Learning About SDR

[mnguy]

Hey Guys,
I currently know virtually nothing about SDR except for the few videos I have viewed on YouTube.
For that matter, I don't even know how a radio works, other than the on/off button and the frequency tuner.
I do have a programming background though and would very much like to build a SDR on this platform.
Can someone please recommend some learning material for me that would get me going in the right direction?

Thank You

[9600]

Hi mnguy,

I'd encourage you to install GNU Radio and to get hold of hardware (a USB TV tuner that can be had for $20 or less). From there you can experiment with simple Python scripts that implement things like an AM or FM radio, or even build such applications from within the graphical editor, GNU Radio companion. There are some great available too.

Note that you can use this sort of hardware for much more advanced applications also, such as . SDR is hugely fun!

[mnguy]

Thank You 9600.
I will definitely checkout the references you provided.

[AdamC]

Hey Folks,

I could so get into this. My background is one of radio during my brief 10 years in the army. Thought about staying away from the programming side of the house but with my base knowledge in all things signal related and my electronics hobby background. This looks absolutely fascinating to me. Right, can't wait to learn all about this.

Adam

[g3vbv]

I have been doing SDR radio on Linux for quite some time.
I started with the now retired Softrock v6.3, then moved on to the also no longer available SR63ng - a SMD clone of the SR v6.3, plus a number of add-ons, then the UHFSDR, all running quisk.
When I was looking for software to run under Linux I saw quisk which looked the easiest route, developed by James Ahlstrom for his own SDR design. Emails back and forth and finally I got it running. Since then I donated Jim a Softrock Ensemble RXTX (fivedash.com for Softrock kits) so he could test the software himself.

My main rig I use is the hiqsdr.com HiQSDR + Preselector + 10W PA which is a development of Jim's transceiver described in QEX some time back, it uses quisk, qsdr, and rasdr apps by DL2STG and also ghpsdr3-alex (http://napan.ca/ghpsdr3/index.php/Main_Page).

ghpsdr3-alex supports HPSDR/Flex 1000/openHPSDR Hermes and Hermes based ANAN SDR's, Softrock, UHFSDR, Microtelecom Perseus, SDR-iq, HiQSDR, Ettus Research USRP and rtl-sdr DVB-T dongles. ghpsdr3-alex uses a server (rtlsdr-server) to talk to the DVB-T, dspserver to send packets over the internet and/or LAN and a client running on the same machine (QtRadio) or glSDR form Google Play on Android phones and tablets.

The DVB-T dongles I ran using ghpsdr3-alex using a 2m/70cms co-linear antenna.

Next on the agenda is Hermes + eb104.ru BPF and 300W PA/LPF using cuSDR which is RX only. To test TX with it using ghpsdr3-alex. TX function for cuSDR currently under development.

All the programs also build and run on Parallella.
QtRadio needs pulseaudio which I was told not to install, I don't know if that is fixed in 14.04, must give it a try.