mardi 16 juillet 2024

• SignalsEverywhere: Decoding the QO-100 Mid-Beacon with WebSDR and IZ8BLY’s Decoder
  In one of her latest videos on YouTube, Sarah from the SignalsEverywhere channel shows how we can use a program called "IZ8BLY Phase 3D (AO-4) Satellite Decoder" to decode the 'Mid-Beacon' on the QO-100 satellite. QO-100 is a commercial geostationary communications satellite that also contains (...)
  
  
• Reading Electric Meters with RTL-SDR and HomeAssistant
  Over on his blog Jeff Sandberg has posted a writeup detailing how he combined RTL-SDR, rtl_amr, and HomeAssistant to decode wireless data from his Itron power meter, and create useful graphs showing his US home's power usage. In the post, Jeff explains how he uses an RTL-SDR Blog V4, (...)
  
  

vendredi 12 juillet 2024

• Transmitting and Receiving Meshtastic with SDR
  Last month we posted about Aaron's video on Meshtastic, and how it's possible to decode the Meshtastic protocol using an RTL-SDR and GNU Radio project called Meshtastic_SDR. If you weren't aware, Meshtastic is software that enables off-grid mesh network based communications and can run on cheap (...)
  
  

mercredi 10 juillet 2024

• A Great Video Introduction to RTL-SDR
  Over on YouTube Paul Lutus has recently posted a video that is a great introduction to software-defined radio, RTL-SDR, and some of the various signals that can be received with one. In the video he uses an RTL-SDR Blog V4, which has a built-in upconverter, allowing for good reception of HF (...)
  
  
• SignalsEverywhere: Monitoring Itron ERT Smart Meters on Android
  Over on her YouTube channel SignalsEverywhere, Sarah has uploaded her latest video showing how it is possible to monitor Itron ERT smart meters on an Android device. Smart meters are used to wirelessly monitor the usage of residential utilities such as water, gas, and electricity. With an (...)
  
  

jeudi 4 juillet 2024

• Tech Minds: Testing an Inmarsat L-Band Helix for Offset Satellite Dishes
  In his latest video, Matt from the TechMinds YouTube channel tests out an LHCP L-band helix feed designed for receiving Inmarsat satellites. Matt pairs the feed with an 85cm satellite dish, an L-band LNA, and an Airspy Mini. The L-band helix feed comes from a small German engineering company (...)
  
  

vendredi 28 juin 2024

• GOES-U Satellite Launched and on the way to Geostationary Orbit
  On June 25 the NOAA GOES-U weather satellite was successfully launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 Heavy rocket. Once it reaches geostationary orbit, this will be a new weather satellite that RTL-SDR hobbyists can receive with an RTL-SDR dongle, satellite dish, and LNA. From launch, it will take about (...)
  
  

jeudi 27 juin 2024

• An Inspiring Video about Getting Hooked on SDRs
  Thank you to 'Tuned Signal' (TS) for sharing his video with impressive production quality, detailing his story on how and why he became hooked on software-defined radio. TS notes how it all started with an Outernet receiver that he purchased, which came with an RTL-SDR dongle. From there he (...)
  
  
• SDR# Big Guide Book: 2024 Edition Released
  Paolo Romani (IZ1MLL) has recently released the 2024 version of his SDR# Big Book. The book is available for download on the Airspy downloads page, just scroll down to the title "SDR# Big Book" and choose your language. (At the time of this post only English and Italian are available in the (...)
  
  
• Tech Minds: Testing the NooElec FlyCatcher RTL-SDR ADS-B+UAT Raspberry Pi Hat
  Over on YouTube Matt from the Tech Minds YouTube channel has tested out NooElec's new 'FlyCatcher', which is an RTl-SDR ADS-B hat for the Raspberry Pi. The FlyCatcher has two RTL-SDRs built into it, each with it's own LNA and SAW filter. One SAW filter is tuned for 978 MHz UAT, and the other (...)
  
  
• Tech Minds: Using the RK888 MK2 to Receive the Entire HF Band
  In one of his latest videos Matt from the Tech Minds YouTube channel tests out the RX888 MK2 software defined radio at HF frequencies. Matt notes that while the bandwidth of this SDR is limited to 10 MHz at VHF/UHF, you can actually use it in direct sampling mode to achieve a massive bandwidth (...)
  
  

samedi 22 juin 2024

• Airspy 2024 Summer Sale: 15% Off All Airspy Products
  Airspy is currently holding their annual summer sale which gives 15% off their line of products until June 30 2024. The sale brings the price of the popular Airspy receiver products down to the following in US dollars (note that actual pricing may vary across local resellers): Airspy R2: (...)
  
  

lundi 10 juin 2024

• Decoding Meshtastic in Realtime with an RTL-SDR and GNU Radio
  Over on his YouTube channel, Aaron, creator of DragonOS and WarDragon has uploaded a video showing how it is possible to decode Meshtastic with an RTL-SDR and GNU Radio project called Meshtastic_SDR. If you weren't aware of it, Meshtastic is software that enables off-grid mesh network based (...)
  
  
• An Atmega328 + SI5351 Based WSPR Beacon
  Thank you to Ihar Yatsevich for writing in and sharing with us his open-source WSPR beacon project. The WSPR beacon consists of a custom PCB with ATMega328 microcontroller, GPS module, single transistor amplifier, and Si5351 with TCXO. The result is a very simple, portable WSPR beacon that can (...)
  
  
• Artemis 4 Released: Offline Signal Identification Database
  Back in 2019 we posted about the release of Artemis 3, an open-source multi-platform program that makes searching through the Signal Identification Wiki offline possible and easy to do. Recently Artemis 4 has been released which is an entire rewrite of the code, resulting in some substantial (...)
  
  

vendredi 7 juin 2024

• xMASS SDR – 8×8 MIMO Transceiver for 4G/5G Applications to be Crowd Funded
  Thank you to creators Sergey and Andrew who have submitted news about their upcoming software defined radio called 'xMASS SDR'. xMASS will be a SDR with 8 RX and 8 TX channels, with a max sample rate of 60 MSPS per 8 channels, or 100 MSPS per 4 channels, and a frequency range of 30 (...)
  
  

jeudi 30 mai 2024

• SignalsEverywhere: Build an RTL-SDR Based OP25 Radio Scanner with a Mobile Control Head Android App
  Welcome back to Sarah from the SignalsEverywhere YouTube channel who has recently returned to producing videos from a hiatus. In her latest video, Sarah shows off her new OP25 Mobile Control Head Android App which allows you to implement a full P25 digital radio scanner at a fraction of the (...)
  
  
• A 3D Printed Enclosure with USB Hub for RTL-SDR Blog Units
  Over on Hackaday, we've seen a post about Jay Doscher's clever 3D printed enclosure that can hold two RTL-SDR Blog V4 units and a USB hub. The enclosure is designed to make it easy to take the two units mobile, and the USB hub inside means that only one USB connection is required to run (...)
  
  
• uSDR Software Updated to V1.7.0
  Thank you to Viol for writing in and letting us know that his uSDR software has recently been updated to V1.7.0. The uSDR software (not to be confused with the unrelated uSDR hardware) is a lightweight general-purpose multimode program for Windows that supports the RTL-SDR, Airspy, BladeRF, (...)
  
  

lundi 20 mai 2024

• Airspy HF+ Ranger: A New Airspy Product Teased
  Over on Twitter/X @lamdbaprog, creator of Airspy products and the SDRSharp software has teased his next upcoming software-defined radio hardware called the "Airspy HF+ Ranger". The Airspy HF+ Ranger prototype was also seen at the Dayton Hamvention through their local Airspy.us reseller. The (...)
  
  

mercredi 15 mai 2024

• Scott Manley Explains GPS Jamming & Spoofing and Why & Who is Causing It
  In recent years GPS spoofing and jamming have become quite commonplace. Recently popular YouTuber Scott Manley uploaded a video explaining exactly what GPS spoofing and jamming is and explains a bit about who is doing it and why. In the video Scott explains how aircraft now routinely use GPS as (...)
  
  

lundi 13 mai 2024

• YouTube Video Series on Iridium Satellite Decoding with an Airspy, RTL-SDR Blog Patch Antenna and DragonOS
  Over on his YouTube channel, Rob VK8FOES has started a new video series about Iridium Satellite Decoding. Iridium is a constellation of low-earth orbiting satellites that provide voice and data services. Iridium was first decoded with low cost hardware by security researchers back in 2016 as (...)
  
  
• Tech Minds: Introducing the SDRplay RSPdx-R2 and SDR Connect Preview 3
  At the end of last week, we posted how SDRplay released the RSPdx-R2, an updated version of their RSPdx product. Recently Matt from the Tech Minds YouTube channel received his RSPdx-R2 and has uploaded a video comparing the RSPdx-R2 to the previous model. His results show that the new model has (...)
  
  

vendredi 10 mai 2024

• SDRplay RSPdx-R2 Released
  SDRplay has announced the release of their latest product, the SDRplay RSPdx-R2. The RSPdx-R2 is advertised as an enhanced version of their RSPdx software-defined radio. The press release from SDRplay reads: Jon Hudson, SDRplay Sales and Marketing Director said “Global supply chain support (...)
  
  
• DeepRad: Upcoming Modular RTL-SDR System to be CrowdFunded
  The company "DeepSea Developments" have recently released news about their upcoming crowdfunding campaign for their 'DeepRad' modular RTL-SDR system. The goal of DeepRad appears to be a modular RTL-SDR that can easily be used as a module on a 'motherboard' PCB of your own design. DeepRad is (...)
  
  

vendredi 3 mai 2024

• QCSuper: Capture 2G/3G/4G/5G Radio Frames with Qualcomm Phones
  In the past, we've shown how it's possible to use RTL-SDRs or other SDR devices together with the Airprobe software to analyze data from 2G GSM mobile phones and towers. (Note that it's not possible to listen in on conversations or read SMS data unless you have the encryption code for the (...)
  
  

mercredi 1er mai 2024

• Antennas Explained: Finding the Best Antenna for HackRF, RTL-SDR and Other Receivers
  Over on YouTube sn0ren has uploaded a well produced video to help beginners to the radio hobby understand antennas. The video explains how antennas work in theory, and how to choose the best antenna for your SDR and application through calculations and use of a Nano VNA. There is an essential (...)
  
  

mardi 30 avril 2024

• FobosSDR: A New SDR Receiver with 100 kHz to 6 GHz Tuning Range and 50 MHz Bandwidth for $395
  Recently we've seen that a new SDR from the Ukrainian company RigExpert has been released. The RX-only USB3.0 SDR is called 'FobosSDR' and it has a 100 kHz to 6 GHz tuning range, 50 MHz of bandwidth, and 14-bit resolution. Apart from a standard RF input, it also has two auxiliary input channels (...)
  
  
• SDR# Version 1920 Released
  A few days ago SDRSharp version 1920 was released. SDRSharp (SDR#) is a popular Windows program that is affiliated with Airspy SDR dongles, but is compatible with RTL-SDR and various other SDRs as well. The latest version gets rid of the relatively resource heavy Telerik UI library and replaces (...)
  
  

jeudi 18 avril 2024

• Gypsum: A Software-Defined GPS Receiver written in Python + A Writeup on How it Was Made
  Thank you to RTL-SDR.COM reader Lee. who found a recently released program called "gypsum" which enables an RTL-SDR or HackRF to be used as a GPS Receiver when combined with a GPS antenna. Phillip Tennen, the author of Gypsum notes that Gypsum can obtain a fix within 60 seconds from a cold (...)