A new way to listen to ham radio - and other frequencies

I have heard a lot about SDR dongles in recent years, so when an RTL-SDR V4 genuine (not a clone) dongle came up for sale here in Ireland, I snapped at the chance to get one relatively cheaply to see what all the fuss is about.

My RTL-SDR V4 dongle is the latest addition to the EI2KC ham shack.

Now I'll be honest in telling you that I (a) didn't know what to expect and (b) didn't have a clue how to use it, since I've never owned one. It has taken me about a week to get it working properly, and receiving clear signals on the amateur bands and on other frequencies.

Some of my ham friends say that to RTFM (Read The F*ckin Manual) is cheating! They say you're supposed to get some radio equipment working properly without consulting the manual. It's a joke, of course, but it probably refers to the fact that many radio amateurs and shortwave listeners do not, in fact, read the manual when installing a new piece of radio equipment.

The dongle came with an SO239 to SMA adapter, which was convenient, since all my antennas have PL259s on the end of their feeders. I was able to get the SDRPP (SDR Plus Plus or SDR++) software working, but initially it did not seem to be receiving anything from the dongle.

Some Googling and watching YouTube videos soon educated me about certain settings. I had it running, receiving some lower side band signals on the 40 metre (7Mhz) band, but those signals sounded distorted and I was not exactly thrilled.

A screenshot of the RTL-SDR V4 decoding FT8 and FT4 signals on 20 metres.

However, after a little bit of experimenting with some settings, I was eventually able to receive some quite clear signals on various amateur bands, mainly 80 metres, 40 metres and 20 metres. The SDR++ software has an excellent FT8 and FT4 decoding feature, and because the dongle can receive 2.4Mhz of bandwidth, the FT8 decoder works even when you are tuned away from the FT8 portion of the band.

I was able to receive some very nice, clear and clean signals on 40 metres in particular yesterday, and sat for a while listening to Denis EI6IF during a POTA activation. I could also hear most of his callers. I am able to use the Butternut HF6V as the receive antenna, alternating that with my random wire.

So far, so good. Tonight, I spent a short time listening to some lovely Chinese music on the AM broadcast band on 7.265Mhz. 

This dongle will allow me to keep an eye/ear on one band while the Yaesu FTdx10 is tuned to another. It's basically a cheap way to listen to two bands simultaneously, and saves on the space required to put another HF transceiver/receiver on the desk.

I will keep you posted about further SWL activities using this little piece of kit. By the way, it cost me €45. Not bad considering all that it offers.

Photo of the radio shack all lit up at night

Above is a photo of my radio shack at night, all lit up. I was prompted to do this by Tony EI4DIB who posted a similar photo of his shack in the dark on Facebook. I decided to do the same thing. It took a bit of setting up. The handheld 2m/70cm radios do not stay illuminated, so each of those needed to be lit up quickly before the shot was taken. Also included on the top right is my new digital SWR meter, which is nicely backlit in blue. There are a couple of mic keypads lit up in the photo too. There is some reflection on the computer keyboard from the IC-756PRO and also my Kent dual paddle is lit up by the screen of the Icom IC-746.

Pictures from the annual radio rally in Coolmine

Ark EI9KC and Adam EI5JQ manning the EI0PL/SP7IDX hexbeam stand.

John EI6DN and Pierce EI4CI.

A portion of the crowd at Coolmine.

Tony EI4DIB and Ben EI4IN.

Dundalk EI7DAR President and Chairman Tom EI9CJ and Thos EI2JD.

Tom EI6K and Sean EI9CBB.

Tom EI6K and his son Tony EI6EQB and me in the middle. Tom was licenced in 1952.

Tom EI6K and Ger EI4HOB. Myself and Ger chat on the Dublin
repeaters during the evening commute most days.

Southeast Network . . . Antonio EI2KG, Declan EI4GJB and David EI6GVB.

Buying and selling at the Phoenix Amateur Radio Club rally in Coolmine.

Enjoying the Coolmine rally.

Sean EI9CBB and Don EI6IL chatting at Coolmine.

Mike EI2DJ (2nd right) and John EI2HO (right) and friends.

DX talk . . . Don EI6IL and Doug EI2CN.

Fra and Jim EI2HJB.

EI4DIB Tony and Michael EI9GGB chatting at the rally.

Southeast Communications stand at the rally.

Browsing at the Coolmine rally.

Sean EI4IP and EI2EK.

Terry EI4GLB and Mike EI2DJ chatting at the Coolmine rally.

Patrick EI4HKB, Antonio EI2KG and Dennis EI2HSB.

Among the items for sale at the rally was this Russian navy cap, modelled by Tony EI4DIB.

Looking forward to the Phoenix Amateur Radio Rally in Coolmine

A short video made on the morning of the Phoenix Amateur Radio Club annual radio rally in Coolmine, Blanchardstown, Dublin.

The Icom IC-756 PRO - what a beauty!

I wanted to take a striking picture of this beautiful rig which has recently been added to the shack. I hope this does it justice. I have greatly enjoyed using this rig so far. It not only looks great, but it performs brilliantly too.

A lovely old film about amateur radio

Some of you may have seen this before, but I came across this quaint old film from 1939 on YouTube. It's about amateur radio, and particular how this service can be utilised in emergency situations. Very interesting.