Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] SDR for beginners (if not quite "dummies")

Thanks Bruce! – the SRTL-SDR v3 seems perfect for us – and there are even apps for Android (q.v. https://www.rtl-sdr.com/tag/android/)!

 

Instructions to Saint Nick being dispatched now.

 

Best,

 

Colin

 

From:Bruce Ferrell

Subject:Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] SDR for beginners (if not quite "dummies")

Date:Sun, 2 Dec 2018 11:03:35 -0800

 

Collin,

 

Up until about two weeks ago I was looking for exactly what you're asking for... And I've

been a/ Electronics/radio/Linux "person" since high school in the 70's!

 

While How-to-obtain/build is great... And too much of the on-line stuff stops at how to obtain/build OR dives directly off into deep mathematics. Neither of those are very useful in how to use/get started.

 

Then I found this set of tutorials on YouTube to be extraordinarily useful:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRovDyowOn5F67h9nHN4RWqmvXyt18uj8

 

The cheapest SDR you can lay you hands on is an RTL-SDR v3 at about $25... It

can ONLY be a receiver, but you can get going listening.  It was my first.

 

My second was the SDRplay one.  I got rid of it as it's Linux driver was closed... It was only available as a binary for very particular Linux distros and they weren't the ones I was using. They spent a year saying they would build for other distros and never did... Vexing.

 

I then found the BladeRF, which I like but I have it in use in a semi-dedicated

role.

 

I also play around with the ADALM-Pluto from analog devices. This one is

interesting in that it also has a built in Linux host

 

My next, when I have spare money, will probably be a LimeSDR or LimeSDR-mini

 

Good luck!

 

From: Colin Rowat [mailto:c.rowat@espero.org.uk]
Sent: 02 December 2018 11:47
To: 'discuss-gnuradio@gnu.org'
Subject: SDR for beginners (if not quite "dummies")

 

I'm looking for an interesting Christmas present for my sons (ages 13 and 10) and wondered about software-defined radio.  We're reasonably tech literate, but don't have any SDR experience.

 

I'd thought that it could be interesting for them to see what sort of signals are passing through the air around us, and even identify and listen to some of them.

 

I'd love something that:

1.       is easy to use and can give an immediate reward out of the box - e.g. tuning into something they couldn't otherwise hear, or transmitting to walkie-talkies in the area.

2.       allows room to grow, so that they can do more serious things with it if they're interested

3.       can be used from an Android phone or a Raspberry Pi (nice, but not essential)

4.       not too expensive

 

Thus, I think I'd need both SDR hardware and an intro-level book/manual.

 

I'd be grateful for any suggestions about how to get started with SDR.

 

Thank you,

 

Colin