Posted: 1/4/2015 1:07:51 AM EDT
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Not stupid at all.
I am using an RTL-SDR. It is a $20 (or less) USB stick that was made to watch over the air TV on. Some guys were able to write some drivers that allow them to be a general wide band software defined radio. That means any modulation type, AM, FM, SSB, CW.You can also dynamically adjust your filters and add/remove gain. The software I am using is GQRX on linux. It gives you a display of what is happening 1MHz above and 1MHz below. That means I can see to all the repeater outputs from 146-148 at the same time. I can tune in to any of them and hear the audio just like it was a handy talkie. Then you can bump up to 1090MHz and decode position information from aircraft. What I am doing is using gqrx-scan to control GQRX over a TCP connection. It scans until it finds a signal. The terminal window is a program called DSD that decodes digital radio transmissions. Stuff like p25 and NXDN So for $20 I have a scanner that can scan and decode digital radio. It isn't anywhere as fast as a store bought scanner but it is $20 vs $400. |
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http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QPTEY5M?psc=1
but wait there is more! Hook it up to this and now you can look/listen to HF but wait there is more! If you really like it you can step up the price a little ($200) and get an Airspy. It has a 10MHz bandwidth. That is say 140-150 so easily all of 2m at once. Or bottom of 40m HF to above 20m HF (when used with upconverter listed above. (I have one on pre order that should be here soon. Review sure to follow.) but wait there is more! Step it up to $400 when you are good and hooked and get a BladeRF. It covers 300MHz-3.8GHz (wifi and cellular) but wait for it.... 28MHz of bandwidth! They make a daughter board for it that also gives you on board HF. Oh and it can transmit 
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Quoted: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QPTEY5M?psc=1 but wait there is more! Hook it up to this and now you can look/listen to HF but wait there is more! If you really like it you can step up the price a little ($200) and get an Airspy. It has a 10MHz bandwidth. That is say 140-150 so easily all of 2m at once. Or bottom of 40m HF to above 20m HF (when used with upconverter listed above. (I have one on pre order that should be here soon. Review sure to follow.) but wait there is more! Step it up to $400 when you are good and hooked and get a BladeRF. It covers 300MHz-3.8GHz (wifi and cellular) but wait for it.... 28MHz of bandwidth! They make a daughter board for it that also gives you on board HF. Oh and it can transmit  |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QPTEY5M?psc=1 but wait there is more! Hook it up to this and now you can look/listen to HF but wait there is more! If you really like it you can step up the price a little ($200) and get an Airspy. It has a 10MHz bandwidth. That is say 140-150 so easily all of 2m at once. Or bottom of 40m HF to above 20m HF (when used with upconverter listed above. (I have one on pre order that should be here soon. Review sure to follow.) but wait there is more! Step it up to $400 when you are good and hooked and get a BladeRF. It covers 300MHz-3.8GHz (wifi and cellular) but wait for it.... 28MHz of bandwidth! They make a daughter board for it that also gives you on board HF. Oh and it can transmit
Another option is the HackRF. HackRF has 20MHz to somewhere north of 7GHz, with 20MHz bandwidth. Here's a comparison between BladeRF, HackRF, and USRP with slightly outdated information on the HackRF HackRF details below: HackRF One specs half-duplex transceiver operating freq: 10 MHz to 6 GHz supported sample rates: 2 Msps to 20 Msps (quadrature) resolution: 8 bits interface: High Speed USB (with USB Micro-B connector) power supply: USB bus power software-controlled antenna port power (max 50 mA at 3.3 V) SMA female antenna connector (50 ohms) SMA female clock input and output for synchronization convenient buttons for programming pin headers for expansion portable open source |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QPTEY5M?psc=1 but wait there is more! Hook it up to this and now you can look/listen to HF but wait there is more! If you really like it you can step up the price a little ($200) and get an Airspy. It has a 10MHz bandwidth. That is say 140-150 so easily all of 2m at once. Or bottom of 40m HF to above 20m HF (when used with upconverter listed above. (I have one on pre order that should be here soon. Review sure to follow.) but wait there is more! Step it up to $400 when you are good and hooked and get a BladeRF. It covers 300MHz-3.8GHz (wifi and cellular) but wait for it.... 28MHz of bandwidth! They make a daughter board for it that also gives you on board HF. Oh and it can transmit
For around $350 you can get a HackRF with up to 20MHz in bandwidth but covers 10MHz - 6GHz https://greatscottgadgets.com/hackrf/ |