KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

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SDR for newcomers to amateur radio?

Posted: 02 Dec 2016 01:23 PM PST
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/kb6nu...m_medium=email


This morning, I got an e-mail from a reader who asked, I would like you to
helpÂ* me understand software-defined radio (SDR) and applicationsÂ* for hams.

Now, Im in no way, shape, or form an expert on SDR. I know whatÂ*SDR is—or
at least I think I do—but how to explain it to a newcomer? So, theÂ*first
thing I did, of course, was to do a Google search. Searching for software
defined radio for amateur radio operators yielded 181,000 results.
The ICOM IC-7300 is an example of a modern software-defined radio for
amateur use.

The best one that I found is Software Defined Radio for Amateur Radio — An
Overview. This is a slide show from a presentation give byÂ*Steve Dick,
K1RF, on February 11, 2015. The first few slides give a good overview of
what we mean when we say a radio is software-defined. Then, the
presentation digs into some of the technical aspects of SDR.

The ARRL website has a page on SDR, but unfortunately, most of the links
are to articles published from 1998 to 2002. this page should really be
updated. It does include a few good links, though, including one to the
BORES Signal Processing DSP course Introduction to DSP.

Other good resources that I found include:

An Introduction to HF Software-Defined Radio, by Andrew Barron, ZL3DW. This
is a book on the topic in PDF form. Actually, Im not really sure if this is
a legal copy, as aÂ*print version is available on Amazon for $20.
New to SDR?
RTL-SDR.COM. This site is all about usingÂ*DVB-T TV tuner dongles based on
the RTL2832U chipset as software-defined radios. These dongles are very
inexpensive and a cheap way to get into SDR.


If a beginner asked you this question, how would you respond?Â*What are some
resources that you have found useful?

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