A Tutorial on Receiving WSPR with an RTL-SDR V3
Over on YouTube user Veryokay has uploaded a video that shows how he uses the HF direct sampling mode on one of our V3 RTL-SDR’s to receive WSPR signals. WSPR (pronounced “Whisper”) is short for Weak Signal Propagation Reporting, and is a HF ham mode typically run on very low power levels such as 1W. The data from WSPR reception can be used to determine how good or bad HF propagation is currently around the world as each WSPR message contains the callsign, 6-digit locator and the transmit power level used.
For the antenna Veryokay uses a simple random wire antenna directly connected to the SMA port of the V3 up on top of the roof of his apartment building. This gets him reception good enough to receive many WSPR signals. Then together with SDR#, VB Cable and the WSPR-X decoder software, signals can be received and decoded.
He has also uploaded a document detailing the instructions in text and image form at bit.ly/wspr-rtlsdr.
Thank you for this very useful tutorial. I just ordered a couple of dongles.
Now, if I could find the SAME detailed instructions for APRS! 🙂
and to follow up….this worked fine! Now receiving WSPR on the SDR dongle.
Glad to see a tutorial on this. I’ve been trying to find and decode some wspr stuff myself with no luck.
One could mention that the results of the wspr propagation reports can be seen at wsprnet.org. That is the whole point, after all.
Good point Roy! However it was a really quick video focusing on the setup itself without going into deeper details. One can use the setup for different HF digital modes too, just changing WSPR-X to a different decoder software.
73,