Xastir is a Linux based program that is used for plotting Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) data on a map. APRS is is type of packet radio system used by ham radio for real time local area digital communications. It is often used for sending messages, plotting positions on a map or providing weather station data.
Over on his blog, Yashin has written a post showing how to analyze 433 MHz transmitters using several methods. Devices that transmit using low power 433 MHz are common and often include devices such as weather monitors, power monitors and alarm sensors.
To show his analysis methods Yashin used an ASK modulated FS1000A 433 MHz transmitter connected to an Arduino Teensy microcontroller. He first uses GQRX and baudline together with an RTL-SDR in Kali Linux to test that the transmitter is working and to visually inspect the RF spectrum. Then he shows how to use GNU Radio to receive the 433 MHz transmitter and how to record an audio file. The final tool he shows how to use is rtl_433 which will automatically decode the data into binary strings using the analysis option.
On the RTL2832U dongle side, he modified the RTL2832U Linux DVB-T drivers (not the SDR drivers) to work on the 1.3 GHz band. The intention of this camera is for it to fly on a rocket mission. In the YouTube video below he has uploaded some sample footage with the RTL2832U dongle receiving the stream from 300 meters away.
Back in March we showed a beta version of Tyler Watts ScanEyes trunked call log recorder software. Now Tyler has released a more complete version of his ScanEyes software. A live version of the software can be found at sdrscan.com. ScanEyes works by using a software defined radio such as the RTL-SDR combined with trunking following software Unitrunker and optional P25 decoder DSD/DSD+ to archive all calls made on a trunked radio system. A user can then later go into the web interface and view and listen to archived calls.
A new Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB) player has been released for RTL2832U dongles (Link text is in German use Google Translate to translate). This player uses the official drivers and not the RTL-SDR drivers, although we believe the DAB demodulation is still done in software. You will need to install the drivers provided on the download page to run this DAB player. For R820T models, the Treiber2.zip file should be used and for E4000 Treiber.zip should be used. You will also need have installed the Visual C++ Redistributable package to run the program.
The software UI is written in German, but its controls are easy to figure out for non speakers.
An alternative DAB player that uses the RTL-SDR drivers is SDR-J.
In Boulder, Colorado (and possibly other US cities) there is a radio based weather monitoring system known as ‘Urban Drainage and Flood Control’. This is a system that monitors rainfall and other weather information and transmits data using the ALERT protocol.
Using his RTL-SDR and GQRX, he made a recording of some of the weather station packets on that frequency. Next he used a command line utility called minimodem to convert the recorded packets into binary data. After looking up the protocol online, he was then able to understand the binary string and extract the station ID information from it. Cparker then went on to write code that would plot the received stations on a map by cross referencing the station ID with a website containing location information about these sensors. Finally, he managed to get the whole system running live on a Raspberry Pi.
Blogger Dolske has recently posted about how he was able to receive and decode signals coming from inside his body. The signals originated from a Bravo Ph Esophageal monitor which is a small wireless sensor that is attached inside your body by a doctor. It is used to monitor pH levels within the body to help diagnose esophageal problems such as acid reflux. The monitor remains in the body for a number of days continually sending data to an external monitoring device which records and logs the pH data.
Bravo pH Esophageal Monitor
Using his RTL-SDR, Dolse was able to capture the wireless monitors signal using information he found about the monitor online. He found that the monitor used amplitude-shift keying and transmitted at 433.92 MHz. After capturing some signals with the RTL-SDR, he looked at the captured waveform in Audacity and was able to decode a few packets by hand. Finally, he went even further and wrote a Firefox browser based decoder which decodes and displays the pH data on screen.
Web Interface for Showing Decoded pH data from the Esophageal monitor.
Over on YouTube user k2nccvids has posted two videos showing how he was able to decode High Frequency Data Link (HFDL) packets using the RTL-SDR, Ham-it-up upconverter, MultiPSK and HFDL Display. HFDL is a service similar to ACARS but sent over HF frequencies. It is used to sent short messages to and from aircraft and ground stations.
In the first video k2nccvids uses MultiPSK with the RTL-SDR directly and also uses the add on software HFDL Display to more clearly view received HFDL packets. In the second video he uses SDR-CONSOLEv2 to monitor three HFDL frequencies simultaneously, with MultiPSK and HFDL Display still being used for decoding and display.
