Yep same thing I wanna do. Right now it is just laying naked on the desk and working good for no shielding.
BTW the guys in CA are in and around ESCONDIDO, CA.
SDR (Software Defined Radio) For Satellite
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Yep same thing I wanna do. Right now it is just laying naked on the desk and working good for no shielding.
BTW the guys in CA are in and around ESCONDIDO, CA.
Oops, my bad. Bought the Hammond 1590B. Probably need to shave 1/16 off of each corner to give more wiggle room, but it fits like a glove! Will post some pixs of the completed project.
Not bad! Calibrated the upconvertor and the system was only 60ppm offset according to WWV on 15 and 20Mhz! Listening to active bands on 10 and 20 meters. Been a while since I have been in HF. Might just find motivation to get my amateur license again (gave it up years ago as Haiti made me surrender to receive a license down there).
Love looking at the DC spike!
I don't have a long wire out, but am going to attach to a fence wire to see if there is any long wave from across the pond tonight! FUN!!!
Now installing HDSDR software to give that app a spin on HF.
Love looking at the DC spike!
I don't have a long wire out, but am going to attach to a fence wire to see if there is any long wave from across the pond tonight! FUN!!!Now installing HDSDR software to give that app a spin on HF.
Mt. Pleasant is 154 feet higher in elevation than Muskegon, and it's only 90~ miles as the crow flies. That probably has a lot to do with it also.
We're not normally receivable past about 40-50 miles, period. Given man made interference today, that's about as
good as it gets for 5kw.
One of the reasons for streaming and pairing of phones to dashboards.
Not sure what the Mt. Pleasant references in the post. Please advise.
good as it gets for 5kw.
One of the reasons for streaming and pairing of phones to dashboards.
Not sure what the Mt. Pleasant references in the post. Please advise.
I thought your station was in Mt. Pleasant? Plus your location says: Location: West Central Michigan
Or am I confusing you with somebody else?
Mt. Pleasant is an hour drive from Ionia I think....yep you are in the wrong town primestar.
Ionia, huh? That's not "central" Michigan, but ok. So, who's the radio station guy in Mt. Pleasant then?
Ionia's even closer to Muskegon than Mt. Pleasant.
Our area is called "West Central Michigan" in radio circles, and has been for years...
since long before my arrival. No matter what my area's called, the point is, the SDR radio apparently received us quite well at a not so normal distance.
We used to have Mt. Pleasant in our daytime when we were directional. I took it OUT of our
coverage and gained population coverage by making us (daytime) NON directional about 5 years ago. Non-D gained us more of I-96 and Southern
areas, and since we own the stations to the North in Greenville, Lakeview there's no sense in shooting a signal in the former lightbulb shaped pattern
which included Mt. Pl.
since long before my arrival. No matter what my area's called, the point is, the SDR radio apparently received us quite well at a not so normal distance.
We used to have Mt. Pleasant in our daytime when we were directional. I took it OUT of our
coverage and gained population coverage by making us (daytime) NON directional about 5 years ago. Non-D gained us more of I-96 and Southern
areas, and since we own the stations to the North in Greenville, Lakeview there's no sense in shooting a signal in the former lightbulb shaped pattern
which included Mt. Pl.
Windows 8 OS 64 bit. When I initially installed it I saw Interface 0 and installed to that and had no issues. Now it don't say that. It says RTL2838UHIDIR. When I uninstall it I see Interface 0 and install that to get the RTL2838UHIDIR but get nowhere. I also see one that says USB Receiver (Interface 0) in addition to RTL2838UHIDIR but when I tried to install to that (or Interface 1) I lost control of my keyboard and had to remotely connect to my computer to type anything again and install keyboard software and uninstall interface 1 to get my keyboard to work again. When I unhook the RTL the RTL2838UHIDIR goes away in the available device list.
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Looking for "Bulk-In, (Interface 0)" something is not right with your install. Did you install any drivers that came with the USB DVB-T? If so, delete and and reinstall the zadig.exe. If you haven't reviewed this page, it might help you through these steps:
http://www.rtl-sdr.com/rtl-sdr-quick-start-guide/
My project update:
Put the HamItUp Upconverter in the case this afternoon as I was waiting for Asia to wake up for an engineering project.
Will add the uncased DVB-T PCB inside the Hammond with a external RF port for either a jumper connection to the upconverter or direct connect to the discone.
Drilled and filed for the RF, switch and USB B. Mounted PCB with countersunk standoffs. Finally got to use that tool that has been in the chest for 15+ years!
No labels yet on bypass or RF Out
Decided to leave the MCX connections on the PCB instead of hard wiring to DVB-T or change out the RF IN to a BNC as I originally planned.
The USB B port will provide power to both the HamItUp Upconverter and DVB-T tuner as well as comm back to the PC.
Clear rubber feet, black or none? Decisions, decisions....
Fun project and inexpensive! My total including tons of adapters that I ill now not be using approx. $120. Yes, it all started with a $16 DVB-T USB...
http://www.rtl-sdr.com/rtl-sdr-quick-start-guide/
My project update:
Put the HamItUp Upconverter in the case this afternoon as I was waiting for Asia to wake up for an engineering project.
Will add the uncased DVB-T PCB inside the Hammond with a external RF port for either a jumper connection to the upconverter or direct connect to the discone.
Drilled and filed for the RF, switch and USB B. Mounted PCB with countersunk standoffs. Finally got to use that tool that has been in the chest for 15+ years!
No labels yet on bypass or RF Out
Decided to leave the MCX connections on the PCB instead of hard wiring to DVB-T or change out the RF IN to a BNC as I originally planned.
The USB B port will provide power to both the HamItUp Upconverter and DVB-T tuner as well as comm back to the PC.
Clear rubber feet, black or none? Decisions, decisions....
Fun project and inexpensive! My total including tons of adapters that I ill now not be using approx. $120. Yes, it all started with a $16 DVB-T USB...
Is there a trick to getting an AM station? I have a station within a few miles that I can't pick up. FM and NOAA are coming in well. Here, I'm using the stock antenna and testing it with a jumper wire to tv antenna's or anything else that looks like it will enhance signal.
I also set the stock antenna atop a metal cannister to give it some 'ground plane'.Like others, I've ordered MCX adapters, but they won't arrive for a week or more. Soooo much fun....
AM is below the tuner's specified range. (I thought that the driver wouldn't even let you tune outside the range, but I haven't tried it lately so it may have not happened in every version, or been recognized by every client program.) You can either buy an upconverter, or connect an antenna directly to one of the RTL2832U chip's inputs and put the driver into "direct sampling" mode.
oops.. forgot to press send...
AM Broadcast radio frequency is far below the ability of the DVB-T USB tuner, which stops at about 25Mhz. AM broadcasts are from 540 to 1600Khz. I am using the HamItUp Upconvertor along with the DVB-T USB Tuner to cover DC - 55.8Mhz.
AM Broadcast radio frequency is far below the ability of the DVB-T USB tuner, which stops at about 25Mhz. AM broadcasts are from 540 to 1600Khz. I am using the HamItUp Upconvertor along with the DVB-T USB Tuner to cover DC - 55.8Mhz.
With the upconvertor, I still have a hard time getting AM, but I know it's because I don't have a decent antenna. A stretched coathanger sometimes brings in the signals, but I know a good outdoor antenna would be ideal. New thread for DIY antennas out of household parts?
The AM wave length is between 1822 feet at the bottom of the dial 540Khz to a short 613 feet at the top of the dial 1605Khz. For comparison, FM radio at 88Mhz is 11 feet.
As you can see , a wire hangar is a fraction of the antenna length needed for AM radio reception. Most portable AM radios have 50 - 100 feet of wire wrapped inside the case. My HF antenna is about 100 feet of wire shot into a tree, but it sure does better on AM broadcast than the discone.
As you can see , a wire hangar is a fraction of the antenna length needed for AM radio reception. Most portable AM radios have 50 - 100 feet of wire wrapped inside the case. My HF antenna is about 100 feet of wire shot into a tree, but it sure does better on AM broadcast than the discone.
I remember the "Select-A-Tenna" being very popular about 10 years ago with MW DXers who had limited space. Anyone try one of those? From what I understand, you can build a similar design with a discarded variable capacitor from a radio and 50 to 100 feet of thin wire wrapped around a loop.
