2020 SDR Guide Ep 1 : The Incredible World of Software Defined Radio (RTL-SDR, Airspy, SDRPlay etc.)

hi folks and welcome to frugal radio and the first episode of the 2020 STR guide this series is about exploring what's possible with software-defined radio and is designed to highlight that an amazing amount of fun with video can be had on a frugal budget if you love radio you'll be a good company on this YouTube channel before we go any further I encourage you to subscribe and hit the notification bell so you don't miss any of the upcoming episodes on the channel existing subscribers it's great to have you back again thanks for being here did you know that an inexpensive SDR can offer you more features than a high-end scanner or communications receiver not only can you listen to signals that these radio struggle to receive or are even unable to receive you can also analyze video signals in much greater depth thankfully radio manufacturers have caught on some of the newer scanners are actually SD ours on the inside unfortunately they don't meet the criteria of being frugal low for under $30 you could buy one of these bad boys any one of them will provide you years worth of exploration and experimentation you wouldn't believe what I've been able to accomplish with these three dongles I currently own several of each with most being used daily I'll be explaining more about how I use them as we go through this episode so make sure you watch to the end of the video also coming up in episode 3 I'll be testing these budget STRs and a head-to-head shootout I'm sure you won't want to miss that so make sure you are subscribed and have notifications selected STRs are all about discovering and rediscovering the magic of radio one of the fun things is getting a visual representation of the radio waves around you you get a live graphical display of the radio spectrum this makes it easy to discover new signals the $15 STRs will display two megahertz at a time while more expensive models provide a wider bandwidth a $100 SDR can provide around six megahertz and in the 150 to 200 category you can expect 10 to 20 megahertz you also get multiple VF OS or virtual receivers which shall I'd the reception of multiple channels within the spectrum simultaneously this enables you to listen to or decode multiple channels at once STRs have a built-in discriminator in the past you often have to perform physical modifications on radios to perform a discriminator tap they also feature advanced digital signal processing this allows optimization of received signals to clean up the audio and improve decode rates overall STRs are a great addition to any radio enthusiast Shack whether you're just starting out or are an experienced shortwave listener or ham radio operator using a software-defined radio enables you to monitor an amazing array of signals just look at this list of modes and protocols those of us with STRs have been successfully monitoring some of these modes for years even before scanners were capable of receiving them in terms of chunking as of mid 2020 there is no commercially available scanner capable of trunk tracking all the following network types but a dongle costing under $30 coupled with some free software will enable you to monitor all of them that's pretty amazing in a few weeks time there's going to be an episode dedicated to the software you can use to monitor the various protocols and networks the great news is that most of the software is completely free and will enable you to experiment with new modes like pagers weather satellite decoding aircraft tracking and so on if there is someone else you know who you would think would be interested in joining in this series why not use the YouTube share button below and let them know about it you can easily use an SDR to monitor police communications providing that their unencrypted right the police in your area could be using analog or digital systems it really depends where you live however an SDR is going to allow you to monitor in channels such as dispatch or car to car special events detectives possibly even Squad surveillance operations SWAT and tactical along with things like the State Police the Sheriff's Department and air support units now if you're monitoring a trunked Public Safety system things get even more interesting you will be able to perform system analysis and be able to start identifying individual radio IDs it can be a lengthy process but it yields great results it gives you an insight into who is using encrypted talk groups although you won't be able to listen in you'll be able to see which videos are connected for example the police helicopters in a city I used to live in were easily identified they had multiple radios installed and once I had those marked as police helicopter and my software I was able to view when the chopper was active even when it was using encrypted talk groups I couldn't hear the voice comms but I could see that the helicopter was in action another bonus of using an SDR on digital systems is that there's no problem with LS M simians are received well with SD ours much better than with traditional scanners now on the theme of monitoring police in an upcoming episode we'll talk about mobile and discreet operation I'll be showing my mobile STR kit demonstrating how it can be used to discover new systems sites and talk groups in fact I might even bring you along on a field trip so you get to see it in action fire and EMS channels can be interesting to monitor in these last few months during the covert crisis there's been a lot of extra traffic whether your area is digital or analog these are examples of the types of voice traffic you'll be able to monitor on the data side if you're on a trunk network you will have access to even more information and will be able to discover radio IDs used by various units some software allows you to view all of the radio IDs and see which devices are switched on and which are switched off you could also flag certain units to be displayed on your screen in different colors it can be useful to do this with inserted command vehicles for example also you may be able to read the MDT information being to first responders for a number of years I monitored this traffic in my local area when I was out in the yard and heard a bunch of sirens I would go inside and read the MDT info I would be able to find out what the incident was and which units were attending it was loads of fun Aviation is personal passion of mine here is an example diagram of some of the radio traffic used by a typical airliner most of these communications can be received with the software-defined radio and the appropriate software let's have a look in a little more detail these are the typical voice comms that you will likely be familiar with already receiving them on an SDR as a breeze however look at the various forms of data being transmitted ATSB messages allow you to plot aircraft positions on a map or create a virtual radar screen decoding a car's vdl - and CP DLC enables you to receive text messages going to and from aircraft such as free delivery clearances air traffic control text instructions weather reports NOTAMs and operational messages such as load sheets fuel burn engine parameters V speeds and other performance calculations if you're an aviation enthusiast and you've just been monitoring voice traffic there is so much more communication going to and from the aircraft that an SDR will enable you to see on the military side you will be able to receive the same voice traffic as you would with the traditional receiver however one major advantage is that you can use an SDR and free software to search the entire military air band in under five seconds that gives you a much greater chance of catching new frequencies just like civil aircraft you can monitor a dsb and plot aircraft positions this works incredibly well if you join a program where people share data with each other that way you can track the location of aircraft that aren't even broadcasting their positions using multilateration techniques I'll be talking more about that in a future episode specifically geared to flight tracking while aviation is my passion furthers its marine activities your STR can of course be used to monitor traffic related to shipping such as ports at Harbor control distress channels Coast Guard search and rescue ship to ship and Navy communications the data you'll be able to receive includes a is vessel position information laugh tax weather and fax broadcasts STD sea safety messages which even include pirate reports and submarine communications of course you won't be able to decode the sub communications but you will be able to hear them there are also lots of signals that come from space mostly from satellites but also from the International Space Station there are so many fun projects you can do with the software-defined radio I've been known to bring SDR or stuff into concerts by sweeping the bands I could find the frequencies of the in-ear monitoring system used by the musicians I could hear tracks being cued up sound engineers and musical directors talking to the band these were taking place in a frequency that my scanners could not cover you could also search art studio Talk backlinks common during live broadcasts and sporting events depending on the equipment being used you might be able to listen to the producer giving instructions to camera operators and reporters about to go on air if you live near a venue that hosts such events you might even be able to do this from home so what fun projects have you done with your SDR what surprising signals have you discovered please take a moment to mention in the comment section any areas that I have not mentioned so viewers and subscribers can get an insight into some of the other ways to use STRs I look forward to hearing what you do with yours well that's it for today's episode before I go let me tell you a little about the next episode in it we are going to look at how to use STRs for free and discover a variety of signals that can be received and decoded without needing to buy a receiver install an antenna or annoy the wife all you need to use them is a computer a tablet or a smartphone if you have enjoyed this video please let me know by hitting the like button if you've decided to follow the series and have subscribed to the channel and activated notifications perhaps you can encourage me by writing I'm in in the comment section below if you know someone else who might appreciate joining in with the series why not send them a link using the share button below thank you so much for your participation I look forward to welcoming you back in the next episode as we discover more about the incredible world of software-defined radio see you then for now this is frugal radio over and out

Channel: Frugal Radio

Views: 57,101

Keywords: software defined radio, sdr, rtl-sdr, airspy, beginner's guide, sdr guide, 2020, sdrplay, episode, frugal radio, low-cost sdr, beginner sdr guide, ham radio, amateur radio, shortwave listener, SWL, SDR#, sdr sharp, operator, Frugal Radio (FR), sdr radio

Id: RWeWALpmtQQ

Length: 11min 45sec (705 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 06 2020