Cheapo Software Defined Radio – Getting Started With RTL-SDR

(thepowerbase.com) The last few months have seen an explosion of activity in the field of Software Defined Radio (SDR), after it was discovered that cheap USB TV tuners based on the Realtek RTL2832U chip could be dialed into frequencies well outside their advertised ranges. What was designed and sold as a simple device for watching TV on your computer could be turned into a radio capable of receiving anything between 64 MHz to 1700 MHz with open source software.

Now, anyone with about $20 USD to spare can tune into everything from police and fire transmissions to the International Space Station.

Tuner Hardware

Before you can start exploring the airwaves, you’ll need a USB tuner supported by RTL-SDR, the software used to unlock the full potential of the Realtek RTL2832U chip. For best results, you’ll also want to get one that uses the Elonics E4000 tuner, as that will give you the broadest frequency response. The RTL-SDR project maintains a short compatibility list which can help narrow things down a bit:

VID	PID	tuner	device name
0x0bda	0x2832	all of them	Generic RTL2832U (e.g. hama nano)
0x0bda	0x2838	E4000	ezcap USB 2.0 DVB-T/DAB/FM dongle
0x0ccd	0x00a9	FC0012	Terratec Cinergy T Stick Black (rev 1)
0x0ccd	0x00b3	FC0013	Terratec NOXON DAB/DAB+ USB dongle (rev 1)
0x0ccd	0x00d3	E4000	Terratec Cinergy T Stick RC (Rev.3)
0x0ccd	0x00e0	E4000	Terratec NOXON DAB/DAB+ USB dongle (rev 2)
0x185b	0x0620	E4000	Compro Videomate U620F
0x185b	0x0650	E4000	Compro Videomate U650F
0x1f4d	0xb803	FC0012	GTek T803
0x1f4d	0xc803	FC0012	Lifeview LV5TDeluxe
0x1b80	0xd3a4	FC0013	Twintech UT-40
0x1d19	0x1101	FC2580	Dexatek DK DVB-T Dongle (Logilink VG0002A)
0x1d19	0x1102	?	Dexatek DK DVB-T Dongle (MSI DigiVox? mini II V3.0)
0x1d19	0x1103	FC2580	Dexatek Technology Ltd. DK 5217 DVB-T Dongle
0x0458	0x707f	?	Genius TVGo DVB-T03 USB dongle (Ver. B)
0x1b80	0xd393	FC0012	GIGABYTE GT-U7300
0x1b80	0xd394	?	DIKOM USB-DVBT HD
0x1b80	0xd395	FC0012	Peak 102569AGPK
0x1b80	0xd39d	FC0012	SVEON STV20 DVB-T USB & FM

Tuner	Frequency range
Elonics E4000	52 – 2200 MHz with a gap from 1100 MHz to 1250 MHz (varies)
Rafael Micro R820T	24 – 1766 MHz
Fitipower FC0013	22 – 1100 MHz (FC0013B/C, FC0013G has a separate L-band input, which is unconnected on most sticks)
Fitipower FC0012	22 – 948.6 MHz
FCI FC2580	146 – 308 MHz and 438 – 924 MHz (gap in between)

Read more : http://www.thepowerbase.com/2012/06/getting-started-with-rtl-sdr/

Useful links:
More technical – compatibility list, known apps, gnuradio: http://sdr.osmocom.org/trac/wiki/rtl-sdr
http://www.rtlsdr.com/
http://gnuradio.org/

• GNURadio
• SDR