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Reverse Engineering Bus Telemetry Data with an RTL-SDR
Bastian recently wrote into us at RTL-SDR.com to let us know that he’s been working on reverse engineering the bus telemetry system used in his hometown of Paderborn, Germany. Bus telemetry is often...
View ArticleShowing how the R820T stops receiving at 1.4 GHz+ with increasing temperature
Over on YouTube RTL-SDR experimenter Adam 9A4QV has uploaded a video showing how the R820T dongle can fail to receive properly at frequencies above about 1.4 GHz as the temperature in the dongle rises....
View ArticleCubicSDR v0.1.4 Beta Released
CubicSDR is a new and upcoming multi platform open source SDR software package that is compatible with the RTL-SDR. It is similar to programs like SDR#, HDSDR and SDR-Radio. Recently the programmers...
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Detecting Pulsars (Rotating Neutron Stars) with an RTL-SDR
The RTL-SDR has been used for some time now as an amateur radio astronomy tool. Radio astronomers Peter W East and GM Gancio have recently uploaded a paper that details their experiments with detecting...
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Frequency Manager Suite Plugin for SDR#
Recently the popular Frequency Manager + Scanner plugin set for SDR# has been upgraded and renamed to the “Frequency Manager Suite”. The plugin can be downloaded from their new website at...
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New product from FlightAware: A 1090 MHz Bandpass Filter for the RTL-SDR
FlightAware.com have released a new 1090 MHz bandpass filter that is intended for use with the RTL-SDR. FlightAware.com is a website that aggregates ADS-B aircraft location data from various...
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ADS-B On Android App Now Supports 978 MHz FIS-B NEXRAD Weather and Traffic
The “ADS-B on Android” app has been updated and now supports the reception and display of 978 MHz UAT FIS-B Weather and Traffic data. The app also receives ADS-B data as per normal. To use the app you...
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Building an active wideband antenna for your SDR
As the RTL-SDR and other SDRs are wideband, we recommend that people use a wideband antenna if they want to scan over all the frequencies. Normally a discone or a scantenna is suggested as the wideband...
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DesktopSDR MATLAB RTL-SDR Text Book Released
Back in August we posted about an RTL-SDR related text book called DesktopSDR that was due to be released later in the month. The text book discusses technical SDR topics, with the RTL-SDR used as the...
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Changes to SDR#: Update to .NET 4.6, Linux support and new install procedure
SDR# (SDRSharp) is probably the most popular software program that is used with the RTL-SDR. It is free, fast and fairly easy to use. SDR# is coded in C# and so runs on the Microsoft .NET runtime. SDR#...
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Modifying an Aluminium Case to fit into our SMA RTL-SDRs
Recently we started selling modified RTL-SDR units that came with a more sturdy and common SMA antenna connector and a TCXO temperature compensated oscillator. At the moment our dongles are enclosed in...
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Reverse Engineering a Vintage Wireless Keypad with an RTL-SDR
Over on his blog, Veghead has posted about how he was able to reverse engineer a wireless alarm panel keypad from 1986 with an RTL-SDR dongle. The goal of his reverse engineering was to be able to...
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Reverse Engineering Wireless Mobile Traffic Lights with an RTL-SDR
When roadworks suddenly appeared on Bastian Bloessl’s girlfriends street the workers put up a set of automated wireless traffic lights to control the flow of traffic during the works. Seeing these...
View ArticleVideo showing SMS Texts and Voice Calls being sniffed with an RTL-SDR
Over on YouTube user Osama SH has uploaded a video briefly showing the steps needed to use an RTL-SDR dongle to sniff some SMS text messages and voice calls made from his own phone. This can be done if...
View ArticleBuilding and Testing an L-Band Patch antenna for Inmarsat-C Reception
Over on YouTube Adam 9A4QAV (creator of the LNA4ALL and other RTL-SDR related products) has uploaded two videos showing his home made L-band patch antenna in action receiving Inmarsat-C and in the...
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Demonstrating the RTL-SDR based “Etch-A-SDR” Portable SDR
Over on YouTube user devnulling has uploaded a video showing his “Etch-A-SDR” project. This project involved creating an all-in-one SDR device out of an Odroid C1, Teensy 3.1 and an RTL-SDR dongle. The...
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Measuring the return loss of the standard RTL-SDR whip antenna
Most low cost sellers of RTL-SDR dongles bundle them with a cheap fixed length whip antenna. Over on YouTube Adam 9A4QV has measured the return loss of these whip antennas with his vector network...
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Building an L-band helical antenna for Inmarsat
Previously in August of this year we wrote an article showing how to decode Inmarsat satellite STD-C NCS EGC messages with an RTL-SDR. Inspired by this article, RTL-SDR.com reader Mario Filippi, N2HUN...
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Reverse engineering a wireless thermostat with an RTL-SDR
When Tom Taylors home heating boiler was replaced the builders also replaced the old wired rotary thermostat with a digital wireless one. It sounds good, but Tom soon discovered that the thermostat UI...
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SDR# updated to revision 1400 & SDR Touch updated to V2.6
The popular SDR# software which is often used together with RTL-SDR dongles has recently been updated to revision 1400. This new revision brings an interesting new feature which automatically estimates...
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