Thank you to Giuseppe (IT9YBG) who has written in to share his tutorial about setting up a direct sampling RTL-SDR V3 based SSTV receiver on a Raspberry Pi. He writes that he uses the receiver to continuously receive images at 14.230 MHz, but with a frequency tweak in the command line code the system could also be used to receive the VHF SSTV images sent by the ISS.
In the tutorial he uses the free QSSTV software for decoding. An RTL-SDR together with the CSDR DSP software is used to set up a command line based receiver, which pipes the SSTV audio into a virtual audio sink, and then into QSSTV. The receiver setup procedure is similar to the method used in our RTL-SDR V3 QRP monitoring station tutorial, and is a very nice way of setting up an efficient command line based RTL-SDR audio output.
QSSTV Running on a Raspberry Pi with RTL-SDR V3 Radio
HRPT is a high resolution weather satellite image that is broadcast by the NOAA satellites. Receiving HRPT weather satellite signals is a little different to the more commonly received NOAA APT or Meteor M2 LRPT images which most readers may already be familiar with. HRPT is broadcast by the same NOAA satellites that provide the APT signal at 137 MHz, but is found in the L-band at around 1.7 GHz. The signal is much weaker, so a high gain dish antenna with motorized tracking mount, LNA and high bandwidth SDR like an Airspy is required. The payoff is that HRPT images are much higher in resolution compared to APT.
Manuel lives in Germany and on Twitter he found that he had a follower in Canada who was also receiving HRPT images. So he asked his follower to provide him with HRPT weather images that were received shortly after the pass in Germany. He then stitched the images together, and color corrected them which resulted in a nice large image covering Europe, the Atlantic, Canada and Florida.
[EN subs] HRPT over The Ocean - Ein Bild von Köln nach Kanada
Over on YouTube the Ham Radio 2.0 channel has recently uploaded a talk that Scotty Cowling (WA2DFI) did at the 2018 TAPR digital communications conference. His talk centers around single board computers and his findings on the nine best single board computers (SBC) for ham radio SDR setups.
Scotty's talk begins by discussing why you'd want to use SBCs in your ham radio SDR setup, and explains why you might want to place them with the SDR close to the antenna, and then distribute the data over ethernet cable. He then reviews 9 boards listed below:
Hardkernel Odroid C1
Raspberry Pi 3B
Hardkernel Odroid XU4
ASUS Tinker S
FriendlyElec NanoPC-T4
Pine64 RockPro64
96 Boards Mediatek X20
96 Boards HiKey 960
UDOO X86 Ultra
The boards are compared against CPU clock speeds, architecture, cache, debut year, RAM, boot ROM, bus speeds, OS support, and more. Scotty also discusses the need for low latency operation, but is yet to compare this on the boards. The best value for money boards that Scotty recommends end up being the Odroid XU4, Tinkerboard, NanoPC-T4 and the RockPro64.
Ham Radio 2.0: Episode 151 - Evaluating 9 of the Best Single Board Computers for Modern SDR Systems
Thank you to Josh for submitting news about his project called GammaRF. GammaRF is an client-server program that is used to aggregate signal information via the internet from distributed SDRs. Currently the RTL-SDR and HackRF SDRs are supported.
ΓRF (“GammaRF”, or “GRF”) is a radio signal collection, storage, and analysis system based on inexpensive distributed nodes and a central server. Put another way, it is a distributed system for aggregating information about signals, and a back-end infrastructure for processing this collected information into coherent “products”.
Nodes utilize inexpensive hardware such as RTL-SDR and HackRF radios, and computers as small and inexpensive as Intel NUCs. Each node runs modules which provide various radio monitoring functionality, such as monitoring frequencies for “hits”, watching power levels, keeping track of aircraft (through ADS-B), and more. Nodes are distributed geographically and their data is combined on the server for hybrid analysis.
A web-based system allows users to view information from and about each station in its area. Below shows the server landing page. Markers are placed at each station’s last known location (stations can be mobile or stationary.)
GammaRF Server Landing Page
From the currently implemented modules it appears that you can monitor ADS-B, scan and monitor the power of a set of frequencies, forward the output from trunk-recorder (a P25 call recorder), scan the spectrum and monitor power levels, monitor a single frequency for activity, take a picture of a swath of RF spectrum, and collect 433 MHz ISM data. Some example applications might include:
Monitoring ham radio activity on repeaters in a city
Creating timelines of emergency services activity in an area
Distributed tracking of satellites and other mobile emitters
Monitoring power at a frequency, for example as a mobile node traverses an area (e.g. signal source location)
Building direction finding networks (e.g. for fox hunts)
Spectrum enumeration (finding channels and guessing modulation) [under development]
Monitoring Activity of an Amateur Radio Repeater via the 'scanner' Module
The uBITX is a US$129 HF SSB/CW QRP transceiver kit that works from 3 MHz to 30 MHz with up to 10W TX power. It's a fully analogue radio, but it can be combined with an RTL-SDR to create a panadapter display thanks to a tutorial released by KD8CEC.
The method requires that you use the custom CEC firmware, or modify other firmware, as this appears to change the output frequency at the tap point. The tap point is made accessible by soldering on an extra SMA connector for the RTL-SDR to connect to. The rest of the work is entirely performed in the uBITX software manager, Omni-Rig and SDR-Console V3.
The idea behind the article is to introduce people to SDR from a shortwave listening point of view, so high performance HF SDRs like the Airspy HF+, Elad FDM-S2 and WinRadio Excalibur are discussed. Thomas notes that these SDRs can perform as well as traditional DX-grade receivers that can cost two to three times more. He also explains what advantages SDR's bring to the shortwave radio listening hobby. This may be a good article to show those still using older hardware radios that haven't yet converted to the SDR world.
The article is currently part one of a three part series, with parts two and three to be released in October and November.
Thanks to Steve K2GOG of The Hudson Valley Digital Network (HVDN) for submitting his post on how to create a wireless display for Pi-Star. Pi-Star is a pre-built Raspberry Pi image for amateur radio users experimenting with digital voice communications like D-STAR and DMR. They write that it can be used for applications such as a "single mode hotspot running simplex providing you with access to the increasing number of Digital Voice networks, [or a] public duplex multimode repeater".
Pi-Star is compatible with serial based LED displays with built in GUIs like the Nextion. The displays are usually connected directly to the Raspberry Pi, but Steve wanted to use the display remotely. To do this he used a simple and inexpensive 70cm band HC-12 wireless serial port adapter. With the wireless adapters connected to the Pi he was able to see the pulses in SDR# via his RTL-SDR to confirm that the wireless serial signal was being sent. He then connected the second wireless adapter to the Nextion display via a few diodes to drop the voltage, and was able to get the display updating as if it was connected directly.
In the post Steve mentions that HVDN are also giving away an HC-12 and RTL-SDR to the first person to submit some progress with this idea.
Over on YouTube user Corrosive has uploaded a video showing how he can use the recently updated DATV Express software to transmit Digital Amateur TV (DATV) with a LimeSDR Mini, and receive it with a cheap US$20 DVB-S satellite set top box that he's modified with a custom firmware update. Corrosives work is excellent as it allows anyone to get started in DATV amateur radio cheaply. He writes:
Last week I noticed the windows DATV express software for windows had been updated to include several SDR platforms [appears to now support the LimeSDR and LimeSDR Mini, as well as the PlutoSDR] https://www.datv-express.com/CustomPage/Downloads
Using my new LimeSDR Mini I wanted to try this out. I went online and purchased a cheap DVB-S Satellite set top box on eBay branded as a KOQIT K1Mini.
In order to allow the KOQIT K1Mini DVB-S set top box to receive DATV frequencies, Corrosive has released a firmware update on GitHub that removes all satellites listed in the receiver, and replaces it with six DATV channels for amateur television use. He writes:
I decided to split the 3 23cm ATV frequencies into 6 at half the bandwidth for digital.
The receiver with my firmware configures the device to see a 9750LO LNB, by placing a simple antenna on the receiver instead of an LNB the 1.2 ghz amateur frequencies are shifted by 9750mhz and can be scanned as if they were a satellite transponder.
If you don't have a TX capable or DATV Express compatible SDR like the LimeSDR or Pluto, then we note that RPiTX (software that allows a Raspberry Pi to transmit RF without any additional hardware) also has DATV transmit capabilities that could in used in their place.
Make Your Own TV Station Using Amateur Radio With LimeSDR Mini and a Satellite Receiver 23CM 1.2GHz
Thank you to Giuseppe (IT9YBG) who has written in to share his tutorial about setting up a direct sampling RTL-SDR V3 based SSTV receiver on a Raspberry Pi. He writes that he uses the receiver to continuously receive images at 14.230 MHz, but with a frequency tweak in the command line code the system could also be used to receive the VHF SSTV images sent by the ISS.
In the tutorial he uses the free QSSTV software for decoding. An RTL-SDR together with the CSDR DSP software is used to set up a command line based receiver, which pipes the SSTV audio into a virtual audio sink, and then into QSSTV. The receiver setup procedure is similar to the method used in our RTL-SDR V3 QRP monitoring station tutorial, and is a very nice way of setting up an efficient command line based RTL-SDR audio output.
QSSTV Running on a Raspberry Pi with RTL-SDR V3 Radio
HRPT is a high resolution weather satellite image that is broadcast by the NOAA satellites. Receiving HRPT weather satellite signals is a little different to the more commonly received NOAA APT or Meteor M2 LRPT images which most readers may already be familiar with. HRPT is broadcast by the same NOAA satellites that provide the APT signal at 137 MHz, but is found in the L-band at around 1.7 GHz. The signal is much weaker, so a high gain dish antenna with motorized tracking mount, LNA and high bandwidth SDR like an Airspy is required. The payoff is that HRPT images are much higher in resolution compared to APT.
Manuel lives in Germany and on Twitter he found that he had a follower in Canada who was also receiving HRPT images. So he asked his follower to provide him with HRPT weather images that were received shortly after the pass in Germany. He then stitched the images together, and color corrected them which resulted in a nice large image covering Europe, the Atlantic, Canada and Florida.
[EN subs] HRPT over The Ocean - Ein Bild von Köln nach Kanada
Over on YouTube the Ham Radio 2.0 channel has recently uploaded a talk that Scotty Cowling (WA2DFI) did at the 2018 TAPR digital communications conference. His talk centers around single board computers and his findings on the nine best single board computers (SBC) for ham radio SDR setups.
Scotty's talk begins by discussing why you'd want to use SBCs in your ham radio SDR setup, and explains why you might want to place them with the SDR close to the antenna, and then distribute the data over ethernet cable. He then reviews 9 boards listed below:
Hardkernel Odroid C1
Raspberry Pi 3B
Hardkernel Odroid XU4
ASUS Tinker S
FriendlyElec NanoPC-T4
Pine64 RockPro64
96 Boards Mediatek X20
96 Boards HiKey 960
UDOO X86 Ultra
The boards are compared against CPU clock speeds, architecture, cache, debut year, RAM, boot ROM, bus speeds, OS support, and more. Scotty also discusses the need for low latency operation, but is yet to compare this on the boards. The best value for money boards that Scotty recommends end up being the Odroid XU4, Tinkerboard, NanoPC-T4 and the RockPro64.
Ham Radio 2.0: Episode 151 - Evaluating 9 of the Best Single Board Computers for Modern SDR Systems
Thank you to Josh for submitting news about his project called GammaRF. GammaRF is an client-server program that is used to aggregate signal information via the internet from distributed SDRs. Currently the RTL-SDR and HackRF SDRs are supported.
ΓRF (“GammaRF”, or “GRF”) is a radio signal collection, storage, and analysis system based on inexpensive distributed nodes and a central server. Put another way, it is a distributed system for aggregating information about signals, and a back-end infrastructure for processing this collected information into coherent “products”.
Nodes utilize inexpensive hardware such as RTL-SDR and HackRF radios, and computers as small and inexpensive as Intel NUCs. Each node runs modules which provide various radio monitoring functionality, such as monitoring frequencies for “hits”, watching power levels, keeping track of aircraft (through ADS-B), and more. Nodes are distributed geographically and their data is combined on the server for hybrid analysis.
A web-based system allows users to view information from and about each station in its area. Below shows the server landing page. Markers are placed at each station’s last known location (stations can be mobile or stationary.)
GammaRF Server Landing Page
From the currently implemented modules it appears that you can monitor ADS-B, scan and monitor the power of a set of frequencies, forward the output from trunk-recorder (a P25 call recorder), scan the spectrum and monitor power levels, monitor a single frequency for activity, take a picture of a swath of RF spectrum, and collect 433 MHz ISM data. Some example applications might include:
Monitoring ham radio activity on repeaters in a city
Creating timelines of emergency services activity in an area
Distributed tracking of satellites and other mobile emitters
Monitoring power at a frequency, for example as a mobile node traverses an area (e.g. signal source location)
Building direction finding networks (e.g. for fox hunts)
Spectrum enumeration (finding channels and guessing modulation) [under development]
Monitoring Activity of an Amateur Radio Repeater via the 'scanner' Module
The uBITX is a US$129 HF SSB/CW QRP transceiver kit that works from 3 MHz to 30 MHz with up to 10W TX power. It's a fully analogue radio, but it can be combined with an RTL-SDR to create a panadapter display thanks to a tutorial released by KD8CEC.
The method requires that you use the custom CEC firmware, or modify other firmware, as this appears to change the output frequency at the tap point. The tap point is made accessible by soldering on an extra SMA connector for the RTL-SDR to connect to. The rest of the work is entirely performed in the uBITX software manager, Omni-Rig and SDR-Console V3.
The idea behind the article is to introduce people to SDR from a shortwave listening point of view, so high performance HF SDRs like the Airspy HF+, Elad FDM-S2 and WinRadio Excalibur are discussed. Thomas notes that these SDRs can perform as well as traditional DX-grade receivers that can cost two to three times more. He also explains what advantages SDR's bring to the shortwave radio listening hobby. This may be a good article to show those still using older hardware radios that haven't yet converted to the SDR world.
The article is currently part one of a three part series, with parts two and three to be released in October and November.
Thanks to Steve K2GOG of The Hudson Valley Digital Network (HVDN) for submitting his post on how to create a wireless display for Pi-Star. Pi-Star is a pre-built Raspberry Pi image for amateur radio users experimenting with digital voice communications like D-STAR and DMR. They write that it can be used for applications such as a "single mode hotspot running simplex providing you with access to the increasing number of Digital Voice networks, [or a] public duplex multimode repeater".
Pi-Star is compatible with serial based LED displays with built in GUIs like the Nextion. The displays are usually connected directly to the Raspberry Pi, but Steve wanted to use the display remotely. To do this he used a simple and inexpensive 70cm band HC-12 wireless serial port adapter. With the wireless adapters connected to the Pi he was able to see the pulses in SDR# via his RTL-SDR to confirm that the wireless serial signal was being sent. He then connected the second wireless adapter to the Nextion display via a few diodes to drop the voltage, and was able to get the display updating as if it was connected directly.
In the post Steve mentions that HVDN are also giving away an HC-12 and RTL-SDR to the first person to submit some progress with this idea.
Over on YouTube user Corrosive has uploaded a video showing how he can use the recently updated DATV Express software to transmit Digital Amateur TV (DATV) with a LimeSDR Mini, and receive it with a cheap US$20 DVB-S satellite set top box that he's modified with a custom firmware update. Corrosives work is excellent as it allows anyone to get started in DATV amateur radio cheaply. He writes:
Last week I noticed the windows DATV express software for windows had been updated to include several SDR platforms [appears to now support the LimeSDR and LimeSDR Mini, as well as the PlutoSDR] https://www.datv-express.com/CustomPage/Downloads
Using my new LimeSDR Mini I wanted to try this out. I went online and purchased a cheap DVB-S Satellite set top box on eBay branded as a KOQIT K1Mini.
In order to allow the KOQIT K1Mini DVB-S set top box to receive DATV frequencies, Corrosive has released a firmware update on GitHub that removes all satellites listed in the receiver, and replaces it with six DATV channels for amateur television use. He writes:
I decided to split the 3 23cm ATV frequencies into 6 at half the bandwidth for digital.
The receiver with my firmware configures the device to see a 9750LO LNB, by placing a simple antenna on the receiver instead of an LNB the 1.2 ghz amateur frequencies are shifted by 9750mhz and can be scanned as if they were a satellite transponder.
If you don't have a TX capable or DATV Express compatible SDR like the LimeSDR or Pluto, then we note that RPiTX (software that allows a Raspberry Pi to transmit RF without any additional hardware) also has DATV transmit capabilities that could in used in their place.
Make Your Own TV Station Using Amateur Radio With LimeSDR Mini and a Satellite Receiver 23CM 1.2GHz
![[EN subs] HRPT over The Ocean - Ein Bild von Köln nach Kanada](https://www.rtl-sdr.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-youtube-lyte/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FhbvsSyplsDk%2F0.jpg)
