New RTL-SDR Blog dongle - HF via direct sampling, software switchable bias tee

New RTL-SDR Blog dongles with HF via direct sampling are now available for order, here is the short version of the biggest changes :

1) HF support via direct sampling. Connect an HF antenna directly to the SMA connector and tune from 500 kHz – 24 MHz with the direct sampling mod. (No hardware modding or soldering required)

2) Lower internal noise. Less spurs, lower noise floor etc.

3) Software switchable bias tee. No need to do any soldering to enable the bias tee. Can be turned on and off in software.

Order online at :  rtl-sdr.com/store

Further details at : http://www.rtl-sdr.com/new-rtl-sdr-blog-units-now-available-in-store-hf-via-direct-sampling-software-switchable-bias-tee-less-noisespurs/

New Band Plan Plugin for SDRSharp

New Band Plan plugin released in SDR# r1451. You are all invited to enhance the Band Plan database (BandPlan.xml). The plugin also reconfigures the settings depending on the band.

Here's what it looks like:

Download SDR# r1451 at : http://airspy.com/download/

(sdrsharp at yahoo.com via SDRSharp list)

LimeSDR: Flexible, Next-generation, Open Source Software Defined Radio

Features and specifications

RF Transceiver: Lime Microsystems LMS7002M MIMO FPRF (Datasheet)
FPGA: Altera Cyclone IV EP4CE40F23 - also compatible with EP4CE30F23
Memory: 256 MBytes DDR2 SDRAM
USB 3.0 controller: Cypress USB 3.0 CYUSB3014-BZXC
Oscillator: Rakon RPT7050A @30.72MHz (Datasheet)
Continuous frequency range: 100 kHz – 3.8 GHz
Bandwidth: 61.44 MHz
RF connection: 10 U.FL connectors (6 RX, 4 TX)
Power Output (CW): up to 10 dBm
Multiplexing: 2x2 MIMO
Power: micro USB connector or optional external power supply
Status indicators: programmable LEDs
Dimensions: 100 mm x 60 mm

More info at :   https://www.crowdsupply.com/lime-micro/limesdr

SDRplay announces the acquisition of Studio1 SDR software

28/April/2016,Wakefield,UK : SDRplay Limited has today announced that it has reached an agreement with Sandro Sfregola, (formerly CEO of SDR Applications S.a.s.) to acquire all Rights, Title and Interest in Studio1 a leading software package for Software Defined Radio applications.

 

Jon Hudson, SDRplay Marketing Director said: "We are delighted to have reached this agreement with Sandro to acquire Studio1. Studio1 is the perfect complement to our SDR hardware products and gives us the ideal platform to deliver a complete class leading SDR solution for our customers. We look forward to working with Sandro and further developing Studio1 to unlock the full capability of our current and future products".

 

Hudson added: "Studio1 has established a strong customer base with users of many other SDR hardware products. Studio1 will continue to be available as a stand-alone product from WoodBoxRadio http://www.woodboxradio.com/studio1.html for the foreseeable future , but we also look forward to further developing Studio1 to specifically benefit present and future owners of our products"

 

Sandro Sfregola added: "I am very pleased to have reached this agreement with SDRplay. The long term future for SDR lies in complete end to end solutions and I feel the SDRplay RSP combined with Studio1 software gives users an outstanding combination of performance and affordability".

 

About Studio1:

 

Studio1 was developed in Italy by SDR Applications S.a.s. and has hundreds of happy customers around the world. Studio1 is known for its user friendly stylish GUI, CPU efficiency and advanced DSP capabilities, including features not available on other SDR software packages.

 

www.sdrapplications.it

 

About SDRplay:

 

SDRplay limited is a UK company and consists of a small group of engineers with strong connections to the UK Wireless semiconductor industry. SDRplay announced its first product, the RSP1 in August 2014

 

www.sdrplay.com

admin@sdrplay.com

 

(Press Release)

First WebSDR from India coming up !

Have you ever wanted to listen to HF bands from India ? Don't have a HF receiver and antenna? Out of town and miss listening to the bands ? Or just trying to test your new transmitter?

Your needs have been answered !

We are proud to introduce to you, South Asia and India's first WebSDR!, a mirror to your own transmissions !

(A WebSDR is a Software-Defined Radio receiver connected to the internet, allowing many listeners to listen and tune it simultaneously)

The web service will be available to all via http://www.websdr.in/ from March 13th! (running on testing mode now)

We have a 30 user limit now. If u are not able to access, refresh window.

Current Hardware is a LinuxMint server with VUSDR from Dr Naidu. Antenna is an Inverted V at ~45m MSL

Currently this is in the testing mode and we are planning to add more bands and spectrum later.

Chrome browser is working with android perfectly, iOs Safari will work only on mobile mode of site and also needed to be enabled "iOS audio start" button which comes near to the Waterfall

Linux/Windows users: Select HTML5 and if audio wont come up. Check whether the audio device is busy on playing music or some audio application.

Android app PocketRxTX support is coming up.

Mac: Not tested so far

Default configuration of the site is done to 7070LSB for PC users, Mob-site configuration yet to do :)

Our team :  Ragav VU3VWR,SureshVU2XSK,Kaviyarasu, Myself VU2XPK and Saro VU3OBR  

Hope you will like it, expecting your feedback's!

  

Thanks and 73,

Sinosh Pushparajan

SIARS (South India Amateur Radio Society)

Why you should care about Software Defined Radio

It hasn't become a household term yet, but Software-Defined Radio (SDR) is a major player on the developing technology front. Whether you're building products for mass consumption, or just playing around for fun, SDR is worth knowing something about and I'll prove it to you.

More at ....

http://hackaday.com/2015/02/12/why-you-should-care-about-software-defined-radio/

Airspy

Good news, Airspy is coming!

Today, august 2 2014, we finished validating the last technical details and started preparing the production with our partners at Itead Studio and we should have a first batch of 500 units available soon. An email should be sent to the registrants with a link to purchase Airspy directly from Itead's website.

Our special thanks to all the folks on the IRC channel #airspy @ freenode who supported the project from the beginning and helped with code, testing, ideas and encouragements.

What is Airspy?

Airspy is a very tiny (5×3 cm) software defined radio receiver capable of sampling 10MHz of spectrum anywhere between 24MHz and 1.7GHz. It is the fruit of countless hours of head scratching, fiddling and experimenting with the cutting edge Radio and DSP technologies. We believe it will change the way radio professionals and enthusiasts see the spectrum beyond 30MHz.

Frequency hopping GSM signals Early prototype Fitting in the new aluminum enclosure FM Broadcast band in Paris, 1.5km away from the Eiffel tower antennas GSM Band with strong signals 

Technical specifications:

24 – 1750 MHz RX range with no gaps

3.5 dB NF between 42 and 1002 MHz

12bit ADC @ 20 MSPS (80dB SFDR, 64dB SNR, 10.4 ENOB)

Cortex M4F @ 200 MHz and up to 204MHz with Multi Core MCU (dual M0)

1.5 ppm clock

1 RTC clock

External clock input (10 MHz to 100 MHz)

10 MHz panoramic spectrum view with 8MHz alias/image free

IQ or Real, 16bit fixed or 32bit float output streams

No IQ imbalance, DC offset or 1/F noise at the center of the spectrum

that plagues all the other SDRs

Extension ports: SGPIO, 2 x ADC channels, 2 x programmable clocks

Possible usages:

Spectrum Analyzer,

Fast scanner,

Radio surveillance,

Direction Finding,

Passive Radars,

ADS-B,

FM Radio,

Analog TV,

Digital Terrestrial TV,

Ham Radio,

Heck, this is a software defined radio! The only limitation is your imagination

May be you will want to get one or two boards to experience the joy of listening to the radio waves like nobody did before and with software you can hack by yourself? Then register so we can let you know when

the product is ready for purchase! Our special thanks to the all folks who helped debugging and improving the project.

(Source : airspy.com)

Apache Labs launches Anon 100 series - India’s first HF Software Defined Radio

Apache Labs launched India’s first HF Software Defined Radio Anan-100 series transceivers on 18th March 2013, at Unitech Nirvana Patio, Gurgaon. Products launched were ANAN–100 and the ANAN-100D (HF 6M 100W All Mode SDR Transceivers). The ANAN–100D is the world’s first true phase synchronised diversity DDC receiver & All Mode Transmitter. The product launch was attended by various government officials, members from the press and amateur radio operators from India.

Apache Labs are pioneers in manufacturing of software defined radio (SDR) in India and their first product ANAN-10 was launched successfully in October 2012. They are the first to make third generation HF SDR technology available for Amateurs in the APAC & EU. In partnership with the Open HPSDR group, Apache Labs has successfully launched the ANAN-10 (HF 6M 10W SDR Transceiver) which has received an overwhelming response from amateurs across the globe. Apache Labs is now exporting to the US, Germany, Australia, U.K. In partnership with the Government of India Apache Labs is indigenously developing SDR platforms for disaster management and last mile connectivity.

The highly sophisticated state-of-the-art ANAN-100 D, was unveiled by Mr. Sanjiv Nair (IAS), Principal Secretary (Planning), UP and Former Joint Secretary, Department of Science & Technology alongwith Dr. Raju Sharma, Former IAS & celebrated writer, amidst the presence of Electronics & Radio Communication Engineers and Radio Amateurs from India. This is world's most advanced DDC/DUC Dual ADC and true Diversity HF/6 meters 100W transceiver.

Ms. Manila Sarkaria, Head of Legal & India Operations at Apache Labs Private Limited, welcomed all and introduced the dais.

Abhishek Arunoday Prakash, Managing Director at Apache Labs Private Limited, applauded the technical team including VU3WJM (Rahul) and appraised the specifications of ANAN-100 D, which matches the international standards. 

Mr. M. B. Singh (VU2MB), represented the Indian Amateur Radio Community on dais. While comparing the old time radio technology and SDR, VU2MB stressed on the importance of ear in conventional radio technology with importance of vision in SDR as everything would be visible on monitor of the personal computer.

Product launch was followed by hands on experience with Anon SDR's & luncheon reception, during the closing session, engineers & amateur radio operators showered many queries pertaining to the newly launched SDR ANAN-100 D. VU3WJM – being part of the core technical team – answered all the queries.
 

Brief Intro of ANAN-100/D

The ANAN-100 is based on the popular OpenHPSDR Hermes Transceiver. The Heart of the ANAN-100D is the Angelia SDR. ANGELIA is a state-of-the-art soft core uP 4th generation DDC/DUC, Hermes-like, transceiver board that incorporates an Altera Cyclone IV FPGA and dual LTC2208 ADCs. The large FPGA and dual ADCs permit exceptional versatility and performance. The FPGA is large enough to allow on-board, soft-core processing, if desired, and the dual ADCs allow true coherent receiver operations.

Highlights:

- 100W RD100HHF1 Based 160M - 6M rugged Linear amplifier

- Rugged Extruded aluminium housing, Weight: 4.5Kgs approx, Dimensions: 265.5mm (W) x 220mm (D) x 80mm (H)

- Combination of 7 LPF and 5 HPF Banks for front end Filtering (User Configurable as well)

- 6M LNA

- Dual Phase Synchronous LTC2208 16 Bit ADCs, additional third ADC via daughterboard

- Large 115K (EP4CE115) Cyclone IV FPGA

- Supports 7 High performance Independent Receivers on a single ADC

- Supports 2 Coherent Receivers using independent ADCs/antennas for beam forming/diversity reception (expandable to 3 Coherent Receivers using the coming daughterboard)

- FPGA has enough space to add on multiple soft core processors for standalone operation 

- Onboard 128MB Flash

- Onboard 32Mbit Synchronous RAM

Further details about ordering available at  http://apache-labs.com/

Photo's from product launch ...

(With inputs from Rajesh Chandwani, M.B.Singh & Kaustav Saha)

bladeRF, your next software defined radio

By now you might have a bit weary of your small and inexpensive TV tuner dongle software defined radio. Yes, using a USB TV dongle is a great introduction to SDR, but it has limited bandwidth, imited frequency range, and can't transmit. Enter the bladeRF, the SDR that makes up for all the shortcomings of a USB dongle, and also serves as a great wireless development platform.

More at : http://hackaday.com/2013/02/02/bladerf-your-next-software-defined-radio/

New SDR FDM-S1

Runs on usb, buillt in FM & DRM decoder, 399 euros !

http://tinyurl.com/6nf9raz

Software-defined radio opens up new chances for the automobile industry

The general explosion in available processor power makes SDR interesting for automobile OEMs. First of all, moving radio functions from hardware into software opens up cost benefits for global car production.

Read the full story here :
http://www.automotivedesign-europe.com/en/software-defined-radio-opens-up-new-chances-for-the-automobile-industry.html?cmp_id=71&news_id=222901961&vID=35

New Microtelecom Product - Gemini

The new Microtelecom product draft is available :

Gemini
http://www.microtelecom.it/gemini/gemini.htm

Preliminary specifications
http://www.microtelecom.it/gemini/image/Gemini-Flyer-rear-800.png

(Alessio Miani, perseus_SDR)

Workshop On Software Defined Radio & Signal Processing at Kolkata

CQ CQ DE sandeep Lohia (vU3SXT) general call to all stations.
Government College of Engineering & Ceramic Technology is
organising a two-day National Workshop on Signal Processing
& its Application to Software Defined Radio on january 11-12,2008.
An important technology in the area of Wireless Communication is to
design and implement an Universal Communication Device in which
all of the Signal Processing be done in Software and whose
architecture & system parameters can be reconfigured by software
updation instead of hardware replacement to enable different
modulation, coding and access protocols.
Prof Asoke K Nandi (David jardine chair of Signal Processing)
of university of Liverpool,UK and Prof S B Bilen Of Penn
State University,USA will give special lectures.
In Association with:
School of IT, West Bengal University of Technology,Kolkata
Defence Electronics Application Lab(DEAL),DRDO,Dehradun
And Network Partners:
University College of Technology, Kolkata
Haldia Institute of Technology, Haldia Under
Technical Education Quality Improvement Program(TEQIP)
For more information,Contact programme coordinator
Bimal Pal On pal_bimal@yahoo.com or call on 9231556479.
73's VU3SXT (9432315805)

(Via Sandeep Lohia - scrapped on my orkut profile)