New forum member with some questions
Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 5:04 pm
Hi!
I got my amateur radio license about one year ago and since then (and already a few months before) I was experimenting with a RTL-SDR Stick trying to decode different "stuff" like NOAA satellites, D-Star and WSPR.
While it is astonishing what you can get out of a device for <10 Euro that was made for something different, its limits were reached quite quickly...
As I don't want to spend 1000 Euros or more for some "nice to have" decodings, I observed the entry level SDRs and lately found some information on the SDRplay. The filters and the higher resolution of the ADC look very promising to me, as well as the detailed description of the API.
As I could not find much information about the SDRplay beside some reviews and the SDRplay website, I was reading through this forum. It looks like there is only a small community, but hopefully it will grow with the price reduction in place now! (small communities can result in less support in my opinion)
Is there some other forum where the SDRplay is discussed? English is definitely no problem to me; in the German amateurfunk-forum.de and the DARC website I could not find anything (why?).
Now I have some questions, maybe somebody out there has already some experience to share:
- What about the Gnuradio support? I read some post about a release in near future, but that was posted in January, if I remember correctly.
- I have an Odroid C1, running Ubuntu. This is a ARM-based quadcore board that is able to run gnuradio. Has anybody experience how the SDRplay will work with such a board?
- Do I have to expect problems when trying to decode NOAA or METEOR weather satellite signals? I tried to decode NOAA APT signals with a RTL-SDR with limited success (Plan to build a QFH in near future) and Meteor LRPT without success.
- I also would like to decode DMR traffic coming from our nearby amateur radio relay station. The RTL-SDR was too noisy around 438 MHz so I had no chance. I've read about the gap between 380 - 430 MHz. How sensitive will the SDRplay be in the range of 435-440 MHz?
- Has anybody tried to use the SDRplay as a spectrum analyzer? I could imagine to measure filters connected to some noise source.
Any input is appreciated!
TiA and 73
Martin DL8CQ
I got my amateur radio license about one year ago and since then (and already a few months before) I was experimenting with a RTL-SDR Stick trying to decode different "stuff" like NOAA satellites, D-Star and WSPR.
While it is astonishing what you can get out of a device for <10 Euro that was made for something different, its limits were reached quite quickly...
As I don't want to spend 1000 Euros or more for some "nice to have" decodings, I observed the entry level SDRs and lately found some information on the SDRplay. The filters and the higher resolution of the ADC look very promising to me, as well as the detailed description of the API.
As I could not find much information about the SDRplay beside some reviews and the SDRplay website, I was reading through this forum. It looks like there is only a small community, but hopefully it will grow with the price reduction in place now! (small communities can result in less support in my opinion)
Is there some other forum where the SDRplay is discussed? English is definitely no problem to me; in the German amateurfunk-forum.de and the DARC website I could not find anything (why?).
Now I have some questions, maybe somebody out there has already some experience to share:
- What about the Gnuradio support? I read some post about a release in near future, but that was posted in January, if I remember correctly.
- I have an Odroid C1, running Ubuntu. This is a ARM-based quadcore board that is able to run gnuradio. Has anybody experience how the SDRplay will work with such a board?
- Do I have to expect problems when trying to decode NOAA or METEOR weather satellite signals? I tried to decode NOAA APT signals with a RTL-SDR with limited success (Plan to build a QFH in near future) and Meteor LRPT without success.
- I also would like to decode DMR traffic coming from our nearby amateur radio relay station. The RTL-SDR was too noisy around 438 MHz so I had no chance. I've read about the gap between 380 - 430 MHz. How sensitive will the SDRplay be in the range of 435-440 MHz?
- Has anybody tried to use the SDRplay as a spectrum analyzer? I could imagine to measure filters connected to some noise source.
Any input is appreciated!
TiA and 73
Martin DL8CQ