Using the SUP-2400 Downconverter with an LNA and RTL-SDR to Receive 2.4 GHz Video
Earlier in June YouTube user T3CHNOTURK posted a video demonstrating him receiving signals above the maximum 1.7 GHz range of the RTL-SDR by using a modified SUP-2400 downconverter. Back in April it was discovered by KD0CQ that a $5 DirecTV SUP-2400 circuit could be modified and turned into a downconverter for use with the RTL-SDR.
Now T3CHNOTURK has uploaded a new video showing more demonstrations of the RTL-SDR + SUP-2400 combo in action. This time he adds a PGA-103 based LNA to boost the signal strength, which gives him better effective range. In the video he shows reception of a wireless keyboard once again, and then goes on to show him receiving 2.4 GHz analog PAL video using the RTL-SDR program TVSharp. The picture is not particularly clear, but it is a decent demonstration.
I’m especially intrigued by your findings with the 2.4GHz video sender. Inherently this signal is FM, and TVSharp supports AM NTSC/PAL only. You can clearly see in SDR# the signal is FM. What I’m getting at is don’t think TVSharp is designed to demodulate FM video even though you got a result. I’m sure this is a moot point to the uploader but for everyone else, it just seems to be coincidence that he got some sort of usable image. Fuzzy and smeared because the modulation type is wrong, but usable. There must be unintentional amplitude modulation of the signal occurring as a side effect and TVSharp is picking this up and doing the best it can with it.