On Fri, 27 Jan 2017 16:13:30 -0500, rickman wrote:

A specific question about the USB RTL-SDR. Would it and the software
allow me to get much detail in the LF band, specifically around 60 kHz?
That's an area I would like to do some work in.

Y're guilty of topic drift. Give yourself a slap across the knuckles
with a wooden ruler.

The RTL2832 and R820T2 tuner covers 24 - 1766 Mhz. You can buy
upconverters but they typically bottom out at 100Khz.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182423524669
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=rtl-dsp+upconverter
This is NOT the way to do WWVB.

The best way is to use a PC and a sound card. I learned the hard and
somewhat expensive way that an internal sound card is a great way to
analyze the spectrum of all the crap being generated inside the
computah. Therefore, I suggest an external USB sound card, that runs
at 192Kbits/sec or 384Kbits/sec.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=192khz+sound+card+usb
I don't actually have one of these, but was able to play with one for
a few days with tolerable results.

There are examples of sound card VLF receivers on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2W1x6Rb9hI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwxdZ0fY8fM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrJ77GiBNQw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2W1x6Rb9hI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKSOoZ2vhvo
SDR-sharp is the most common software used.


--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558