Hardware

Explore Software Defined Radio — by Wolfram Donat (19 / 30)

👈 Chapter 4 Digital Speech Decoding | TOC | Software 👉

Luckily, no matter which operating system you’re using, no additional hardware is required beyond what you were using to listen to standard FM radio signals. That being said, however, you stand a much better chance of receiving some good signals if you have a good antenna. In preparation for listening to weather satellites, it might be a good idea to find or purchase an old TV rabbit ear antenna setup.

These are available on Amazon or your local big box store for around ten dollars. I would suggest that you choose a set that terminates to a coax connection. You can then follow up your antenna purchase with two things: a longer cable for your dongle and an adapter to connect that longer cable to the coax cable on the antenna. Both of these are available on Amazon — look for an MCX male-to-female extension cable (often used for GPS systems) and an MCX-to-coax adapter. Once you’ve got your antenna and cable setup, you’re ready to receive digital signals, as well as the older analog signals.

👈 Chapter 4 Digital Speech Decoding | TOC | Software 👉

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