Knob for SDR use

[shortwaver]

Wondering if anyone is using a knob, or shuttle device, with their SDR. I would find it so much easier to be able to spin a dial to go up and down the band, instead of using a mouse.

I know their is/was some device called a "Shuttle Express", but that looks much larger, and more complicated than I need. I'm just looking for something with a dial and is still in production.

Even if not, I'm interested in hearing any ideas that you've found.

73

 

[lwvmobile]

Some old multimedia keyboards have the volume wheel for controlling volume. Not sure if those have a set amount of rotation like a potentiometer, or if its a free turning wheel that just has a simple digital output and simulates the volume up and volume down keybinds. Maybe that could be mapped to keybindings for scrolling the frequency if you stumbled across some of those keyboards at a flea market or thrift store.

 

[shortwaver]

Thanks for the idea, I had not thought of that.

 

[Forts]

I always had intentions of building one of these (went as far as gathering all the material, then it got pushed to the back burner...)

Tuning knob for SDR#

I used a USB mouse pcb and replaced the scroll wheel encoder with a rotary encoder with no detents, inserted it in a box preserving all the functions of the original mouse (3 buttons + cursor point…

19max63.wordpress.com

 

[BTJustice]

I use the mouse wheel middle button while hovering over the frequency.

 

[Ubbe]

I use Griffin PowerMate as it's relaxing for the hand if I do a lot of tuning but also use the scroll wheel on the mouse.

/Ubbe

 

[Papagei]

You might research "stream deck". This is a small additional USB keyboard (10 to 20 keys or so) that comes with software that lets you program the keys however you like. Some of them just have buttons, but some offer one or more rotary knobs. They will come with presets for popular applications (like Adobe stuff), but you'll have to dig in to the customization software to get it to work with your SDR.

(They are called that because people who stream things online like to have more keys than a standard keyboard. If someone is streaming a video game, for example, they need to use most of the regular keyboard and mouse to play the game, so the stream deck gives them some extra buttons for adjusting their audio, playing sounds, triggering video effects, etc.)

Another search keyword is "video editing controller". This is a similar idea - an additional USB keyboard - but is more likely to come with knobs, because that's what people who edit a lot of digital video want. Make sure it comes with software that lets you customize it, as these are more likely to be set up to operate a few commercial video-editing programs. They are also aimed at people that don't think anything of buying a $10,000 Mac, so they tend to be a little pricier.

 

[ewijkamp]

@ shortwaver:

I'm working on several knob panels.
Tuning and adjusting software with knobs and switches looks like a piece of cake, but the technique behind isn't.
No, I won't share my work on internet because it took me a lot of time to design and fine tune the soft- and hardware.
All info about the history of my projects is to find on my web pages:
- in Dutch language: http://www.wijkamp.com/sdrcontrollers/
- using Google Translate: https://www-wijkamp-com.translate.g..._sl=nl&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=nl&_x_tr_pto=wapp

So the answer to your question is: yes, I am using a knob (several!) and yes, there are possibilities.
But.. there are also limits in using knobs, as I described on the internet pages too.

- -
More info about SDR software and the RTL-USB sticks is to find on a Dutch forum topic that I started years ago:
- in Dutch language: SDR-Sharp software en USB receiver (dongle) - Zendamateur.COM
- using Google Translate: SDR-Sharp software en USB receiver (dongle) - Zendamateur.COM

Have fun with these SDR radio's and all the different flavours of SDR software.