Is it possible to use a long USB extension cord on a SDR dongle to move the antenna to a different location instead of extending the antenna cable? This seems like it would reduce losses on the antenna cable. I tried it with a short male to female USB cord, but it seemed like it made the signal go away. Has anyone successfully done this?
USB extension cord on SDR dongle?
- Thread starter BerfH
- Start date
I run all my sdrs on 6 foot usb extension cables with no loss, any length longer than that I'm not sure of. How long a cable are you using?
I used a setup for quite some time that had multiple SDR dongles on USB extensions. I used the USB extensions as strain reliefs as they were far more flexible than the RG6 on the other end of the dongles. If memory serves, the USB cables were 6ft long. For the most part the setup worked fine although the computer would lose one of the dongles periodically. Reconnecting the dongle to cable connection and restarting the scanning program would correct that problem.
Most likely a loose connection on there. If you set it and forget it, they stay firm for long time. If you constantly plug and unplug, they get loose. Plenty of how to videos on reconditioning usb ports. Just do not attempt on PC if its powered on. You can blow the circuit.
Probably right. The intent wasn't to plug and unplug them regularly. I only did that to reestablish the physical connection. But the solution likely aggravated the problem.
Given how long ago its been, they were USB 2.0 ports and cables
wgbecks
Active Member
There are a lot of USB extension cables on the market today that are of inferior quality and don't support high bit rates required for SDR applications. Then too, some are only wired for charging only applications. Beware of these cheap knockoff cables!!
3.0 cables, i run 6 sdrs on one cable with a powered usb hub. This is what I use:
This is the hub:
This is the hub:
Another item to consider with cheap cable is their ability to carry adequate power. The SDRs dongles that I use get pretty warm so their power consumption isn't negligible.
I use some of the Active USB extensions. Many of them allow you to daisy chain two of them together to get a distance near 130 feet.
I'm using three extensions made by Tripp-Lite I believe, they are chained together to make one long USB extension.
Amazon.com: Tripp Lite USB 2.0 Hi-Speed Active Extension Repeater Cable (A M/F) 20 Meter (65-ft.) (U026-20M) : Electronics That's just one example but several different makes of similar type active extensions are available including USB 3 types.
I have one of the orange Flight-aware SDR sticks plugged into this long extension inside an waterproof enclosure up on my roof. It works fantastic and allows for a super short coax run to the antenna which is only a few feet away from the flight aware SDR stick.
I did use a gel type stuff inside each of the cables connection points to keep out moisture. It's the same gel the phone companies use for making watertight connections in outdoor phone wiring pedestals. I do not recall what that gel is called but I've never had an issue from moisture anywhere along my USB extension runs. I think a decent dielectric grease will also work to weatherproof the USB connections.
The extensions I'm using are only USB 2.0 but none of my SDR sticks are USB 3 or higher so 2.0 speeds are just fine. I've never tried placing a small USB hub at the outdoor end so I have no idea if one active USB extension can handle more than one SDR stick or not.
These active extensions are all self powered from the hosts USB bus so I doubt they can support more than one typical SDR stick.
I'm using three extensions made by Tripp-Lite I believe, they are chained together to make one long USB extension.
Amazon.com: Tripp Lite USB 2.0 Hi-Speed Active Extension Repeater Cable (A M/F) 20 Meter (65-ft.) (U026-20M) : Electronics That's just one example but several different makes of similar type active extensions are available including USB 3 types.
I have one of the orange Flight-aware SDR sticks plugged into this long extension inside an waterproof enclosure up on my roof. It works fantastic and allows for a super short coax run to the antenna which is only a few feet away from the flight aware SDR stick.
I did use a gel type stuff inside each of the cables connection points to keep out moisture. It's the same gel the phone companies use for making watertight connections in outdoor phone wiring pedestals. I do not recall what that gel is called but I've never had an issue from moisture anywhere along my USB extension runs. I think a decent dielectric grease will also work to weatherproof the USB connections.
The extensions I'm using are only USB 2.0 but none of my SDR sticks are USB 3 or higher so 2.0 speeds are just fine. I've never tried placing a small USB hub at the outdoor end so I have no idea if one active USB extension can handle more than one SDR stick or not.
These active extensions are all self powered from the hosts USB bus so I doubt they can support more than one typical SDR stick.
I am using 1, 10 foot and 1, 6 foot cables to my dongle, no problems. The cables are quality USB 3 type into the USB 2 port on the PC.
I read somewhere that 30 foot is about the max distance for cables without repeaters.
I read somewhere that 30 foot is about the max distance for cables without repeaters.
That is most likely Dow Corning #4 compound. Ideal for waterproofing any sort of outdoor connectors including SMA, N, UHF, etc.
