1&refRID=TKY3CV92KZVSGH06DB85

I think you meant this one, judging by the url.

/u/maxadmiral /u/LilVinny

Have a look at the RTLSDR. Cheap enough that you can buy one and throw it away if it doesn't work, but I think it should do.

Tools used:

RTLSDR Blog Dongle

Default antenna at full attention, mounted on my bedroom floor on a metal pizza pan.

SDR# For tuning to frequencies.

AcarsDeco2 for decoding the transmissions.

You could combine an Acurite temperature/humidity sensor with a RTL-SDR receiver which you can hook up to a Raspberry PI and decode the signals using some available drivers that already understand the Acurite signals.

Acurite
RTL_SDR

I am using my RTL-SDR on raspberry pi B3 with these kind of antenna https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B011HVUEME/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1