$20 SDR

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Jared Harvey

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Jul 6, 2012, 7:51:57 PM7/6/12
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Hello hamnerds,

I got my $20 SDR, and it works reasonably well.
There are of course areas for improvement. One
being the antenna. A LNA could do it will, as well
as something better than this 6" long mag mount
whip antenna.

So does anyone have a suggestion of how to make a
good LNA for this guy?

Also any suggestions on the antenna? It uses a
phono jack for the antenna hookup. I guess I can
simply go get an RCA phone jack from rat shack,
however there has to be better. Should I get a
gold plated one?

From the below, I have had good success with the
multimode program noted here. It offers USB,LSB,
NFM, WFM, and some other options.

http://sdr.osmocom.org/trac/wiki/rtl-sdr#KnownApps

Best regards.

.. ..-. / -.-- --- ..- / .-. . .- -.. / - .... .. ...
.-.. . - ... / .... .- ...- . / .- / -... . . .-.

Jared Harvey Operator KB1GTT

e-mail ma...@jaredharvey.com
Web page http://jaredharvey.com

AI2Q

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Jul 8, 2012, 9:00:45 AM7/8/12
to hamn...@googlegroups.com, W8LM Larry, K1MPM Pete, W1BOF George, N1AIA Scott, K7AK Bob, KB1NYN Alex, K0ZK Arn, W1MWB Mike, WB1RDS Laura, KB1GTT Jared, KB1VPD Tom, AA1LO Dave, W3NA John, W1SLP Pete, WB1RDS Laura Harvey, Susan, N1VEV Wil Sheldrake, AI2Q Alex, K1IPT Scott, W1GEK Mike, K1WHS@ Dave, WA1VOH Earl, KC2RIF Seth, N1UE Darden, N1YQV Harvey, NX1F Joe, KB1YJ Bill, W1PIE Dave, KN1JLK Kevin, K1GDI George, NV1T Tom, WA1ZCQ Carl, KA1MVP Peter, Ryan Fenelon, WJ1L Ed, KB1WDL Ted, N1GDT Larry, N1SNB Jeff, wb1doo Terry, Aaron
Good going, Jared.

Could you perhaps describe your experiment in more detail? I think that
would be really cool.

For example, what frequencies does it cover? How do you tune the LO? What
does the SDR software demodulate? Does the software provide a spectral
display? A waterfall?

Attached are three articles that may be of interest with respect to your
quest for an LNA.

Vy 73, AI2Q, Alex
Member: ARRL, FOC, RSGB, CWops, QRP-L, Antique Wireless Association, New
England Radio Discussion Society, DXCC Honor Roll, 16�M DXCC, 8�M DXCC
http://home.roadrunner.com/~alexmm
LNA_article_QST_May_1989.pdf
LNA_Part_2_QST_Mar_2004.pdf
LNA_Part_1_QST_Jan_2004.pdf

Jared Harvey

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Jul 8, 2012, 6:12:03 PM7/8/12
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Hello AI2Q,

A> Could you perhaps describe your experiment in
A> more detail? I think that would be really cool.

That's perhaps a bit hard to convey in e-mail,
however the basic process was that I first
followed some instructions about how to get it
installed on Ubuntu. This involved making sure
some stuff was installed via normal GUI programs.
Then download some files, type some stuff on the
command line, and it's installed. Once installed,
I now have GNURadio and GNURadio Companion with
support for this device.

At that point, I can open an example GNURadio
Companion file. One example graphically shows a
block for this device, with a line showing it
connected to the WFM block, then a line to the
audio block. When I execute, it allows me to type
in a center frequency, and I hear audio come out.
I can make it a narrow band FM by simply changing
that WFM block for the NFM block, then execute
again.

A> For example, what frequencies does it cover?
A> How do you tune the LO? What does the SDR
A> software demodulate? Does the software provide
A> a spectral display? A waterfall?

I seem to recall it goes from about 30MHz to over
1GHz, with a small gap somewhere. The other
questions are best shown in person. The short
answer is yes. What it does is get you a stream of
data. After that you can do what you want with it.
You can do FFT's, water falls, AM, FM, what ever
you want. I basically tell it a center frequency
specify a bandwidth of up to 2.4MHz, and I get
that as a stream.

This is not a purchased ham radio like Flex or
softrock. You don't simply sit in front of it and
start rag chew. It's more like a new paradigm kind
of like how Heathkit's were. You first have to
jump a bunch of hurdles then it can be a ham
radio. Instead of those hurdles being an iron and
solder, they are software and computers.

A> Attached are three articles that may be of
A> interest with respect to your quest for an LNA.

Thanks. I look forward to the read.

AI2Q

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Jul 8, 2012, 7:41:32 PM7/8/12
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FB Jared.

Does the board output an I/Q (in-phase and quadrature) signal stream?

BTW, SoftRocks are definitely not plug-and-play like Flex Radio rigs, and a
lot of guys use SoftRock hardware under Linux I/Q software. Configuring a
Softrock for both reception and transmission is not trivial, but there are
scads of nifty software packages out there, and lots of history and
community help, so that makes it really do-able for the average ham who is
not afraid to melt solder and tinker with his PC.

== Vy 73, Alex


----- Original Message -----
From: "Jared Harvey" <ma...@jaredharvey.com>
To: "AI2Q" <ai...@roadrunner.com>
Cc: <hamn...@googlegroups.com>; "W8LM Larry" <larm...@yahoo.com>; "K1MPM
Pete" <dpc...@gwi.net>; "W1BOF George" <WHITE...@aol.com>; "N1AIA Scott"
<sc...@aves-specta.com>; "K7AK Bob" <robert...@gmail.com>; "KB1NYN Alex"
<ajham...@yahoo.com>; "K0ZK Arn" <slun...@gwi.net>; "W1MWB Mike"
<mbi...@maine.rr.com>; "WB1RDS Laura" <wb1...@jaredharvey.com>; "KB1VPD
Tom" <trmoy...@roadrunner.com>; "AA1LO Dave" <aa...@yahoo.com>; "W3NA
John" <jo...@bowtie.com>; "W1SLP Pete" <pete...@metrocast.net>; "WB1RDS
Laura Harvey" <la...@jaredharvey.com>; "Susan" <winddan...@yahoo.com>;
"N1VEV Wil Sheldrake" <n1...@yahoo.com>; "K1IPT Scott" <k1...@arrl.net>;
"W1GEK Mike" <w1...@thomii.com>; "K1WHS@ Dave" <K1...@metrocast.net>;
"WA1VOH Earl" <ejch...@hotmail.com>; "KC2RIF Seth" <seth...@gmail.com>;
"N1UE Darden" <dri...@comcast.net>; "N1YQV Harvey"
<harvey...@hotmail.com>; "NX1F Joe" <wordsmiths_c...@msn.com>;
"KB1YJ Bill" <wfc...@comcast.net>; "W1PIE Dave" <mains...@comcast.net>;
"KN1JLK Kevin" <klsl...@yahoo.com>; "K1GDI George" <grsz...@aol.com>;
"NV1T Tom" <tbli...@gmail.com>; "WA1ZCQ Carl" <wa1...@amsat.org>; "KA1MVP
Peter" <pca...@maine.rr.com>; "Ryan Fenelon" <ryanfen...@gmail.com>;
"WJ1L Ed" <e...@207me.com>; "KB1WDL Ted" <t...@eb-analytics.com>; "N1GDT Larry"
<n1...@yahoo.com>; "N1SNB Jeff" <jbde...@gmail.com>; "wb1doo Terry"
<tcme...@roadrunner.com>; "Aaron" <aa...@openhisword.net>
Sent: Sunday, July 08, 2012 6:12 PM
Subject: Re[2]: $20 SDR

Jared Harvey

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Jul 8, 2012, 10:21:03 PM7/8/12
to AI2Q, hamn...@googlegroups.com, W8LM Larry, K1MPM Pete, W1BOF George, N1AIA Scott, K7AK Bob, KB1NYN Alex, K0ZK Arn, W1MWB Mike, WB1RDS Laura, KB1VPD Tom, AA1LO Dave, W3NA John, W1SLP Pete, WB1RDS Laura Harvey, Susan, N1VEV Wil Sheldrake, K1IPT Scott, W1GEK Mike, K1WHS@ Dave, WA1VOH Earl, KC2RIF Seth, N1UE Darden, N1YQV Harvey, NX1F Joe, KB1YJ Bill, W1PIE Dave, KN1JLK Kevin, K1GDI George, NV1T Tom, WA1ZCQ Carl, KA1MVP Peter, Ryan Fenelon, WJ1L Ed, KB1WDL Ted, N1GDT Larry, N1SNB Jeff, wb1doo Terry, Aaron
Hello AI2Q,

A> Does the board output an I/Q (in-phase and
A> quadrature) signal stream?

Yes and no. It's a single raw stream of data. You
can with software turn that into a lower level
I&Q. Or at least that's how I understand it, at
this particular point in time.

Jared Harvey

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Jul 22, 2012, 5:34:50 AM7/22/12
to AI2Q, hamn...@googlegroups.com, W8LM Larry, K1MPM Pete, W1BOF George, N1AIA Scott, K7AK Bob, KB1NYN Alex, K0ZK Arn, W1MWB Mike, WB1RDS Laura, KB1VPD Tom, AA1LO Dave, W3NA John, W1SLP Pete, WB1RDS Laura Harvey, Susan, N1VEV Wil Sheldrake, K1IPT Scott, W1GEK Mike, K1WHS@ Dave, WA1VOH Earl, KC2RIF Seth, N1UE Darden, N1YQV Harvey, NX1F Joe, KB1YJ Bill, W1PIE Dave, KN1JLK Kevin, K1GDI George, NV1T Tom, WA1ZCQ Carl, KA1MVP Peter, Ryan Fenelon, WJ1L Ed, KB1WDL Ted, N1GDT Larry, N1SNB Jeff, wb1doo Terry, Aaron
Hello AI2Q,

A> Attached are three articles that may be of
A> interest with respect to your quest for an LNA.

I have stumbled upon this design for a LNA for
these $20 RTL-STD usb devices.

https://github.com/loxodes/rtl-sdr-lna

Perhaps the club should consider building a batch
of these and putting them up for sale. I'm sure
the world would be a better place if these could
be available to the masses.

Also that ADS software really makes me drool. It's
so much more capable than QUCS or KICAD. I'm sure
it's price tag is multiples of $k.

73

AI2Q

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Jul 22, 2012, 8:57:58 AM7/22/12
to hamn...@googlegroups.com, hamn...@googlegroups.com, W8LM Larry, K1MPM Pete, W1BOF George, N1AIA Scott, K7AK Bob, KB1NYN Alex, K0ZK Arn, W1MWB Mike, WB1RDS Laura, KB1VPD Tom, AA1LO Dave, W3NA John, W1SLP Pete, WB1RDS Laura Harvey, Susan, N1VEV Wil Sheldrake, K1IPT Scott, W1GEK Mike, K1WHS@ Dave, WA1VOH Earl, KC2RIF Seth, N1UE Darden, N1YQV Harvey, NX1F Joe, KB1YJ Bill, W1PIE Dave, KN1JLK Kevin, K1GDI George, NV1T Tom, WA1ZCQ Carl, KA1MVP Peter, Ryan Fenelon, WJ1L Ed, KB1WDL Ted, N1GDT Larry, N1SNB Jeff, wb1doo Terry, Aaron
Jared, my thought is that low-noise amplifiers, especially those with
exceptional noise figure specs, would probably appeal to VHF/UHF operators,
especially those who engage in traditional approaches to things like
moonbounce. However, with the ability to use a PC to dig signals out that
are below the noise, I beleive this is less important than it was in an
earlier era. Dave , K1WHS, will have to weigh in on LNA usage by hams in the
microwave domain. As an HF op, I don't know much about that.

I do know Downeast Microwave and Clifton Labs and others sell microwave LNAs
for ham applications. Some of these tout 0.5-dB NF specs. They are really
quiet.

As for HF, most rigs these days have good NF specs without the need for any
additional outboard low-noise amplifiers. For example, the switching mixer
in my rig exhibits a very good NF spec. On 10 meters, for example, my rig
exhibits -130 dBm of minimum discernable signal capability with a 3rd order
intercept point of +25 dBm.. We're talking fractions of a microvolt here.
Hey, the background band noise is way more than that!

Vy 73, AI2Q, Alex



----- Original Message -----
From: "Jared Harvey" <ma...@jaredharvey.com>
To: "AI2Q" <ai...@roadrunner.com>
Cc: <hamn...@googlegroups.com>; "W8LM Larry" <larm...@yahoo.com>; "K1MPM
Pete" <dpc...@gwi.net>; "W1BOF George" <WHITE...@aol.com>; "N1AIA Scott"
<sc...@aves-specta.com>; "K7AK Bob" <robert...@gmail.com>; "KB1NYN Alex"
<ajham...@yahoo.com>; "K0ZK Arn" <slun...@gwi.net>; "W1MWB Mike"
<mbi...@maine.rr.com>; "WB1RDS Laura" <wb1...@jaredharvey.com>; "KB1VPD
Tom" <trmoy...@roadrunner.com>; "AA1LO Dave" <aa...@yahoo.com>; "W3NA
John" <jo...@bowtie.com>; "W1SLP Pete" <pete...@metrocast.net>; "WB1RDS
Laura Harvey" <la...@jaredharvey.com>; "Susan" <winddan...@yahoo.com>;
"N1VEV Wil Sheldrake" <n1...@yahoo.com>; "K1IPT Scott" <k1...@arrl.net>;
"W1GEK Mike" <w1...@thomii.com>; "K1WHS@ Dave" <K1...@metrocast.net>;
"WA1VOH Earl" <ejch...@hotmail.com>; "KC2RIF Seth" <seth...@gmail.com>;
"N1UE Darden" <dri...@comcast.net>; "N1YQV Harvey"
<harvey...@hotmail.com>; "NX1F Joe" <wordsmiths_c...@msn.com>;
"KB1YJ Bill" <wfc...@comcast.net>; "W1PIE Dave" <mains...@comcast.net>;
"KN1JLK Kevin" <klsl...@yahoo.com>; "K1GDI George" <grsz...@aol.com>;
"NV1T Tom" <tbli...@gmail.com>; "WA1ZCQ Carl" <wa1...@amsat.org>; "KA1MVP
Peter" <pca...@maine.rr.com>; "Ryan Fenelon" <ryanfen...@gmail.com>;
"WJ1L Ed" <e...@207me.com>; "KB1WDL Ted" <t...@eb-analytics.com>; "N1GDT Larry"
<n1...@yahoo.com>; "N1SNB Jeff" <jbde...@gmail.com>; "wb1doo Terry"
<tcme...@roadrunner.com>; "Aaron" <aa...@openhisword.net>
Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2012 5:34 AM
Subject: Re[2]: $20 SDR


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