RTL-SDR

Resources

• http://sdr.osmocom.org/trac/wiki/rtl-sdr (with list of apps)
• http://rtlsdr.org/
• http://www.rtl-sdr.com/ (blog)
• http://superkuh.com/rtlsdr.html (with list of apps)

Trekstor DVB-T Stick Terres 2.0

It contains hopefully the RTL2832U, together with Elonics E4000 tuner
Seen by lsusb as 1f4d:c803 G-Tek Electronics Group, which matches Lifeview LV5TDeluxe according to osmocom

/var/log/syslog

New USB device found, idVendor=1f4d, idProduct=c803
New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
Product: RTL2838UHIDIR
Manufacturer: Realtek
SerialNumber: 00000001

$ rtl_test -t
Found 1 device(s):
  0:  Lifeview LV5TDeluxe

Using device 0: Lifeview LV5TDeluxe
Found Elonics E4000 tuner
Supported gain values (14): -1.0 1.5 4.0 6.5 9.0 11.5 14.0 16.5 19.0 21.5 24.0 29.0 34.0 42.0 
Benchmarking E4000 PLL...
[...]
E4K range: 52 to 2212 MHz
E4K L-band gap: 1107 to 1241 MHz

rtl-sdr

sudo apt-get install rtl-sdr
rtl_test -t

Play radio, 96.3MHz:

rtl_fm -f 96.3e6 -W -s 200000 -r 48000 - | aplay -r 48k -f S16_LE

If needed, from sources:

git clone git://git.osmocom.org/rtl-sdr.git
cd rtl-sdr
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ../
make
cd ../build/src
./rtl_test -t

Sources contain one additional tool:

./rtl_power -f 88M:108M:125k -1 fm_stations.csv
./rtl_power -f 100M:1G:1M -i 5m -1 survey.csv

To analyze the result:

wget -O heatmap.py http://kmkeen.com/tmp/heatmap.py.txt
python heatmap.py survey.csv survey.png
python heatmap.py fm_stations.csv fm_stations.png

pyrtlsdr

Python wrapper for rtl-sdr

git clone https://github.com/roger-/pyrtlsdr

waterfall

git clone https://github.com/keenerd/rtlsdr-waterfall
cd rtlsdr-waterfall
ln -s ../pyrtlsdr/rtlsdr 
sudo apt-get install python-pyglet
./waterfall.py
use: waterfall.py <lower freq> <upper freq>
   frequencies in hertz
   example: waterfall.py 929e6 930e6
   arrow keys pan and zoom (shift for bigger steps)
   brackets to adjust gain
   click and drag to select
   A for autocorrelation
   C for constellation
   esc to quit
./waterfall.py 92e6 93e6

Quite detailed waterfall
Select with mouse -> constellation (C) or autocorrelation (A)

rtlizer

git clone https://github.com/csete/rtlizer
./build
./rtlizer 640x360+0+0

Quite fast to scan quickly with arrow keys

gqrx

Get latest and check for missing libs

ldd|grep found
apt-get install libzeroc-ice34
./gqrx

SDR#

sudo apt-get install mono-complete monodevelop
sudo apt-get install libportaudio2
svn co https://subversion.assembla.com/svn/sdrsharp/trunk sdrsharp.svn
cd sdrsharp.svn/
monodevelop

Open file .sdl
If opened as text, modify version 12 -> 11 and open again
Switch to Release; Build All; Exit
cd Release/ Edit SDRSharp.exe.config
=> enable RTLSDR

ln -s /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libportaudio.so.2 libportaudio.so
ln -s /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/librtlsdr.so.0 librtlsdr.so
mono SDRSharp.exe

GNURadio

• http://blog.opensecurityresearch.com/2012/06/getting-started-with-gnu-radio-and-rtl.html

TODO

ADS-B

rtl_adsb

rtl-sdr contains already a basic decoder:

 Use:	rtl_adsb [-R] [-g gain] [-p ppm] [output file]
	[-d device_index (default: 0)]
	[-V verbove output (default: off)]
	[-S show short frames (default: off)]
	[-Q quality (0: no sanity checks, 0.5: half bit, 1: one bit (default), 2: two bits)]
	[-e allowed_errors (default: 5)]
	[-g tuner_gain (default: automatic)]
	[-p ppm_error (default: 0)]
	filename (a '-' dumps samples to stdout)
	 (omitting the filename also uses stdout)

Example:

./rtl_adsb -V
[...]
*c5d3eaddaba63b95b36305a632a0;
DF=24 CA=5
ICAO Address=d3eadd
PI=0xa632a0
Type Code=21 S.Type/Ant.=3
--------------
*835d53aa49b5aca233339449a21c;
DF=16 CA=3
ICAO Address=5d53aa
PI=0x49a21c
Type Code=9 S.Type/Ant.=1
--------------
*85ca7ba3ce33a2af6159b5aed168;
DF=16 CA=5
ICAO Address=ca7ba3
PI=0xaed168
Type Code=25 S.Type/Ant.=6
--------------

dump1090

Dumping ADS-B aeronautic data from 1090MHz

sudo apt-get install librtlsdr-dev
git clone https://github.com/antirez/dump1090.git
make

Usage:

./dump1090
./dump1090 --help
./dump1090 --interactive --net --enable-agc --metric

With "--net" go to http://127.0.0.1:8080

Actually this fork is much more advanced:

git clone https://github.com/MalcolmRobb/dump1090
make

Antenna

I decided to construct my own 1090MHz antenna and I chose a folded dipole to coax 4:1 balun because the folded dipole makes it more rigid than 2 wires dandling in opposite directions and the balun is very easy to do out of coax cable.
Instructions: half wavelength is ~137mm, so is the dipole length and the length of the coax balun.
That's it.
See pic from Wikipedia for wiring.

Here is a quick test done on the balcony on 10/11/2013 at 23:37 when the sky was quite calm.

I'm located in Brussels and the farthest plane seen is GFA6, heading from London to Bahrain and passing over Bitburg, 183 km away from Brussels.
Not that bad!

DVB-T

After all it's initially a DVB-T receiver, isn't it?

• http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/RealTek_RTL2832U

TODO