Over on the swling.com blog admin Thomas has been exploring various indoor antenna options for pairing with an HF capable software defined radio. He notes that unless you happen to live in isolation, you're highly likely to experience RFI problems with standard wire antennas. Instead he recommends looking into magnetic loop antennas which are significantly more resistant to urban electric field based RFI noise, and they can also be rotated to null out any other local noise sources. Thomas then goes on to highlight some of the best commercial magnetic loop options for sale. There is also some good advice in

$15.00 Home Audio & Video SDR Receiver SMA Antenna Multipurpose Dipole Antenna Kit 50Ω RTL-SDR Antenna.

Thank you to Frank Sessink (PA0FSB) for submitting to us his document describing the K9AY loop antenna (pdf), which is the antenna that he successfully uses with his RTL-SDR for HF reception. The antenna combines magnetic (H) and electric (E) field reception in order to create a directive radiation pattern. Frank extends the idea by showing a method that can adjust the directivity electrically with some simple resistor switching. The antenna that I use is for medium wave DX, specially to receive MW from USA here in Europe/The Netherlands. The antenna is a combination of a magnetic loop and a sense antenna for

Over on Imgur and Reddit user Mavericknos has uploaded a very nice pictorial guide where he shows how he's built a high performance RTL-SDR based ADS-B receiver that can be mounted outside in a waterproof enclosure. He uses a FlightAware dongle, which is an RTL-SDR optimized for best ADS-B reception when placed directly at the mast/antenna. For an antenna he uses the FlightAware ADS-B antenna, which we've reviewed in the past and found to be one of the best value ADS-B antennas available on the market. To process the data, a Raspberry Pi is used and it is powered via power over

Thank you to Igor Yatsevich for submitting news about an open source Mini-Whip and Upconverter design that he's created and released for free on GitHub. An upconverter converts HF frequencies into VHF frequencies so that they can be received by RTL-SDRs in their quadrature mode, and a Mini-Whip is a small active antenna for receiving HF signals. The designs include the PCB Gerber files for manufacturing, the components list and assembly and usage guides. Also both through-hole and SMD designs are provided. The Mini-Whip design has a frequency range of 10 kHz - 30 MHz and to power it you'll

Login to your account Where to Buy RTL-SDR RTL2832U DVB-T Tuner Dongles At RTL-SDR.com we sell significantly improved premium RTL-SDR dongles but keep our profits low and offer free shipping in order to maintain low retail pricing. We strongly believe that our V3 and V4 dongles are currently the best 'bang for your buck' RTL-SDR dongles available on the market. Please see the V3 features pdf datasheet here for full information on the improvements made, and our V3 or V4 user guide for information on using special features of our dongle. (V4 datasheet and guide coming soon!) If you are new

The software defined ham radio receiver (SDR) is fast becoming the new standard. Here is what the excitement is all about.

This project talks about how RTL-Software Defined Radio dongles can easily perform the function of an SDR receiver using an Android smartphone.

There are now dozens of software defined radio packages that support the ultra cheap RTL-SDR. On this page we will attempt to list, categorize and provide a brief overview of each software program. We categorize the programs into general purpose software, single purpose software, research software and software compatible with audio piping. If you know of a program that is missing please leave a comment in the comments section at the bottom of the page. 13/02/2014 - Added Sodira, gr-wmbus, rtlsdr-waterfall, QTRadio, multimon, sdrangelove, lte-scanner, rtl_tcp, rtl_sdr_FS20_decoder. 17/02/2014 - Updated the Linrad description. 28/04/2014 - Added Modesdeco and Trunk88. 30/05/2014 - Added

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) a.k.a The American National Association for Amateur Radio has put online a freely available ADS-B tutorial featured in their monthly QST magazine, written by Robert Nichols, W9RAN. The tutorial focuses on using an R820T RTL-SDR dongle to receive ADS-B signals, and then using computer software to decode the signals and create a virtual aircraft radar. ADS-B is a protocol used by most modern aircraft to broadcast their position and altitude which is determined via GPS. ADS-B is intended to supplement and eventually replace traditional radar. In this ADS-B tutorial, they show how to create a

There are now dozens of software defined radio packages that support the ultra cheap RTL-SDR. On this page we will attempt to list, categorize and provide a brief overview of each software program. We categorize the programs into general purpose software, single purpose software, research software and software compatible with audio piping. If you know of a program that is missing please leave a comment in the comments section at the bottom of the page. 13/02/2014 - Added Sodira, gr-wmbus, rtlsdr-waterfall, QTRadio, multimon, sdrangelove, lte-scanner, rtl_tcp, rtl_sdr_FS20_decoder. 17/02/2014 - Updated the Linrad description. 28/04/2014 - Added Modesdeco and Trunk88. 30/05/2014 - Added

(Inexpensive) NOAA APT Ground Station Utilizing the RTL-SDR and 3D Printing.: This is a guide aiming to help you build an inexpensive APT ground station. The QFH antenna described in this tutorial has been measured by a vector analyzer to correspond with NOAA APT frequencies at 137-138 MHz. The cost of this project varies fro…

There are now dozens of software defined radio packages that support the ultra cheap RTL-SDR. On this page we will attempt to list, categorize and provide a brief overview of each software program. We categorize the programs into general purpose software, single purpose software, research software and software compatible with audio piping. If you know of a program that is missing please leave a comment in the comments section at the bottom of the page. 13/02/2014 - Added Sodira, gr-wmbus, rtlsdr-waterfall, QTRadio, multimon, sdrangelove, lte-scanner, rtl_tcp, rtl_sdr_FS20_decoder. 17/02/2014 - Updated the Linrad description. 28/04/2014 - Added Modesdeco and Trunk88. 30/05/2014 - Added

Mini Portable Digital USB 2.0 TV Stick DVB-T + DAB + FM RTL2832U + R820T2 Support SDR Tuner Receiver Feature: --These units are based on the R820T2 tunerC made by Rafael Micro. As such, they have a frequency capability of approximately 25MHz-1750MHz, though this can vary somewhat from unit to unit. There is also an RTL2832U C on board of course, which acts as the demodulator and USB interface. --The connector type on the antenna and USB board is MCX--male MCX on the antenna, female MCX on the SDR. There are plenty of adapter and adapter cables available in our store if you want to connect your favorite antenna! --We perform extensive QA on every batch sold. As with all our SDRs, we guarantee antenna protection will be present so that your new investment will not be quickly destroyed by spurious ESD. Specifications: Interface: USB2.0 port. Input Terrestrial Antenna Main item size: 8.8 *2.6 * 1.0cm / 3.46 * 1.02 * 0.39in Package weight: 68g / 2.4oz Supports Digital terrestrial video and radio program recording (records digital terrestrial TV on PC or Laptop). The included Input Terrestrial Antenna will offer stable TV signal. Supports Real Time digital video recording and broadcasting. Supports Watching DVB-T digital TV and listen to DAB and FM radio. Full DVB-T bandwidth reception (at 6 / 7 / 8MHz) Supports Still image snapshots and PIP (Picture in picture) function. Can Schedule recording using the built-in Scheduler and Time-shifting function Digital TV recording and playback as DVD quality Support both MPEG-2, MPEG-4(H.264) encoding Support multi-picture display; Support EPG (Electronic Program Guide); Support Teletext; Support Microsoft BDA drivers; Supports Remote control; Support Systems: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/WIN7/WIN8; System Requirements: CPU: Pentium IV 1.8 GHz or above; Operation System: Windows2000 SP4, Windows XP SP2/W7/W8 (Desktop, Notebook, etc) ; DirectX9.0c or above; Memory: 128MB; 500M of available hard disk space or above; CD-ROM Drive; USB2.0 Interface. Package List: 1x DollaTek TV Stick 1x External Input Terrestrial Antenna 1x Remote Controller 1x Installation CD Drive Note: 1.Please allow 1-2 cm error due to manual measurement. pls make sure you do not mind before you bid. 2.Due to the difference between different monitors, the picture may not reflect the actual. thanks for your understanding!

NOTE: The V4 is now out of stock but will return in late September. There will be stock for about a year of sales. It is not completely gone yet as per false rumors! We're happy to announce the first release of our new RTL-SDR Blog V4 dongle which is based on the R828D tuner chip. The pricing is US$39.95 for the V4 dongle with antenna set, and US$29.95 for the dongle only, including free shipping to most countries. Currently we are only shipping this model from our warehouse in China and the initial production batch is small and so

There are now dozens of software defined radio packages that support the ultra cheap RTL-SDR. On this page we will attempt to list, categorize and provide a brief overview of each software program. We categorize the programs into general purpose software, single purpose software, research software and software compatible with audio piping. If you know of a program that is missing please leave a comment in the comments section at the bottom of the page. 13/02/2014 - Added Sodira, gr-wmbus, rtlsdr-waterfall, QTRadio, multimon, sdrangelove, lte-scanner, rtl_tcp, rtl_sdr_FS20_decoder. 17/02/2014 - Updated the Linrad description. 28/04/2014 - Added Modesdeco and Trunk88. 30/05/2014 - Added

By using an RTL-SDR dongle together with a low cost noise source it is possible to measure the response of an RF filter. Also, with an additional piece of hardware called a directional coupler the standing wave ratio (SWR) of antennas can also be measured. Measuring the response of a filter can be very useful for those designing their own, or for those who just want to check the performance and characteristics of a filter they have purchased. The SWR of an antenna determines where the antenna is resonant and is important for tuning it for the frequency you are interested in listening to. These tutorials

[Carl] just found a yet another use for the RTL-SDR. He's been decoding Inmarsat STD-C EGC messages with it. Inmarsat is a British satellite telecommunications company. They provide communications a...

[Carl] just found a yet another use for the RTL-SDR. He's been decoding Inmarsat STD-C EGC messages with it. Inmarsat is a British satellite telecommunications company. They provide communications a...

Last month we posted about an RTL-SDR experimenter who shielded his RTL-SDR dongle using an aluminium case. Shielding the RTL-SDR helps to reduce out of band interference which can enter the device through the PCB itself. Now Melih, another RTL-SDR experimenter has recently posted on his blog about his simpler shielding method that uses cheap copper tape. The copper tape was purchased from ebay, and is the type that is commonly used for creating a slug barrier in the garden. Over on the Reddit thread discussing his work, there are some concerns about excessive crystal drift due to there being no ventilation holes. However,

Over on GitHub user martinber has released a new NOAA APT image decoder that can run on both Linux and Windows. The decoder is called noaa-apt and takes a .WAV file of a NOAA satellite pass, and turns it into an image file. The .WAV file can be recorded in any SDR program like SDR#, HDSDR, GQRX etc. The program is programmed in Rust, and has ready to run binaries available for both Linux and Windows available on it's GitHub Releases page. Compared to the features found in WXtoIMG the software is fairly basic, but as WXtoIMG has been abandoned

By using an RTL-SDR dongle together with a low cost noise source it is possible to measure the response of an RF filter. Also, with an additional piece of hardware called a directional coupler the standing wave ratio (SWR) of antennas can also be measured. Measuring the response of a filter can be very useful for those designing their own, or for those who just want to check the performance and characteristics of a filter they have purchased. The SWR of an antenna determines where the antenna is resonant and is important for tuning it for the frequency you are interested in listening to. These tutorials

There are now dozens of software defined radio packages that support the ultra cheap RTL-SDR. On this page we will attempt to list, categorize and provide a brief overview of each software program. We categorize the programs into general purpose software, single purpose software, research software and software compatible with audio piping. If you know of a program that is missing please leave a comment in the comments section at the bottom of the page. 13/02/2014 - Added Sodira, gr-wmbus, rtlsdr-waterfall, QTRadio, multimon, sdrangelove, lte-scanner, rtl_tcp, rtl_sdr_FS20_decoder. 17/02/2014 - Updated the Linrad description. 28/04/2014 - Added Modesdeco and Trunk88. 30/05/2014 - Added

1. With RTL2832U ADC chip, R820T2 tuner, 1PPM TCXO, SMA F connector and aluminum housing with passive cooling2. Suitable for use as a computer-based radio scanner, with free software such as SDR, HDSDR, SDR-radio, GQRX or SDR Touch on Android3. For Windows / OSX / Linux / Android / Raspberry Pi Computer4. The antenna is suitable for the 137mhz weather satellite and the International Space Station, and is used in the vertical configuration of ground signals5. Suitable for many applications, these include general radio scanning, air traffic control, public safety, ADS-B Aircraft Radar, ACARS, trunking radios, p25mototrbo digital voice, POCSAG, weather balloons, APRS, NOAA Aptmeteor M2 Weather Satellite, radio astronomy, DAB or low-cost panadapter with ham radio6. Better LDO, low noise and low voltage7. Power through a USB cable8. AD sampling bit: 8-bit9. PCB front-end design, higher signal-to-noise ratio10. Current: 185MA11. Sample rate: 3.2 msps (2.56 msps stability)12. Frequency range: 500 KHZ-1766 MHz13. Size: 7 x 1.4 x 2.8CM

UPDATE 11 May 2020: We recently learned that the MSI.SDR software defined radio dongle in the following post and tutorial is a clone of the SDRplay RSP1 SDR. We did not realize this when the post w…

Large ships and passenger boats are required to broadcast an identification signal containing position, course, speed, destination, and vessel dimension information to help prevent sea collisions. This system is known as the 'Automatic Identification System' or AIS for short. There are dedicated AIS receivers intended to be used on boats, or by hobbyists, but they can be expensive. A radio scanner, or the cheap RTL-SDR software defined radio (or a more advanced SDR such an Airspy) can be used to receive these signals, and with the help of decoding software, ship positions can be plotted on a map. This tutorial will show

By Brad Antoniewicz. In this blog post I'll aim to get you at least partially familiar with Software Defined Radio, the Realtek RTL2832U c...

Something we missed posting about from last year was this presentation on 'RasHAWK', a direction finding system (pdf) built out of a Raspberry Pi, an RTL-SDR and four antennas on a 4 way switch running software created with REDHAWK. REDHAWK is a visual DSP development platform that can be considered similar to GNU Radio or some parts of MATLAB. The authors write: The RasHAWK team has used a Raspberry Pi as the basis for a networked RF sensor capable of supporting spectrum monitoring, signal intercept and direction finding (DF) operations. Several RasHAWK sensors are deployed in a distributed sensor grid, wirelessly tethered to a command

There are now dozens of software defined radio packages that support the ultra cheap RTL-SDR. On this page we will attempt to list, categorize and provide a brief overview of each software program. We categorize the programs into general purpose software, single purpose software, research software and software compatible with audio piping. If you know of a program that is missing please leave a comment in the comments section at the bottom of the page. 13/02/2014 - Added Sodira, gr-wmbus, rtlsdr-waterfall, QTRadio, multimon, sdrangelove, lte-scanner, rtl_tcp, rtl_sdr_FS20_decoder. 17/02/2014 - Updated the Linrad description. 28/04/2014 - Added Modesdeco and Trunk88. 30/05/2014 - Added