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Amazing and cheap SDR receiver.
- Thread starter Captain Kilowatt
- Start date
RTL SDR Console
Just a few comments to add to the thread.
There are various SDR programs available but I suggest using SDR CONSOLE V2 (must be V2 as earlier versions do not support RTL dongal). Also SDR Console will, later this year, hopefully integrate with Ham Radio Deluxe. This means that whatever you do on (certain) radios will mimic on SDR Console and visa versa. Why does this matter??? Well obviously ease of use BUT more so I have had chance to compare the $17 Dongal and SDR Console to my IC746 pro. Long story short the $17 dongal beats my $1000 IC746 on RX. If I turn my antenna so my local 6m beacon is just above the noise on my IC746 and then switch the antenna to the input of my SDR I would give the beacon an S3 by ear on the SDR. I have done repeated tests and find all results similar. I have used the SDR to receive both JT65 on HF and FSK meteor scatter on VHF by feeding the audio output of my sdr computer to the audio input of my VHF computer running WJST and JT65-HF.
My next step is to set the system up so that I use a TS440 for TX and my SDR for RX. Once I am happy with this I will make the same mods to my IC746 which I only use for 6/2/222. I think it will make a better RX for MS and EME than my IC746.
I would suggest ordering the HF converter at the same time and from experience DO NOT HOT SWAP the dongal. I blew one up doing that. Not saying it was the hot swap that did it but it never worked again afterwards.
Just a few comments to add to the thread.
There are various SDR programs available but I suggest using SDR CONSOLE V2 (must be V2 as earlier versions do not support RTL dongal). Also SDR Console will, later this year, hopefully integrate with Ham Radio Deluxe. This means that whatever you do on (certain) radios will mimic on SDR Console and visa versa. Why does this matter??? Well obviously ease of use BUT more so I have had chance to compare the $17 Dongal and SDR Console to my IC746 pro. Long story short the $17 dongal beats my $1000 IC746 on RX. If I turn my antenna so my local 6m beacon is just above the noise on my IC746 and then switch the antenna to the input of my SDR I would give the beacon an S3 by ear on the SDR. I have done repeated tests and find all results similar. I have used the SDR to receive both JT65 on HF and FSK meteor scatter on VHF by feeding the audio output of my sdr computer to the audio input of my VHF computer running WJST and JT65-HF.
My next step is to set the system up so that I use a TS440 for TX and my SDR for RX. Once I am happy with this I will make the same mods to my IC746 which I only use for 6/2/222. I think it will make a better RX for MS and EME than my IC746.
I would suggest ordering the HF converter at the same time and from experience DO NOT HOT SWAP the dongal. I blew one up doing that. Not saying it was the hot swap that did it but it never worked again afterwards.
Good post and welcome Paul. This is Garth VE1IDX here. I am one of the admins. Thanks for the help the other week in getting SDR Console working. The proper dlls helped. LOL. I have ordered the HF converter and am just waiting for it to arrive.
Hi Garth. No problem. I figured I had put in the hours finding all the links and info why should you have to 
I am still amazed at how good these $17 dongals are and wonder just how much better the "good" ones can be. I bought one of these...
SPF 5043Z LNA Low Noise Amplifier Kit VHF UHF 2304MHz 1296MHz | eBay
To improve the RX but caution you will need good tools and even better eyesight to assemble it. Mine is still in the package as I cannot even see the caps let alone solder them
I look forward to reading other peoples results here and again stress go with SDR Console. Simon Brown writes software that I have been impressed with in the past and this too does not disappoint.
I am still amazed at how good these $17 dongals are and wonder just how much better the "good" ones can be. I bought one of these... SPF 5043Z LNA Low Noise Amplifier Kit VHF UHF 2304MHz 1296MHz | eBay
To improve the RX but caution you will need good tools and even better eyesight to assemble it. Mine is still in the package as I cannot even see the caps let alone solder them
I look forward to reading other peoples results here and again stress go with SDR Console. Simon Brown writes software that I have been impressed with in the past and this too does not disappoint.
Thanks again Paul. I remembered seeing a preamp but could not remember where I had seen it. I may order that as well. I plan to take everything and assemble it into a single box allowing full HF thru microwave reception and the preamp all in one tidy housing.
I plan on running separate HF and VHF systems but like you will box them all up. I need to find a couple of TMP sockets to make the jumper leads up from inside the rigs to run dual RX. I think once people on here start to play with these they will be impressed. It is nice having the band scope. Once I get my 10 ele 6m Yagi back up I will try the SDR out on EME. Do you run VHF from NS?
I'm in - just ordered the NooElec as it seems to have awider frequency range: Amazon.com: NooElec TV28T v2 USB DVB-T & RTL-SDR Receiver, RTL2832U & R820T Tuner, MCX Input. Low-Cost Software Defined Radio Compatible with Many SDR Software Packages. R820T Tuner & ESD-Safe Antenna Input, Guaranteed: Everything Else
and the HF expansion board: Amazon.com: Ham It Up v1.0 - NooElec RF Upconverter For Software Defined Radio. Works With Most SDRs Like Funcube, RTLSDR (RTL2832U with E4000, FC0013 or R820T Tuners); MF/HF Converter With SMA Jacks: Car Electronics
With the BNC adaptor: Amazon.com: Male PAL to Female BNC Adapter for EzTV668, EzTV645 & TV301U DVB/SDR USB Sticks: Everything Else
Looking forward to playing with it.
and the HF expansion board: Amazon.com: Ham It Up v1.0 - NooElec RF Upconverter For Software Defined Radio. Works With Most SDRs Like Funcube, RTLSDR (RTL2832U with E4000, FC0013 or R820T Tuners); MF/HF Converter With SMA Jacks: Car Electronics
With the BNC adaptor: Amazon.com: Male PAL to Female BNC Adapter for EzTV668, EzTV645 & TV301U DVB/SDR USB Sticks: Everything Else
Looking forward to playing with it.
Paul, I am not doing much of anything right now. Last year I replaced my entire antenna and tower system but ran oit of time getting the new antennas on the new tower. Right now all I have is an 80m doublet fed with ladderline thru an auto tuner. This summer will seea pair of stacked 13B2's, homebrew six element 6m yagi, an A3WS for 12/17m and an Explorer 14 for 10/15/20/40m go up on the 64 foot Trylon Titan. Tben I wll be ready for some serious business on 6m with a Larcan amp and a bit of fun on 2m but just with 50 watts for now until I get some more cheap power for that band.
I ordered right from Nooelec website, Shiping was only $3
NooElec - Home page
After I order I ran across this
RT820 Vs E4000 SDR DVB-T Dongles - YouTube
Seems the cheaper dongle is a little better, I ordered the more expensive one...lol But it came with connectors.
NooElec - Home page
After I order I ran across this
RT820 Vs E4000 SDR DVB-T Dongles - YouTube
Seems the cheaper dongle is a little better, I ordered the more expensive one...lol But it came with connectors.
SDR Shopping List
Do not Hot Swap the DONGAL
This is the software you need to download to start with.
Technology previews, just something for the weekend...
Your SDR will not plug and play. Let me know if you are running 32 or 64 bit operating system and I can send you the drivers you need or give you a link to them.
To start with order
For 24 to 1700 Mhz
SDR RX
Newsky TV28T V2 USB DVB T Rtl SDR Receiver RTL2832U R820T Tuner MCX Input | eBay
cables if you use PL259
20in UHF SO239 Female Jack to MCX Right Angle Male Jumper Pigtail RG316 Cable | eBay
If you order the HF convertor for .5 to 50 MHz as well (this is really worth doing)
Ham It Up V1 0 RF Upconverter for SDR Funcube RTLSDR MF HF Converter E4000 | eBay
Then I suggest ordering
UHF So 239 Female to SMA Female Jack RF Straight Connector Adapter | eBay
6in SMA Male Plug to MCX Right Angle Male Jumper Pigtail RG316 Cable 15cm | eBay
and 2 of these
6in SMA Male Plug to SMA Male RG316 D Double Shield Jumper Pigtail Cable | eBay
Do not Hot Swap the DONGAL
This is the software you need to download to start with.
Technology previews, just something for the weekend...
Your SDR will not plug and play. Let me know if you are running 32 or 64 bit operating system and I can send you the drivers you need or give you a link to them.
To start with order
For 24 to 1700 Mhz
SDR RX
Newsky TV28T V2 USB DVB T Rtl SDR Receiver RTL2832U R820T Tuner MCX Input | eBay
cables if you use PL259
20in UHF SO239 Female Jack to MCX Right Angle Male Jumper Pigtail RG316 Cable | eBay
If you order the HF convertor for .5 to 50 MHz as well (this is really worth doing)
Ham It Up V1 0 RF Upconverter for SDR Funcube RTLSDR MF HF Converter E4000 | eBay
Then I suggest ordering
UHF So 239 Female to SMA Female Jack RF Straight Connector Adapter | eBay
6in SMA Male Plug to MCX Right Angle Male Jumper Pigtail RG316 Cable 15cm | eBay
and 2 of these
6in SMA Male Plug to SMA Male RG316 D Double Shield Jumper Pigtail Cable | eBay
Can you post the software and dll files here?
Might be nice to have a separate subsection on SDR stuff. I think were heading towards a world full of this stuff. Very interesting. This is a software developers dream. Low development cost without the hardware costs.
Might be nice to have a separate subsection on SDR stuff. I think were heading towards a world full of this stuff. Very interesting. This is a software developers dream. Low development cost without the hardware costs.
#M42Duster I will try to work out how. Just joined this site today so as to help out with SDR questions. So not 100% au fait with the site. If not I will put up a step by step and info on where to find them. First time takes a little bit of working out after that it is OK so that was easy.....
SDR installation
Here are the instructions Paul sent earlier. I need to get mine setup and operational...
SDR Install Instructions
Follow these instructions and your R820t dongle will work. Of course the amount of hours I have into it I could have gone and bought a Flex 5000
To use the RTL TV Dongle with Simon Brown's SDR-radio application, you'll need the following two additional components (the following info is certainly readily available, but for a long time, it has been spread all over kingdom come, so absolutely nobody should feel bad for not being able to find it !!):
1) You need a useable USB driver (the one Windows installs automatically is worthless, as you've probably already experienced !!)
- the fastest way to get the required driver is to download the zadig.exe utility from the following URL (note that there is a special version for WinXP - make sure to use the appropriate one)... you'll need 7zip to uncompress the driver archive:
<http://sourceforge.net/projects/libwdi/files/zadig/>
- when you run zadig.exe, if your device does not automatically show up, you can go to the "options" pull-down & select "show all devices"... it will then show up... you want to choose either "Install driver" or "Replace driver" (both are correct)... note also that I experienced where Norton will flag zadig.exe as "suspicious" & it will keep zadig.exe from doing what it needs to... hope you don't have the same !!
2) You need a new DLL file to allow SDR-radio to access the RTL TV Dongle directly via USB (until recently, the only way to do this was to use the DLL or other drivers all supplied by osmocom, but this had legal restrictions, so we previously had to use a very bad work-around called rtl_tcp.exe... luckily this has now been made much simpler!!)
- you can get the required DLL file by going to Simon's V2 preview website at the following URL & scroll down to the section titled "RTL Dlls" where you will find links to the external websites that have agreed to source the compiled DLL for others to use... copy the downloaded files (3 total, pay attention to 32-bit vs. 64-bit versions, depending on your version of Windows) to the same directory where the SDR-radio application is installed:
<http://v2.sdr-radio.com/Configuration/RTLSDRs.aspx>
- now with all of the appropriate drivers installed, run SDR-radio V2
- at the top of the screen, towards the left-hand side, there are 6 icons... click on the blue arrow pointing to the right (that's the start icon)
- when the "Select Radio" dialog opens, click on the "Definitions" button
- when the "Radio Definitions" dialog opens, click on the "Search" button & select "RTL SDR (USB)" from the pull-down list
- you should get a pop-up that indicates "1 entry found - update list?" (assuming you have only a single RTL SDR device installed)
- click the "Yes" button to accept the new entry (clicking Yes if/when you've previously done this detection is OK - in fact, some have reported that they needed to re-detect when moving to a different USB port)
- back at the "Radio Definitions" dialog, click the "OK" button
- back at the "Select Radio" dialog, click on your RTL SDR to highlight it
- if you have more than one VFO enabled/selected, you might also need to click on the "Enable" button (another right-pointing arrow in the specific VFO windows) to start that particular VFO
- if you succeeded, you should be able to click on the "VFO Tuning" button just above the spectrum display to tune to your desired frequency, adjust the mode using the "Freq / Mode / Filter" button in the same area just above the spectrum display
- you might need to click on the spectrum range adjustment button on the right-hand side just above the spectrum scale in order to see anything painted in the spectrum display(s)
- one more thing to note: if you rearrange the display items & get it all scrambled or lose something & can't figure out how to get it back, you can always click on "Display", then "Layout", & finally "Default: Restore" to get everything back in a reasonable state !!
3) Good luck & have fun !!
Let us know when you get it going !!
Mark J Culross
KD5RXT
Here are the instructions Paul sent earlier. I need to get mine setup and operational...
SDR Install Instructions
Follow these instructions and your R820t dongle will work. Of course the amount of hours I have into it I could have gone and bought a Flex 5000
To use the RTL TV Dongle with Simon Brown's SDR-radio application, you'll need the following two additional components (the following info is certainly readily available, but for a long time, it has been spread all over kingdom come, so absolutely nobody should feel bad for not being able to find it !!):
1) You need a useable USB driver (the one Windows installs automatically is worthless, as you've probably already experienced !!)
- the fastest way to get the required driver is to download the zadig.exe utility from the following URL (note that there is a special version for WinXP - make sure to use the appropriate one)... you'll need 7zip to uncompress the driver archive:
<http://sourceforge.net/projects/libwdi/files/zadig/>
- when you run zadig.exe, if your device does not automatically show up, you can go to the "options" pull-down & select "show all devices"... it will then show up... you want to choose either "Install driver" or "Replace driver" (both are correct)... note also that I experienced where Norton will flag zadig.exe as "suspicious" & it will keep zadig.exe from doing what it needs to... hope you don't have the same !!
2) You need a new DLL file to allow SDR-radio to access the RTL TV Dongle directly via USB (until recently, the only way to do this was to use the DLL or other drivers all supplied by osmocom, but this had legal restrictions, so we previously had to use a very bad work-around called rtl_tcp.exe... luckily this has now been made much simpler!!)
- you can get the required DLL file by going to Simon's V2 preview website at the following URL & scroll down to the section titled "RTL Dlls" where you will find links to the external websites that have agreed to source the compiled DLL for others to use... copy the downloaded files (3 total, pay attention to 32-bit vs. 64-bit versions, depending on your version of Windows) to the same directory where the SDR-radio application is installed:
<http://v2.sdr-radio.com/Configuration/RTLSDRs.aspx>
- now with all of the appropriate drivers installed, run SDR-radio V2
- at the top of the screen, towards the left-hand side, there are 6 icons... click on the blue arrow pointing to the right (that's the start icon)
- when the "Select Radio" dialog opens, click on the "Definitions" button
- when the "Radio Definitions" dialog opens, click on the "Search" button & select "RTL SDR (USB)" from the pull-down list
- you should get a pop-up that indicates "1 entry found - update list?" (assuming you have only a single RTL SDR device installed)
- click the "Yes" button to accept the new entry (clicking Yes if/when you've previously done this detection is OK - in fact, some have reported that they needed to re-detect when moving to a different USB port)
- back at the "Radio Definitions" dialog, click the "OK" button
- back at the "Select Radio" dialog, click on your RTL SDR to highlight it
- if you have more than one VFO enabled/selected, you might also need to click on the "Enable" button (another right-pointing arrow in the specific VFO windows) to start that particular VFO
- if you succeeded, you should be able to click on the "VFO Tuning" button just above the spectrum display to tune to your desired frequency, adjust the mode using the "Freq / Mode / Filter" button in the same area just above the spectrum display
- you might need to click on the spectrum range adjustment button on the right-hand side just above the spectrum scale in order to see anything painted in the spectrum display(s)
- one more thing to note: if you rearrange the display items & get it all scrambled or lose something & can't figure out how to get it back, you can always click on "Display", then "Layout", & finally "Default: Restore" to get everything back in a reasonable state !!
3) Good luck & have fun !!
Let us know when you get it going !!
Mark J Culross
KD5RXT
There are also similar apps out there for Androids. I have yet to try one but here is an example.
[APP][2.2+] SDR Touch - Live radio on your Android device - xda-developers
[APP][2.2+] SDR Touch - Live radio on your Android device - xda-developers