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

Ya know... It just never occurred to me to look on ebay for one of those.  Great idea!

Thanks!

On 12/3/18 7:53 AM, Rafael Diniz wrote:
> You can also find good priced used USRPs in ebay. I bought an used
> 2 in ebay for 300 USD - it was worth every cent.
>
> Rafael Diniz
>
> On 12/2/18 5:03 PM, Bruce Ferrell wrote:
>> On 12/2/18 3:47 AM, Colin Rowat wrote:
>>> 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
>>>
>>>
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>> 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!
>>
>>
>>
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>
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