SDR - Hardware First Steps

If you haven't read the SDR Page on this blog, do so first as it gives the basics about SDR.

Hardware

Having decided, mainly because of the low costs involved, to give SDR a try, I need to get my hands on some hardware!

I have plenty of PC's of various configurations and OS's available.  What I need to purchase is a USB DVB-T Dongle and an aerial for initial testing.

Having read the Wiki at: http://rtlsdr.org/start.  I had an idea of the different chips and the frequency ranges they covered.  Remember my goal here is to get a basic setup for as little cash as possible, with the most possible features.

I decided on the Rafael Micro R820T chip and tried a simple search on eBay for R820T.

Welcome

Welcome

Welcome to my new Blog 'Hacking My Life'

Hacking probably means something different to me than it does to you.  My interpretation of the word is:  If I can find a method to achieve something that I would have to buy, without doing so, either by making or adapting something else, that's my preferred method.  Ideally the solution should be more elegant in function than it would be without being hacked, to be more elegant in form as well is the ultimate goal.  I guess it is a combination of recycling / upcycling & a variety of engineering techniques.

Therefore, expect to find the weird and wonderful here.

This is my first attempt at blogging, so also please be patient - helpful comments would be appreciated as I expect to make many edits of the information I post here.

A few words about me:

Tech Addict

Music Lover - From Metal to House and everything in between

Avid 'Hacker' - See above for what I think I mean by this

Food Lover

Parent

My expectations of the blog:

A progress report on any number of 'projects'

Information. sites and links I find useful, all credit to their respective authors

Who knows what else?  I expect this blog to be quite organic and to grow and change as I get used to trying to document things and recording my ideas and implementations.