Tagged: rtl2832u

RTL-SDR.com Broadcast AM Block High Pass Filter Now for Sale

Back in October we released a broadcast FM bandstop filter for removing strong signals in the 88 – 108 MHz region. Today we’re releasing a new broadcast AM high pass filter (BCAM HPF) with a 2.6 MHz cutoff. The cost is the same as the BCFM bandstop filter at $14.95 USD including free international air shipping. Faster shipping options may also be chosen if desired. We’ll eventually have this product on Amazon USA in a few months too, but for now it is only available from our Chinese warehouse.

The filter comes in a 2.8 cm x 2.8 cm x 1.3 cm aluminum enclosure and uses female SMA connectors on each end. Included in the package is also a SMA male to SMA male straight barrel adapter.

Click here to visit our store

The Broadcast AM High Pass Filter
The Broadcast AM High Pass Filter

This filter is designed to eliminate broadcast band AM (BCAM) stations by attenuating (blocking) any signals below 1.7 MHz. In reality due to roll-off the filter is usable from about 2.5 – 2.6 MHz and above.

The broadcast AM band exists at around 525 kHz to 1.705 MHz. These signals are usually local, and if you live close to a transmitter they can sometimes be extremely strong. Broadcast AM signals that are too strong can overload your SDR or radio, causing poor reception in other HF bands too. The filter also helps attenuate any other strong VLF/LF/MW interference. Note that this filter is a high pass and not a bandstop, so it will also block VLF signals. Specifications are shown below:

Filter Type: LC High Pass Filter
3 dB Cutoff: 2.5 – 2.6 MHz
Attenuation: ~60dB
Pass band I.L: Typically well below 2 dB
Power Levels: RX power only, cannot pass DC

Insertion Losses
Insertion Losses
Return Loss
V3 Direct Sampling no Filter
V3 Direct Sampling with BCAM HPF
Insertion Losses Insertion Losses Return Loss V3 Direct Sampling no Filter V3 Direct Sampling with BCAM HPF

We’ve also uploaded a video below that shows a demonstration of reception when using an RTL-SDR.com V3 dongle in direct sampling mode together with the BCAM HPF. In the video we first compare reception against an upconverter (the Spyverter). It’s worth nothing that the upconverter can receive signals well even without the filter in place. Using the filter does still help the upconverter receive a little bit better but the effect is not shown in the video. Then we simply scroll through the spectrum and listen to a few signals.

RTL-SDR.com V3 Direct Sampling with HPF Demonstration

RTL-SDR.com Broadcast AM Block High Pass Filter Now for Sale

Back in October we released a broadcast FM bandstop filter for removing strong signals in the 88 – 108 MHz region. Today we’re releasing a new broadcast AM high pass filter (BCAM HPF) with a 2.6 MHz cutoff. The cost is the same as the BCFM bandstop filter at $14.95 USD including free international air shipping. Faster shipping options may also be chosen if desired. We’ll eventually have this product on Amazon USA in a few months too, but for now it is only available from our Chinese warehouse.

The filter comes in a 2.8 cm x 2.8 cm x 1.3 cm aluminum enclosure and uses female SMA connectors on each end. Included in the package is also a SMA male to SMA male straight barrel adapter.

Click here to visit our store

The Broadcast AM High Pass Filter
The Broadcast AM High Pass Filter

This filter is designed to eliminate broadcast band AM (BCAM) stations by attenuating (blocking) any signals below 1.7 MHz. In reality due to roll-off the filter is usable from about 2.5 – 2.6 MHz and above.

The broadcast AM band exists at around 525 kHz to 1.705 MHz. These signals are usually local, and if you live close to a transmitter they can sometimes be extremely strong. Broadcast AM signals that are too strong can overload your SDR or radio, causing poor reception in other HF bands too. The filter also helps attenuate any other strong VLF/LF/MW interference. Note that this filter is a high pass and not a bandstop, so it will also block VLF signals. Specifications are shown below:

Filter Type: LC High Pass Filter
3 dB Cutoff: 2.5 – 2.6 MHz
Attenuation: ~60dB
Pass band I.L: Typically well below 2 dB
Power Levels: RX power only, cannot pass DC

Insertion Losses
Insertion Losses
Return Loss
V3 Direct Sampling no Filter
V3 Direct Sampling with BCAM HPF
Insertion Losses Insertion Losses Return Loss V3 Direct Sampling no Filter V3 Direct Sampling with BCAM HPF

We’ve also uploaded a video below that shows a demonstration of reception when using an RTL-SDR.com V3 dongle in direct sampling mode together with the BCAM HPF. In the video we first compare reception against an upconverter (the Spyverter). It’s worth nothing that the upconverter can receive signals well even without the filter in place. Using the filter does still help the upconverter receive a little bit better but the effect is not shown in the video. Then we simply scroll through the spectrum and listen to a few signals.

RTL-SDR.com V3 Direct Sampling with HPF Demonstration

A Pre-Built Raspberry Pi Image for using an RTL-SDR as an APRS RX iGate

Keith Maton (G6NHU) wrote in and wanted to share his new ready to go APRS RX iGate image for the Raspberry Pi. APRS stands for “Amateur Packet Reporting System”, and is a type of packet radio communications system used by Amateur Radio operators. They often use them to transmit short mail messages, weather sensor updates, track vehicles and for various other purposes. An iGate allows APRS messages to be transmitted over the all world via the internet via a signal chain such as: RF->iGate RX->Internet->iGate TX->RF.  To run an iGate you should be a radio amateur with a callsign. A global aggregation of APRS broadcasts received by iGates can be seen at aprs.fi.

An RTL-SDR can be used to receive APRS packets easily and many amateur radio enthusiasts have been setting up APRS RX only iGates using the “direwolf” decoding software. Keith’s image simplifies the process of installing and configuring software significantly by proving a plug and play image that you just burn to an SDcard and plug into your Raspberry Pi. His post also explains how to configure the iGate correctly.

iGate Raspberry Pi Image Running
iGate Raspberry Pi Image Running

RTL-SDR Waterfall on a C.H.I.P

The C.H.I.P is a $9 USD single board computer which is similar to a Raspberry Pi. It is powerful enough to run the RTL-SDR, and in fact the Outernet project use the C.H.I.P together with our V3 dongles in their DIY kit to receive, decode and serve their free L-band satellite data service.

Over on the C.H.I.P forums a user ‘Basketball’ has also submitted a photo showing his C.H.I.P with LCD screen running a Python based waterfall display with his RTL-SDR. His C.H.I.P system has been modified to be portable with a 3D printed case, 10000 mAh battery and 4.3″ LCD screen. Others on the forum have also noted that they have had FreqShow successfully running on their Pocket C.H.I.Ps as well.

So if you’re looking for a low cost computing platform to run your RTL-SDR the C.H.I.P may be a good choice. 

Thanks to Mike Ladd for the submitting the forum post to us.

CHIP_waterfall
C.H.I.P Running a Waterfall Display

A Tutorial on Using RTL-SDR with LabView: Creating a Simple FM Demodulator

LabView is a popular visual programming environment often used in industry and by engineers for test, automation and control applications. It is somewhat similar to GNU Radio in that programming is done by connecting a series of various blocks together, each of which performs some function. The RTL-SDR is compatible with LabView via a simple RTL-SDR interface.

Recently Albert Lederer wrote in to us and wanted to share his beginners guide to creating an broadcast FM demodulator with an RTL-SDR in LabView. The tutorial focuses only on demodulating the mono part of the broadcast FM signal structure and provides a fully functional LabeView project file. Albert describes the signal chain implemented below:

1. The signal is received from the rtl-sdr device as IQ data. This is converted to a complex signal and the phase is extraced.

2. The phase correction removes phase discontinuities.

3. The key demodulation component in the chain is the phase derivative. The phase derivative takes the phase of the signal and creates a second signal that is composed only of the changes in frequency. This is then the demodulated signal.

4. The low pass filter is used to filter out frequencies above 15kHz, which do not contain the desired information.

5. The rational resample takes the signal, which is still at the sampled rate (in the examples case 286650Hz) and resamples it to something the sound card can handle. In this case, we are using a decimation factor of 13, which results in a 22050Hz audio stream. Actually, I worked this out the other way around. I wanted a 22050Hz audio stream and checked which sample rate would give me an integer decimation while keeping the RF sampling rate as low as possible.

The LabView Broadcast FM Demodulator
The LabView Broadcast FM Demodulator

Receiving GOES 16 Weather Satellite Images with the Open Satellite Project

Back in October/November of last year Lucas Teske showed us how to receive weather satellite images from the GOES line of geostationary satellites with an Airspy SDR (and possibly an RTL-SDR too), dish antenna and the decoding software that he created. 

On November 19, 2016 the next generation GOES 16 (aka GOES-R) satellite was launched by NASA. GOES 16 is a little different to the older GOES satellites as it has better sensors and is capable of capturing and transmitting a new image every 15 minutes which is quite fast. Thus a different and higher bandwidth RF transmission protocol called HRIT (High Rate Information Transfer) is used, compared to the LRIT (Low Rate Information Transfer) signal used on the older satellites.

Once the satellite started transmitting in January 2017, Lucas got to work on trying to create a decoder for the new satellite. After noticing some discrepancies between the published HRIT specs and the actual signal, Lucas sent off an email to NOAA and actually received an email back with the full specifications. With this information he was able to update his Open Satellite Project code and start decoding images from GOES 16.

The images being sent right now seem to just be relays of other similar satellites like Himawari-8 and Meteosat, as it seems that they are still testing the satellite. The relayed images received via GOES 16 received by Lucas can be seen on the Open Satellite Project twitter feed and on Lucas’ personal twitter feed.

Full disk image received via GOES 16, relayed from the Himawari-8 satellite.
Full disk image received via GOES 16, relayed from the Himawari-8 satellite.
Weather data received via GOES 16.
Weather data received via GOES 16.

HDSDR Updated to Version 2.76

The popular HDSDR software has recently been updated to version 2.76. After a three year hiatus the HDSDR developers are back in action starting with the 2.75 update which was released in early January. The 2.76 stable version released February 02, 2017 is a minor update with several bugfixes and a few new features. The 2.76 changelog is posted below:

Version 2.76 (February 02, 2017)

– switchable display mode: S-units / dBm
– switchable mode for S-meter: RMS / Peak
– enhanced accuracy of level indicators. New calibration required!
– periodic and explicit level logging into .CSV file
– switching AGC to off, sets manual gain value
– oversteering/clipping audio does now reduce gain value – not volume
– fixed OmniRig handling: “MuteOnTX”
– deactivate AFC after frequency/mode changes for a small duration
– Fast WAV file demodulation & recording
– some new keyboard shortcuts
– some other small improvements and fixes

Of interested are the new keyboard shortcuts which should improve efficiency with the program.

The 2.76 HDSDR Control Panel
The 2.76 HDSDR Control Panel

Decoding DAB with an RTL-SDR and SDR-J On an Odroid C2

The Odroid C2 is a $40 USD single board computer with a 1.5 GHz ARM-A53 quad core CPU and 2 GB of RAM. Compared to a Raspberry Pi 3 it is more powerful and costs almost the same. YouTube uploader radio innovation recently wrote into us and wanted to share his video showing SDR-J decoding DAB+ smoothly on his Odroid C2. It seems that SDR-J works perfectly and only uses a small amount of CPU.

DAB stands for Digital Audio Broadcast and is a replacement/alternative to standard broadcast FM stations. SDR-J is a software suite that includes a DAB decoder for the RTL-SDR. It is compatible with Windows, Linux and the Raspberry Pi (and evidently also the Odroid C2). Over on their website they also provide a ready to go Raspberry Pi 2 image, and they write that it should perform well on the Rpi2 platform as well.

We’ve also seen that there is a new variant of SDR-J for the Raspberry Pi (and potentially other similar devices) available on GitHub. This one has a nice touch screen friendly GUI, which should be useful for creating a cheap portable DAB device.

Alternative SDR-J Raspberry Pi GUI
New SDR-J Variant for the Raspberry Pi with nice GUI

Radioforeveryone New Posts: PiAware Step-By-Step Guide and a Guide to Feeding Other ADS-B Aggregrators

Akos from the radioforeveryone.com blog has recently uploaded some new posts. The first post is a tutorial on setting up a PiAware server with an RTL-SDR. PiAware is the official ADS-B feeder software from FlightAware.com, which is a web service that provides real time tracking of aircraft. Most of the flight data comes from volunteers around the world running a PiAware server with an RTL-SDR, ADS-B antenna and Raspberry Pi. The installation is fairly simple, involves burning an SDcard with the PiAware image, setting up the WiFi and then seeing your receiver online on the PiAware website. From there you can then configure the device further.

In the second post Akos describes how to feed other tracking websites, e.g. not just FlightAware, but also similar sites like Planefinder.net and flightradar24.com. Akos has also mentioned that a single Raspberry Pi can be used to feed all three aggregators simultaneously.

FlightAware vs FlightRadar24 vs Planefinder Plots
FlightAware vs FlightRadar24 vs Planefinder Plots