RTL-SDR An Inexpensive and Portable SDR using a USB Sized Dongle

RTL-SDR An Inexpensive and Portable SDR using a USB Sized DongleGeorge Perkins N5UI

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NorthTexasMicrowaveSocietyNTMSWWW.NTMS.ORG#What is RTL-SDR?What is RTL-SDR?An inexpensive Software Defined Radio (SDR) receiver that uses a DVB-T TV tuner based on the RTL2832U chipsetDVB-T is a European based Terrestrial Digital Video Broadcasting standardThe RTL2832U chip supports USB 2.0 and usually is assembled on a USB dongle about the same size as a USB Flash Memory stickRTL2832U is a RealTek product, details and specs can be found at http://www.realtek.com

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NorthTexasMicrowaveSocietyNTMSWWW.NTMS.ORG#What Do You Need?An RTL-SDR DonglePreferably with an R820T2 tuner chip, typically < $20A computer or laptopAt least dual core, 1GB RAM, Windows XP or newerAntenna and coax with an MCX connector or MCX to coax adapterRTL-SDR SoftwareMany to choose fromSDRSharp is free and the most popular

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Portable Use

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NorthTexasMicrowaveSocietyNTMSWWW.NTMS.ORG#RTL-SDR & RTL2832U

RTL8232UDigital DemodulatorR820T2

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NorthTexasMicrowaveSocietyNTMSWWW.NTMS.ORG#R820T2 Closeup

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NorthTexasMicrowaveSocietyNTMSWWW.NTMS.ORG#RTL-SDR VariationsTuner ChipFrequency RangeRafael Micro R820T224 1766 MhzRafael Micro R820T24 1766 MhzElonics E400054 2200 MhzFitipower FC001322 1100 MhzFitipower FC001222 948.6 MhzFCI FC2580146 308 & 438 924 Mhz

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NorthTexasMicrowaveSocietyNTMSWWW.NTMS.ORG#High Fun to Dollar Ratio

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NorthTexasMicrowaveSocietyNTMSWWW.NTMS.ORG#Where to Buywww.Amazon.comwww.eBay.comwww.RTL-SDR.comwww.NooElec.comMany other places, just Google RTL-SDR

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NorthTexasMicrowaveSocietyNTMSWWW.NTMS.ORG#A Few RTL-SDR Use CasesAmateur Radio Reception, 6 Meters, VHF, UHFAmateur Packet Radio, APRSAmateur Satellite or ISSUnencrypted Police, Ambulance, Fire, EMSDigital Voice decoding with P25 and D-Star possible with external appNOAA Weather Radio, 162.40 162.55NOAA Weather SatellitesGMRS / FRS Air Traffic from DFW & Love FieldADSB Aircraft Telemetry & Position Data @ 1090 MhzFM BroadcastSpectrum AnalyzerLow Cost Pan-Adapter for HF reception

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NorthTexasMicrowaveSocietyNTMSWWW.NTMS.ORG#FM Broadcast w/HD Radio

HD Radio Digital sidebandsFM Broadcast

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NorthTexasMicrowaveSocietyNTMSWWW.NTMS.ORG#NOAA Weather Radio

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NorthTexasMicrowaveSocietyNTMSWWW.NTMS.ORG#GMRS / FRS

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NorthTexasMicrowaveSocietyNTMSWWW.NTMS.ORG#2 Meter

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NorthTexasMicrowaveSocietyNTMSWWW.NTMS.ORG#2 Meter Wide Spectrum

Repeater Input146.320 MhzRepeater Output146.920 Mhz

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NorthTexasMicrowaveSocietyNTMSWWW.NTMS.ORG#Spectrum Analyzer

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NorthTexasMicrowaveSocietyNTMSWWW.NTMS.ORG#Spectrum Analyzer

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NorthTexasMicrowaveSocietyNTMSWWW.NTMS.ORG#Spectrum Analyzer

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NorthTexasMicrowaveSocietyNTMSWWW.NTMS.ORG#ADSB Air Traffic DecodingAutomatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast

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NorthTexasMicrowaveSocietyNTMSWWW.NTMS.ORG#ADSB w/Virtual Radar Server

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NorthTexasMicrowaveSocietyNTMSWWW.NTMS.ORG#SDRSharp + Plugins

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NorthTexasMicrowaveSocietyNTMSWWW.NTMS.ORG#SDRSharp PlugInsSome of the plugins to extend the capability of SDRSharp are;Unitrunker Trunking PluginOrbitron PluginDDE Plugin for communicating data to other appsFast Scanner PluginQPSK Demodulator PluginSimple Audio EQ Balance PluginCTCSS Detector and Squelch PluginTimeShift SDRRDS Logger Plugin

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NorthTexasMicrowaveSocietyNTMSWWW.NTMS.ORG#For More InformationEverything you could possibly want to know and more can be found at the sitehttp://www.RTL-SDR.com

Thank You, 73

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NorthTexasMicrowaveSocietyNTMSWWW.NTMS.ORG#A $25 Pan Adapter(Using an RTL-SDR)ByEric Silverthorn NM5M

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NorthTexasMicrowaveSocietyNTMSWWW.NTMS.ORG#RTL-SDRThe RTL Software Defined Receiver (SDR) has been around for quite a while, and is sold on eBay and Amazon for under $10. Many of these receivers have a tuning range between 18 Mh and 1 GhzI wanted to use the 8.2 Mhz output from my Elecraft K3 along with an RTL-SDR to provide an inexpensive Pan Adapter view

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NorthTexasMicrowaveSocietyNTMSWWW.NTMS.ORG#Block Diagram

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NorthTexasMicrowaveSocietyNTMSWWW.NTMS.ORG#What was needed to make it work on HFFrom the Block Diagram you will see 4 subsystems, they are;MixerLocal OscillatorAttenuatorRTL-SDR

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How to build itThe mixer may be purchased from RF Partshttps://www.rfparts.com/minicircuits/mini-freqmixers/sbl1x.html

The local oscillator frequency is not critical, you may use anything above 40 Mhz, I used a surplus TTL oscillator that I had on hand that operated on 50.2 Mhz.

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NorthTexasMicrowaveSocietyNTMSWWW.NTMS.ORG#Mixer MiniCircuits SBL-1 (or SBL1x)

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