Recently we posted how RTLSDR Scanner has been updated to allow interfacing with a GPS device. This allows you to make signal strength maps by driving around and recording both signal strength and GPS location together.
As most people don’t have a dedicated GPS device, Reddit user soooooil has put together a short guide on how he was able to use his iPhone as the GPS device and interface it with RTLSDR Scanner.
Rtl_power is a command line program that can do a very wideband frequency scan by quickly tuning through 2 MHz chunks of bandwidth and recording radio power values.
Now a new GUI frontend for Windows rtl_power called rtl panorama has been released which simplifies the use of the command line tool. To use it download rtlpan.exe from the sourceforge page and then copy the rtlsdr.dll, libusb-1.0.dll and rtl_power.exe files from the official Osmocom librtlsdr download to the same directory as rtlpan.exe.
You can hover over each of the controls to see a tool tip explaining which each button does.
Recently a similar rtl_power GUI was released and shown in this post. There is also the more featured python based RTLSDR Scanner that is not based on rtl_power which does a similar job. However, the rtl_power based GUIs appear to be much faster at scanning.
Over on YouTube user Ben Silverwood has uploaded a video showing the results of his RTL-SDR passive radar. The passive radar works using two RTL-SDR dongles receiving a DAB radio tower’s radio waves that are reflected off the aircraft. On the video you are able to see the aircraft radar blip on the animated Matlab plots.
Previously we posted about another similar passive radar project in this post.
The DX Patrol 100 kHz to 2 GHz SDR receiver appears to be a custom built RTL-SDR with upconverter built in. It is made by CT1FFU who is also known to be a good manufacturer of upconverters for the RTL-SDR. The DX Patrol SDR can be bought for 79 Euros at CT1FFU’s website. It’s features are as follows:
We aren’t sure how this compares to a standard RTL-SDR with conventional upconverter, or direct sampling mode and we also aren’t sure about the truthfulness to their very high dynamic range claims as the RTL-SDR is known to have dynamic range that isn’t what could be called very high (8 bits ~ 50 dB).
Over on YouTube user OfficialSWLchannel has uploaded a video review. OfficialSWLchannel gives a generally positive review of the hardware.
The widely used Frequency Manager + Scanner Plugin for SDR# has recently been updated to version 1.6. It can be downloaded from sdrsharpplugins.com. Note that this version requires SDR# version 1248 or newer, so run install.bat if you haven’t done so in a while. The new features are as follows:
Frequency Manager
- The Frequency Description is now displayed in the upper-right corner of the spectrum analyzer, along with the indicator for multiple database entries for that frequency.
- As a result of moving the above information to the spectrum analyzer, the Frequency Manager panel is now 35% smaller.
- The Clipboard Monitor now optionally watches the clipboard for frequencies you might have copied from the internet; and if that can be converted to a MHz value it tunes the radio to that frequency.
- Function Keys F1-F10 can now be used to tune to a preset frequency.
Scanner
- A new Minimum Signal Strength Line is displayed on the spectrum display. This, along with real-time display of the current signal’s strength when the scanner is running, let you see at a glance how that signal compares to your scanner settings. In addition you can use customize the line with one of 6 line patterns.
- Current Signal Strength in dB is displayed in the upper right corner of the spectrum analyzer, just after the Frequency Description.
- Timeout and Watchdog timers’ indicators are now displayed in the upper right corner of the spectrum analyzer.
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.
The SoftRock Lite II is a (now fairly old) soundcard based software defined radio kitset that is capable of receiving on the HF bands. Over on YouTube user w2aew has uploaded a video showing the entire kitset build process for the SoftRock Lite II SDR radio. He also goes over the circuit blocks explaining their function and how they work.
This is an excellent video if you are interested in learning more about the components and circuits used in some SDRs.
A new RTL-SDR Radio Receiver app for Chrome has been released. The source code can be viewed at GitHub. The app is currently capable of receiving broadcast FM stations and scanning between them. To run this app you will need to have the Chrome web browser installed or be running a Chromebook laptop.
Note that at the moment there seems to be a bug in Windows Chrome that prevents this from working.
Radio Receiver is 100% written in JavaScript, but is nevertheless fast enough that it can run on a 2012 Samsung ChromeBook laptop at full quality.
Features:
* Stereo FM.
* Scan for stations.
* Unlimited slots for presets.
* Supports the International and Japanese FM bands.
