VP’s Corner

VP’s Corner

Jeff Fuller
WB6UIE

This month we’ll explore what has become one of amateur radio’s hottest high tech topics – Software Defined Radio, or SDR.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SDR_et_WF.svg

SDR works by sampling the radio frequency spectrum and turning those samples into a stream of bits.  Sounds simple, but it takes quite a bit of computing horsepower to do so in real time.  Seems like just a few years ago in grad school when this was a computer exercise (submitted on punched cards) and actual SDR was just a pipe dream.

Today, with the addition of a digitizer and software, you can have your own SDR running on a PC.  Here’s a short You Tube video covering SDR basics

You can listen to a variety of SDRs from around the world via http://websdr.org/  Cascade your sound card’s output to Fldigi to demodulate digital modes. Or see how your own signal sounds on various bands at some of your favorite DX spots.

Waterfall display from an SDR in the UK http://hackgreensdr.org:8901/

Want to log some hands on time with one of the popular SDRs?  Join us at the January meeting for a presentation by Al, KB4BHB.  Look forward to seeing you there!

 

73,
Jeff WB6UIE

 

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