Come join the DARC for the March 2022 Lecture and Lab. This will be a fun virtual event. Plan on joining the Google Meet Sat March 26, 2022 at 11am. Find the Google Meet meeting link on the DARC Calendar. We will be showcasing SDR (Software Defined Radio) applications using an RTL based dongle and a Raspberry Pi running the pre-canned all-in-one “Fox In A Box” Pi image; AMSAT’s suite of SDR apps for the Raspberry Pi with an RTL-SDR v3 dongle.

This is an open to the public event so anybody can come and join the fun you do NOT need to be a club member. This Lecture and Lab will be packed full of information about what you can do with SDR – the focus will be on how best to use SDR applications. There is no cost for this event. However, if you want to play along with your own SDR rig, prior to the event acquire a rtl-sdr.com v3 sdr USB dongle along with a Raspberry Pi 3 or better yet, a Raspberry Pi 4 and make sure the power supply is 3A 5v or better. Be sure to grab the FIAB (fox in a box) pre-made SDR Raspberry Pi Image from: http://burnsfisher.com/AMSAT/FoxInABox/ make sure you have downloaded Fox-in-box-v3.iso.gz from that site. You may use the Raspberry Pi Imager to write it to a 16G or 32G SD Card. The SDR lab will focus on the applications included in/on that image. For best results have your Pi with keyboard video and mouse and SDR dongle and antenna ready to go before the event. Be sure to have some sort of audio out connected to your Pi – will want to hear some of the sounds the SDR captures.

Here is a note from Jack KD4IZ – our guest speaker that will be conducting the SDR Lecture and Lab: I just learned that the RTL-SDR.COM V3 dongle has become essentially “unobtainium” at Amazon, Walmart, eBay, and other outlets. If your folks have not obtained one yet, it might be best for them to look at one of the Chinese clones like those from Nooelec, etc, that *ship from the US*. They should specify that the device covers HF to UHF. I can’t make any recommendations as I have no experience with any of the others. I do know some are frequency limited and will not do HF without a transverter box. 

This will be an interactive Lecture and Lab and to get the most out of it here are a few things you can think about for discussion durning the lab: What SDR are you using if any ? If you are using one what have you done with it and what applications are you using ? What software have you used for SDR ?

If you have a Pi and were able to load the above image your desktop should look like this:

In preparation for the SDR Lecture and Lab – we will be hosting a pre-lab setup and configuration session via Google Meet. Check the club event calendar for the meeting link – Thursday 7:30pm central time March 24, 2022. If you need help or have questions getting the FIAB image noted above written to an SD-Card or have any questions or comments please join this pre-lab session – there will be little or no time during the Saturday event for downloading, writing the image or setting up the Pi and SDR dongle – will be focused on using the including applications and getting the most out of the software. For the best results you will want to have a fully functional Pi and SDR Dongle running the FIAB image.