SDRplay RSPdx-R2 Released

SDRplay has announced the release of their latest product, the SDRplay RSPdx-R2. The RSPdx-R2 is advertised as an enhanced version of their RSPdx software-defined radio. The press release from SDRplay reads:

Jon Hudson, SDRplay Sales and Marketing Director said “Global supply chain support issues have prompted some redesign of existing products to ensure continued supply for our UK manufacturing partners. With each new member of the RSP family, SDRplay tries to include improvements. This has given us the opportunity to offer performance enhancements at the same time as assuring supply”.

  • The RSPdx-R2 provides up to 10MHz spectrum visibility anywhere from 1kHZ to 2GHz with no gaps. It features:
  • Improvements to the RSPdx for MF frequencies and below:
    • Improved noise performance below 1MHz
    • Improved dynamic range below 2MHz both in tuner mode and HDR mode
  • 3 Software selectable inputs, including a BNC input for up to 200MHz
  • A 500kHz LPF for LF/VLF
  • HDR mode for enhanced performance under 2MHz
  • Notch filters on all inputs
  • A rugged steel case

More details on https://www.sdrplay.com/rspdxR2/

The suggested retail price is £188.00 GBP (excluding VAT), $235.00 USD (excluding tax) or €225.60 EUR (excluding tax).

SDRplay recently launched their free multiplatform SDRconnect software which as well as running on Windows, will also run on MacOS and Linux/Raspberry Pi. As with their SDRuno windows software, the emphasis is on “plug and play” making the SDRplay receivers an easy-to-use and low-cost way to discover (or rediscover) the radio hobby for anyone who already uses a computer.

SDRplay has also provided the datasheet of the RSPdx-R2 which can be downloaded here.

The new RSPdx-R2
The new RSPdx-R2
Introducing the SDRplay RSPdxR2

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DeepRad: Upcoming Modular RTL-SDR System to be CrowdFunded

The company "DeepSea Developments" have recently released news about their upcoming crowdfunding campaign for their 'DeepRad' modular RTL-SDR system. The goal of DeepRad appears to be a modular RTL-SDR that can easily be used as a module on a 'motherboard' PCB of your own design.

DeepRad is currently in the 'Coming Soon' stage on CrowdSupply, and will probably be released for crowdfunding in the next few months.

DeepRad is a modular version of the RTL-SDR, a product beloved by radio enthusiasts. However, DeepRad offers distinct advantages. Its modularity makes integration far simpler, side-stepping the complexities of designing an RTL-SDR from scratch (such as RF considerations and chip stocking issues). DeepRad is a versatile option for integrating many different radio functions into whatever projects you’re working on today.

We want the community to create their own "motherboards" with 1, 3, or as many as 20 DeepRad modules to bring new applications to life. There are three versions of DeepRad we’ll be focusing on for this campaign:

  • DeepRad Module: The bare DeepRad module (no motherboard). The user has to develop a board to use it.
  • DeepRad Single: A single DeepRad module with a motherboard. It has USB Type-C and an antenna connection. It can be used as your regular RTL-SDR with USB.
  • DeepRad Quad: A motherboard with 4 DeepRad modules integrated via a USB hub with a USB Type-A connector.
The DeepRad Quad Motherboard with Four DeepRad Modules
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QCSuper: Capture 2G/3G/4G/5G Radio Frames with Qualcomm Phones

In the past, we've shown how it's possible to use RTL-SDRs or other SDR devices together with the Airprobe software to analyze data from 2G GSM mobile phones and towers. (Note that it's not possible to listen in on conversations or read SMS data unless you have the encryption code for the recipient phone. This is only capable of showing cell tower basestation telemetry for example).

While not directly related to SDR, readers might be interested to know that a new piece of software called QCSuper has been released which enables similar analysis capabilities for 2G/3G/4G/5G signals through the use of Qualcomm-based phones and modem hardware. To use it you will need a rooted Android phone. The software accesses a diagnostics mode available in Qualcomm devices and makes the data available for view on Wireshark.

[Also seen on Hackaday]

QCSuper Screenshot
QCSuper Screenshot
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Antennas Explained: Finding the Best Antenna for HackRF, RTL-SDR and Other Receivers

Over on YouTube sn0ren has uploaded a well produced video to help beginners to the radio hobby understand antennas. The video explains how antennas work in theory, and how to choose the best antenna for your SDR and application through calculations and use of a Nano VNA.

There is an essential gadget that you will want to get, to get the best antenna performance. But first we need to cover a bit of antenna theory, before we can answer the question of what antenna that is the best one for your HackRF Portapack, or Flipper Zero SubGHZ module, or Meshtastic, Quansheng UV-K5, RTLSDR or other radio devices. This video is covering the bare minimum basics of antenna theory for beginners into the radio hobby.

The best antenna for HackRF Portapack (and Flipper Zero, Meshtastic, Quansheng, RTLSDR, etc.)

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FobosSDR: A New SDR Receiver with 100 kHz to 6 GHz Tuning Range and 50 MHz Bandwidth for $395

Recently we've seen that a new SDR from the Ukrainian company RigExpert has been released. The RX-only USB3.0 SDR is called 'FobosSDR' and it has a 100 kHz to 6 GHz tuning range, 50 MHz of bandwidth, and 14-bit resolution. Apart from a standard RF input, it also has two auxiliary input channels for coherent direct sampling and clock in and out ports.

In terms of software support, the FobosSDR supports HDSDR, and interestingly a very old version of SDR# (SDR# 1716) through a plugin. They also have a GNU Radio block.

The design is based on the LTC2143 ADC and uses a wideband RFFC5072 mixer on the front end which feeds into a MAX2830 transceiver chip.

RigExpert products are carried by a number of resellers across the world, but FobosSDR does not yet appear to be available from any that we checked. So far we have not seen any reviews or demonstrations of the product in action, but will update if we do.

FobosSDR
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SDR# Version 1920 Released

A few days ago SDRSharp version 1920 was released. SDRSharp (SDR#) is a popular Windows program that is affiliated with Airspy SDR dongles, but is compatible with RTL-SDR and various other SDRs as well. The latest version gets rid of the relatively resource heavy Telerik UI library and replaces it with a much lighter weight library.

The author of SDR#, @lambdaprog, notes that v.1920 reduces memory usage by 85% and CPU utilization by 50%. The new version also improves scalability for high sample rates and number of spectrum slices and improves plugin compatibility. Several AOR brand SDRs are also now supported in v.1920.

On the note regarding improved plugin compatibility, we've noticed that in the v.1920 update the IF Average plugin has begun working again. The IF Average plugin is used for Hydrogen line radio astronomy experiments. In the past we had to use older versions of SDR# to make it work. We have updated our Hydrogen line tutorial to reflect this.

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Gypsum: A Software-Defined GPS Receiver written in Python + A Writeup on How it Was Made

Thank you to RTL-SDR.COM reader Lee. who found a recently released program called "gypsum" which enables an RTL-SDR or HackRF to be used as a GPS Receiver when combined with a GPS antenna. Phillip Tennen, the author of Gypsum notes that Gypsum can obtain a fix within 60 seconds from a cold start and that it has no dependencies apart from numpy. We want to note that it appears that Gpysum has no live decoding ability yet, as it works from pre-recorded GNU Radio IQ files.

In the past, we've shown in a tutorial how GPS can be received and decoded with GNSS-SDRLIB and RTKLIB on Windows. The new Gypsum software should work on Linux and MacOS too.

What's more, Phillip has written an incredible 4-part writeup on how Gypsum was implemented from scratch. In the write-up, Phillip introduces GPS and explains how it can even work with such weak signals that appear below the thermal noise floor. He then goes on to explain how the detected signal is decoded and turned into positional information, and how challenging it was to propagate the accurate timing information that calculating a solution requires. The write-up is presented with clear visualizations to help readers intuitively gain an understanding of the advanced concepts involved.

Gypsum GPS Satellite Tracking Dashboard GUI
Gypsum GPS Satellite Tracking Dashboard GUI
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Using a LimeNET Micro to Implement an Amateur Radio DMR Tier III Trunked Radio Base Station

Thank you to Adrian Musceac (author of QRadioLink) for submitting his article about how he implemented an amateur radio DMR Tier III Trunked Radio Base Station with a LimeNet-Micro software-defined radio. DMR Tier III is a digital voice trunked radio system that employs Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) technology. Tier III is largely based on Tier II, but adds trunking abilities which enable efficient channel access and resource allocation.

The LimeNET Micro is a software defined radio based on the LimeSDR, but it has some upgraded specifications such as an embedded Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3+ that make it easier to deploy as a base station.

Adrian writes:

The Tier III extension (trunked radio) to the DMR standard is defined and specified by the European Telecommunications Standards Insititute (ETSI) in the TS 102 361-4 document.

The project uses LimeNet-Micro, LimeSDR-mini or Ettus USRP hardware to set up  such a base station for experimental and amateur radio digital voice communications purposes. The core components of this project are MMDVM, MMDVMHost (both under the form of forks supporting communication via ZeroMQ and pseudo-TTY), GNU Radio, DMRGateway, QRadioLink and the DMR trunked radio controller GUI.

Since DMR trunked radio is not very well known and used in the amateur radio world, I hope this will bring some new information to amateurs interested in these digital voice communication technologies. All code used is available as free and open source software (FOSS). A demo of the project used with real world amateur radio communications can be found on the page.

DMR Tier III system software architecture
DMR Tier III system software architecture
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