Software defined radio...............

Cliff, it is definitely a step learning curve. The videos I have watched sure make it look easy, but I wonder just how long it took those folks to grasp it?  

Haven't had a chance tp play much with it lately, however, one of my radio buddies is planning a stay over for a couple of days, and we plan on concentrating on this while he is here.

I had to be patient, but I did pick up weather, and infrequent transmissions in the 800Mhz band, but still have not been able to get any talk on 2meters.

I did find the online aircraft position page. and Wow 67 Aircraft leaving or approaching SeaTac field at anyone time. I haven't picked up any audio traffic for aircraft yet.

 I guess I could program it for scanning, and logging. its a steep learning curve though.

Cliff,

Here's a bunch of Youtube videos that might help. There are more, but this is a start.

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Somehow I cannot pick up ham radio , police or aircraft?

There are so many settings for bandwidth, mode, type of transmission it's baffling to say the least.
If you have experience at setting for different reception modes, please post. I am using SDR# (SDR SHARP Software.)
 I did see an online realtime software program for aircraft movement , but cannot find the active frequencies via my SDR Dongle.

Let's do settings.
Aircraft
Ham radio
Law Enforcement - Govt and civil
Emergency
Weather
Boating - Coast Guard and big ships
Even satellite 
Any others?
Thanks

You still with us here Cliff? Or has the dongle gotten to you?

The uses are only limited by ones imagination with these.

If you want to see some ideas of what could actually happen plane wise with hacking, have a look at this clip..................

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It gets into ADS-B which is what these dongles are doing.

This guy who goes by the name Render Man. He's been around for a while now and is one of what is called a 'white hat' hacker. It takes a few minutes to do his intro before he gets down to business, but it's really quite something to listen to. It's also a 50 minute clip, so grab a coffee/tea or whatever when you watch it.

Let me know your thoughts too after you see it.

Also, you can do the same thing to track ship real time in your area as well. There's a few clips on youtube about how to do it if you're interested.

You know, when terrorist start, and even foreign agencies use these, we will see more unpleasant news.
Not that they haven't for years, already. Even Google can be used, for seeing Military bases and the changes they make.

One thing I just though of is using sdr being able to see signal strength, and with triangulation with others, to explore where signals originate from.

Ya did good Cliff. So far, I haven't tried FM yet. I do plan on doing weather satellites though. Gotta watch the youtube clip on that again though. Then, I might try and see if I can track ships as well.

What a nightmare to get running, and so many settings, ARRGH!!!!!!
Did stay up till 4:30 this morning. finally got FM stations and Weather broadcasts.

COOL! Well, hope your birthday is a great one.  

Let us know how you make out with the new toy too. Anxious to see your results.

I just received my unit in the mail. So guess what I'm doing this evening?
It's my birthday present to ME.

Hi Frank, yep........ there is definitely a bit of a learning curve with this stuff. But I am finding it fun and looking forward to seeing what else I can pick up here. I bought 2 for under $10 each. I am gonna dedicate one to aircraft and use the other to play with on other modes. Weather satellites as well as some stuff on HF.

I have had one of those here for several months. Still learning how to use it-(I am not the greatest at computer stuff)- and its interesting. One of my ham buddies here gave it to me and has been using one for a long time. Quite interesting, and I love all the modes I can listen on.

I'll try and locate the video that showed a home brew antenna made from cut up pieces of RG6 coax.

He did mention converting to outside antenna, Might try My TV antenna and a long wire also.
Sounds like its going to be fun to Explore (THE UNKNOWN MUHAHA)

Good video Cliff. If I had found this one first, I could have saved myself a bit of time.

After looking at a few also I came across this one in my neck of the woods. I Think He's either in Canada or northwest part of Puget sound in my state (Washington)

Gives a very good Demo that is understandable to those unfamiliar with SDR.

Short Video-Click Here.

Woops!  Forgot the 2nd link................

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Hi Cliff,

Right now, I am following aircraft. You can follow a lot of other radio signals as well. Try this link for a tutorial of what I am doing now.............

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Here's a couple of more links about what's around for SDR.

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Finding the software wasn't quite as easy as it should have been. Each time I clicked on a link that was posted, I usually got the "Page not found" error. If you have issues, let me know and I can send yu the files. They are quite small.

You talked me into buying it
Already ordered.

 Questions:
Why did you get two?
Is it only for Aircraft reception?
What is your intended use? Radio reception? or Transceiver use?
AM-FM broadcast? Shortwave?
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Can you provide the link you used for the online software?

I found this Link but am baffled by everything there, any suggestions?

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Cliff, here is the entire setup except for the computer........................

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In fact, all you need is the antenna and the dongle. The remote and CD are not used in this setup. You only need two pieces of software available for free on the internet. As I said in my previous post, for the setup I have at the moment, I am please with the extended range I am getting. It's kinda neat that it's real time from my system and not from a site on the web.

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The 1st is a screen shot of the laptop screen. Not sure what the issue is, but the icons that appear for a particular aircraft don't always match the aircraft type. Maybe it's because of my setup with the poor antenna location, maybe something else. The 2nd photo is the antenna sitting on top of a computer case about 2 feet from where I am sitting.

So what does it hook up to? Is it a black box? Does it hook up to a digital Reciever? Like Yeasu

Finally, when I thought I would have to apply for a replacement or refund, I got the dongles in the mail last Friday. Thankfully, after finding a couple of youtube videos that walked me through it, I was following commercial aircraft in real time. I am quite surprised at the range I am getting on this item considering the antenna is just a tiny 6 inch high vertical on a mag mount that is sitting a couple of feet away from me.

Gonna make me a proper antenna and stick it up in the attic and see what kind of coverage I can get then.

Hi again all,

Wasn't quite sure what group to post this in, so I chose this one to be safe.

Just ordered 2 USB dongles off Ebay after watching a few youtube videos and reading a bit about this form of listening. Anyone around this forum playing with SDR at the moment? Any comments and/or thoughts would be appreciated.