Getting started with your SDR

Beric DunnK6BEZ

About Me

• Beric Dunn• G7JUO in late 80s• K6BEZ since 2011• Interests are QRP & Building Stuff• RF Design Engineer for 18 years

Scope

• Introduction to SDRs• Quick tour of What you can do• Demonstrations• For How follow the links• Put your pens away

What is SDR?

• Wikipedia

– “Software-defined radio (SDR) is a radio communication system where components that have been typically implemented in hardware (e.g. mixers, filters, amplifiers, modulators/demodulators, detectors, etc.) are instead implemented by means of software on a personal computer or embedded system”

Various Types

Various Types

Frequency Range Bandwidth ADC Bits Price

RTL-SDR 24 M - 1.8 GHz 3.2 MHz 8 $20

FunCube Dongle 64 M - 1.7 GHz 96 kHz 8 $150

SDR-Play 0.1 M - 2 GHz 8 MHz 12 $150

Hack RF 10 M - 6 GHz 20 MHz 8 $300

Ettus B200 50 M - 6 GHz 56 MHz 12 $700

“$20 SDR Dongle”

• Designed for Digital TV (DVB-T)

• 24 MHz – 1.8 GHz

• Based on RTL2832U chipset– Hence “RTL-SDR”

• 3.2 MHz bandwidth on USB 2.0

• Between $8 - 20

• Receive only

• http://www.rtl-sdr.com/about-rtl-sdr/

Basic Receiving

• View up to 3.2 MHz of Spectrum

• Click to decode

• Windows

– SDR# http://airspy.com/download/

– SDR Console http://sdr-radio.com/Software

– HDSDR http://www.hdsdr.de/

• Mac/Linux

– GQRX http://gqrx.dk/

How do I get started?

Http://www.rtl-sdr.com/rtl-sdr-quick-start-guide/

• Buyers guide• Software setup guide

DEMO - Basic Receiving

Pipe Audio to other program

• Virtual Audio Cable–http://software.muzychenko.net/eng/vac.htm

• Loop-Back Cable

APRS Decoding

• SDR# or GQRX

• (Virtual) Audio Cable

• QTMM AFSK Decoder

• http://www.rtl-sdr.com/monitoring-aprs-rtl-sdr/

DEMO - APRS Decoding

NOAA Satellites

• SDR# or GQRX

• (Virtual) Audio Cable

• WXtoIMG Decoder

• http://www.rtl-sdr.com/rtl-sdr-tutorial-receiving-noaa-weather-satellite-images/

Weather Satellite Image

Receive HF

• RTL-SDR works down to 25 MHz

• Up-convert HF spectrum to usable range

– Ham It Up http://www.nooelec.com/store/ham-it-up.html

– http://www.hamradioscience.com/ham-it-up-hf-converter/

DEMO - HF Reception

Want some Pi?

• Add a $35 Raspberry Pi to your $20 SDR• Underpowered for graphical work• Great for low power unattended

APRS Igate

• Raspberry Pi + RTL-SDR

• Receive Only

• http://aprs.fi/info/a/K6BEZ-1

• http://www.algissalys.com/amateur-radio/raspberry-pi-sdr-dongle-aprs-igate

Plane Tracking

• ADS-B, 1090 MHz

• R-Pi + RTL + Dump1090

• http://www.satsignal.eu/raspberry-pi/dump1090.html

• http://www.rtl-sdr.com/adsb-aircraft-radar-with-rtl-sdr/

Going Portable

• Android Device• USB On-The-Go Cable

• RTL-SDR

Spectrum Analyser on Android

• SDR Touch

• http://sdrtouch.com/

ADS-B on Android

• Avare ADS-B

• https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=bs.Avare.ADSB

More Bandwidth?

• 3.2 MHz is kind of narrow–Want to see 70 cm band on screen?

•Don’t want to spend more money?•Stitch chunks together

RTL Power

• Performs wider sweeps by stepping RTL Dongle– Command line tool

rtl_power -f 118M:137M:8k -g 50 -i 10 -e 1h airband.csv

– http://kmkeen.com/rtl-power/

– Does not allow demodulation

• Graphical Interface

– http://sourceforge.net/projects/guiforrtlpower/

DEMO - RTL Power

Add some noise...

• Wide band signal generator

• Not tuneable :-(

–But SDR receiver is :-)

•$10 optional upgrade for Ham-it-Up

Filter Measurement

• http://www.rtl-sdr.com/rtl-sdr-tutorial-measuring-filter-characteristics-and-antenna-vswr-with-an-rtl-sdr-and-noise-source/

“$60 Antenna Analyser”

• http://www.rtl-sdr.com/rtl-sdr-tutorial-measuring-filter-characteristics-and-antenna-vswr-with-an-rtl-sdr-and-noise-source/

• RTL-SDR Stick ($20)

• Noise Source ($20)

• Directional Coupler ($20)

Panadapter

• Add Waterfall to your HF rig– Rig needs IF out

– Some rigs have included

– Add your own!– http://g4hup.com/PAT.htm

•http://www.rtl-sdr.com/tag/panadapter/

K6BEZ Recommendations

• Getting Started:– RTL Dongle ($20)

– SDR# or GQRX (FREE)– http://www.rtl-sdr.com/rtl-sdr-quick-start-guide/

K6BEZ Recommendations

•Higher Performance?– SDR Play ($150) http://sdrplay.com/

– Band pass filters included

– Extended frequency range

– More resolution (12 bit ADC)

K6BEZ Recommendations

•Getting Serious?– Ettus B200 ($700) http://www.ettus.com/product/details/UB200-KIT

– GNU Radio (FREE) http://gnuradio.org/

Thank You!

Any Questions?