Funcube software defined radio tutorial

The funcube is a cubesat a low cost miniature 10cm cube sized satellite which is intended mainly for educating young people about radio, space, physics and electronics, but has also piqued the interest of amateur radio hobbyists. Software defined radio tutorial for the beginner the. Adapters for r820t dongle and tutorial, including ham. This article describes recent experiments with the software defined radio equipment known as the funcube dongle fcd1 to determine its usefulness as the receiver in a meteor scatter radar. Oct 22, 2014 an introductory overview of software defined radio sdr is given by schuyler st. There is a more recent blog post about this subject, see. Software defined radio is a concept according to which rf communication is achieved by using software or firmware to perform signalprocessing tasks that are typically performed by hardware. Today, november 21st 2019, marks the sixth birthday of our very first cubesat mission, funcube 1. Software defined radio resources ham radio science. Dl7ukms collection of amateur radio links sdr software. Further developments of an sdr radio telescope using funcube. Download the best sdr software and plugins for airspy, rtlsdr dongle and many other radios.

Gqrx is a software defined radio sdr receiver written by alexandru csete to control. Software defined radio sdr is a technique for turning a computer into a radio. The fcd is the hardware adapter for a software defined radio, its function is to downconvert a raw portion of spectrum that is streamed as a stereo audio stream. This ongoing video series will be a complete course in software defined radio sdr. The connector type on the antenna and usb board is mcx. Dr morgan uses his funcube dongle with the spectrumlab windows software, which is a specialized audio analyzer. For this tutorial we are going to assume that i and q audio is available on the stereo channels either read from a sound card or from a wav file. Flex radio sdr based ham radio transceivers perseus hf sdr receivers rf space hf sdr receivers quicksilver qs1r hf sdr receiver winradio hf and vhf uhf sdr receivers alinco hf and vhf uhf receivers with iq outputs. Today, november 21st 2019, marks the sixth birthday of our very first cubesat mission, funcube1. For details of the fcd see appendix a the radar uses the graves french space surveillance transmitter2 located near dijon, operating on a frequency of 143.

For funcube dongle owners the console offers almost everything you need in one package. The fcd was my first exposure to any kind of software defined radio sdr. I have tried installing ubuntu with gnu radio on a virtual machine and when i try to run the flow graph nothing shoes up in the sink and the frequency control software qthid crashes. That means you have either built your own radio, are sourcing audio from a sound card based sdr like the funcube dongle or are using iq audio from a third party sdr. Signals with the rtlsdr tutorial video showing how to receive. Apr 23, 20 download qthid funcube dongle controller for free. The software is supplied as a standard windows installation kit, the filename format is. The fcd itself is the rf section of a software defined radio, and as such it. With all the interest the funcube dongle has generated, there should be some interesting software and applications for it in the future. Here is a video of the funcube dongle and hdsdr receiving an am asos signal from the airport using a wideband discone antenna.

I sold the rx320d when i moved and was looking for another computer controlled radio. A small side by side comparison of a funcube dongle and a cheap rtl sdr dvbt dongle hama nano connected to the same antenna. What is software defined radio wireless innovation forum. It saves fiddling with the various manual gain settings. Telemetry dashboards for all missions welcome to the. In the last few months, software defined radio has seen an explosion in popularity thanks to a small usb tv tuner dongle able to receive anything broadcast between. Please anybody can tell me where can i find a working tutorial and programs to use the fcdpp under linux. Although it may sound a trivial exercise, creating a definition for the software defined radio is not as simple as it seems. A very short time after the launch from yasny in russia and within a few minutes from deployment, the very first frame of data from the low power transmitter on board, was detected and decoded by zs1ls in south africa. Today, both sdr software 14, 15 and hardware 16 are available at very low prices in fact. Software defined radio for the radio amateur prev tutorial index next tutorial. Software defined radios based on funcube pro plus, gnuradio and raspberry pi. The rtlsdr is an extremely cheap software defined radio which is based on.

I am happy to publish articles on linux uses in funcube and amsat projects so feel free to submit them to give your good work a wider audience. Satellite telemetry and image reception with software. Softwaredefined radio is an implementation of a radio communication. The project has received major initial funding from the radio communications foundation rcf and is being developed in collaboration with isisinnovative solutions in space bv. It covers lf, mf, hf, vhf, uhf and l band coverage is 150khz240mhz and 420mhz to 1. Meteor radar sdr receiver british astronomical association.

Overview getting started with rtlsdr and sdrsharp and. Gqrx is an open source software defined radio receiver sdr powered by the gnu radio and the qt graphical toolkit gqrx supports many of the sdr hardware available, including airspy, funcube dongles, rtlsdr, hackrf and usrp devices. The files here helps to start quickly with a funcube dongle to receive local broadcast fm staions for testing purposes using gnuradio. Software defined radios, radio whose channel modulation waveforms are defined in software category is a curation of 71 web resources on, softrock sdr and six meters, cw skimmer softrockbased sdr array, oh2nlt experimental digital hf receiver. This unit allows for interfacing to a large number of popular sdr software packages. Getting started with rtlsdr and sdrsharp and cubicsdr a quickstart guide for rtlsdr under windows and mac os. The funcube dongle is usbmemory sized software defined radio receiver for 60 mhz 1. A long way has been traveled from that first moment to the present. Learn some python basics for use with gnu radio and grc gnu radio companion. Typical applications are radio listening, ham radio, swl, radio astronomy, ndbhunting and spectrum analysis.

Using the rtlsdr to listen to the funcube satellite recently, the funcube 1 satellite was successfully launched. Leger at desert code camp at chandlergilbert community college. As you may know, although the funcube dongle was originally designed with receiving signals from space in mind, theres nothing special about extraterrestrial radio waves when compared to those on terra firma. Softwaredefined radio sdr is a great tool to explore radio signals using a computer and inexpensive radio tuner. I have recently acquired a funcube dongle software defined radio. Provide information regarding radio propagation, construction and usage, especially related to software defined radio. Last month we covered part one of our threepart primer on softwaredefined radios sdrs. Urh universal radio hacker the ultimate radio hacker tool with native airspy support since 21 april 2017.

But not just an amfm radio by using the computing power on your desktop you can listen and decode a wide variety of broadcasts. Funcube sdr dongle overview and first impressions ham. Software defined radio with hackrf this ongoing video series will be a complete course in software defined radio sdr. The rtlsdr hardware and software has itself improved enormously. Software defined radio with hackrf great scott gadgets. Software defined radio receiver sdr electronics notes.

Dde client for ham radio deluxe, orbitron, wxtrack, satpc32, wisp and pstrotator. The funcube dongle is another device similar to the rtlsdr, but with. Designed for the commercial, government, amateur radio and shortwave listener communities, this software provides a powerful interface for all sdr users. Basic principles and applications advances in electronics, wireless communications circuits, and reusable and modular programming techniques. Hdsdr former winradhd is an advanced version of winrad, written by alberto di bene. Airspy, a high quality approach to softwaredefined radio. Introduction to softwaredefined radio technical articles. Jun 03, 2011 i would say that the sdrfuncube is an sdr radio to watch. If not, youll need a quick tutorial on it and this is in the manual. How to receive the funcube satellite with an rtlsdr. In this tutorial well show how to get your very first listening adventure underway listening to fm radio and decoding the rdsrbds data signal that is sent along with many fm radio stations as well.

In this course, youll build flexible sdr applications using gnu radio through exercises that will help you learn the fundamentals of digital signal processing dsp needed to master sdr. Have you ever wondered whats in the radio waves zipping invisibly around you every day. The funcube is a software defined radio similar to the rtlsdr, but with better sensitivity and noise performance, but at a higher price around. A very short time after the launch from yasny in russia and within a few minutes from deployment, the very first frame of data from the low power transmitter on board, was detected and decoded by zs1ls in.

Airspy is a line of popular softwaredefined radio sdr receivers developed to achieve high performance and affordable price using innovative combinations of dsp and rf techniques. The funcube is a cubesat a low cost miniature 10 cm cube sized satellite. An introductory overview of software defined radio sdr is given by schuyler st. Software defined radio sdr uses a processor, a special receiver and software that play the main parts of the receiver mixer, filters, amplifiers, modulators, demodulators, etc. Funcube sdr dongle overview and first impressions ham radio. The program files are compiled as 32bit executables.

Using the rtlsdr to listen to the funcube satellite. Or perhaps you meant to say the specific tutorial mentioned in the post deals only. Id buy another tentec rx320d, but been there done that. The center frequency of the funcube dongle can be set by software. Although the device is not meant for wide band fm reception, it still can be used with some distortion observed with certain stations. Radio in which some or all of the physical layer functions are software defined. Jan first writes how the funcube dongle was originally invented as a low cost. This software defined radio is self contained but the software can be updated by download from the manufacturer to improve the functionality software defined radio definition. In this course, youll build flexible sdr applications using gnu radio through exercises that will help you learn the fundamentals of digital signal processing dsp needed to.

Flex radio sdr based ham radio transceivers perseus hf sdr receivers rf space hf sdr receivers quicksilver qs1r hf sdr receiver winradio hf and vhf uhf sdr receivers alinco hf and vhf uhf receivers with iq outputs elecraft kx3 hf transceiver with iq output coming this fall. Funcube dongle smoke testing using gnu radio youtube. The amsatuk educational amateur satellite project funcube features a 435 to 145 mhz linear transponder for ssbcw operation and a telemetry beacon for schools to receive. Airspy is a line of popular software defined radio sdr receivers developed to achieve high performance and affordable price using innovative combinations of dsp and rf techniques.

Gqrx sdr open source software defined radio by alexandru. The fcd is the hardware adapter for a softwaredefined radio, its function is to downconvert a raw portion of spectrum that is streamed as a stereo audio stream. Sdr can turn your computer into a weatherband receiver, a policefire report scanner, a music listening station, and more. Airspy, a high quality approach to software defined radio. Radio in which some or all of the physical layer functions are software defined a radio is any kind of device that wirelessly transmits or receives signals in the radio frequency rf part of the electromagnetic spectrum to facilitate the transfer of information. In fact, at least one funcube dongle has even found its way into space itself on board a satellite. At this time i would have to say that the funcube dongle fcd is more of an experimenters sdr radio than a finished product. The funcube dongle is a small usb unit that contains a e4000 silicon tuner radio on a chip, a tlv320aic3104 audio codec and a microchip 24fj32gb002 16bit microcontroller. Getting started with software defined radio hackaday.