New Toys: Getting Deeper into Software Defined Radio (SDR) (AirSpy and HackRF Blue)

This is mostly a tease / place holder.   Around Christmas time I decided to get deeper into Software Defined Radio (SDR).  So I ordered an Airspy and a Hack RF Blue.   So far, I've received the AirSpy and am enjoying it very much.  The Hack RF Blue should hopefully be here soon.

Previously I've been using the $15-20 RTL-SDR dongles.  These are very cheap and useful, but plagued with lots of noise, frequency inaccuracies and other problems.  Still they are a great way to get started and start learning.

The AirSpy is a world of difference from the RTL-SDR dongles.  One of the reasons that I bought it was  a number of people who seemed to have deep RF engineering backgrounds seemed to be pretty excited about it.  There are many good reviews available.

I ordered the HackRF Blue to experiment with GNU Radio and especially try some of the transmission capabilities for digital RF hacking.  Initially I'll probably be doing further experiments with simple 433 Mhz devices.

I expect based on receivers that the HackRF's receiver will not be as good as the AirSpy's by a good margin, for sensitivity, selectivity, etc.. However, the HackRF is capable of operating on a much wider frequency range (10 Mhz - 6 Ghz) than the R820T (24 Mhz - 1.8 Ghz) tuner chip inside the AirSpy.

More to come.

Exploring the Wireless World with Software Defined Radio

From the rtl-sdr.com blog: links to a 12 minute video, and a longer  40 minute version, by Balint Seeber showing some of what is available in the VHF and UHF bands using a computer and a software defined radio receiver.

While the videos are from a company that produce high-end SDRs, most of what is shown can be done with a $20 RTL SDR USB stick and freely available software.

http://www.rtl-sdr.com/exploring-wireless-world-usrp-b200/




If you are interested in playing with one of these, make sure you get one
that has the R820T tuner chip which can receive from 24 - 1766 MHz.  These
will do FM, AM, Broadcast (wide) FM, LSB, USB.  You will need some
adapters to hook it up to a better antenna.

Good sources are: NooElec and Adafruit:   NooElec also sells through Amazon.
Adafruit is a great source for all sorts of do-it-yourself electronics.

http://www.nooelec.com/store/software-defined-radio/sdr-receivers.html
http://www.adafruit.com/products/1497

If you are looking to save a few bucks, you can get these from china direct
sites like Deal Extreme, but it will take a few weeks to get to you.



Links:

• rtl-sdr.com - a blog site that aggregates a number of interesting SDR related posts from around the web.
• Balint Seeber's Youtube Channel Includes a GNU Radio / SDR tutorial series
• Ettus Research's Youtube Channel - maker of the USDR, where Balint works.