On 12-04-08 8:09 PM, Robert Keizer wrote:

I too saw the article - slashdot got it from hackaday I think..

The comments were a bit mixed weren't they. I wasn't too sure what to make of the devices themselves since discussion kind of degenerated into some people complaining about who knows what and who doesn't. There was little discussion of the devices.

In any event, hackaday links to useful sites. That particular model does ~1mhz bandwidth at 8bit.. The range in the videos that ive seen indicate quite a large spectrum.. Somewhere between 0-500mhz I think. Some model I know go a little higher than that and are still cheap.

Impressive frequency range. That sounds like it goes from LW almost to cordless telephone frequencies. Some people were complaining about it being 8bits though. They were saying 12bits was supposed to be a significant difference. Still for an entry level piece of hardware...

Any opinions on the other ones you mentioned? For me, I'd be looking at about $20.00 tops...

Im going to be playing with this, my father ordered one a few days ago... Im sure other members will be playing with them too.

I caught something somewhere which said because of the original article all but one of the suppliers were sold out.

Next year at muug someones going to have to do a presentation on this stuff and sdr in general.

As I recall there were a couple of members of the Seniors Radio Club who are members of the MUUG. If they are no longer on the list, I know a couple of people.

Like I said a couple of months ago, Don pointed me to a site on the net were I got the plans for a "Coat Hanger" digital TV antenna (just a regular UHF antenna). I could bring it to a meeting if anyone wanted to give it a try. I'm also looking at making a Rev0 Gray Hoverman antenna as soon as I can come up with the parts (just for comparison). Apparently this is better than the "Coat Hanger" antenna (and a lot more work). If it's done in time I could bring it in too. BTW, they are up to Rev2 now.

Rob

Sent from a mobile device near you.

Later Mike

On Apr 8, 2012 7:08 PM, "Mike pfaiffer"high.res.mike@gmail.com wrote:

...

    I saw an article on Slashdot the other day which suggested it might

be possible to get some hardware using the RTL2832U chipset for $11.00. A quick search of Google seems to indicate it is fairly well supported with Linux. Since the article was about Software Defined Radio (HF) rather than the TV part of the device I was wondering if anybody locally had tried it out... I would guess apart from the article, the only info I'd be able to get would be about the TV part. What are the ranges of the chipset? How reliable is it? One fellow from the Seniors Radio Club suggested a kit for around $20.00 which should have a similar range (minus the TV). Is the idea even worth following up?

    I think for around $11.00 it would be a good introduction to SDR

and digital TV.

                            Later
                            Mike

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