[amsat-bb] Re: Cheap and Easy SDR

[Bryce Salmi]

I forgot to mention:

The device I have now:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-DVB-T-DAB-FM-Television-Tuner-Receivers-Realtek-RTL2832U-/160921035498?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2577a422ea

and check out the RTL-SDR project where this all started (with the cheap
USB sticks):
http://www.rtlsdr.org/

Bryce
KB1LQC


On Sun, Dec 16, 2012 at 9:01 PM, Bryce Salmi <bstguitarist at gmail.com> wrote:

> I literally just received mine yesterday and am using it now. A member of
> the K2GXT radio club here at RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology) just
> did a bulk order from China and each one cost around $15 but took a month
> or two to ship. It seems to work well for the price and has a roughly 40MHz
> to 1.5 GHz tuning range. I haven't tested it but the receiver seems quite
> flexible for frequency range but not very sensitive. I'll do some testing
> next week. The antenna that came with it is pretty much junk and I think it
> uses a MCX connector so I just ordered some MCX to SMA adapters which
> should let me seamlessly put a LNA and a good antenna on it which will let
> me really use it well. I really hope it lets me listen to the AMSAT birds
> with ease, the LNA will be a must. Lastly, there are quite a few spurs on
> the bands at first glance.
>
> The circuit is pretty much the same as the FUNCube Dongle, it's even the
> same IC inside. The difference is that these units are mass-produced and
> are not optimized for operation on anything but strong TV stations. The
> designer of the FCD has likely (I haven't seen the schematic) put great
> effort into optimizing the device for ham use. The FCD also helps support
> the FUNCube satellite.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
>
> Bryce
> KB1LQC
>
>
>
> On Sun, Dec 16, 2012 at 8:34 PM, Mike Hoblinski <hobergenix at sbcglobal.net>wrote:
>
>> I was reading the article in QST January magazine that details turning a
>> DVB-T usb
>> TV Dongle into a SDR receiver with coverage from 64 to 1700 Mhz with some
>> gaps.
>> I was wondering how this differs with the Fun Cube Dongle being sold. The
>> article also
>> shows how to extend coverage to the HF band. The TV Dongles sell for
>> about 20 dollars
>> on ebay.
>>
>> Mike
>>
>> N6IMF
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>
>