SDR School Part One The Basics

If you feel a little left behind with all this new-fangled SDR stuff, this video is for you! SDR School is presented in a non-technical fashion. Part one covers SDR basics, Part two will cover SDR hardware, and part three, the software. I hope you find it helpful. Dave W8KFJ

[@WB8BRA]

Oh my God...I got my amateur advance in 1967. I am 78 years old. Built repeaters on UHF and VHF with auto patch. You could not buy one you built them from surplus parts and tubes rule the world of amateur radio. I like your class of instruction, but feel so out of touch, but think I am going to get a SDR radio for kicks ,fun, and giggles. I have a Yaesu 450 radio now and like it.. I wish I was young and smart as I was back then , but still trying. You are doing a good job with this 3 parts series, which I shall watch and hope to get smarter ...

[@davidbee3704]

You're never too old mate! Give it a go.

[@armandowbetancourtr3378]

I am 73 and trying agn to be on the air, must abandon my equipments in YV land 73s from [e-mail] now in MI

[@daklakdigital3691]

Ah, tubes. Perfect for cold Canadian winters. A pair of 807s warm the shack up quickly. These days the hottest components seem to be in some Chinese products.

[@MacroTh3ory]

Happy 80th!

[@erin19030]

I can gaurantee you will be disappointed. I hate buying hardware and they dint give you hardware, when you look for it online there are loads of compatibility problems and they want your credit card number. Bottom line for me its all that Chinese electronics crap.

[@RiwenX]

Great presentation. As a kid, I was fascinated by the idea of radio and wireless communication. Now, as a software engineer, I plan on rediscovering the topic. Your videos are great resources for that. Granted, I'll have to rewatch this one a several times, but it's worth it. Thank you, sir

[@NumanQ.]

RIP Sir, I am watching this video almost close to 4 years of you having passed away from this World. May God have mercy on you.

[@recumbentogiro26]

Where were you and this video when I was stressing through my exams? I passed but I end up with a railyard full of random boxcar's filled with knowledge. Now you've lined them up, in proper order to form a magnificent train. Thank you so much. I can't wait for the rest of this series 😍😍😍😍

[@Linas_LY2H]

Excellent! Subscribed! Two years after and absolutely valid, clear and understandable for a non-engineer ham. As are parts II and III. It's amazing how fast and how far the radio signals technologies (and our hobby ) have gone. I still remember my first radio receiver back in late 80-ties , a direct conversion made of 2 diodes mixer and a 3 transistor sound amplifier. It was bringing in good dx to my SWL log. And now I can ( and I am) come back to this simplicity of few parts in absolutely new world of digital chips! The thrill is just how are these few chips doing their huge job worth of millions of transistors and diodes ... The magic. Thank you! 73! Linas LY2H

[@wojteksz.8984]

Very good explanation of SDR technology and the SDR equipment that represents it. Regarding the needs of ham radio. In three parts it is very clear and matter-of-factly explained. Good for everyone. Not only for those starting with SDR technology. Solutions for different needs and pocket with different resources. It allows you to understand the technical issues and the background behind those that will allow you to make the right choice and the right purchase decision.

[@jonnytwelve]

You sir are a wizard. The knowledge you have chosen to share here will no doubt resonate with future radio enthusiasts on planet Earth . We all have a mutual respect for technology, however, the old-school format has, or at some point will become stagnant. The technology of tomorrow depends on good willed blokes like you Dave! Thanks!

[@audreyroberts11]

Dave does a wonderful job of SDR explanation with multiple examples and graphics. He also periodically reviews what he has shared which is really helpful. But be prepared to pay attention! The information is in depth and will require your full attention. Thanks, Dave! I look forward to parts 2 & 3.

[@glenngoodale1709]

i do enjoy listening to you, watching your video's, and you sharing the things you have done

[@VK2YK]

Great work Dave. I bought a 2nd hand FDM-DUO at start of last year and I'm loving it... I'm learning something new about this radio everytime I use it. I first started looking at SDRs when I got to listen to a presentation from VK6APH Phil in 2013 about his work he was doing, this got me really interested but I've just started to have more time to play radio a little more now as family & work were higher priority at the time. Thanks for doing this video series on SDR principles and history plus where it has the potential to go to, this is what keeps my mind going. Cheers, Adam VK2YK

[@NicholasMaietta]

I just got my hackrf one today. Been really having fun figuring it out. Subbed!

[@blackdog.6398]

Thank you David, very informative I appreciate it ,I just picked the Icom PCR-100 and I love it I’m always looking for SDR radios . This series shows you history and the Evolution of SDR software,,,and the theory of operation and layout off the system.....thank you . Black Dog out 73’s.

[@cuisinartOH1]

Nice work, Dave! I'm eager to see parts 2 and 3. Ed Jones, K8MEJ

[@joseluism.2528]

Excellent video. Congratulations !!! I will watch the rest part2 and part3 . 73

[@7177YT]

So glad I've gound your channel! wonderful stuff!

[@mcsdrd8]

Awesome explanation David, Thank you.

[@danielw8109]

Fantastic job Dave. I'll check out 2 & 3.

[@johnhenshaw4429]

Most excellent tutorial, I might just revive a hobby I let pass 45 years ago! Always have been interested in ham radio. I believe “decimation” means 1 in 10, but like most words in use the meaning has changed.

[@philswede]

Greetings from Sweden! You,Sir, just got yourself a new subscriber 🎉

[@salsamander2764]

Its simply perfect for teaching SDR basics and principle to my radio club! Great job David! 73

[@grahamrichards8531]

Greeting from New Zealand. Just discovered SDR the other day in my recent decision to study analog electronics so I am so grad to find your channel, David, thank you.

[@ryanb70]

Awesome video for beginners into sdr. Thank you

[@Peter-tf2uc]

Excellent video. Thank you!

[@NilsKullberg]

Splendid introduction! My sincere thanks for the clear presentation!

[@johnwest7993]

I'm only 5 minutes into this, but I like it already. It looks and sounds entirely professional, and I suspect you are a pro. I'm an Amateur Extra who has been into RF since I was 10 years old 60 years ago. But while I'm well versed in electronics and I've built and use a couple of SDR's I always find that there are holes in my knowledge base. I think these videos will fill those holes. Thank you.

[@danielforrest3871]

Hey, what a great channel. Thank you for making this content and making it so accessible. New Subscriber here.

[@user-pn9se1tt3c]

Really amazing sir in school day we have assembled (valve radio) really The Technology has developed, once again we thank you for efforts taken of posting 🌷🙏

[@josephcope7637]

The coming of SDRs is producing excitement in me that I haven't felt since I was ten years old and adjusted the trimmer capacitors of a tube type Philco AM radio I won as a door prize at a shop party Dad took me to. From northwest Ohio I ended up picking up radio-telephone transmissions among boats on the Ohio River. I became hooked on DXing far away AM radio and TV broadcasts. One spring afternoon, a freak atmospheric conduit opened enabling me to pick up a Miami, Florida TV station that didn't fade out for twenty minutes. I like digital TV but miss the DX opportunities analog TV made possible.

[@erossalerno5004]

Best SDR explanation i have seen in my life. Greetings

[@demofilm]

dear mr David thank you for this story telling manual. i learned a lot!

[@simonrosier6371]

Thanks Dave . Perfectly explained

[@vincentspena8461]

This is fantastic. Thank you.

[@ScorpionRanchTX]

Best video I've seen on SDR. Thank you!

[@davidkennett7781]

Thanks for the kind words Dave

[@jefejeffwell1113]

Awesome presentation! Thank you!

[@sundownsigns]

Wow, it all seems like MAGIC to me! I wish I had seen this before I was studying for my Extra exam a few months ago. I passed, but it was shear magic.

[@davidk8760]

Great tuition very helpful to anyone interested in radio, thank you.

[@UNITEFORFREDOM777]

This is better than MIT WE WANT MORE THE HOOK UP AND PC IN STALLS WITH THE DIF IN SDR SOFTWARE THANKS

[@pip07200]

Just starting to look into SDR, and this is a great great intro. But will have to do some more backgrounders to understand everything (hopefully). At this stage the assertions that sdr do stuff better than expensive receiver hardware is pretty amazing. Really appreciate this, sir 😁.

[@hadestech8147]

Great work.. Thank you.

[@TheBnjmnlrd]

I’m really excited to get ahold of a lime mini and use it as my starting home/portable transceiver. To couple with my other radios.

[@user-pn9se1tt3c]

Sir, your expectations is really superb thanks for your efforts, god bless you 🌷🙏

[@johnsmith8981]

Thank you for making these 🙏❤️

[@steveallison7950]

Goodness gracious! You have a tremendous radio/narrator voice. Nice job on the video too.

[@dixielandfarm]

Great video, as is part two. I have a RTL-SDR to use as a panadapter with my older Icom-718 and CubicSDR in Linux. I have no reason to upgrade, but I would buy a 7300 in a second if I had to buy another.

[@Albundy1954]

Great stuff! Immediately subscribed to your channel! 73 from DU-Land, Wolf, Dk7NH, DU9BNI

[@90fiddler90]

Thank you for this

[@jtmuzix]

The interesting part is that in professional music recording studios want those sums and differences. They actually emulate them in various plugins from Waves, Universal Audio, Brainworx.

[@MissouriMatt54]

Thank you for the video.

[@vidasvv]

EXCELLENT presentation ! TNX fr the upload ! 73 N8AUM

[@stefanoalfredolaspina8471]

Thank You. Mee too glad

[@burungbaguette]

The magic meme got me everytime.. ahahaha

[@rickeyracer44]

Commendable, yet too technical for a beginner to the technology of SDR radio. Perhaps I'll come back when I've mastered the basics of installing the software of my SDR dongle. Thanks.

[@tanthiennguyen9133]

Vielen Dank für die Bemühungen

[@Homer19521]

Nicely done. 73 Bob

[@MerchantsOfMisery]

Damn you have a good voice for narration.

[@dawtrek1656]

Excellent.

[@voss0749]

Cheap SDR transceivers + low cost multicore pc's running open source OS like linux will outcompete $1000 base stations within a few years. There will still be base stations but they will be SDR's in a box.

[@brianhind6149]

Sir: An absolutely superb tutorial ! May I compliment you on your articulate speech, the rate at which you spoke, & your explanation of terms likely unfamiliar to many viewers. I was particularly impressed by the absence of "Ums, errs, & other "gap filler" articulations. Your descriptions of the various facets of SDR operation was simply excellent, without detracting from technical accuracy. You have a knack (sadly lacking in many teachers) for communicating the arcane Free Masonry of advanced mathematical concepts to those of us who consider the completion of an income tax form to be an arithmetical enigma. I look forward to viewing the remainder of your presentations, thereby being informed as well as entertained. Thank you once more.

[@matttorrence2900]

What do I need to do in order to listen to a lot of these transmissions and record them? I want to use them for the background to a piece of music… Should I just buy an SDR dongle?

[@hyboxer]

Nice job Dave. I assume you spent a great deal of time creating the script. Great voice over...very professional! 73 W4UTD

[@JK-ug7rm]

I am new and want to use SDR with the goal of listening to shortwave, HF ham, VHF repeaters as simple and relativey cheap, while still meeting a successful goal . not too cheap. HF seems very complex and/or expensive, with way too many choices to know what to spend my money on.

[@Silvermanshehadi]

SIR I LOVE YOU YOUR AWSOME AND AMAZING

[@jtc1947]

Hi DAVE, You have a pleasant voice. I do hope that I can listen and NOT be overwhelmed by technical stuff? I am a total noob at this. Johnny-Come-Lately.

[@robertking58]

I have bought a RTL sdr Bundle - nooelec I have the software downloaded and working I guess. I can listen to FM Radio but that is about all. I have tried all the antennas that came with the Nooelect bundle which includes the Ham It Up box. What could be the problem?

[@michelebergo91]

Hi David, how did you be able to have -130dBm of noise floor? I have usually -75/80dBm with a lot of digital noise (USB)?

[@m1geo]

18:35 - Nyquist actually said the sampling frequency must be at least twice the BANDWIDTH. The absolute frequency doesn't matter. This is an important distinction, allowing for subsampling, etc.

[@m1geo]

Gah! I see you cover this at about 20:00

[@saltire546]

Was wanting to purchase an Sdr unit but my issue is the my 2x antennas are 50 ft outside in my workshop and i dont want to re route them into my house , i thought about using a long usb cable but then read that they dont work well and were ony designed for around 5 meter length . I came across these cables which are called active usb and are ment to work for long distances , do these cables take power from the pc?, and do they work as they aint cheap to buy.

[@Jarrod_C]

wait so presselectors were created to reject the "image" frequency?

[@timaustin577]

2023 thanx 🙂

[@bigdog911PAradio]

Hello David I have a Nooelec sdr Nesdr mini for months now and can't get it to work, being don't know what software to get???

[@AA-nm8fi]

thank you so much for this video

[@acestudioscouk-Ace-G0ACE]

Thanks for this, very clear, concise and easy to understand. Tnx G6XIB

[@tombouie]

Well Done & request an update. Oh magic is officially designated as PFM.

[@kn6bst349]

I have the SDRPlay. Which antenna would you recommend?

[@davidkennett7781]

The SDRPlay is just like any other receiver, in that it works better with a better antenna, If you have an interest in any particular band, then get (or make) an antenna for that band. Just a common dipole made for a frequency of interest is a pretty good start. Spend a little money putting some wire in the air is a good place to start. Ypu'll be studying antennas the rest of your amateur career. Dave

[@kn6bst349]

@@davidkennett7781 Thanks for the advice.

[@banjoboymcgee]

So can you decode P25 phase II with it ? Im in Indiana and many public safety agencies are going to that leaving the general public without access to the channels. KD9JWJ

[@davidkennett7781]

Sorry for the delay! I'm not much of a V-UHF guy, and I didn't even know what you were talking about. Since most SDRs feed data to a computer for processing, it might be possible to decode it with software. Maybe this will get you started. wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Trunked_Radio_Decoders Dave

[@Barracuda48082]

Did you say asimulated ?

[@y_x2]

Nyquest state that you must sample at twice the bandwith not the highest frequency.

[@Simon_Rafferty]

David - thank you! G7DMQ

[@harleyburton8731]

Was it fun doing the narration for the original Charlotte's Web? j/k You do have a marketable voice though. If you haven't done narration professionally, you could.

[@julesrzepkowski9108]

Bought a $40 dollar dongle and followed a KZbin video, now i am here, might have missed some steps. Kek

[@bennguyen1313]

Is the reason the input signal (In-Phase) is mixed with a 90 degree version of itself (Quad/Imaginary) is to satisfy the minimum 2x sample rate needed for a given amount of bandwidth (Nyquist)? If so, it's not really different data, just the same data shifted.. it seems like that's cheating and it wouldn't work?! *OR* is the reason you need the In-Phase and out-of-phase version of the same signal, only to know how to separate what was originally on the upper band vs the lower band?

[@davidkennett7781]

It's there for the separation, Ben. Heathkit and Central Electronics used it a long time ago to separate, and eliminate the unwanted sideband in SSB transmitters. In the analog days, it was difficult to keep the balance perfect, and required a lot of tweaking. Digital gives us the required stability. Dave W8KFJ

[@Jarrod_C]

wait so a 1510 frequency can pass through, which we call an image? BUT that would give us a negative frequency according to the way you have been adding and subtracting, and negative frequencies dont exist in real life, so what is the problem?

[@DaddyPsyMonn]

My grandfather just died last week, 90 years old and absolutely a tech geek, but his favourite hobby, without a doubt talking too people all over the world, back when the internet, was a undercover darpa project, the CIA needed a dating solution, fit for a real spy with the need off a caring Russian love friend or two. They have needs just like us civilian. Ohh back to my grandpa and ham radio'ing. He had a huge controllable antenna, I was so hypnotised as kid, when it began rotating. OZ1GBS was his call sign. I dumped my test, back in 1997, it was a bit to advanced, for a young guy with ADHD, but i tried. I had girls & skating on my mind back then, no room for electronics. I just had too let go off some memories. He thought me so much and made me to the creative man i am today. Thanks Grandpa, you did real good. The thankful grandson.

[@nvenkatasamylakshmanan597]

how to purchase the radio address i am a india, tamilnadu state

[@Jarrod_C]

Sir, There are a lot of concepts here that need explaining. Please recommend a fundamentals video prior to this.

[@iguanapete3809]

You sound like Brother Harold Camping.

[@alphaomegia3589]

I need your help asap.

[@johntyler4222]

I gave up at 2min 40 sec when you listed 60m as 3.35 MHz!

[@TwstedTV]

The major problems people have specially new people in ham, is the overpriced products.

[@geoffreypowell9220]

I am 80 trs old and have been a shortwave listener , before I obtained my amateur licence , I enjoy the challenge of searching the bands with qrm qsb ,present ,This way is nothing but Cheating and not real radio coming down a Telephone line hard wired to my computer .. If you send a radio report as a qsl card to a station how can they beilieve it was not heard on SDR or true radio.. Making it to easy takes out the ambition and challenge ... Burn the whole Idea I say...

[@freezerfreezer9097]

Good info on SDR , however I disagree with his statement that SDR is a lot better than superhets.... I have been messing with both for years.... Yes there are a lot of benefits but also there is a lot of time involved setting these up and the audio quality is not up to snuff w/o a lot of tweeking... the fidelity just isn't there... 9 operators of of ten will settle for a less than optimum audio....they are also leashed to a computer .... while stand alones are out there you don't get much of a rainfall... or spectrum R/O either.. to me they are a good addition to the shack as a spectrum analyzer ... and that's about it because you supply the main component... the computer.... The SDR radios ore way overpriced ...considering what they are... they shouldn't cost more than $100 each... but they are basically the Ham equivalent to the $900 Iphone...... I can think of better places to put my money allocated for my Shack... Need a SDR ? get a SDRplay and a TR switch hook it to your REAL radio... and save money

[@davidkennett7781]

I don't think I ever said SDRs were better. Look at Sherwood's list, and you'll find both superhets and SDRs in the top tier. Making a superior superhet is expensive though, and the superior SDRs cost less than comparable superhets. And SDRs can offer features not even possible in a superhet. My effort has been to convey an understanding of the revolutionary innards in SDRs. They're definitely not building radios like they used to. Thank's for the kind comment about the SDR info. If the videos helped you understand the process a little better, my dream has been fulfilled. Dave W8KFJ

[@igroo7983]

16:16

[@cthomas254]

lots of info but dry. like sand paper in my mouth dry.

[@tmdrake]

Good show.

[@tmdrake]

Math!

[@tmdrake]

I'm still allite confused...maybe this weekend watch it more... i am slowly building a background in DSP

[@KellyNorman-wu6qr]

those radios interest me that you just showed but i'll never be able to afford them so what is this one i want to download it

[@dustythomas8699]

your a smart man but you don,t see the future here in america it won,t be much longer.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!