My $65 portable dual SDR setup...

[jparks29]

When the SDR dongles were first becoming popular, I went out and bought one...

I quickly realized some shortcomings.

1. RFI, and a LOT of it... unshielded dongles, and virtually no front end filtering.... even without an antenna connected there were spikes across the band...
2. You need more than one! Whether you're using it with DSD or unitrunker or just screwing around, you need at least 2!
3. Too many wires! USB cables and antenna cables and... way too much clutter...

So, with that in mind, I dun fixt it!




Parts list.

1 - Ebay special no name rx - ~$20
1 - Amazon special no name rx - ~$20
2 - BNC-3199P (Isolated BNC bulkhead jack) - $1.59 ea
2 - 6" (ish) sections of RG-174 from my junk drawer ($Free$)
1 - 20' Active USB extension cable - $10
1 - Hammond 1590BB enclosure - $7
1 - low profile hub - $4
1 - RF choke - $1

A couple minutes with a soldering iron and a couple holes drilled and I was done!








RFI is gone, although front end does get overloaded if gain is set too high when on an external antenna...

It's now small/easily transportable, which means it now goes in my pelican case with my laptop, super easy for travel.

With a BNC 'T', I can bridge both connectors to use a single antenna. I also can run discrete antennas for optimal band reception.

 

[tumegpc]

Very nice . I like the Hammond 1590BB enclosure.

 

[eorange]

It looks like there's no antenna connection to the black RTLSDR...?

 

[jparks29]

It looks like there's no antenna connection to the black RTLSDR...?

Both are soldered to their own BNC connector.

 

[haleve]

Awesome

Ever think of going into business hooking this up for fellow SDR hobbyist?

 

[jparks29]

Ever think of going into business hooking this up for fellow SDR hobbyist?

Needs to look a lot prettier... hehe...

I'd want to use jumpers instead of soldering and a couple other things... which would increase cost, but make upgrading to newer models, easier.

TBH, any hobbyist should be able to do this, it's not rocket surgery.

 

[mikepdx]

Excellent work!


If you go into business, remember Uniden's secret for success -
charge a fortune, leave out the promised advertised features,
lie, then remain mum about their ETA.
Easy money.

 

[foxtail]

Does the active usb play into this much? Is your source (pc) 20 feet away? Just wondering, thanks

 

[eorange]

I did a similar thing back in November, but opted for separate USB ports and externally mounted the LEDs.

http://forums.radioreference.com/software-defined-radio/274097-custom-rtl-sdr.html#post2295131

 

[Your_account]

the problem for me is i need the same but with one antenna.
So when i travel the are more interesting frequency like ACARS who send (in Europe) on the 131 and 136 frequency.

 

[K5MPH]

That metal inclosure. will keep out a lot of stray RF nice jop thanks for the photos..........

 

[Your_account]

someone say that Alu is not god must me some Steel or Copper.
You searched for shield - rtl-sdr.com

 

[haleve]

Me Too

the problem for me is i need the same but with one antenna.
So when i travel the are more interesting frequency like ACARS who send (in Europe) on the 131 and 136 frequency.

I am looking to have one enclosure fashioned for me too with two NooElect sticks that would be connected to a 40 MHz DIY dipole feeding my PC as an SDR & a BCD996XT for low band scanning & DX'ing, would that work or am I missing something?

6 Meter Repeater Antenna 1/2 Wave Coaxial Vertical Antenna Design

Apex SPL-2 Splitter and Combiner

 

[jparks29]

I use a BNC T and a jumper to bridge the connections when only 1 antenna is needed.

For separate applications, like simultaneous ACARS and ADSB, one is VHF and one is L band (UHF), so separate antennas are required.....

A discone would work, but it's equally good (and equally bad) across its rated range... whereas separate antennas can be designed for the band you want to monitor.

 

[jacknifedbl]

i have my first SDR dongle on the way i was wondering about RFI myself, but this seems to be about the same thing i had planned to do to help keep it down...i had not though about running 2 like that but i may have to get another ordered... everything i was wonder about if it would work seems to be answered in this build.. nice build btw!!