RTL SDR AS AN ANALYSER?

[sinus trouble]

Cheers Mr Pjeva!
Load of great projects on that QSL! Nice link!

[Gum]

I think these devices are becoming more useful... this might be of interest to someone

http://www.rtl-sdr.com/spektrum-new-rtl ... -software/

[sinus trouble]

Nice one Mr Gum!
For such a basic bit of kit, it has a lot of potential!
As with all software driven tech, the sky is the limit!

[Gum]

Yeah - these dongles are unshielded, prone to drift with temperature variations and easily overloaded.

There are a few spectrum analyser projects out there using these now though and a few different bits of software designed for the task. You'll never build a laboratory instrument out of one but with proper shielding, a bit of cooling and some care there is no reason that they can't form the basis of a very useful tool at an almost unbelievably cheap price!

[alfaeire]

When you say shield, are your referring to a board mod or to house it in something shielded / grounded?



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[Gum]

I just meant to encase it in something metal to cut down on crap being picked up locally... I've done this with one used for SDR and it definitely made it quieter.

The sensitivity at different frequences also apparently tends to drift quite a bit with temperature, so you can kill two birds with one stone if you stick the board in an aluminium enclosure and use that as a heatsink. According to a few folk, the underside of the board is the most effective to cool so attaching it to an alu case with some of that double sided heat transfer pad material would seem to be a good way to go.

[alfaeire]

Sounds good. I'm due to grab one of the second versions soon.. Worth a look anyways

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[thewoodstarr]

Its not bad, its not a 3k bit of kit "That's what they used to cost" But it does everything you need, and only costs a little bit of knowledge, and £10! its Win, Win!