Monday, May 07, 2012

Listening to air band on RTL-SDR

A $30 DVB-T USB stick just arrived from China and coupled with HDSDR and helpful instructions I'm starting to tune around and hear signals. The first thing I tried was 123MHz AM, air band.



Still lots to learn but this is an encouraging start. These dongles can tune over a wide range, some from 64MHz to 1.7GHz.

Here's a stronger FM signal.



Which DVT-T Stick?

The one I bought was advertised as being compatible. It's hard to figure out from the generic names which is which. This one is simply called "DVB-T STICK" on the packaging. Here is the seller's ad:


There is a list of compatible devices and an active discussion in a subreddit.
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4 comments:

  1. William VK3ADB11:00 PM

    Hi Peter,

    What is the model of DVB-T USB stick you're using in the videos?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous4:39 PM

    Do those congles run hot?, I have a longer dongle with 2 switchings regs that runs cool. I have seen some reports that the dongles get very hot and was wondering if it was simply the power supplies.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Peter Marks4:43 PM

    I didn't notice any particular warmth from the dongle but I wasn't looking for it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Terry VK5TM5:34 PM

    Not sure if you are aware, but you can construct a simple converter for these to get down into the HF bands.

    ReplyDelete