Hey Guys!
Just got my $11 Realtek dongle from Hong Kong and been traversing the waves, Looks like lots of things happening. I'd love to be able to demodulate some
of the data I can hear. I've mainly been listening to some trucking bands (I think) and am still looking for other things to tune in on. Best fun you can have for $11! haha :)
Cheers,
Steve

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Re: RTL-SDR
By: rEApZ to All on Fri Sep 23 2016 10:17 am

Just got my $11 Realtek dongle from Hong Kong and been traversing the waves, Looks like lots of things happening. I'd love to be able to demodulate some of the data I can hear. I've mainly been listening to some trucking bands (I think) and am still looking for other things to tune in on. Best fun you can have for $11! haha :)

Wellt hat sounds cool but there is no place here in the states to buy this so you don't have to buy it from hong kong fooey? I am not much for that stuff cause everytime I buy that crap it breaks down right away. It is just my luck with that crap.

Mojo
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Wellt hat sounds cool but there is no place here in the states to buy
this so you don't have to buy it from hong kong fooey? I am not much for that stuff cause everytime I buy that crap it breaks down right away. It is just my luck with that crap.

For $11 I thought I couldn't go wrong and it seems to be working well! I've only got it hooked up to my roof TV antennae and been listening in to a few regional police frequencies. Very cool for $11! I'm in Australia which is
quite close to Hong Kong and if they break down most places will replace
other than get bad feedback. I guess they probably cost them a dollar or so.

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rEApZ wrote to All <=-

Hey Guys!
Just got my $11 Realtek dongle from Hong Kong and been traversing the waves, Looks like lots of things happening. I'd love to be able to demodulate some of the data I can hear. I've mainly been listening to
some trucking bands (I think) and am still looking for other things to tune in on. Best fun you can have for $11! haha :)
Cheers,

What frequency are you monitoring? That will give us a clue as to what you're listening to and how you might decode it. If you mean "trunking" instead of "trucking", then Unitrunker will allow you to monitor traffic on most trunking networks. The data you hear is the control channel for a base station. Monitoring trunking works best with 2 dongles in my experience, though in certain cases it can be done with one.


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rEApZ wrote to Mojo <=-

For $11 I thought I couldn't go wrong and it seems to be working well! I've only got it hooked up to my roof TV antennae and been listening in
to a few regional police frequencies. Very cool for $11! I'm in
Australia which is quite close to Hong Kong and if they break down most places will replace other than get bad feedback. I guess they probably cost them a dollar or so.

Yeah, I have 4 RTL devices, all work very well. Best bang for the buck I've ever seen. :)


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What frequency are you monitoring? That will give us a clue as to what you're listening to and how you might decode it. If you mean "trunking" instead of "trucking", then Unitrunker will allow you to monitor traffic on most trunking networks. The data you hear is the control channel for
a base station. Monitoring trunking works best with 2 dongles in my experience, though in certain cases it can be done with one.

G'day Tony!
I haven't really been monitoring anything in particular just wandering around the dial. I did actually mean Truck haha as in freight companies but
Unitrunker sounds like something I want to check out! :) Have you modified the dongle for HF? I was about to then read there was a software hack which I installed but it ended up freezing my computer I am going to do a bit of investigating and see if its compatible with my dongle.
Could you recommend any software or any info that would be useful for someone with just a dongle and a tv antenna? I am thinking about making one of those pizza tray antennas would that go better than my roof antenna?
Just heading down to the amateur radio club be back a bit later!
Cheers,
Steve

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rEApZ wrote to Tony Langdon <=-

G'day Tony!
I haven't really been monitoring anything in particular just wandering around the dial. I did actually mean Truck haha as in freight companies

Ahh, OK. Just trying to work out if the data you mentioned was a control channel or something else.

but Unitrunker sounds like something I want to check out! :) Have you

Unitrunker is pretty good. I have used it to monitor the CFA's digital dispatch system. Because it's digital, I also need DSD or DSD+ to decode the audio. That combination can take a bit to get the setup straight (with virtual audio cables and the like), but it works. :)

modified the dongle for HF? I was about to then read there was a
software hack which I installed but it ended up freezing my computer I

No, I haven't bothered with HF, as I have a couple of perfectly good HF receivers for that.

am going to do a bit of investigating and see if its compatible with my dongle. Could you recommend any software or any info that would be
useful for someone with just a dongle and a tv antenna? I am thinking about making one of those pizza tray antennas would that go better than
my roof antenna? Just heading down to the amateur radio club be back a
bit later! Cheers,
Steve

OK, lots of fun with antennas there. It depends on what frequencies you want to receive. There is an ebook on Amazon for $10 that's well worth buying. "The Hobbyists Guide to RTL-SDR", I think.


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On 09/22/16, Mojo said the following...

Wellt hat sounds cool but there is no place here in the states to buy
this so you don't have to buy it from hong kong fooey? I am not much for that stuff cause everytime I buy that crap it breaks down right away. It

Sure you can: Amazon.com, Newegg.com, etc.

http://www.rtl-sdr.com/buy-rtl-sdr-dvb-t-dongles/

I went the Amazon route a few years ago. It's a fun little receiver. I recall some of the guys locally bought them after seeing mine but couldn't get them
to work for whatever reason. Probably because they didn't install the driver package.

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Zero Reader wrote to Mojo <=-

Sure you can: Amazon.com, Newegg.com, etc.

http://www.rtl-sdr.com/buy-rtl-sdr-dvb-t-dongles/

I went the Amazon route a few years ago. It's a fun little receiver. I recall some of the guys locally bought them after seeing mine but
couldn't get them to work for whatever reason. Probably because they didn't install the driver package.

These days, it doesn't really matter where things come from. There's virtually no local outlets for this sort of thing, so I'm used to importing from all over the world. :)


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On 09/24/16, Tony Langdon said the following...

These days, it doesn't really matter where things come from. There's virtually no local outlets for this sort of thing, so I'm used to importing from all over the world. :)

Yep, I just bought a watch band last week and was amazed to learn it had to come all the way from the UK. Which isn't a big deal except getting the item through customs is always laggy!

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Zero Reader wrote to Tony Langdon <=-

Yep, I just bought a watch band last week and was amazed to learn it
had to come all the way from the UK. Which isn't a big deal except
getting the item through customs is always laggy!

Usually no dramas here, just occasionally something gets held up in Customs, but 95% of the time, they go through quickly.


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Hi Reapz!

23 Sep 2016 10:17, from rEApZ -> All:

Just got my $11 Realtek dongle from Hong Kong and been traversing the waves, Looks like lots of things happening.

Indeed ;)

I'd love to be able to demodulate some of the data I can hear.

http://www.rtl-sdr.com/big-list-rtl-sdr-supported-software/

I've mainly been listening to some trucking bands (I think) and am
still looking for other things to tune in on. Best fun you can have
for $11! haha :)

Indeed ;)

I love my rtl-sdr v3 (see previous messages) and you can get it for 5 USD more with 2 antennas.

And it comes with downsampling enabled, so you can also take a look at 20 MHz and lower.

CU, Ricsi

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Hi Mojo!

22 Sep 2016 22:13, from Mojo -> rEApZ:

Wellt hat sounds cool but there is no place here in the states to buy
this so you don't have to buy it from hong kong fooey?

I have 4 sticks from china. (1 with e4000 tuner, 1 with 820t2, and 2 with 820t [1 pal, 1 mcx]).
None of them stopped working.

It is rumored that some come without ESD protection diode.
It seems I was lucky.

Also the rtl-sdr.com v3 stick can be bought in the USA I think.

CU, Ricsi

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---\ Richard Menedetter said \---

I have 4 sticks from china. (1 with e4000 tuner, 1 with 820t2, and 2
with 820t [1 pal, 1 mcx]).
None of them stopped working.

Hey Richard,

I own 2x e4000 sticks, this chipset should be the best of all for coverage,
if I remember right - but actually I don't know if they have that diode for protection, I don't think so - they work greatly though, best little money spent, to learn and experiment.

¯¯ ÅndçŒd Cíld ®®

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Indrid Cold wrote to Richard Menedetter <=-

I own 2x e4000 sticks, this chipset should be the best of all for coverage, if I remember right - but actually I don't know if they have that diode for protection, I don't think so - they work greatly though, best little money spent, to learn and experiment.

I have 1 E4000 and 3 R820T sticks. The E4000 covers approx 50 - 2100 MHz, so 6m coverage may or may not be complete, and there is also a small gap near the low end of the 23cm band. The R820T can go down to 24 MHz, but maxes out at 1700, with no gaps. Horses for courses.


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I love my rtl-sdr v3 (see previous messages) and you can get it for 5
USD more with 2 antennas.

And it comes with downsampling enabled, so you can also take a look at
20 MHz and lower.

Hey thanks for the link, I'm having a look now. What is the rtl-sdr v3? I haven't seen that one before do you have a link? I saw one that has two antennas on ebay but it was around $35
cheers!
Steve

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Hi Indrid!

24 Sep 2016 17:02, from Indrid Cold -> Richard Menedetter:

I own 2x e4000 sticks, this chipset should be the best of all for coverage, if I remember right - but actually I don't know if they have that diode for protection, I don't think so - they work greatly
though, best little money spent, to learn and experiment.

The diode should not cost much.
And it seems that the only way to check its existance is by opening the stick.

Yes E4000 has the biggest coverage.
But it has a hole in the middle frequencies, and it is not as sensitive as the 820t and especially 820t2.

CU, Ricsi

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Hi Reapz!

25 Sep 2016 10:43, from rEApZ -> Richard Menedetter:

I love my rtl-sdr v3 (see previous messages) and you can get it
for 5 USD more with 2 antennas.

Hey thanks for the link, I'm having a look now.
What is the rtl-sdr v3?
I haven't seen that one before do you have a link?

It was in one of my previous messages.
It is a newly designed PCB using the same chipsets as the DVB-T dongles.

http://tinyurl.com/oojozsb

I saw one that has two antennas on ebay but it was around $35 cheers!

It costs 20 USD on the above page without antennas, ot 25 USD with a magnetic foot and a small and a large antenna.

They already found some minor issues that will be fixed in the second batch. But my first batch unit works actually very nicely!

CU, Ricsi

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