I forgot to mention: The device I have now: http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-DVB-T-DAB-FM-Television-Tuner-Receivers-Realtek-RTL2832U-/160921035498?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2577a422ea
and check out the RTL-SDR project where this all started (with the cheap USB sticks): http://www.rtlsdr.org/ Bryce KB1LQC On Sun, Dec 16, 2012 at 9:01 PM, Bryce Salmi <[email protected]> wrote: > I literally just received mine yesterday and am using it now. A member of > the K2GXT radio club here at RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology) just > did a bulk order from China and each one cost around $15 but took a month > or two to ship. It seems to work well for the price and has a roughly 40MHz > to 1.5 GHz tuning range. I haven't tested it but the receiver seems quite > flexible for frequency range but not very sensitive. I'll do some testing > next week. The antenna that came with it is pretty much junk and I think it > uses a MCX connector so I just ordered some MCX to SMA adapters which > should let me seamlessly put a LNA and a good antenna on it which will let > me really use it well. I really hope it lets me listen to the AMSAT birds > with ease, the LNA will be a must. Lastly, there are quite a few spurs on > the bands at first glance. > > The circuit is pretty much the same as the FUNCube Dongle, it's even the > same IC inside. The difference is that these units are mass-produced and > are not optimized for operation on anything but strong TV stations. The > designer of the FCD has likely (I haven't seen the schematic) put great > effort into optimizing the device for ham use. The FCD also helps support > the FUNCube satellite. > > Hope this helps. > > > Bryce > KB1LQC > > > > On Sun, Dec 16, 2012 at 8:34 PM, Mike Hoblinski > <[email protected]>wrote: > >> I was reading the article in QST January magazine that details turning a >> DVB-T usb >> TV Dongle into a SDR receiver with coverage from 64 to 1700 Mhz with some >> gaps. >> I was wondering how this differs with the Fun Cube Dongle being sold. The >> article also >> shows how to extend coverage to the HF band. The TV Dongles sell for >> about 20 dollars >> on ebay. >> >> Mike >> >> N6IMF >> _______________________________________________ >> Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. >> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! >> Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb >> > > _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
