A week ago I purchased a SDR dongle for some radio experiments. With the idea to maybe receive weather data or maybe plot airplanes. I got this little guy. A SDR made by adafruit. It was sold out on their website but linked to digikey who happened to have it.

So far, I’ve been able to pick up regular local FM radio stations and the local NWS using CubicSDR on Linux. I know SDRs are just a whole new hobby, just like anything else with people building antenna arrays for specific signals. My little setup is just a “Getting Started” package. A simple little 6 or 8 inch antenna attached to a small radio dongle about 1 inch square, 1/4 inch thick. Not much thicker than the usb port.

This introduction has already got me looking a getting a better antenna and tuned antennas for the various frequencies complete with filters. Maybe even make my own. lol

Then there’s the software, figuring out what I need there and getting it going. Maybe something to use a Pi for or really at this point, something simular like the Orange Pi I heard about.

It’d be neat to listen in on police and fire department broadcasts but I hear they frown upon that and it’s encrypted so probably not. ;) I’m not going to, just interested in public broadcasts