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  • Author Author: 14rhb
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Software Defined Radio (SDR) - My First Design

14rhb

This is a quick blog post about using my NooElec SDR for the first time.

 

Back last year I was luckily chosen to roadtest three Molex Antennas Molex 2.4GHz / 5GHz Antenna Kit - Review  and that re-kindled my interest in RF work at home. Wanted to have a 'play around' I bought myself a low-cost SDR for fun and it arrived today. It cost me just over £20 (UK) and plugs into the USB port of my computer plus it has a SMA connector for the antenna. I actually made a misjudgment and bought the basic unit before realising I didn't really have the bits to make a decent antenna but I have many plans to address that.

 

I initially ran this on my Linux machine - having downloaded the drivers and installed rtl-sdr and another package called Gqrx. That all ran really well and with a basic wire antenna I was able to tune to local FM radio stations and hear the music etc.

 

I then tried using the SDR with my Windows 10 laptop and installed the software described on the NooElec website called CubeSDR. That too was fun and I was able to scan the airwaves - looking at the signals in the frequency domain. The Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB) band looked particularly regimented - as shown below:

 

That was all fun but the SDR was being configured using the software and I had also read an article that mentioned I could make my own designs using the GNU Radio software.

I downloaded and installed that from their website and was met with a very interesting window....it then dawned on me how great this software was. I was going to be able to draw out the various block parts of my receiver to do exactly as I wanted. As a newbie I was going to struggle and so followed a useful online article https://www.instructables.com/id/RTL-SDR-FM-radio-receiver-with-GNU-Radio-Companion/  and, after some tweaks, I ended up with this:

And even using an out-of-band antenna (the Molex 433MHz from my kit) I was able to demodulate and hear a local radio station on my PC's speakers

 

All I can say is, I'm now hooked. I need a decent outside antenna (or two ) and a few connectors /cable length.

 

Browsing around at what I can pick up threw up some interesting links; apparently I can even receive the meteorological photos from an orbiting weather satellite. This needs a bespoke antenna but the design looks quite simple.

 

Rod

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  • Hi Rod,

     

    Great to see your radio experiments!

    It is really addictive, and so much to explore - I can see why radio hams enjoy their hobby.

  • in reply to shabaz

    Hi Shabaz,

     

    Your recent article on Minicircuits also helped get me interested in this area again. I'd like to follow your article to make a head-amplifier in the bands I decide to look closely at.

     

    Rod

  • in reply to 14rhb

    Hi Rod,

     

    Great idea! Looking forward to seeing it.

     

    By coincidence I started some work on an RF amp recently, although it's hard finding time to finish.. It is to be a 1W amp, intended for transmit. I've only partially laid out the PCB.

     

    If you want to look at one for ideas (good or bad - this one didn't quite meet the spec!), I have a spare PCB and bits for this one, which I built a few years ago - this one is low-power, intended as a preamp):

    It uses MGA-30889 (obsolete now, but I still have a few of those).

    I've almost used up all the PCBs, but if you send me your address in a private message, I can spare one if you want it, plus the bits to be soldered on.

    If you're comfortable soldering 0402 sized then I can mail the bits, otherwise I can assemble it if you like.

    It was flat from 100MHz to 2GHz, although with better layout it should have reached 2.6GHz according to the MGA-30889 datasheet.

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  • in reply to 14rhb

    Hi Rod,

     

    Great idea! Looking forward to seeing it.

     

    By coincidence I started some work on an RF amp recently, although it's hard finding time to finish.. It is to be a 1W amp, intended for transmit. I've only partially laid out the PCB.

     

    If you want to look at one for ideas (good or bad - this one didn't quite meet the spec!), I have a spare PCB and bits for this one, which I built a few years ago - this one is low-power, intended as a preamp):

    It uses MGA-30889 (obsolete now, but I still have a few of those).

    I've almost used up all the PCBs, but if you send me your address in a private message, I can spare one if you want it, plus the bits to be soldered on.

    If you're comfortable soldering 0402 sized then I can mail the bits, otherwise I can assemble it if you like.

    It was flat from 100MHz to 2GHz, although with better layout it should have reached 2.6GHz according to the MGA-30889 datasheet.

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