Over on YouTube user adsbrus shows us his project which is an in car ADS-B aircraft tracker using a Raspberry Pi mini computer and an RTL-SDR. The system uses an LCD screen mounted where the car radio usually is to show aircraft identifier, altitude, and speed information in text.
The post In Car ADS-B with a Raspberry Pi and RTL-SDR appeared first on rtl-sdr.com.
Hackaday brings to attention a simple hack where hacker Marc uses an antenna connected to a general purpose I/O (GPIO) pin on his Raspberry Pi to wirelessly transmit a wav file via AFSK modulation to his RTL-SDR. He uses a program called minimodem to encode the wav on the Raspberry Pi and then on the PC to decode the data received by the RTL-SDR.
Using this method, it is claimed that a signal can be transmitted up to 50m away, even through walls.
The post Transmitting Data with a Raspberry Pi and RTL-SDR appeared first on rtl-sdr.com.
Over on our Facebook page Micheal Kent has posted about his raspberry pi based RTL-SDR receiver which runs rtl_udp. There’s not much more information on this project, but the video he posted shows what appears to be a Raspberry Pi and RTL-SDR dongle mounted inside an icecream box. There are two knobs mounted on the outside that control the brightness of an LCD screen which shows the tuned frequency, and another knob which controls the frequency itself.
The post Icecream Box Raspberry Pi RTL-SDR Receiver appeared first on rtl-sdr.com.
In November last year we posted a story showing how a Raspberry Pi could be used to transmit a digital AFSK signal to an RTL-SDR or other radio simply by connecting a wire to a GPIO pin.
Now an rtl-sdr.com reader has written in to let us know that this concept has also been used before to create a 1 – 250 MHz FM transmitter using the Raspberry Pi and a program called PiFM. It uses the same concept of connecting a wire antenna to one of the GPIO pins but modulates the frequency using hardware on the Rpi meant to generate spread spectrum clock signals. It is claimed that it can transmit up to 50m away.
Below we show an example YouTube video of the Raspberry Pi FM radio transmitting to an RTL-SDR running HDSDR.
The post Raspberry PiRate Radio FM Transmitter appeared first on rtl-sdr.com.
Over on YouTube user SilverXiaify has uploaded a video of a project he completed for a class in his electrical engineering school. His project involves controlling a remote controlled car using a ham radio. The remote control car carries on board an RTL-SDR for signal reception and an Raspberry Pi for data processing and control. The communications protocol they used is a naive version of AFSK700.
The post Controlling a Remote Controlled Car with an RTL-SDR Attached to a Raspberry Pi appeared first on rtl-sdr.com.
Over on his blog, OZ9AEC has uploaded a post showing how he was able to create a live HDTV transmitter out of a Raspberry Pi, a Raspi Cam module and a UTC DVB-T Modulator adaptor. As he does not want to interfere with commercial DVB-T broadcasts, he sets the module to transmit at 1.28 GHz, aka the 23 cm licenced ham radio band.
On the RTL2832U dongle side, he modified the RTL2832U Linux DVB-T drivers (not the SDR drivers) to work on the 1.3 GHz band. The intention of this camera is for it to fly on a rocket mission. In the YouTube video below he has uploaded some sample footage with the RTL2832U dongle receiving the stream from 300 meters away.
The post Transmitting DVBT HDTV from a Raspberry Pi to an RTL2832U appeared first on rtl-sdr.com.
Amateur radio hobbyist DE8MSH recently wrote in to let us know about a project he has been working on. His project involves using a Raspberry Pi B and RTL-SDR to automatically log a wide band heatmap using rtl_power. Rtl_power is a command line tool that will log signal strengths to a csv file using the RTL-SDR over a very large definable bandwidth.
To do the automatic logging the Raspberry Pi runs rtl_power for 23 hours constantly writing data to a mounted hard drive. After 23 hours the heatmap image is calculated and then uploaded to a webpage at http://qth.at/de8msh/
DE8MSH has also been working on a second related project over at http://www.qth.at/de8msh/hm/pic.html. The heatmap on this page shows various transmissions from weather balloons. As you mouse over those transmissions, the QTH (location) of those weather balloon transmissions is shown as well as the frequency and time of where the mouse pointer currently is.
The post Automatic Heatmap Logging on a Raspberry Pi using an RTL-SDR and RTL_POWER appeared first on rtl-sdr.com.
Back in June we posted about DE8MSH’s rtl_power based heatmap viewer which was automatically generated every day from a Raspberry Pi. The browser based heatmap display provides a way to view the frequency and time of where the mouse pointer is allowing you to easily identify signals.
Back then the code was unavailable but now DE8MSH has released his code on GitHub. An example heatmap generated by the code can be found here.
The post RTL_POWER Heatmap Viewer appeared first on rtl-sdr.com.
FlightAware is an online service providing real time flight tracking. The flights are primarily tracked by volunteers who run ADS-B decoding hardware which is networked through the internet to the FlightAware servers.
Now FlightAware have written in to RTL-SDR.com to let us know about their new PiAware software which enables a Raspberry Pi running dump1090 to contribute data to the FlightAware network. Dump1090 is a popular RTL-SDR compatible ADS-B decoder program for Linux systems.
A major perk for running their software and contributing data is that FlightAware will buy you a licensed copy of PlanePlotter.
The press release provided is quoted below.
If you are running an inexpensive Raspberry Pi ADS-B receiver with dump1090 then you can install the PiAware Package from FlightAware to freely view nearby flight traffic and transmit this data to FlightAware’s tracking network. Most aircraft within Europe by 2017 and USA by 2020 will be required to have ADS-B transmitters onboard.FlightAware’s user-hosted worldwide ADS-B receiver network tracks about 90,000 unique aircraft per day and feeds this live data into the FlightAware website in combination with other public/private flight tracking data sources. FlightAware has over 500 user-hosted ADS-B sites online across 60 countries, with top contributors tracking over 10,000 aircraft per day. To see how ADS-B data is put to use, check out the FlightAware Live Map.The PiAware installation process takes only a few minutes. If you don’t have PlanePlotter, you can download it and then send FlightAware your installation’s serial number and we’ll buy you a license. FlightAware will also give users a free Enterprise Account ($90/month value) in return for installing PiAware.
The post FlightAware Introduces PiAware for use with RTL-SDR and dump1090 on a Raspberry Pi appeared first on rtl-sdr.com.
Adafruit has released a tutorial showing how to build a portable TFT screen based Raspberry Pi RTL-SDR spectrum analyzer that was inspired by the HackRF portapack. Construction of the project is very simple and the “FreqShow” python software is provided as a simple download that is ready to run once the RTL-SDR is installed on the Raspberry Pi.
The FreqShow software appears to be fully featured with the ability to change the center frequency, sample rate, and gain. It can show on the TFT screen the real time RF spectrum of the currently tuned area or it can be switched to show a waterfall of the spectrum as well. Below is a video of the finished project that shows the software in action.
The post Raspberry Pi RTL-SDR Spectrum Analyzer Scanner appeared first on rtl-sdr.com.
A new image for the Raspberry Pi containing RTL-SDR software has been made available by tech enthusiast Gareth Hayes. The image contains all the software and drivers needed to get started with the RTL-SDR or HackRF on a 512MB Raspberry Pi. It is very useful as compilation of large software like GNU Radio is slow and problematic on an embedded PC like the Raspberry Pi. The image contains the following software:
A few months ago we also featured a similar image for the BeagleBone Black.
The post New Raspberry Pi Image with RTL-SDR Drivers and GNU Radio Built In appeared first on rtl-sdr.com.
Over on the Raspberry Pi Reddit discussion board user spfoamer has posted about his Raspberry Pi + RTL-SDR based outdoor ADS-B receiver. ADS-B stands for Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast and is a signal broadcast by aircraft that contains information about their locations. With a receiver like the RTL-SDR and correct software you can make an aircraft radar.
In his design the Raspberry Pi transmits location data back to a PC via an Ethernet cable. In addition the Raspberry Pi is also cleverly powered via power over Ethernet (POE) which uses unused wires in the Ethernet cable itself to carry the power. Since he uses a 12V power source, to obtain the needed 5V to power the Raspberry Pi spfoamer uses a UBEC (Universal Battery Elimination Circuit) which is an efficient device that converts voltages from up to 23V down to 5V. Additionally, he uses a 1/4 wave ground plane antenna and a 1090 MHz bandpass filter to eliminate out of band interference.
On the Pi itself he runs PiAware and contributes his data to the FlightAware network.
The post A self contained ADS-B Receiver using a Raspberry Pi and RTL-SDR appeared first on rtl-sdr.com.
Programmer MichelinoK has just released another one of his projects. This one is called SDRRecorder and is a Linux bash script that can be used to automatically record an IQ stream of any frequency and length at a given date and time. MichelinoK writes that he uses this script to automatically record International Space Station (ISS) passes at 145.8 MHz on his Raspberry Pi which is always powered on.
The script can easily be run by first editing the script to specify the frequency, dongle number, gain, PPM offset and destination folder. It can then be run by calling is with the start time, date, length and output file name. He also writes that you must be careful to not record for too long as long IQ files can use up a lot of disk space. To overcome this he uses a networked attached storage (NAS) device which is similar to an external hard drive.
The post SDRRecorder – A Linux Script for Recording an IQ Stream at a given Date and Time appeared first on rtl-sdr.com.
Recently RTL-SDR.com reader Slaven Krilic wrote in to use to announce his project called MNM4SDR which stands for Monitoring Network Manager for RTL-SDR. The software allows you to set up a remote Raspberry PI embedded computer with an RTL-SDR dongle attached and access it remotely through a Windows PC GUI.
Unlike other server software such as rtl_tcp, raw IQ data is not sent over the network. Instead audio is first compressed in lossless FLAC or OGG formats. This allows you to use much slower network or internet connections. The software also allows you to collected RF scans over a large bandwidth in a similar way to rtl_power.
The software works over an SSH connection and requires that you have RTL-SDR and VLC set up on your Rasperry Pi first.
The post New Raspberry PI Remote RTL-SDR GUI Software: MNM4SDR appeared first on rtl-sdr.com.
Previously we posted about the Raspberry Pi’s ability to modulate one of its pins to produce FM transmissions with PiFM. A developer (F5OEO) has recently expanded on this idea, and now the Raspberry Pi is capable of modulating and transmitting FM, AM, SSB, SSTV and FSQ signals anywhere between 130 kHz to 750 MHz.
To transmit with the Raspberry Pi all you need to do is plug in a wire antenna to Pin 12 (GPIO 18) on the GPIO port and run the PiTx software by piping in an audio file or image for SSTV.
Important Disclaimer: While the output power is very small, you should still take great care as the carrier is a square wave, and there is no filtering on the antenna output. So any transmissions will cause harmonics all across the spectrum – possibly interfering with life critical devices. A filter *must* be used if you actually plan on transmitting with any sort of range further than your room. The predecessor PiFM has been reported to have a range of 10cm without an antenna, so it may be best to not connect an antenna to the pin if just testing. With a simple wire antenna the range is increased to 100m which could affect your neighbours. There are also strict laws and licences governing transmitting in most countries so make sure you follow them carefully. In short, get your ham licence and understand what you are doing before transmitting with any sort of amplification/range.
The code for PiTX can be downloaded at https://github.com/F5OEO/rpitx. Also see the authors (@F5OEOEvariste) Twitter account at https://twitter.com/F5OEOEvariste for some more info about PiTX.
Over on YouTube the author of PiTx has also uploaded a video showing a wireless doorbell being replayed with PiTx. On the video description he writes:
PiTx is a software which permit to transmit HF directly through a pin of Raspberry Pi GPIO. Unlike PiFM which transmit only in FM, PiTx is able to perform multi modulation (FM,AM,SSB,SSTV,FSQ) : it has an I/Q input to be agnostic.
The demonstration here is done in several steps :
- Record an I/Q file from a doorbell transmitter on 434MHZ (first part)
- Playing it with the Raspberry Pi using Pitx on HF on same frequency
- Listen to the doorbell receiver which recognize the signalConclusion : Pitx is now a real TRANSMIT SDR at very low cost. Be aware that it generate lot of harmonics and never compete with USRP or HackRF.
Goal is to popularize the transmission as rtlsdr popularize the reception.
The post Transmitting FM, AM, SSB, SSTV and FSQ with just a Raspberry Pi appeared first on rtl-sdr.com.
A few days ago we posted about RpiTx, a piece of software that allows you to turn your Raspberry Pi into a multi purpose transmitter by modulating the output on one of the GPIO pins.
Now over on YouTube user HA7ILM has uploaded a video showing his related software qtcsdr. Qtcsdr runs on the Raspberry Pi and interfaces with an RTL-SDR dongle and RpiTx to create a simple transceiver radio. In the video HA7ILM shows the software in action by using a microphone and RTL-SDR plugged into the Raspberry Pi, and showing the microphone transmitting via RpiTx and being received via the RTL-SDR.
Qtcsdr can be downloaded from https://github.com/ha7ilm/qtcsdr.
As always with this type of thing only transmit if you are licensed and take care with the transmitted distance and filter the antenna output when transmitting over a distance that is further than your room. Also regarding this, on the qtcsdr GitHub page the author mentions that a Raspberry Pi shield called the QRPi filter + amplifier is currently in development (white paper).
The post Building a Ham Transceiver with an RTL-SDR, Raspberry Pi and Rpitx appeared first on rtl-sdr.com.
Docker is a Linux based platform which allows you to build and deploy complex applications into a self contained “container” package that contains all the needed applications and dependencies. The container is completely preconfigured to just work as soon as you install the application without the need for any extra configuration.
Over on his blog SysRun has been developing an ADS-B ready docker image for use with the RTL-SDR on a Raspberry Pi embedded computer. His post shows how he prepared and built the docker image on the Pi and how to run the docker image.
In addition he has also uploaded another post showing how to prepare, build and run an ACARS decoding based docker image on the Raspberry Pi.
In the future SysRun also hopes to upload an AIS Docker tutorial.
The post Raspberry Pi Docker Images for ADS-B and ACARS with the RTL-SDR appeared first on rtl-sdr.com.
Back in October 2015 we posted about a piece of software for the Raspberry Pi called PiTX. PiTX allows you to turn your Raspberry Pi into a fully functional RF transmitter. When combined with an RTL-SDR a full transceiver radio can be built using the QTCSDR software.
PiTX works by modulating the GPIO pins on the Pi in such a way that it is able to produce FM modulation. The major problem with using this method of producing radio is that it creates large amounts of harmonics and interference outside of the intended transmit frequency. Interference like this is illegal and could potentially disrupt life critical radio systems such as emergency services, cellphones and air traffic control.
In order to cleanly transmit with PiTX an output RF filter should be used. Recently, the team over at TAPR.org have released a 20M WSPR TX filter shield. WSPR is pronounced “Whisper” and is short for “Weak Signal Propagation Reporter Network“. It is a type of amateur radio signal that can be broadcast and received around the world by using very low transmit power. Radio amateurs use it to see how far their signal can travel when using very low power (QRP) and to investigate signal propagation conditions.
The 20M WSPR shield sells for $20 at www.tapr.org/kits_20M-wspr-pi.html.
The post PiTX QRP TX Shield for WSPR on 20M Now For Sale appeared first on rtl-sdr.com.
Over on his blog rtlsdr4everyone author Akos has recently uploaded three new posts. The first post is about the Raspberry Pi minicomputer and the post discusses the merits of using the Raspberry Pi with an RTL-SDR dongle. The second post provides information to help people new to RTL-SDR choose their first dongle, and weighs up options between dongles that cost $10, $20, $25, $35 and $50 dollars. Finally, the third post compares two dongles on HF performance.
The post RTLSDR4Everyone: Raspberry Pi guide & choosing your first dongle appeared first on rtl-sdr.com.
Over on YouTube user Tobias Härling has uploaded a video showing how he used a Raspberry Pi and RTL-SDR dongle to set up an AIS receiver. AIS stands for Automatic Identification System and is a radio system similar to ADS-B which allows you to create a radar-like system for boats. For Windows we have a tutorial on AIS reception here.
In his setup he uses rtl_ais and the kplex software and shows how to install everything from scratch. He also shows how to set the system up so that decoding automatically starts up and begins outputing NMEA data through the network when the Raspberry Pi is powered on. This way an a device like an iPad could be used to run OpenCPN to view the plotted ships.
The post Setting up a Raspberry Pi Based AIS Receiver with an RTL-SDR appeared first on rtl-sdr.com.
