Receiving Russian Long Range Navigation System with an RTL-SDR, Upconverter and Mini-Whip Antenna

Over on YouTube user Mile Kokotov has uploaded a video showing his reception of the ALPHA Russian Long Range Navigation System on Very Low Frequency (VLF) in Macedonia using an RTL-SDR, Ham-it-up upconverter and a Mini-Whip active antenna.

Mile also uses a band pass filter and notch filter to improve the dynamic range of the RTL-SDR. Additionally, in the video he shows a comparison between a large delta loop antenna and the mini-whip active antenna which shows better performance by the mini-whip.

RTL-SDR on VLF (ALPHA Russian Long Range Navigation System receiving in Macedonia with MiniWhip)

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Hak5: Using A RTL-SDR To Learn About The GSM Network Around You

The popular YouTube electronics channel Hak5 has uploaded a video showing how they analyzed GSM signals using an RTL-SDR, Wireshark and Airprobe. In their video they use parts of our analyzing GSM tutorial and explain and show visually how to set up all the software.

Using these methods they were able to receive GSM data from a base tower and see various system information.

Using A RTL-SDR To Learn About The GSM Network Around You, Hak5 1621

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Update to the RTL-SDR Transmitting at 1270 MHz

In our previous post we featured a video by OH2FTG which showed an RTL-SDR transmitting at 1270 MHz. Now OH2FTG has written in to give us some more information about the RTL-SDR transmitter. He has done a short writeup explaining how it’s done on his website. It turns out that the RTL-SDR is actually capable of transmitting a FSK morse beacon using it’s leaky oscillator.

In the video, code written by another ham OH2EAT is used. OH2EAT’s code essentially changes the frequency on the transmitting RTL-SDR at up to 300 times a second using a modified driver. This is used to create a Frequency Shift Keyed (FSK) transmission.

The modulating transmitter code is not yet available as it is not yet ready for release. In the future OH2FTG hopes to build an amplifier to boost the signal output for further experiments.

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New Signal Identification Guide Wiki: sigidwiki.com

We’ve recently created a new radio signal identification guide over a www.sigidwiki.com. This is a wikipedia styled site which is editable by anyone. We hope that some readers will make a contribution by adding new reference signals, fixing mistakes or identifying unknown signals. Any comments or requests about the page are also welcome.

You can still contribute known or unknown signals to rtlsdrblog__AT__gmail__dot__com and I will add them to the sigidwiki myself.

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RTL-SDR Transmitting at 1270 MHz

Over on YouTube user oh2ftg has uploaded a video apparently showing an RTL-SDR transmitting a low power signal at 1270 MHz. His explanation as to how it is possible to transmit with an RTL-SDR is that the local oscillator in the RTL-SDR is leaky, so it can be abused as a low power transmitter.

We aren’t sure how he enabled the transmissions or if it even is transmitting a real signal or just noise, but we hope someone can let us know in the comments. At the moment we think its just noise which changes its tune as the oscillator tunes to different frequencies.

RTL-SDR Transmitting on 1270MHz

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New AIS Decoder for the RTL-SDR: PNAIS

Over on our Forums xynium has told us about his recently released an AIS decoder called PNAIS which appears to directly connect to the RTL-SDR and decode AIS data. After decoding it then outputs the decoded NMEA data via UDP, which could then be received and used in map plotting software such as OpenCPN.

AIS is and acronym for Automatic Identification System and is a system used by ships to broadcast position and vessel information.

PNAIS
PNAIS Decoder
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Receiving a VLF Transmission using a PC Soundcard

Over on YouTube user Alex swl has uploaded a video showing his reception of a Very Low Frequency (VLF) radio signal using a laptop running SDRSharp and a Chirio Mini Whip antenna connected directly to the laptop’s sound card input.

Every year on Alexanderson Day (this year on 29/06/2014) and some other days the Varberg VLF Radio Station in Sweden transmits a morse code message using a 1.9 km (1.2 mile) horizontal wire antenna at 17.2 kHz with callsign SAQ. Because the transmission frequency is so low, a standard PC soundcard can be used to directly receive the signal.

Alex swl was able to receive this signal in Italy.

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New SDR# Plugin: GUI Interface for DSD+

The developer over at rtl-sdr.ru has released a new plugin for SDR# (note in Russian – use Google translate) which allows the digital voice decoder DSD+ to be controlled via a GUI interface from SDR#. To use this plugin you will need to have a copy of DSD+ already downloaded as you will need to point the plugin to the DSD+ install directory. You will also need to have virtual audio cable software such as VAC or VBCable setup.

Information on downloading and setting up DSD+ can be found here.

DSD+ SDR# Plugin GUI
DSD+ SDR# Plugin GUI
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