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Reddit mentions of RTL-SDR Blog V3 R820T2 RTL2832U 1PPM TCXO HF Bias Tee SMA Software Defined Radio with Dipole Antenna Kit

Sentiment score: 30
Reddit mentions: 68

We found 68 Reddit mentions of RTL-SDR Blog V3 R820T2 RTL2832U 1PPM TCXO HF Bias Tee SMA Software Defined Radio with Dipole Antenna Kit. Here are the top ones.

RTL-SDR Blog V3 R820T2 RTL2832U 1PPM TCXO HF Bias Tee SMA Software Defined Radio with Dipole Antenna Kit
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    Features:
  • Includes 1x RTL-SDR Blog V3 R820T2 RTL2832U 1PPM TCXO HF Bias Tee SMA Dongle and 1x Multipurpose Dipole Antenna Kit
  • Great for many applications including general radio, air traffic control, public safety radio, ADSB, ACARS, trunked radio, P25 digital voice, POCSAG, weather balloons, APRS, NOAA APT weather satellites, radio astronomy, meteor scatter monitoring, DAB, classroom learning, or for use as a low cost panadapter with a traditional ham radio.
  • Several improvements over other brands including use of the R820T2 tuner, improved component tolerances, a 1 PPM temperature compensated oscillator (TCXO), SMA F connector, aluminium shielded case with thermal pad for passive cooling, activatable bias tee circuit and a much improved antenna set.
  • Can tune from 500 kHz to 1.7 GHz and has up to 3.2 MHz of instantaneous bandwidth (2.4 MHz stable). (HF reception below 24 MHz in direct sampling mode with reduced performance). Please note RTL-SDR dongles are RX only.
  • Comes with our portable dipole antenna kit. Great for beginners as it allows for terrestrial and satellite reception. Easy to mount outdoors and designed for portable and temporary outside usage. Please do not use outside during poor weather conditions.
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Found 68 comments on RTL-SDR Blog V3 R820T2 RTL2832U 1PPM TCXO HF Bias Tee SMA Software Defined Radio with Dipole Antenna Kit:

u/KetchinSketchin · 365 pointsr/AskMen

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.

u/wafflesareforever · 100 pointsr/RTLSDR

I'm one of them. I just went ahead and bought one of these without having the slightest clue what I'm doing. My wife will be highly unimpressed when this thing arrives and I have only a vague idea of what I'm going to use it for.

u/cftw · 39 pointsr/RTLSDR

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.

u/droid_mike · 32 pointsr/AskMen

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/

u/Tinfoil_Haberdashery · 20 pointsr/techsupportmacgyver

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.

u/funbob · 16 pointsr/amateurradio
u/sam210723 · 15 pointsr/RTLSDR

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.

u/xG33Kx · 14 pointsr/RTLSDR

No no no. Do not get the cheapy $10 ones, get the official RTL-SDR Blog dongle and do it properly. You won't be sorry for spending an extra $15. If you're that hard up for $15, you won't be able to afford either making or buying a reasonable antenna that will get you worthwhile signals anyway.

https://www.amazon.com/RTL-SDR-Blog-RTL2832U-Software-Telescopic/dp/B011HVUEME/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1487281641&sr=8-3&keywords=rtl+sdr

As Ron Swanson said: don't half ass two things, whole ass one thing.

u/Patq911 · 11 pointsr/RTLSDR

it's actually not 2$, it's 25$.

https://www.amazon.com/RTL-SDR-Blog-RTL2832U-Software-Telescopic/dp/B011HVUEME/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1500044557&sr=8-1&keywords=rtlsdr

you plug it in, install the drivers, install SDR# (program) and then press receive. you then get a waterfall and you tune to a frequency and see if anything is there! FM is easiest at around 80-110Mhz, the stock antenna should be able to read that easily.

hoped this helped.

u/kekforever · 8 pointsr/RTLSDR

looks like i found the most beginner friendly version, but i think you pay the premium for not doing the leg work of hacking a wal-mart dongle or whatever: https://www.amazon.com/RTL-SDR-Blog-RTL2832U-Software-Telescopic/dp/B011HVUEME/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1500042787&sr=1-1&keywords=RTL2832U

u/spoocs · 8 pointsr/RTLSDR

Get the V3 blog dongle. Has a txco so signals will not drift, bias-t to power lna's or whatever, better build quality and does direct sampling HF with just software. Nice antenna kit (https://www.rtl-sdr.com/using-our-new-dipole-antenna-kit/ ) with this one - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011HVUEME/ or just the dongle - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0129EBDS2 . Spec sheet on it - https://www.rtl-sdr.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/RTL-SDR-Blog-V3-Datasheet.pdf

u/jjayzx · 7 pointsr/RTLSDR

This is typically where people start - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011HVUEME

u/CollateralFortune · 5 pointsr/homelab

Cheap acurite temp/humidity sensors. Use an rtl_sdr to capture the data and use rtl_433 software to decode it.


These

And

This

With this software

u/The_Music · 5 pointsr/RTLSDR

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.

u/EPerezF · 5 pointsr/chile

Como sale justo US$29,95 no paga impuesto. aprox 6 lucas de envío a Chile usando Amazon

EDIT:Link

u/Zecellomaster · 4 pointsr/RTLSDR

No problem!

Yes, this is a V dipole, specifically it is this kit from the RTL-SDR website.

The dipole was attached to a flexible mini-tripod (included in kit), then placed on a brush pole at the handle part, which was then stuck in the ground under a tree (as the mulch was easier to do this with).

The laptop/dongle is usually ~1.5 meters/yards away, and I try to position myself away from the where the satellite is during the pass.

No LNA is used, I only use WXtoIMG for decoding, SDR# for DSP, and Orbitron for tracking in order to calculate doppler shift, where a plugin automatically changes the SDR# frequency.

I have been doing this since Saturday last week when I got the kit and set up all the programs. I've been bitten by the APT bug, and receiving/decoding the images is really addictive!

u/bloons3 · 4 pointsr/RTLSDR

I've had good experience with this one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011HVUEME

26$, gets you an antenna and the SDR (nice one too).

u/ThisHandleIsStupid · 4 pointsr/RTLSDR

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.

u/MinhoSucks · 4 pointsr/RTLSDR

Spend the extra 5 dollars and pick up this one. It has a metal case for better heat dissipation/noise reduction, 2 antennas, and a more common antenna connector.

u/sdr55 · 4 pointsr/RTLSDR

From his description it is either:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011HVUEME/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=sl1&tag=rsv0f-20&linkId=e6b872ce4bf757ba9f71fbd35a53742e

OR

https://www.amazon.com/NooElec-NESDR-SMArt-Enclosure-R820T2-Based/dp/B01GDN1T4S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1500228932&sr=8-1&keywords=nooelec

Both are great starter receivers although there are a few small differences between them. Some people start with the really cheap ~$11-12 ones, but frankly they suck. $25 for a proper one isn't much.

u/[deleted] · 4 pointsr/RTLSDR

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.

u/hvdc123 · 4 pointsr/boston

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.

u/ironhydroxide · 3 pointsr/RTLSDR

I am using the RTL-SDR v3 (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011HVUEME/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)
And at the moment have been trying to setup GRC to visualize/capture as I don't know enough about the sensor to know that what i'm capturing is actually from the sensor, or from something else.

From my understanding the sensors periodically send temperature data, as well as presence triggers. Though I do not know if it's an immediate packet sent as soon as motion is detected, or just a change in the data on next periodic update. I have tried to correlate room entry (motion) with the sensor triggering, but haven't found anything conclusive on a delay. Sometimes it seems immediate, others it seems like there's a minute to 5 minute delay before the ecobee software shows presence detected.

The ecobee thermostat shows presence in 5min blocks if I review the "follow Me" data for my thermostat. I believe the sensor has a much higher resolution of motion/no motion though.

u/ElectronSpiderwort · 3 pointsr/amateurradio

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

u/mooglinux · 3 pointsr/RTLSDR

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.

u/suddenlypandabear · 3 pointsr/amateurradio

For $20, the RTL-SDR Blog v3 stick is very good and has some features that matter in practice. Bias tee for LNAs if you end up needing to use one (needing a long antenna wire going outdoors is a common reason), aluminum enclosure, a good TCXO, and some ESD protection.

Aside from the actual SDR, the antenna will make a huge difference and you can do reasonably well without spending a lot of money for something fragile and non-portable.

You can get a kit that includes the RTLSDR v3 and a cheap looking but useful "rabbit ears" antenna (see important note below!). It's obviously not a great antenna, but I've used it for receiving NOAA weather satellite images, since you can arrange it as a V-dipole. It's also really lightweight and portable, and if you accidentally break or lose it, or if you leave it outside and it rusts, they sell them separately for a few bucks.

For a slightly more durable and capable, but still really cheap and portable antenna, take a look at the N9TAX Slim Jim. I've had one of those for years and love it, because it can be easily hung up outdoors and taken back down quickly. He makes a few variations, but the one in the link comes with a 10ft cable and SMA connector on the end, and has a built-in velcro wrap for coiling it up and storing/transporting it. It's designed for the 2m and 70cm ham bands, but for receiving with an SDR I've used that antenna on everything from commercial FM all the way up to 1090Mhz ADS-B.

(If you do get that rabbit ears antenna kit, make sure you open the little plastic housing on it and look for wires that might cause a short circuit between the 2 antenna elements. There should be a little resistor connecting them for ESD protection, but there should not be bare strands of wire shorting them directly.

That happened on mine every time the wire moved, and it severely harmed reception until I fixed it by snipping the stray wire strands off. It may also cause damage to the SDR if the bias tee gets activated while the antenna is directly connected and shorted like that, which is more likely than it sounds because the normal TV drivers for the SDR chipset in linux apparently turn on the bias tee by accident, not knowing that there's a bias tee circuit in there).

u/DwarfVader001 · 3 pointsr/RTLSDR

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/

u/forkworm · 3 pointsr/RTLSDR

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

u/gumpgraves · 3 pointsr/HamRadio

If you want to listen then you do not need a license (as indicated by rock_vbrg). I assume you already have a computer (what college student doesn't), so I would start with one of these: https://www.amazon.com/RTL-SDR-Blog-RTL2832U-Software-Telescopic/dp/B011HVUEME/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1536752080&sr=8-3&keywords=rtl+sdr+dongle you can listen to the air traffic plus a whole lot more. It also gives you the option to do a little more advanced stuff without having to re-invest in hardware. Check out making it into an ADSB tracker : https://www.rtl-sdr.com/adsb-aircraft-radar-with-rtl-sdr/

You can run it with a windows machine using SDR# which has a lot of plug ins for different digital signals. Or you can use GQRX as your front end on a linux machine. There are Rasp-Pi options to run it as well, it is is a little swiss army knife for receiving radio. Browse through the archives at https://www.rtl-sdr.com/ to see if anything interests you. And look at all of the available software for these little things here: https://www.rtl-sdr.com/big-list-rtl-sdr-supported-software/

Then if you want to take that next step and get involved, get your license (which i highly recommend). Hope this helps.

BT/AR
KC5CG

u/eibv · 3 pointsr/RTLSDR

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

/u/maxadmiral /u/LilVinny

u/rfv3 · 3 pointsr/shortwave

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.

u/ka_re_t · 3 pointsr/RTLSDR

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

u/VA7EEX · 3 pointsr/amateurradio

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.

u/cuweathernerd · 3 pointsr/amateurradio

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.

u/bites · 2 pointsr/Baofeng

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.

u/big0bum · 2 pointsr/RTLSDR

I bought this from Amazon.

u/watcherdata · 2 pointsr/hipaa

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.

u/zombieregime · 2 pointsr/flying

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.

u/molo1134 · 2 pointsr/RTLSDR

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

u/w1ll1am23 · 2 pointsr/homeassistant

This is the one I am looking at getting. No guaranteed it will work, but I have something else I will be using it for that I know will work.

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_lIyYCbZKQVDSP

u/badon_ · 2 pointsr/amateurradio

> Welcome! Another way to receive while you're learning is through the use of web SDRs or buying your own SDR (an RTL SDR dongle can be had for even less than the baofeng!) that way you can also listen to HF frequencies.

u/TheInsomniac03: Linky links:

u/lmore3 · 2 pointsr/amateurradio

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/

u/The6P4C · 2 pointsr/amateurradio

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.

u/mahmahmonkey · 2 pointsr/RTLSDR

[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.

u/thxYukikaze · 2 pointsr/RTLSDR

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#.

u/IsolatedVampire · 2 pointsr/RTLSDR

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 !

u/SniffMarkers247 · 2 pointsr/amateurradio

>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.

u/Giric · 2 pointsr/amateurradio

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.

u/dlf420 · 2 pointsr/amateurradio

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.

u/fast_edo · 1 pointr/cordcutters

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.

u/Devhux · 1 pointr/Calgary

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.

u/temeroso_ivan · 1 pointr/RTLSDR

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

u/ThisFaceLeftBlank · 1 pointr/RTLSDR

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.

u/reven80 · 1 pointr/diyelectronics

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

u/GrenobleLyon · 1 pointr/shortwave

[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

u/uncle_debo · 1 pointr/sailing

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/

u/flyengineer · 1 pointr/stratux


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.
u/uli2000 · 1 pointr/shortwave

https://www.amazon.com/RTL-SDR-Blog-RTL2832U-Software-Telescopic/dp/B011HVUEME/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1474251513&sr=8-1&keywords=rtl+sdr+v3

Unlike previous versions, will cover down to ~400kh natively, no upconverter needed. The antennas that come with it are garbage though, but you could build a long wire and balun with stuff you may already have around the house.

u/tastyratz · 1 pointr/homeautomation

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.

u/kingrpriddick · 1 pointr/HomeNetworking

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

u/compsci36 · 1 pointr/RTLSDR

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

u/rtlsdr_is_fun · 1 pointr/RTLSDR

Probably this kit.

u/OneleggedPeter · 1 pointr/RTLSDR

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.