RTL-SDR

[jwax]

Anybody have a look at this technology yet?
As an old ham, this dongle tech is amazing!
https://www.adafruit.com/products/1497

I'd like to hear what others think, or hear your experiences with SDR.

[haklesup]

I wonder if it can decode HD Radio, that's not supposed to be encrypted but for some reason radio receivers that can play it are rare and expensive. I suppose HD Radio is a failing experiment.

This is certainly cheaper and smaller than other alternatives.

[dyarker]

HD on the AM Broadcast won't work through the SDR because the carrier frequency is below 24MHz.

The AM/FM/CW are analog modulations, while HD is digital. It probably could be made to work if you ALSO have the correct software CODEC to convert the bits back to sound.

Zadig+SDR# (a program mentioned on the linked page), only offered analog modulation choises on the settings example. The POCSAG also mentioned is data for pagers, not digitized audio.

Cheers,

[jwax]

Upconverters are available for these, to receive the lower frequencies. I've heard some are 125 MHz, so 1.00 MHz in the AM band comes out on 126 MHz on the SDR receiver.

No, they do not decode HD radio, but with the bandwidth available, there's still thousands of interesting stations to listen to!