RTL-SDR Now Supported by MATLAB

The Communications System Toolbox in MATLAB 2013b now supports the RTL-SDR dongle. MATLAB is a scientific computing software product which scientists and engineers use for complex technical computations and simulations.

The RTL-SDR radio support package enables you to design wireless receivers using real world signals. Using Communications System Toolbox™ in conjunction with an RTL-SDR USB radio, you can design and prototype systems that process real-time wireless signals in MATLAB® and Simulink®.

Wireless engineers, students, and hobbyists can learn to receive and decode real-world radio signals using this low cost RTL-SDR hardware connected to your computer.

Key Features:

  • RTL-SDR radio as an I/O peripheral to receive streaming RF signals
  • Configurable center frequency and sample rate
  • NooElec™ NESDR Mini USB Stick (R820T) and NooElec NESDR Nano USB Stick (R820T) SDR devices with frequency range 30MHz – 1.8GHz
  • Compatible with other RTL-SDR USB radios (eg., Terratec T-Stick E4000)
  • Several application examples for getting started:
    • FM Mono / Stereo with RTL-SDR
    • FRS Receiver with RTL-SDR
    • Spectral Analysis with RTL-SDR radio
    • Frequency offset calibration with RTL-SDR
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Icecream Box Raspberry Pi RTL-SDR Receiver

Over on our Facebook page Micheal Kent has posted about his raspberry pi based RTL-SDR receiver which runs rtl_udp. There’s not much more information on this project, but the video he posted shows what appears to be a Raspberry Pi and RTL-SDR dongle mounted inside an icecream box. There are two knobs mounted on the outside that control the brightness of an LCD screen which shows the tuned frequency, and another knob which controls the frequency itself.

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RTL-SDR “Go Bag” Kit Video

YouTube user Eric William has put together a video showing off his RTL-SDR “Go Bag” kit. The kit contains all the items he needs to use an RTL-SDR wherever he goes. In the video and video description he talks about all the adapters he uses, and also all the miscellaneous items such as upconverters and portable antennas that he carries in the kit.

USB Software Defined Radio- Cheap "Go Bag" Kit

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Video Tutorial: Setting Up Satellite Tracking with SDRSharp and Orbitron

YouTube user HamradioSat has put up a video tutorial showing how to connect SDR# and Orbitron together. By interfacing the two, Orbitron can then be used to automatically tune to the doppler corrected frequency of a satellite passing overhead in SDR#. Orbitron is a free satellite tracking software program.

This can be useful for simplifying the tracking of NOAA weather satellites and downloading their live images.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7Ut-HvnRb8&feature=youtube_gdata

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Using the RTL-SDR as a Cheap TV Satellite Finder

Finding the correct direction to point a satellite for TV reception can be difficult without the right equipment. YouTube user MegaOscarVideos shows us in the video below how he uses an RTL-SDR to accurately aim his satellite for TV reception.

He uses a TV satellite dish with an LNB connected to a bias-T circuit as the receiver, which is then connected to the RTL-SDR. As the satellite is moved he looks for the direction at which the signal level in SDR# increases the most.

RTL SDR as cheap TV Satfinder

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GR-RDS: An FM-RDS Receiver for GNU Radio which supports RTL-SDR

GR-RDS is a GNU Radio program which can be used for the decoding of FM RDS data with the RTL-SDR. It has recently been updated to support GNU Radio 3.7.

RDS is an acronym for Radio Data System, which is used in FM radio transmissions to embed information such as radio station and programme/song information. Some conventional FM radios display this information on an LCD screen.

One the authors of GR-RDS has also recently posted a video on YouTube showing it in action with an RTL-SDR source block.

FM RDS Reception with GNURadio and RTL SDR

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Meteor Detection with the RTL-SDR

YouTube user Tim Havens has uploaded two videos showing his meteor detection results with an RTL-SDR dongle. Tim uses a stock R820T dongle, and a 6 element yagi antenna with LNA.

For the software he uses Spectrum Lab and SDRSharp.

Update: Tehrasha from the comments section has found a page by Tim Havens showing a little information on his meteor detection setup.

RTL SDR R820T and Meteor Detection

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Comparison Between Portable Shortwave Radios and the RTL-SDR

YouTube user mutezone has uploaded a video showing a comparison between several portable shortwave radios and the RTL-SDR. His results show that the portable radios performed better than the RTL-SDR dongle at shortwave-dxing, however we are unsure of what method he used (direct sampling or upconverter) to get access to the shortwave bands on the RTL-SDR.

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