VHF, UHF, and SHF Receiver On the Cheap
Severe thunderstorms with tornado activity marched across our area last night. Staying up monitoring the weather, I happened to look at an old Motorola Android tablet sitting on the shelf. The inspiration struck that my SDRPlay RSP-1 might work with it using the SDR-Touch application. So, I downloaded it and tried it out.
Luckily, it worked after downloading the experimental SDRPlay driver from the Google Play Store! So, this means that I can take it along with me in the rover during contests and not have to have another amateur radio on receive-only duty.
The only drawback to this situation lies in protecting the front-end of the RSP receiver. If I forgot to turn it off before transmitting on or near the same frequency it is monitoring, it can cause irreparable damage. So, I had another idea to try a cheaper alternative by using an RTL-2832U tuner. These tuners sparked the inexpensive SDR monitoring craze since they are DVB-TV receivers that have had drivers modified to work as a general coverage receiver. The tuner I hooked up covers 60-2100 MHz.
So, I have a cheap SDR that I can afford to lose if accidents happen. It will allow me to monitor any frequencies on 6m, 2m, 1.25m, 70cm and up. I happen to have 900-MHz Yagi antennas out in the garage that belonged to old ISM WiFi radios, so I can listen to that band as well. I'll soon build a 1296-MHz 'Cheap Yagi' and try to receive some of the associated beacons in DFW and Austin.
Here's the setup:
RTL-2832U DVB Receiver Stick
Luckily, it worked after downloading the experimental SDRPlay driver from the Google Play Store! So, this means that I can take it along with me in the rover during contests and not have to have another amateur radio on receive-only duty.
The only drawback to this situation lies in protecting the front-end of the RSP receiver. If I forgot to turn it off before transmitting on or near the same frequency it is monitoring, it can cause irreparable damage. So, I had another idea to try a cheaper alternative by using an RTL-2832U tuner. These tuners sparked the inexpensive SDR monitoring craze since they are DVB-TV receivers that have had drivers modified to work as a general coverage receiver. The tuner I hooked up covers 60-2100 MHz.
So, I have a cheap SDR that I can afford to lose if accidents happen. It will allow me to monitor any frequencies on 6m, 2m, 1.25m, 70cm and up. I happen to have 900-MHz Yagi antennas out in the garage that belonged to old ISM WiFi radios, so I can listen to that band as well. I'll soon build a 1296-MHz 'Cheap Yagi' and try to receive some of the associated beacons in DFW and Austin.
Here's the setup:
Motorola Android tablet running SDR-Touch
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