current state of the rtl-sdr (plug and chug) art...

[Martin]

Wrapping the dongle in aluminum or copper tape for shielding is popular.
There are newer RTL-SDRs that are packaged in a metal box with a TXCO for
another $20-30.

For the noisy urban environment:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/B1602-SAW-filters-Epcos-1090MHz-ADS-B-AirNav-SBS-/110619017914?hash=item19c16842ba

http://ava.upuaut.net/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=85

My rig was a collinear antenna in the attic with the preamp and saw filter
at the antenna and really long usb extender to the shack.

http://www.amrad.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/wideareamap.png

On Thu, Oct 1, 2015 at 8:42 PM, Robert Seastrom <rs at seastrom.com> wrote:

>
> Readers of this list are almost certainly well-acquainted with the "$20
> USB SDR" (RTL2832U and R820T[2]) sticks that were originally intended for
> DVB-T reception.  Plenty of bad things to say about them (wide open front
> end, low resolution ADC, uncertain build quality when acquired via eBay
> etc), but hey for $20 what do you want?  Complaining would be like griping
> about your Baofeng or Wouxun HT not being up to the quality you've come to
> expect from Icom.
>
> GNU Radio supports these on Linux and there's a cast of various other
> programs for Windows and Mac that work too.
>
> These little radios-on-a-stick have attracted the attention of the
> Flightaware folks and their community of ADS-B receiver-and-feeder folks
> (same thing as AIS for ships and APRS for hams, but on 1090 MHz rather than
> VHF high band).  For a while now they've had a setup known as PiAware which
> turns a Raspberry Pi (use a B+ or a 2; the original B was weak in the USB
> power department) into an ADS-B receiver that can feed to FlightAware (you
> get an "Enterprise" level account for free as a thank-you for feeding them
> data).   There are two ways to put it together:  download and write a
> ready-to-go canned distribution (easy) and download NOOBS or Raspbian and
> do package installs and driver blacklisting by hand (hard).  Naturally I
> chose the hard way, which explains why it took me 20 minutes to get it up
> and running instead of 5.
>
> Of course it's a good idea to put a better antenna on it than the crummy
> telescoping mag-mount that comes with it.  The popular antenna for this
> application seems to be a coax stacked collinear of 8 or 10 elements - more
> is way into the land of diminishing returns.  There are youtube videos out
> there on how to make these.
>
> Some people use amplifiers, often the inline amplifiers intended for use
> with satellite tv receivers (available for a few bucks on Amazon), powered
> with a bias tee.  I'll confess I don't know where to get the latter on the
> cheap, which Mini-Circuits sure isn't.  Not sure it's necessary anyway if
> you have a short cable run and a good antenna.
>
> I don't have a good antenna yet.  My setup is sitting on a window sill at
> my office on the 7th floor overlooking Dulles Airport.
> http://flightaware.com/adsb/stats/user/res3066
>
> To see what can be done when you throw a few bucks at it and don't have
> the facilities guys getting in your way, check out my friend's setup:
> http://flightaware.com/adsb/stats/user/jaredmauch
>
> Anyway, pretty spiffy and pain-free to put together and get on the air.
> More at http://flightaware.com/adsb/piaware/
>
> (the RTL stick I got was http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00P2UOU72/ )
>
> -r
>
>
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