To get starting with SDR or Software Defined Radio you will need the following:
- A cheap digital TV tuner that has the Realtek RTL2832U chipset (DVB-T USB TV)
- Download and extract SDRSharp from sdrsharp.com
Install the necessary drivers with Zadig.exe. Select the device from the drop-down in the center and install the WinUSB driver, as shown below.
I had already installed it at this point which is why it says “Replace Driver”
Hopefully everything should be OK and installs successfully!
Close Zadig and fire up SDRSharp.exe, which will be located in the same folder as Zadig.
Select the USB device you intend to use from the left hand side.
Hit the play button, all being well you should start to see a spectrum appear. Locate a peak and tune your digital radio to that frequency.
You should start hearing what is at that frequency!
What’s Next?
Go explore! There are plenty of interesting frequencies you can probe of which include:
- ADS-B range - used for Air Traffic Management! (more on this later)
- FM Radio
- 433 Mhz range - which many consumer electronics use to communicate
- Generally everything between 48.25 - 863.25MHz