R820T RTL2832 SDR Dongle under Android

Surfing the web I came across an article on the Ham Radio Science page http://www.hamradioscience.com/android-meets-the-rtl2832u/  with an app to use the SDR dongle I had previously used under windows and Ubuntu on my Nexus 7 Tablet under Android. The app is called SDR Touch, the authors web site is at http://sdr.martinmarinov.info/ . All I needed was  the appropriate OTG micro USB cable.

Firstly I downloaded and installed the demo version of the software and driver from the web site. I found my OTG cable that I bought after the Nexus 7 but never used. I plugged the dongle into the micro usb port via the cable and launched the App. It failed to find the receiver. I then noticed that the blue light had not illuminated on the receiver. Very Strange!

A trip was made to the local emporium (Frys) and a $5 OTG cable was purchased. Interestingly the sales lady asked what tablet was for. When I said the Nexus she said it would work, if I had a Galaxy it would not. Obviously all OTG cables are not created equal!

Now when I plugged the receiver in it lit up, the Tablet found it and I had a spectrum display. Tuning to the local classics station it demodulated nicely.

 The demo version has restricted features (no direct frequency entry, only 30secs of spectrum display, no waterfall display and  no presets) but I was so impressed with what I had seen so far that I went to the app store and paid my $9.99 to upgrade from the Demo to the Full Version of the software. This was easily installed and the following shows spectrum, waterfall and presets:-

I did run the driver app on its own and it did show communication with the correct tuner chip

Very useful discovery.

£13 SDR Dongle has more work to do!

Just had a visit from Charlie G3WDG who was in Dallas on business. He also delivered my 9cm EME QSL card!

I had mentioned the £13 dongle to him at the EME conference so we talked at how to install it. While browsing the web for the drivers I discovered a page at osmocon (scroll down) which lists software that utilises the output from the dongle to decode various modes. The majority are not windows based so I decided now was the time to investigate "computers: the dark side" ie make a Linux machine. As Raspberry PI were now becoming available at respectable delivery time to order one!.

While discussing other matters with Doug G4DZU on skype,  who i know is a Linux user, he pointed me at an "idiots guide" article on using the dongle with a linux machine  He also pointed out that my Atom 945 M.B. which has now been replaced by the faster Atom 525 M.B. may be usable as a Linux machine.  I did hook the dongle to my ADSB antenna and succesfully saw planes approaching DFW so I know that bit works!

Talking of ADSB I already had a beaglebone board  bought in antipation of DL4MEAs Radarcape board that will turn it into an ADSB decoder (yes it is a Linux machine  but i was told Radarcape would be easy to install!) but in the meantime its time to try and make it flash an LED!

I also noticed software to turn the dongle into a GPS receiver. I know it wont be as cheap as  a $10 surplus motorola Oncore module but it will be fun