Scanning FM broadcasting using RTL2832U

On this posting, I write about my SDR device trial for scanning FM broadcasting using RTL2832U. Software defined radio (SDR) is a radio system which the components are implemented in software, different with  the traditional way of hardware implementation. SDR Dongle consists of an RF front-end followed by and analog- to-digital converter which provides samples to computer. The rest of the processing is done solely in software. 

Kind of devices that I use for this trial such as: 

• Antenna, as RF signal receiver. Antenna that I use on this trial is indoor analogue TV antenna, with booster.
• USB dongle (see pict). It consist of RF in (rom antenna), Tunner Chip, ADC Chip, and port USB as output (to laptop). The E4000 Elonics chip is tuner that controlled digitally by software on PC. The tuner selects a frequency band and demodulates it to baseband. The RTL2832U chip serves as an analog to digital converter that samples the baseband signal and outputs the samples to a host computer through a USB port. The device uses I/Q baseband demodulation and sampling. To know about the signal I/Q further on this slide.
• Laptop that has been installed by SDRSharp/ SDR# program as user interface, and signal prosessing software to control the dongle.

USB Dongle

Configuration

Before the start of trial, the first step is installing software SDR# SDRSharp. the installation steps can be viewed at the following link. After the SDR# software is installed properly, the dongle is ready to use. SDR # software settings and FM scanning results can be watched in the video below.

Next target is receiving NOAA signal, APRS, JOTA and many more..

Hopefully it is useful. Enjoy..