Use Fitlet With GQRX Software Defined Radio Application

Application notes using fitlet. Credit goes to user Hassellbear for publishing more than enough cool application notes to justify a dedicated sub-forum.

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hassellbear
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Joined: Mon May 28, 2012 12:25 pm

Use Fitlet With GQRX Software Defined Radio Application

Post by hassellbear »

Overview

Gqrx SDR is a software defined radio application based upon the GNU Radio open source software defined radio development toolkit. Gqrx makes use of Qt graphics.

Gqrx SDR supports a nice portfolio of SDR hardware including the inexpensive rtl-sdr dongle. It allows the reception of AM, FM, Lower Sideband, Upper Sideband, and CW. It also provides variable width filters, an oscilloscope display, a waterfall display, and numerous other features.

Gqrx SDR works quite well with Fitlet.




Hardware

For this demonstration, I am using the RTL-SDR DVB-T USB dongle.

Check the following link for an up-to-date list of supported receiver hardware

http://gqrx.dk/supported-hardware




Software

Required Packages
1. gnuradio
2. qt
3. gqrx-sdr

The required packages are included in the repositories and can be installed using the package manager or apt-get install.


In order to use the rtl-sdr usb receiver, you will need to 1st follow the steps shown here:

https://www.fit-pc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=142&t=5717





Software Operation and Results

As stated above, Gqrx has very good features. The following pictures show Gqrx running on Fitlet.

FM Broadcast Band
fm_broadcast_band.jpg
fm_broadcast_band.jpg (245.82 KiB) Viewed 12293 times
National Weather Service Broadcast
national_weather_radio.jpg
national_weather_radio.jpg (245.78 KiB) Viewed 12293 times


Conclusions

1. Gqrx running on Fitlet in conjunction with the budget priced rtl-sdr dongle makes a cool Software Defined Radio Receiver.

2. Fitlet demonstrates its versatility.




Further Reading

http://gqrx.dk/
http://gnuradio.org/redmine/projects/gnuradio/wiki

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