SDR (Software Defined Radio) For Satellite

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northgeorgia said:
So, before I hook up my satellite to this, I keep hearing DC block or voltage block splitter. I'm thinking this would be a good thing to get in my collection before experimenting. Any links to example products?
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To place the DVBT USB tuner inline between the receiver and the LNBF out at the dish, you will need a splitter capable of passing power from the STB to the LNBF, but block the voltage from reaching the DVBT USB dongle. The splitter should pass frequencies up to the top of the satellite IF range, so look for a top range of 2150Mhz.

An Example would be: http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.as...ase&utm_medium=organic&utm_source=google_base
LPD-2_medlrg.jpg

If you only use the DVBT USB dongle on the loop-out port of the STB, no voltage is present on this port and no voltage blocking is necessary.
 
You can make a DC blocking splitter by taking apart an old switch, remove the PCB and soldering a wire and a 0.1 uF cap.
Now where to start looking for signals...
 

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Ive got one of these RTL-SDR's they work pretty darn good for the price (around $20-30). Not as good as my Ettus USRP N210 but that was almost 100x more money !

UDL
 
I use an RTL dongle for VHF and UHF monitoring. I've never connected it to my satellite system because I didn't think there was still anything worth bothering with up there.

For shortwave I use a SDR system that came out before the RTL trick was discovered, the SoftRock Ensemble II. It's a preselector/tuner combo that feeds a quadrature signal to my computer's sound card for sampling. Since I have a 192kHz sound card I can get a decent chunk of spectrum at one time. Nowhere near the 2 MHz of the RTL, obviously, but on the shortwave bands, you don't notice the lack of a several-MHz chunk as much, at least not on the ham bands because most of them are pretty small. On the broadcast bands, you can still scroll around in software fast enough to see what's going on.
 
A good quality sound card will provide a much better signal. Many are 24bit the RTL is only 8bit. Where the RTL is really great is the bandwidth, 192khz vs 3200khz !

If I ever get some free time I should play with feeding the tuner IQ output from the RTL into my MAudio sound card.

UDL
 
Jim S. said:
I use an RTL dongle for VHF and UHF monitoring. I've never connected it to my satellite system because I didn't think there was still anything worth bothering with up there.

For shortwave I use a SDR system that came out before the RTL trick was discovered, the SoftRock Ensemble II. It's a preselector/tuner combo that feeds a quadrature signal to my computer's sound card for sampling. Since I have a 192kHz sound card I can get a decent chunk of spectrum at one time. Nowhere near the 2 MHz of the RTL, obviously, but on the shortwave bands, you don't notice the lack of a several-MHz chunk as much, at least not on the ham bands because most of them are pretty small. On the broadcast bands, you can still scroll around in software fast enough to see what's going on.
Click to expand...

I recently built a Softrock ensemble ii myself and for less that $100 it was a fun learning experience building it and its pretty good for playing on HF. I also have a rtl (e4000) and now I am intrigued to try this on sat! I may have to order another rtl with the other chipset to combat that gap in frequency.
 
Just placed my order for one on ebay. Pretty cool stuff. Being a ham I am aware of SDR but wasn't aware of these little receiver's. A few years ago our emergency services went to a 800mhz trunking system, prior to that I had the scanner running 24/7. I see there is a trunking plugin for the software so will give it shot. Am envisioning hooking it in to my server and streaming to my phone.
 
I think that for trunking systems, you need two receivers -- one to monitor the control channel and one to tune to the traffic channels.

P.S.: If you're going to be listening on your phone, you might as well just check whether anyone is already streaming your county's traffic on the net.
 
Been looking at these for a while:
http://www.flex-radio.com/
Would be nice to have HF when I am away on trips etc, able to connect via internet and check into the local nets using the home base station. They are still too expensive though. :(
This little USB receiver looks very interesting though... might have to try one, along with the transverter. Great tip, Tnx!
-C.
 
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wallyhts said:
I think an SDR Section would be awesome. :)
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Agreed!!!

wallyhts said:
I bought one B's things during the show as well!! I also got this on BF which should work with the APP Hopefully.
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=0EJ-0019-00005
Click to expand...

You will need an adapter... :D USB OTG Cable This is the one I purchased: http://www.ebay.com/itm/231080991051
It works well, but I clipped the LED and IR sensor to lower current demands. Not sure that it was necessary, but it seemed to reduce reported hardware errors.
USB Adapter OTG.JPG
 

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