SDR - software defined radio

1. Funcube dongle pro+

More information about this project could be found here. I use SDR# and SpectraVue software.

• Guaranteed frequency range: 150kHz to 240MHz and 420MHz to 1.9GHz
• Typical frequency coverage: 150kHz to 260MHz and 410MHz to 2.05GHz
• TCXO specified at 0.5ppm (in practice about 1.5ppm)
• 192kHz sampling rate
• Extremely simple hardware setup, just two connections, an "in" and an "out":
• Standard SMA female antenna port
• USB 1.x type A male connection
• Eleven discrete hardware front end filters including:
• 6MHz 3dB bandwidth (10MHz at -40dB) SAW filter for the 2m band.
• 20MHz 3dB bandwidth (42MHz at -40dB) SAW filter for the 70cm band
• Third- and fifth-order LC bandpass filters for other bands
• Front end LNA OIP3 30dB
• Typical noise figures:
• 50MHz 2.5dB
• 145MHz 3.5dB
• 435MHz 3.5dB
• 1296MHz 5.5dB
• Typical NFM 12dB SINAD measurements:
• 145MHz 0.15uV
• 435MHz 0.15uV
• No additional drivers required for Linux, OSX or Windows
• Integrated 5V bias T switchable from software

2. RTL2832U based DVB-T stick

As this stick is really cheap it is a funny toy. But you need a DVB-T stick with a RTL2832 chip inside.

What can you do with this stick?
- ADS-B decoder or this one
- Wide band pano receiver with SDR#
- Radio reception of weather satellites
- Radio reception and tracking of weather balloons
- and...and...

This one is a RTL2832U with E4000 tuner chip

or this one, a RTL2832U with R820T tuner chip. Sensitivity is much better and therefore highly recommended for ADS-B.

3. Radio astronomy with Funcube dongle pro+

With a standard LNB and "spectravue" software it is possible to measure sun noise and cold sky noise.
I use this setup to measure noise figure of LNBs.

4. Android SDR with RFanalyzer software

RFanalyzer with a RTL2832U/R820T2 DVB-T stick.

5. AirSpy with LNA4All preamp

Very good SDR made by the developer of SDR# software. In front of the Airspy I use a LNA4All with internal T-bias.

6. Adalm-Pluto rev.C

This SDR can be used as receiver and transmitter from 70 - 6000 MHz. I mainly use the Pluto as measurement device.
By preferred software is SDR# (only Rx), SDRconsole (Rx and Tx) and SATSAGEN (spectrum analyzer, skalar network analyzer, signal generator).









Modifications:
I exchanged the onboard oscillator with 25 ppm against a better one. I used the TCXO 40MHz TG2520SMN with 0.5ppm and soldered it on the original place.