SDR With Upconverter Build - RTL 2832 820T Dongle + Ham It Up Upconverter
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- This vidoes shows my build of my low-cost SDR plus upconverter and demonstrates some of the signals you can receive with this setup.
Hardware Resources:
RTL-SDR: www.rtl-sdr.com/
Upconverter round-up: blog.kf7lze.net...
NooElec: www.nooelec.com...
SV1AFN Upconverter: www.sv1afn.com...
Die Cast Aluminum Box: www.mpja.com/47...
Software Resources:
SDR Sharp:airspy.com/down...
SDR Radio: airspy.com/down...
HDSDR: www.hdsdr.de/
Thanks for sharing this. Although it was done a while back the information is still useful.
I've been wondering if that was the case. Thanks for commenting.
Great video and nice project build! I'd been looking for an example build showing the RTL-SDR dongle and upconverter in the same enclosure. Thank you for taking the time to make this video and sharing your knowledge and experience with the rest of us. 73!
+KC7ZXY Thanks for the kind comments. Your comments are the reason I make the videos. I can share what worked (or didn't) for me and hope someone else finds it useful. I learned a lot of what I know by getting ideas from others as well as adapting them to my needs. Cheers.
I LOVE That You Used The Cheap Chinese SDR, By The Way There Are Hacks And Mods To Get It To HF Without ANY Problems, My Cheap Sdrs All Work On HF Even Down To 80 Meter Band And I Have No Complaints Other Then The Signal Is Weak Without A Amp Or Decent 5 Vollt 2 Or EVEN 3 Amp Battery, Why Battery? Because The Noise Is Going Down With Battery And It Goes Up With Some Brick AC To DC Wallll Plugs.
Video Is Wonderful, LOVED Every Part Of It. :)
Hey, can you please send me a link to the Hammond case you used? Thanks!
I got the 120mm X 100mm X 35 mm case from MPJA and the direct link is here: www.mpja.com/472in-X-394in-X-138in-Die-Cast-Aluminum-Box/productinfo/16287+BX/ Alternatively, you can go to www.mpja.com and look under their "Die Cast Aluminum Box" section to see similar cases in other sizes.
thank you!!
I put the link in the video description up above. But here it is as well: www.mpja.com/472in-X-394in-X-138in-Die-Cast-Aluminum-Box/productinfo/16287+BX/
Thank you
Excellent video , pls can u share the type of antenna used for this .
It depends on the frequency band I am listening to. For MW/LW I use the low-noise verticals I talk about in some of my other videos.
I just purchased the ham it up v1.3 upconverter and I can't seem to get it to work properly. When connected to my scanner antenna and the converter disabled I can pick up weather channels, fm radio etc same as without the converter. When I connect my longwire antenna to the converter and enable it I get little or no signal on shortwave. My outdoor longwire antenna works great with my shortwave radios. I've tried sdr#, gqrx etc and on different computers, confirmed that I have the offset is -125,000,000 etc. I can receive a couple of shortwave stations on the proper frequency (confirmed with my shortwave radio). I'm not seeing the same signals as your video or others. I have tried agc and manual gain with no luck. I try it at night to get the best signals for lower shortwave frequencies. I'm hardly picking up anything when I should be picking up a lot more.
I use SDR#. If you have the offset at the proper setting and the upconverter is enabled it should work. The upconverter is passive and when disabled it just passes the signal through directly to the antenna output. You can see the pass through line on the circuit board. First make sure you see signal on all bands in SDR# when the converter is disabled and in pass-through mode...If you are still having problems it is not the converter. It would most likely be SDR# settings or SDR# is not recognizing your SDR device. My SDR# settings when I use the upconverter use a 2 mHz sample rate and no AGC of any kind. I do use the signal amplifier setting in SDR# in various amounts depending on what band I listen to. FOR AM or FM I use none as it overloads. For weather radio or other SW signals I use up to 20+ db.
So I would say: 1) check to make sure your SDR is working 2) make sure SDR# or other SDR software recognizes your SDR device. 3) Make sure the upconverter correction is enabled 4) make sure you play around with any SDR software signal amplifier settings.
If it is something with SDR# not working with your SDR device then I would check out the SDR# yahoo group if you have not already done so. Just be aware that if you post on there you are almost sure to get a condescending reply from one of the members there. There is a lot of good info though if you dig through it.
Not sure if any of that helps.
@@kugellagers Same issue here... Several SDR software suites used, same results. I have heard noise, but in 2 1/2 years, I have never heard an intelligible signal yet. Tested with various antenna setups as well.
@@derekdowns6275 If all of those thing don't work could there be something shorting on the upconverter? Or maybe the pass through switch is hosed. I assume your SDR setup works w/o the upconverter inline?
@@kugellagers Switch works, but maybe something bad in the upconverter section itself. Works fine without the box, only slight losses with upconverter in place but bypassed, and nothing but noise from circuitry when on. Tech support has been happy to at least make some inquiries and asked for screenshots. It's a shame that a transistor radio can pull in the local blow-torches (AM radio) fine, but my upconverter just plays noise on what I suspect to be local oscillator frequencies and their harmonics. I bought the enclosure at the same time to help shield the circuitry from local/household electrical noise. I'm glad they're at least speaking to me.
Very Good Video
i like your setup and i dig the box you used but why not just feed it with 1 USB cable?
I did't feel comfortable (in my skills) at the time to solder jumpers from the input on
the dongle USB input to the USB connections on the upconverter
motherboard. If I built another I will definitely do that. Would
definitely simplify things and make a cleaner box.
yeah... o and i seen you post the Box you used thanks i am going to order one
excellent video at least I will no what im looking at now on the display, what antenna r u using?
I have the dongle but the signals I receive r very noisy and will be getting a converter.
cheers
+26CT1681 Steven The antennas I use for AM and LW are low-noise verticals which can be seen in my Low-noise Vertical antenna video here: ( th-cam.com/video/hSwkM9aaGNU/w-d-xo.html ). For VHR/UHF/ADSB etc I use the antennas on my Tilt-over chimney mast seen here: ( th-cam.com/video/jS-reVGR_2s/w-d-xo.html ). A lot of noise on the SDR comes from overloading from FM stations and setting the RF amplification too high. If you are using SDR# with your dongle I would first recommend trying to lower the RF amplification and turning off the AGC in the settings. Higher amplification with the higher frequencies is definitely helpful until you run into overload/intermod from strong FM stations. For this I have constructed a dual FM trap ( th-cam.com/video/WDE8ho0uee8/w-d-xo.html )which lowers the FM signals 35-60 db at my QTH. Cheers.
What kind of antenna do you run with this?
It depends on the frequency band I am listening to. For MW/LW I use the low-noise verticals I talk about in some of my other videos.
I like your video, I see we have some similar interests in trains also. I subscribed to your channel. Take care and 73. :)
Hi very nice video take care...
Ferrites...
Why don't north Americans pronounce the L in solder?
I do not know. Good question. Just the way it is.
John ,G - Because they do not speak English.