We produced a handout supporting our talk on Wednesday but despite me printing 50 copies they ran out, so please see below the contents of the flier.
We hope it inspired you to have a look and experiment in the fascinating world of Software Defined Radio.
73, David G7URP
SDR - Software Defined Radio NARC Club talk 22nd June 2016
SDR essentially means that many of the aspects of a radio which were traditionally implemented in hardware such as detectors, demodulators and filters are under software control from a computer. One of the main advantages is that so many functions and settings can be directly controlled and tweaked allowing the user to configure their radio to exactly what they want it to do, even writing and modifying software to control it.
Until recently most Amateur radio SDRs consisted of a hardware circuit board or box which is connected to a traditional Windows, Mac or Linux PC.
SunSDR have an all in one MB1 (sunsdr.eu) but at over £5000 is too high end for the average amateur. However Icom have just released the IC-7300 which looks just like a traditional radio but is in fact an SDR radio fitted with an internal computer and touch screen and at just over £1000 seems to offer a lot for the money - reviews coming soon.
Many believe that SDR is the future of amateur radio rigs…...
FlexRadio
FlexRadio is one of the most popular Commercial SDR Transceiver systems which Jim G3YLA and several others use at home as their main rig. They are mainly used with Windows software although Jim uses his with an Apple iMac in ‘bootcamp’ Windows mode. FlexRadio Transceivers start at just over £2000.
More information from www.flexradio.com and the usual UK radio retailers.
Funcube Dongle
The Funcube dongle looks like a large USB memory stick but contains a high performance SDR radio receiver with a range between 150kHz to 1.9GHz!
Originally designed as a satellite receiver for the Funcube satellite project and supported by AMSAT UK and the RCF. It works on Windows, Mac and Linux and now has a Pro version and will also work with the Raspberry Pi 2.
It costs £150 and the club owns one which can be loaned to NARC members to try.
More information from their website at www.funcubedongle.com
The £6 DIY SDR!
A real experimenters SDR radio. There are low cost chinese made USB receivers you can buy for under £6 on eBay which are primarily designed for watching DVB-T digital TV or listening to radio on your computer. Many are based on the RTL8032 SDR receiver chip and now enterprising amateurs have written lots of software packages for it, most of them free!
The one I demonstrated was one of the most popular and easy to use called SDR# (SDR sharp) but there are many and most listed here:
www.rtl-sdr.com/big-list-rtl-sdr-supported-software/
ebay has lots of suitable receivers but I suggest you search eBay for “SDR RTL8032”. I paid £5.25 for mine including delivery from UK! Have fun!
Or why not try someone elses SDR?
Finally you dont have to have anything other than a computer with an internet connection to try SDRs at home because many people all over the world connect their SDR radio stations to the internet for you to try! This is generally referred to as webSDR and as well as getting some feel for SDR is also useful for seeing what radio conditions are like in other parts of the UK or the world, or even using it as a kind of personal reverse beacon where you can see if your station transmission is reaching a particular destination - most stations can even record onto your PC.
There are hundreds of different stations you can try all around the world and many of the most popular can be found by looking at www.websdr.org
Whatever you do experiment and have some fun - it’s what our hobby is all about
73 de Jim G3YLA & David G7URP V2.1 DP