Choice of Software Defined Radio (SDR) for radio astronomy

[athornett]

I would like to encourage others to add their own thoughts on what SDR they use for radio astronomy and how effective they are.

I am using FUNCube Pro Plus for meteor detection and RTL-SDR Blog V3 for hydrogen line observing, both of which work well.

Andy

[Tomatobro]

The really cheap RTL dongles are a waste of time (IMO). I used a FUNCube pro plus for a long time for meteor detection using GRAVES and found it to be very good.

More recently I got involved with the group that set up a beacon at the Sherwood observatory for backscatter and have been using the RSP DX and a Leo Bodner frequency calibrator which performs very well. The antenna is a MOXON which came via the BAA shop.

Being located in Telford my main problem is backscatter from aircraft using Bham airport and East Midlands. Bham have a curfew but EM does not so filtering out the aircraft backscatter has been my main occupation over the last few months. What I am trying to do is to get a accurate meteor count, Meteor entry pattern and Time stamp backscatter events so I can match them to the UKMON published data.

The attached image shows the scale of the problem with aircraft backscatter and the progress with filtering so far

 

[SteveBz]

This one.

Edited November 6, 2023 by SteveBz

[Astronomist]

I found the RTL-SDR v3 worked well for the hydrogen line, although i haven't ever used a more expensive one to compare it too.

[SteveBz]

16 hours ago, Astronomist said:

I found the RTL-SDR v3 worked well for the hydrogen line, although i haven't ever used a more expensive one to compare it too.

Yes, I think what's what mine is too, although you have to watch out for fakes!!

[Astronomist]

3 hours ago, SteveBz said:

you have to watch out for fakes!!

I was careful to buy mine from the rtl website, there are some very realistic looking fakes out there, especially on ebay and amazon. I think they are just using RTL's photos in their listings.

[SteveBz]

15 hours ago, Astronomist said:

I was careful to buy mine from the rtl website, there are some very realistic looking fakes out there, especially on ebay and amazon. I think they are just using RTL's photos in their listings.

I can't find my fake just now, but they look realistic too. It's just the printing on the outside that's a bit different.

[athornett]

I bought my RTL SDR V3 from UK Amazon so it sounds like I was lucky not to get a fake!

Andy

[athornett]

Does anyone know how to tell fake from real RTL SDR?

[athornett]

Also have you seem RMOB website as place to compare your meteor counts to and once working to upload your data?

[athornett]

https://www.rmob.org/index.php?lng=en#Andrew Thornett

[athornett]

If you are using your SDR for SID data then here is a good reference website for live data for comparison.

https://sidstation.loudet.org/data-en.xhtml

[Astronomist]

1 hour ago, athornett said:

Does anyone know how to tell fake from real RTL SDR?

RTL has a Fairly comprehensive guide on their website on how to tell the difference between a real and a fake v3, however on the page it does say that scammers use photographs of the real thing, so the only way to be sure is to order via either their store or one of the approved resellers listed on their website.

[Astronomer365]

Hi,

 

I'm new to the forum but this topic is right where I want to be. I dug out my Funcube Pro + and the aerial I made from the article in sky and night re catching meteors using radar years ago. Unfortunatly, having changed the PC/laptop several times since then I've lost the spectrum labs files (*.usr). Does anyone have copies of these files or one I can use with spectrum labs ? the funcube seems to be working fine.

 

 

[Tomatobro]

I would download it again to reinstall all the files.

I have had a quick look through my old set (I don't use SL anymore) but the files have been mucked about as parameters have been changed so I would start afresh.