[amsat-bb] Best SDR for satellite reception

[Norm n3ykf]

Telling HDSDR to emulate (rtl dongle) a TS-2000 allows any program to
control it. PSTrotator, Satpc32, etc.

I use VSPmanager (free for hams) to handle the virtual serial ports necessary.

Flex 5000a can use the same work around. Not all programs will control
a Flex. Telling PowerSDR to emulate a TS-2000 allows the Doppler
correction to be set, along with basic xcvr control.

Best SDR? Nooelec. The one in the aluminum box works best related to
cost. Only downfall of the cheapie RTL's is that they drift with
temperature. The aluminum box handles EMI/temperature swings well
without a big investment.

Funcube dongles are pricy due to VAT. Nice, but not $200 worth of
improvement, compared to the Nooelec.

Ettus B210 is a great radio. A fair amount of building is necessary to
complete the project. Amp chips, power supplies, relays and the like.
Doable, but assembly requires a fair amount of time, materials and
energy.

All of them (except the Flex 5000a) are somewhat limited in the AGC department.

Norm n3ykf

On Sun, Aug 13, 2017 at 2:40 PM, Greg D <ko6th.greg at gmail.com> wrote:
> HA!  Never thought of using them together.  Got it working with my
> generic RTL Dongle; so easy!
>
> Thanks!
>
> Greg  KO5TH
>
>
> fabrice faure wrote:
>> hello, you can use gpredict with gqrx to handle leo doppler with funcube
>> 73 de Fabrice F4HHV
>>
>> Le 13 août 2017 18:23, "Paul Andrews" <w2hro.fn20 at gmail.com> a écrit :
>>
>>> Has anyone written software to allow the Funcube Dongle to be
>>> frequency controlled to compensate for LEO satellite doppler?   For
>>> linear satellites, 1Hz frequency control would be required.   For FM
>>> 1KHz would be ok.   If it's not possible to control the actual FCD+
>>> LO, it should be possible to control the baseband audio spectrum.
>>>
>>> I first used the FCD+ as a panadapter with an FT-847 with LEO linear
>>> satellites.
>>>
>>> More recently, I use (dual polarization) two (2) Funcube Dongle Plus
>>> SDRs for 2M EME and they are sensitive wideband (50 KHz) receivers.
>>> Frequency stability on 144 MHz is very good and easily decode JT65
>>> signals bounced off the moon.   No doppler compensation is used for
>>> 144 MHz moon bounce.
>>>
>>> WSJT-X will control a commercial radio VFO to compensate for moon
>>> doppler.   WSJT-X does not support control the FCD+ for doppler
>>> compensation.
>>>
>>> The FCD+ is so widely used, I'm surprised that I have not found an
>>> application that will control the FCD+ and support doppler
>>> compensation.
>>>
>>> 73 - Paul - W2HRO
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sun, Aug 13, 2017 at 7:03 AM, Andrew Rich <vk4tec at internode.on.net>
>>> wrote:
>>>> With the proliferation of software defined radios on the market I am
>>> interested to hear what people think is the best for 137 / 144 / 440 / 1296
>>> MHz use.
>>>> I have selected the airspy mini based on the fact
>>>>
>>>> It's 12 bits
>>>> It's got tracking filters
>>>> It works with sdr sharp, hdsdr, gnuradio, gqrx
>>>>
>>>> Has anyone bought out a satellite specific SDR ?
>>>>
>>>> The funcube dongle is probably the best ?
>>>>
>>>> I have a hack rf as well as rtl sdr and sdr play
>>>>
>>>> Andrew
>>>>
>>>> Sent from my iPhone
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