4 ms·

Any recommended resources to get started with SDR?

lozaning 6y ago
The sub $30 RTL-SDR and SDR# software, is more or less the defacto standard starting point.
iNate2000 6y ago
“RTL-SDR” is amazing! “RTL” is from a particular chipset that has great support for hackability.” There a few different apps that can decode signals from it. I even got a USB-OTG (“on-the-go”) adapter and used my RTL dongle with an app on an Android phone. And that was 5ish years ago.
th0ma5 6y ago
Get this one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009U7WZCA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_jlssFbEVGX4RH https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009U7WZCA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_jl... Or this nicer one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011HVUEME/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_ZlssFbC5YTAS6 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011HVUEME/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_Zl... Sdr# for Windows. GQRX for the others. For a blog with help and project ideas check out http://www.rtlsdr.com/ http://www.rtlsdr.com/
throwaway3neu94 6y ago
See this post I wrote in an earlier thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23468796 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23468796
wila 6y ago
You can even get started without buying anything, there's an SDR website where you can experiment with a remote SDR. It's in the Netherlands. Just browse to here: http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/ http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/
flyinghamster 6y ago
I have a couple of NESDR Smart dongles from NooElec [1], that have worked very well for me. I run them on a Raspberry Pi 3 and pipe audio output to my desktop or laptop with PulseAudio. Aside from SDR# on Windows and gqrx on Linux, there's also GNU Radio [2] and a variety of lightweight applications that can run on, let's say, a Raspberry Pi Zero [3]. Oona Räisänen has a fascinating blog that touches on digital signal processing as well, applicable to SDRs as well. Me? No ham license, but that may come someday. [1] https://www.nooelec.com/store/ https://www.nooelec.com/store/ [2] https://www.gnuradio.org/ https://www.gnuradio.org/ [3] https://osmocom.org/projects/rtl-sdr/wiki/Rtl-sdr https://osmocom.org/projects/rtl-sdr/wiki/Rtl-sdr [4] https://www.windytan.com/ https://www.windytan.com/

The sub $30 RTL-SDR and SDR# software, is more or less the defacto standard starting point.

iNate2000 6y ago

“RTL-SDR” is amazing! “RTL” is from a particular chipset that has great support for hackability.” There a few different apps that can decode signals from it. I even got a USB-OTG (“on-the-go”) adapter and used my RTL dongle with an app on an Android phone. And that was 5ish years ago.

th0ma5 6y ago

Get this one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009U7WZCA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_jlssFbEVGX4RH https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009U7WZCA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_jl... Or this nicer one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011HVUEME/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_ZlssFbC5YTAS6 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011HVUEME/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_Zl... Sdr# for Windows. GQRX for the others. For a blog with help and project ideas check out http://www.rtlsdr.com/ http://www.rtlsdr.com/

throwaway3neu94 6y ago

See this post I wrote in an earlier thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23468796 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23468796

wila 6y ago

You can even get started without buying anything, there's an SDR website where you can experiment with a remote SDR. It's in the Netherlands. Just browse to here: http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/ http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/

flyinghamster 6y ago

I have a couple of NESDR Smart dongles from NooElec [1], that have worked very well for me. I run them on a Raspberry Pi 3 and pipe audio output to my desktop or laptop with PulseAudio. Aside from SDR# on Windows and gqrx on Linux, there's also GNU Radio [2] and a variety of lightweight applications that can run on, let's say, a Raspberry Pi Zero [3]. Oona Räisänen has a fascinating blog that touches on digital signal processing as well, applicable to SDRs as well. Me? No ham license, but that may come someday. [1] https://www.nooelec.com/store/ https://www.nooelec.com/store/ [2] https://www.gnuradio.org/ https://www.gnuradio.org/ [3] https://osmocom.org/projects/rtl-sdr/wiki/Rtl-sdr https://osmocom.org/projects/rtl-sdr/wiki/Rtl-sdr [4] https://www.windytan.com/ https://www.windytan.com/