Use of SDR Dongle for Alignment

[spongella]

I've found when aligning radios, such as CB radios, the SDR dongle is useful to detect carrier leakage on Single Sideband, and for detecting harmonics on 54 MHz.

In some service manuals these are part of the alignment procedure, and those without an expensive spectrum analyzer can use the dongle for this purpose.

It can also be used to monitor the quality of your transmitted CB AM or SSB signal. Just remember to turn down the RF gain on the dongle when transmitting, and use a dummy load on your CB radio too.

Sponge

 

[Cham]

Been using mine to check signals on the 60 meter band. Very close compared to the Cushman SA I have, but you have to watch the gain as it is easy to overload the receiver and get wierd harmonics showing up. I'm mostly intersted in the various rig's/operators SSB bandwidth as that band is very limited. Some fellows are over 10KHz and complain about other stations' being too wide... Quite aggrivating hearing that sort of thing but that's the way it goes I suppose...

 

[spongella]

Yes, the RF gain control for the SDR dongle has to be adjusted carefully or you'll get lots of images, intermod, etc. It has a lot of uses. I also use it to check my CB radios for 54 MHz harmonics when aligning them.