RTL-SDR Software Defined Radio USB Dongles and their many uses.

There are many amazing and useful things one can do with a DVB-T TV Tuner USB Dongle (> $20.00 usd),using the RTL2832U chipset. Plus  a low-cost Tablet or laptop PC.

Like a computer based radio scanner or wideband real-time spectrum analyzer.
Decoding RDS information  



Lexicon:

ADSB = Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) is used by aircraft as an alternative to secondary radar. It broadcasts GPS position

DAB = Digital Audio Broadcasting

DVB-T = is an abbreviation for "Digital Video Broadcasting — Terrestrial"; it is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in the UK in 1998.
FM = Frequency Modulation

RDS =Radio Data System (RDS) is a communications protocol standard for embedding small amounts of digital information in conventional FM radio broadcasts.

RTL = IC manufactor Realtek

SDR = Software defined radio



Good Links:

Our Facebook Group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/TeasingTesla/

RTL2832 Datasheet – RTL2832U Realtek QFN 48Pinhttp://www.datasheetcafe.com/rtl2832-datasheet-pdf/

Spectrum Analyzer using RDT-SRL dongel and Linux Beaglebone Black board.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YhrKMBrJ2g

Spectrum Analyzer using Android phone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu-K1Sslw1Q

Beaglebone Black
https://beagleboard.org/black

rtldsr.org  Wiki

www.rtl-sdr.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Data_System


The Hobbyists Guide To RTL-SDR - Carl Laufer.pdf
http://www.qsl.net/yo4tnv/docs/The%20Hobbyists%20Guide%20To%20RTL-SDR%20-%20Carl%20Laufer.pdf


A list of other Uses:

>>
AIS
 Trunked Radio
 Police/EMS Scanner (P25/TETRA/Analogue)
 Weather Satellites
 HF Reception
 Filter & VSWR Meter
 L-Band Satellites
 Radio Astronomy
 Air Traffic Control
 ACARS
 Weather Balloons
 Reverse Engineering
 Monitoring Pagers
 Amateur/Professional Research
 VHF Amateur Radio (APRS/Voice etc)
 Panadapter
 General Signal Browsing
 Passive Radar, Direction Finding, Coherent Experiments<<

>>

What are some RTL-SDR Radio Scanner Applications?

The RTL-SDR can be used as a wide band radio scanner. Applications include:

• Listening to unencrypted Police/Ambulance/Fire/EMS conversations.
• Listening to aircraft traffic control conversations.
• Tracking aircraft positions like a radar with ADSB decoding.
• Decoding aircraft ACARS short messages.
• Scanning trunking radio conversations.
• Decoding unencrypted digital voice transmissions.
• Tracking maritime boat positions like a radar with AIS decoding.
• Decoding POCSAG/FLEX pager traffic.
• Scanning for cordless phones and baby monitors.
• Tracking and receiving meteorological agency launched weather balloon data.
• Tracking your own self launched high altitude balloon for payload recovery.
• Receiving wireless temperature sensors and wireless power meter sensors.
• Listening to VHF amateur radio.
• Decoding ham radio APRS packets.
• Watching analogue broadcast TV.
• Sniffing GSM signals.
• Using rtl-sdr on your Android device as a portable radio scanner.
• Receiving GPS signals and decoding them.
• Using rtl-sdr as a spectrum analyzer.
• Receiving NOAA weather satellite images.
• Listening to satellites and the ISS.
• Radio astronomy.
• Monitoring meteor scatter.
• Listening to FM radio, and decoding RDS information.
• Listening to DAB broadcast radio.
• Use rtl-sdr as a panadapter for your traditional hardware radio.
• Decoding taxi mobile data terminal signals.
• Use rtl-sdr as a high quality entropy source for random number generation.
• Use rtl-sdr as a noise figure indicator.
• Reverse engineering unknown protocols.
• Triangulating the source of a signal.
• Searching for RF noise sources.
• Characterizing RF filters and measuring antenna SWR.

Furthermore, with an upconverter or direct sampling mod to receive HF signals the applications are expanded to:

• Listening to amateur radio hams on SSB with LSB/USB modulation.
• Decoding digital amateur radio ham communications such as CW/PSK/RTTY/SSTV.
• Receiving HF weatherfax.
• Receiving digital radio monodial shortwave radio (DRM).
• Listening to international shortwave radio.
• Looking for RADAR signals like over the horizon (OTH) radar, and HAARP signals.
  Ref. www.rtl-sdr.com<<
  
  
  FYI this is a living blog and may be updated many times.
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