The Coolest Radio You've Probably Never Heard Of

[@JustinRopella]

I saw this video for the first time in October 2022. Since then, I credit this video with: * me getting a scanner * getting my HAM license * several radio purchases * 2x pistar hotspots

[@kevinrickey3925]

Yes, I agree. this single video put a spark in me also :-)

[@EphemeraImaging]

So you're saying I'm gonna be out a few bucks very soon............

[@tomawboss7513]

Attention youtubers! This is how a video should be made!. To the point, condensed content, quality production over all, No ah"s, like's, or um's. Well done Tom!

[@jamesportrais3946]

I think Tom could be the reincarnation of Orson Welles...

[@jm7578]

The sad thing is that people who use ah, Um and like,May have a speech impediment or they suffer some issues with the steam. I have made videos in the past and noticed that I had a few of those issues and work on rectifying them. Speech that is absent of those fill in noises or words is the best, totally agreed

[@TimDyb]

amen!

[@AcidiFy574]

There's nothing wrong with "ah"s & "um"s

[@Jules-i5h]

Tom just wanted to pat Tom on the back 😄

[@pellepop100]

And, to boot, he doesn’t shout, wave his hands, and goes off in rants. Amd there’s no soul killing music. Well done, Sir!

[@Nik-ny9ue]

there's a channel for everyone!

[@nortonics5745]

No throat clearing, mumbling, fake ass laughing to oneself, hmmms or haaas, or farting either. Nice.

[@jaxsongreenwell9777]

@@nortonics5745 So youtubers should be perfect humans?

[@JP_TaVeryMuch]

@@jaxsongreenwell9777 How low hath thou "goed?"poor fellow, assuming that this is not a humourous quip which got too sodden on its way to this London Limey.

[@donnaphen503]

LOL ya beat me to it! I had the same reaction when I watched it and came to your exact conclusion. No silly music, no nothing except a perfect presentation. Oh, I'm an inactive ham, first licensed in the 70's now 82. 73 from wb1o "Don", just north of Boston MA in the town of Saugus. Have a blessed day my friend.

[@gali01992]

Back when I was a kid (1968), my dad gave me a WWII military receiver that could receive 100-400 KHz and 2.5-20 MHz. I spent hours plying the bands looking for good stuff like weather channels and other voice transmissions. Clocks in the house were set using WWV at 15 MHz. I plotted weather maps using a NOAA channel around 9.1 MHz. That old beast weighed in at around 200 pounds! Now you show me a tiny device about the size of a USB stick that can receive just about the entire spectrum! How I wish I had one of those when I was a kid... Edit: Yes, I bought one.

[@thomasauslander3757]

I'm sure it was 200 lb of magic..

[@nicoblaytherealflamingo445]

Gotta know what av dorks passion has been like? Im a major tron timeline person and synthetic devices

[@coolelectronics1759]

awesome story! I just got a portable about the size of a walkman for my mom to give her for her birthday. It can recieve about 9 or so different bands including bluetooth, has an mp3 player, a flashlight, and can run off a nokia batery or 4 AA bateries and it has a builtin speaker! You can even use it as a power bank if you want.

[@remotepinecone]

tiny USB stick? Don't make me laugh lol. you need a computer and a decent antenna too.

[@gali01992]

@@remotepinecone I have a computer, and it came with a dipole antenna on a tripod with flexible legs that can either stand on a table or be clipped to something like a curtain rod.

[@juliebraden6911]

Your honesty is refreshing. "I'm no expert on this, but this other guy is so set it up the way he says so you don't screw your stuff up." KZbin would be incredible with more honesty like this. Thank you.

[@husain_tulachannel]

I must say, this is one of the best presentation videos I have seen so far. Unlike most videos around that despite their title being a beginner's guide, yet you find yourself confused and lost not knowing how and where to start, this one is short, simple, and straight to the point. Well done for a great job

[@JuanSanchez-ik7wx]

brains makes all the difference.

[@TomtheDilettante]

Thank you very much. Very kind of you to say :)

[@MjC7192]

@@TomtheDilettante ..but the Bears suck.....,Go Pat's or Buc's Love your videos though. Were you Signal corps in the Army

[@Miami7]

Exceptional video, made by a human and not a boring AI bot. No uhs, umms, likes, or actuallys, so it was wonderful to watch!

[@samuelelder9434]

Clicked on this vid just because you were honest by putting “probably” in the title 👏🏻 unlike most other KZbinrs

[@Williamwerenberg]

Yes, others would have put “actually” or “literally”

[@dodgersfnshepard8673]

Glad to see I'm not the only one who noticed that

[@edgarpereira4982]

You know the probably is for if you've heard of the radio channel, and not if the channel is interesting

[@ozanemekter2693]

Same reason I like Tom Scott's videos: "Things you might not know"

[@ter8901]

Exactly my thoughts. Hes real in a world full of conceited clickbaiters

[@termiterasin]

The reason the RTL-SDR is so affordable, is because it was originally designed for tuning into TV signals. It's one of the few devices made at a very large scale for the consumer market, and only accidentally fell into the Radio community as a super cheap, super featured RX SDR.

[@jakexd5524]

Do you know what software you’d use to view the TV signals?

[@attag_ua]

@@jakexd5524 HDTV Player. It allows you to decode digital T/T2 television. But NTSC, PAL and other analog video signals, this device has too little bandwidth, but I saw on the Internet methods of partial decoding (Only black and white picture or sound separately)

[@W8RIT1]

@@jakexd5524 the TV format is different in Europe than it is here in N. America. The chip in the SDR dongle is originally meant for European TV, which won't work here in US.

[@imacmill]

@@W8RIT1 Bubble, burst.

[@W8RIT1]

@@imacmill NTSC in N. America, and PAL in Europe (and elsewhere)

[@RoamFree1866]

I am one of those in IT who loves to delve in other fields of knowledge, and I have to say that I had never watched someone deliver so much useful practical information, at such a decent depth, rate, and clarity on something relatively new to me. I am glad I found your channel. Thank you for sharing!

[@thewarrior777]

Tom I want to thank you, seriously thank you sir. I'm 60 and had a stroke back in 2015 which left me a little less sharp as I used to be. I was even a cable tv tech and splicer back in my days. Understanding this stuff has been a challenge but I'm slowly getting it back. Your video broke open like a stuck valve and all of the sudden things became real clear on some stuff I wasn't getting. You explain things very well and I wanted you to know how much I appreciated your video. Thanks and you have a new sub.

[@TomtheDilettante]

High praise. Thank you very much! It always makes me super happy to hear someone got something out of a video. Makes it totally worth it. I hope you get a chance to tinker with this kind of stuff and enjoy it!

[@OH2023-cj9if]

This isn't a support group!

[@roboodonnell3224]

This caught my feed and interest. I am glad I took a peak. Gliding through the comments, I was enjoying the flow and then hit a bump from a contributing viewer. Stating that in his or her's view point " this is not a support group" and like wow, I thought such anger this commenter might harbor. I found most comments to be of admiration and appreciation. Several honest ones in a beautiful way explained why. I enjoyed that positive flow. I did not find yours of positive attitude.

[@roboodonnell3224]

Thanks to the quality and style of your videos. You are appreciated.

[@collieclone]

@@OH2023-cj9if What a sad individual you are. You do not know what the future has in store for you. You may be whole right now but cannot foresee what your life will be like in the future (and it starts right now).

[@chrislaws4785]

I loved this type of stuff when I was in the Army. In the Army I was a computer IT specialist, but I also worked a lot with radios and satellite communication, especially when I was setting up internet connection for a base out in the middle of nowhere in the desert of Iraq. The satellite we connected to, believe it or not, was actually the same satellite that news networks like ABC, CNN and others use, and in the case of a HUGE emergency and I was given the order to do so, I actually had the ability to kick the news networks off it and take over the satellite for military use....lol. But what I think was the coolest thing, is that I was able to see the waveform for EVERY signal being sent through the satellite, everything from the signal floor where all the background noise is at that is mostly always there, to whatever signal was being pushed through it at the time. I didn't have the necessary things to view or listen to anything other then our own communications, but I could see the signals themselves such as which one was strongest, what frequency they were using, that sort of stuff.

[@b4i4getjr]

Thanks for your service Go NAVY!!!!

[@chrislaws4785]

@@b4i4getjr Oh, so you were one of THOSE people.....lol JK. Thanks for what you did too man. Oh and if you ex military too, I think you'd get a kick out of this guy's KZbin channel, he makes fun of all the branches. kzbin.infobCog5ehkHXU?feature=share

[@dannybeckett01]

awesome dude, that sat comms monitoring setup sounds so cool / interesting to use

[@chrislaws4785]

@@dannybeckett01 Oh it definitely was. It was the back of an entire truck full of equipment, took me a few MONTHS in training to really get a handle on what everything was and done. It was funny though, cause when we went to Iraq they said that if we were to be attacked and over ran that I was to destroy EVERYTHING in there. Most places had axes to smash things up with, but because the back of the truck was so cramped they gave me two thermite grenades and said if I had to, to pull the pins, throw em in and shut the door. Those thermite grenades would melt the whole truck to the ground....lol.

[@chuckconnors615]

@@chrislaws4785 Thermite is some radical shiet... Is it possible to piggyback into a satellite INTERNET signal... How much $$ would it cost little ole me average JOE?? I am in the Houston area..

[@larstenfaelt1859]

The video is brilliant in two ways....how to get started but also why the metric system is so brilliant.

[@MoCoFXDC]

The RTL-SDRv3 is precisely what got me into amateur radio. Now, SDR is the most important piece of part of my station. Tied into my radio’s RF-out port, I can visualize exactly what my radio is hearing, across the entire band. I’ve since upgraded to the SDR Play devices and it has turned out to be an incredible investment. It’s all point and click in SDRuno or HDSDR. Click a blank spot during a contest to find a place to “park”, click a signal if you want to make some contacts, or search the signals against the POTA database to see which activations are within reach. Amazing!

[@chobai9996]

Can people track down where you are if you're 'listening' with this device? Just wondering if maybe since you're not transmitting that maybe people couldn't triangulate your location; don't want to make assumptions

[@bizzimartini]

@@chobai9996 only transmitted signals can be triangulated. But they might know you're using monitoring software through some online method. Not sure.

[@firemanbif]

Shows off over 3k worth of equipment, "those are all cool and all, but my favorite is this little guy." lol. I've been a technician for 5 years and still rocking the Baofeng. Great video bro. 73. KD8ZZP

[@TomtheDilettante]

LOL! yeah, I know....didn't mean to come off as boastful or anything. The intent was to introduce newbies (like myself) or folks thinking about getting into radio but weren't sure where to start to what's even out there. The SDR was actually one of the first radios I got while I was still studying for my tech license to enable me to listen to local traffic and make sure it was something still worth studying for. After using it to listen for a while, I was hooked. Got my General license since then and am trying to study for the Extra but it's hard to make the time. Anyway, thank you for watching and have a good one! 73! KD9PXF

[@FrostyDog9186]

The best radio in the world is the one that gets you the contact you wanted to make. There's absolutely nothing wrong with a Baofeng if it does what you want it to do. I've been a HAM for nearly 30 years and my favorite radio out of everything in my shack is my SDRplay RSP1A--All $100 of it. :)

[@FrostyDog9186]

@@TomtheDilettante hang in there, you'll get it...It took me three years of on-again/off-again studying to finally get mine. Good luck from AA5SA!

[@firemanbif]

@@FrostyDog9186 Thanks Sean. And Tom no reason at all to feel like you were showing off. I loved your radios!! I looked all of them up because I WANT THEM lol. Just "upgraded" to a Wouxen HT and got the RTLSDR installed running SDRSharp! Absolutely LOVE IT!! Have to figure out antennas to get SW and HF. Thanks all for the great responses!! Starting to work on my General and hopefully will be able to do some DXing at some point.

[@mikeburch2998]

@@TomtheDilettante You didn't come off as boastful at all. In fact the opposite. If you've been successful in life you have something to show for it. Your equipment is or should be just inspirational to others. Put in the work and get the results. No work = no toys. Greetings from Arizona. K8MB.

[@mikej4011]

I've been doing this for a long time. I used it with plugins to listen to trunked Provoice (EDACS) systems. It worked wonders for years. I was in the Vancouver, B.C, Canada location. I am now in a small town (8500) in the British Columbia Interior. It's in the Thompson/Nicola area. A town called Merritt. We love it here. We are not that far from the whole city of Lytton that burnt up in a wildfire last Summer (2021). I've been into radio since 1964. I was 4 years old, and I built a crystal radio that I seen in a Popular Science/Mechanics magazine. I figured out by changing coil sizes, I could go into SW bands. I was addicted! I am now 62, and still going at it.

[@aniquinstark4347]

I think radios were the catalyst for many of us. The idea of invisible waves carrying information fascinated a young me. I've been a tinkerer ever since.

[@Connection-Lost]

You must have meant 14 years old. A 4 year old can barely form memories, let alone "build" anything greater than a pile of blocks. I've been around a while too and there's not a 4 year old on the planet that can "built a crystal radio" from a magazine.

[@Sherry-jx9hs]

Do you have a Ham Ticket if not you surely should have had one, Getting i bit late to get it now but very easy to do

[@SlickArmor]

@@Connection-Lost well since he has not replied back you just may have insulted him. You don't know there are genius savants out there that start much earlier than normal. He may have gotten into radios at 3 and it took until he was 4 to build a crystal radio. I know I built my first crystal from a kit at the hobby store when I was 9. It's not that far fetched that he started 5 years sooner..is it?

[@bleepbleep1961]

@@Connection-Lost You are full of mis-truths !!! There are MANY young children that possess excellent technical skills VERY early in their lives ... The word "Savant" is echoing in my brain right now ... but I'm not sure why .... I must Google it ....

[@donwright3427]

I used to build tube receivers, record Morse on a reel to reel,slow it down and decode it.That was many years ago. This tech is awesome.

[@iwinrar5207]

Lol toy might be showing your age a bit but that's damn cool man.

[@larrybryant4827]

Helpful

[@Tsamokie]

My first radio was a crystal detector set. That was around 60 years ago.

[@littlepippin8445]

I used to practice morse code in the Royal Air Force. A few hours of number cipher is SO MUCH FUN......

[@mxplk]

@@Tsamokie Same here

[@lapnoloc]

Tom, you are unbelievable. Thank you so much for the helpful info to turn my computer into a receiver of numerous radio signals never before known to me.

[@tomdonahoe3539]

The SDR is a remarkable gadget! It has made most of the radio spectrum accessible to anyone with a computer 🖥.

[@emadleiman47]

Thanks for sharing this info. In the 1960's when I was a kid I had a multi-band shortwave radio and it had all of those types of frequencies and I remember way back then I paid over $100 for that radio. For less than $40 you showed me I can use a usb device to do the same thing. Amazing! Now I can revisit my old hobby.

[@timobrien2114]

I don't know why the Google algorithm dropped this in my feed but it is the best video I've watched in a while. Tom, your delivery is refreshingly direct, concise, and informative. I'm SO tired of videos that spend 12 minutes of noise to deliver 30 seconds of signal. Your signal-to-noise ratio was very satisfying and you *definitely* met your stated goal of whetting my appetite to dig deeper. Also, as other comments have stated, that live visualization of broadcast bands was revelatory. At 50+ years old, I've never seen it illustrated so well. Yes, I understand that was the software doing the work but, darn it, *you* shoved me down the rabbit hole. Keep up the good work, whole I head over to Amazon to start yet another new hobby.

[@TomtheDilettante]

LOL! thanks for watching and the kind words! Yeah, the KZbin algorithm is a mystery as well but I'm glad folks have enjoyed and found value in the content so far. It's been fun. Enjoy exploring fun radio stuff :) I've got lots more to learn myself but that's the fun part!

[@masterwrench4252]

Wow, dang if I don't feel old...saved to watch again. Friend said " day we stop learning is the day we stop living" so...thx bud!

[@Rev22-21]

Some radio restoration people use these as signal analyzers to help with their alignment & calibrating a sets RF & IF transformers. Now I know how to do this on the cheap too. Thanks

[@TomtheDilettante]

Nice. That makes sense and seems like yet another practical application of this little thing :) Thanks for sharing!

[@chrissymonds1845]

@@TomtheDilettante I got my dongle in the mail with the antennaá today I tried to dl drivers but my antivirus blocked them as a threat 22/10/21 Australia

[@TomtheDilettante]

@@chrissymonds1845 I’m sorry to hear that. I think mine warned me of the same. You should be able to circumvent your antivirus settings on your own computer is you would like to proceed.

[@chrissymonds1845]

@@TomtheDilettante I took the dongle to a tech to see if he could find a way to patch it or bypass the antivirus. I am not that savvy with computers

[@sentineloffreedomforever1381]

@@chrissymonds1845 try it upside down you're in Australia for God's sake

[@BigRonRN18]

I have used RTL-SDR tuners for several years now. I have used it to monitor many different things. Some of the things I find coolest are more of the digital uses. One such use is ADS-B, which allows you to track aircraft. As to listening to public safety communication, more and more public safety entities are going to digital trunked radio systems. In the past, most public safety agencies were using traditional FM radio transmissions. Each channel requires a unique frequency; with a repeater, it is two frequencies per radio talk channel. If you need more channels, you will need many more frequencies. The chances of each frequency being used for a city simultaneously is pretty low, but a city or county is going to need several police talk groups, many fire talk groups, including numerous tactical groups. You also have parks and recreation, animal control, street maintenance and any other service you can think of that wants to communicate on the radio. This quickly escalates. With a digital trunked radio network, you can have a system with 5-30 frequency pairs for hundreds, if not thousands of unique talk groups. If the audio is already a digital signal, you can easily add encryption and it makes absolutely no difference in the audio quality for the end user, albeit, with an SDR you can't hear it. I have been using SDRTrunk (github.com/DSheirer/sdrtrunk) to listen to my city's radio network. I have also used the same software to feed the audio to Broadcastify, so people that do not have such a setup can take advantage of my SDR radio. Yes, there are radio scanners that can listen to these systems, BUT SDRTrunk is far superior than a much more expensive dedicated digital trunk-tracking scanner. Why? Because with the scanner, you can only hear one conversation at a time. With my setup, I can listen to all I want to listen and I will never miss any traffic. Broadcastify has two different platforms for sharing and listening and I simultaneously provide audio to both platforms with SDRTrunk. One plays all police primary channel audio and all fire talkgroups. If two are broadcasting at the same time, one platform will cache the audio until the conversation is finished and then play the cached audio. The other Broadcastify platform is the new Calls platform. This allows the listener to choose which talkgroups they wish to listen to, not just one audio stream. If there is an exciting fire incident and you don't want to be interrupted by an unrelated report of a neighbor complaint on the police primary channel, you can choose to only listen to fire traffic.

[@gregorybathurst7171]

Listening in on other people's broadcast to me it's Quite voyeuristic just creepy behavior. Like haven't you anything better to do other than spy in on conversations not intended for you .

[@eco_logic]

@@gregorybathurst7171 bro ham is public space just like internet and some want to put rules on those invaluable decentralized systems.

[@Miami7]

I went to the link and got a 404, guess it's not there anymore....

[@jbriggs10]

​@@Miami7try typing in the url

[@CHIPSpeaking]

@@gregorybathurst7171 ALL public service frequencies should be left UNENCRYPTED, then leave police, fire, sheriffs, federal law enforcement, and any I may have missed complete clarity an openness for the accountability to taxpayers. Only when authorized, encrypted traffic for undercover only. Anyone transmitting on Public frequency groups should know not to broadcast sensitive information. You should think like an adult.

[@brucedudley2040]

Tom, I gotta admit man, you may be the smartest dude I've ever seen on YT. And I watch a lot of YT DIY videos, true crime, documentaries, just a lot of stuff. This was a fantastic video dedicated to something other than mugging for the camera and showing how to do your nails or make up. Bravo man.

[@brucecggallagher1949]

I don’t remember how I stumbled on your channel but I don’t believe I have landed on a KZbin channel where the host/presenter just gets on with it and doesn’t waste the viewer/listener’s time. You, to me are my new standard as to how to properly do a presentation. (obviously I have subscribed) Bravo! Cheers from Victoria, British Columbia

[@andimerkle6924]

But it would be good if he spoke more slowly. Serious and good speakers speak more slowly.

[@19mitch54]

I have an RTL-SDR like yours ($35) and had SDR# installed and all working beautifully. Windows had an update today and installed a nice RTL2832U driver for me; Microsoft is so good at these things. It took me hours to get it working again. The good news: 1. I’ve wanted the new version of SDR# anyway since I saw yours and 2. Now I’m real good at installing SDR#.

[@chrissymonds1845]

do you have an update I just got mine in the mail 10/22/21 but I can't find a driver that works my laptop won't me download the drivers says its a security threat and blocks the app

[@19mitch54]

@@chrissymonds1845 Download SDR# from the airspy link in the notes to this KZbin video and download the User Guide. It has instructions for using zadig to install the driver. Zadig is the software tool you use to replace the Windows driver that doesn’t work.

[@chrissymonds1845]

@@19mitch54 thank you got it

[@richardcatalinajr.369]

I have no idea why this came up on my YT feed, but this is so cool and I'm going to get it. thanks.

[@CommentCritic]

SDR is a wonderful thing. The moment I've learned about people downloading SSTV images from the International Space Station I set myself a new challenge of learning about radio and build my own antenna. My first antenna was a QFH antenna which I still use to listen to ATC, track flights through ADSB, download weather images from NOAA satellites and occasionally, if there's an event, download images from the ISS. RTL-SDR is a wonderful little dongle. I really recommend a HackRF for more experienced users.

[@Poop-nu1so]

I am really interested in the ADS-B aspect, do you have any links where I can start? Thanks

[@MrTarnall]

Thank you Tom for the SDR receiver stuff. I've been on Ham radio for about 40 years and have tried almost everything WB6TA. Now that I am house bound and all caught up with Netflix, this looks like something fun..

[@TomtheDilettante]

you finished Netflix!? That's an impressive feat :) my "watch list" just seems to keep growing. And then there's KZbin with a bottomless pit of interesting content...hard to stay focused. Glad you enjoyed it! I plan on doing more with SDR as I learn it myself. I'm currently working on a video showing how I was able to get it to work on my Android phone thanks to viewer comments. 73! KD9PXF

[@t3ck3r]

@@TomtheDilettante Hi there. Speaking of rabbet holes; I was checking out videos on my new Midland Radio, and your video came up. Q) Can I use this on my tower computer? ( Old school I know) Also, looking forward to your video on Android phone.

[@fiverZ]

@@t3ck3r how is a proper computer "old school"?

[@t3ck3r]

@@fiverZ I thought everyone used cellphones and laptops now days. I don't know many people that use towers anymore.

[@fredroger4623]

U just opened up the whole world to radio I would say for much ,this will BE RADIO OF THE FUTURE

[@mikebailey783]

You can also use a Raspberry Pi with an SDR dongle, for a neat, ultra-compact setup!

[@Solstice42]

what SDR app software can you use on the Pi?

[@Minecraft-3699]

@@Solstice42 RTL-TCP works really good and its super easy to set up.. also if your using the pi as the device you are interfacing with GQRX works well on most linux distros

[@donacewatson1437]

Please explain what you need to do this

[@archygrey9093]

Like the HackRF portapack

[@prepperjonpnw6482]

Whats a Raspberry Pi? Im seriously new to all this lol. But I really want to learn. Thanks for any advice/help Cheers mates

[@Chuck_Carolina]

As an extra class operator and a Ham for 20 years, that is out right the best intro SDR radio I have ever seen - I have had no desire to play with SDR, but this is a true game changer. I'll buy one for GP.

[@cedricvillani8502]

Try a LimeSDR or Mini, you will get board with this restrictive device

[@Visitor2Earth]

Agreed! de W5JN (Licensed since 1976...just after the dinosaurs died out...)!

[@BELINC7]

Do you mean,bored, ? @@cedricvillani8502

[@BELINC7]

@@cedricvillani8502 $1000 cheap VS $50. for the sdr in this video.

[@newtron9]

Great video. JUST ONE NEAT TIP.... You can type a known frequency, and change the one that is showing on top, by just 1. Hovering your mouse arrow over the first number in the frequency, 2. type in the new one. 3. Hit enter. No need to add the decimals, they are already there.

[@jaybarr3307]

Been wanting to try an SDR but felt intimidated. This video convinced me to try it out. Saved it for another viewing later and will follow the instructions. Thanks much!!!!

[@TomtheDilettante]

Thanks for watching and the kind words! I totally understand the intimidation factor. There's so much this stuff can do and so much to learn it's hard to know where to start. I just said screw it...picked one up...and started playing with it. I still have a lot to learn but thought it was cool enough to share with others so voila...video LOL. Good luck giving it a shot! I highly recommend perusing KZbin for other videos on the subject so you can formulate your own version of what might work best for you. I'm far from an authority on the subject and I rely on content from others a lot to guide my own tinking :) Have fun!

[@afnelson100]

Jjjiì

[@mikeburch2998]

Just try it. It's not much of an investment and the results are pretty impressive. You can do it.

[@andyhowlett2231]

I'd avoid the RTL type sticks as you have to go through a weird installation process which stops the default drivers and uses something called ZADIG. Go for a more sophisticated SDR like the SDRPlay DX. One easy install, works like a charm.

[@FPSAnarchy]

@@andyhowlett2231 why are u scared of technology?

[@BladeRunner-td8be]

Some 15 years ago, maybe longer, I studied like crazy and passed my Ham Radio test (on my first try no less) as a "General" licensed user. I have never used a ham radio though, never spoken one word on the air. LOL I ordered this within the first 3 minutes of watching this video (right when the radio was shown) and then finished watching it. The presenter is very gifted. Subscribed and thumb up. Cheers

[@TomtheDilettante]

Thank you very much! Glad you enjoyed it. I have a "General" license as well and it's pretty fun connecting with random folks around the planet. You should jump on sometime...who knows, maybe we'll catch each other :)

[@timmoore6055]

Blade Runner you and me both. I was in a situation where I needed emergency communication access and passed my technician and took the general course; but I had a conflict on the test date for the general and never took the general test; and still have not gone on air. I need to start all over and get my tush in gear,.

[@Magnum0097]

Oh My Gods. This is amazing! Thank you for introducing me to SDR. I have long been a scanner enthusiast but have not spent the money to replacer my scanner nor time to find all the frequencies around me that I am interested in. Radio reference is an an excellent resource too!

[@tonyfremont]

These are truly awesome devices. Monitoring my gas and water meters in real time is nice. Sniffing smart electric meters is a whole other level though. The confidence of new radio folks have in the antenna length formula always gives me a chuckle.

[@gregsmall541]

Can I contact you somehow and pick your brain a little?

[@RealityAudits]

what does monitoring the gas meter look like?

[@AndrewCalhoun]

I remember back when I was reading about directional antennas for wi-fi (look up "cantenna" and "war driving" for reference), the info I found sounded like the 'weakest link' of a typical external WiFi antenna setups was the coaxial cable between the antenna and the (WiFi) transciever. For instance, from what I read, connecting an external antenna to your computer's WiFi adapter using 15 feet of a common coax type used for WiFi (LMR100) loses roughly 6 dB of the signal picked up by the antenna. Since each 3dB of signal loss roughly cuts signal strength in half, this 15 feet of this particular cable type only delivers about 25% of the signal captured by the antenna to the WiFi adapter. In the event that a setup like the one used in this video leaves one or more desired transmitters simply too weak to pick up with this radio, you might want to try replacing the coaxial cable with a $6 USB extension cable (A-male to A-female) which will allow you to move the dongle closer to the antenna, and allowing you to connect the antenna directly to the USB dongle (simply getting rid of the coax cable in between). Even if this does not allow you to listen to radio signals that were too weak before, a USB extension cable like this will most likely exert less mechanical stress on your computer's USB port than a big, fat dongle does over time, and will be less likely to block access to adjacent USB ports on the same computer. If you've ever had a USB port on a laptop become useless after using a big dongle with it over time, you know how much leverage a long dongle like that can exert on a USB port that is anything but simple to replace for most people.

[@danschultz7029]

Good tip! Thanx.

[@jeffhood-s2q]

good grade of cable well wort the money i also use a CMC-RF isolator big game changing noise reduction common mode choke is like a filter @@danschultz7029

[@katandmouseinlove]

Great video!!! I'm super stoked!!! I'm definitely going to get this. I also share it with my 83 year old dad.

[@Skywatcher68]

Back when I was a high school student, I got one of my dad's old Heathkit general receivers working again. That radio was a little bit older than me and I remember picking up AFRS with it. I still have a Heathkit, not the same one, and a Realistic DX-440 but I'm in a condo and have no room for a proper antenna. I just bought one, too.

[@reallifelima7951]

I've been looking into SDR off and on for a couple of years, finally ordered a Nooelec NESDR Smart v4 bundle earlier today

[@andrewcool4587]

I’d like to know how it works with Linux

[@reallifelima7951]

@@andrewcool4587 I haven't tried it yet but I will be. I ended up ordering a 2nd to get SDRTrunk working on Windows 10 for now

[@granite-headgold1038]

@@andrewcool4587 All the RTL based devices work just fine with Linux; they have for years.

[@joenavy4768]

Sunday I watched HRCC about SDRs. Monday KZbin sent me to this video. What a great, brief, snippet of the joy of SDR for this newbie HAM. It looks to me that SDR is how I bring my budding shack with my used radios within reach of 2022’s these newfangled and extremely useful waterfall displays. Thanks for a very functional and inspiring vid, Tom.

[@andywolan]

The visualization of all frequencies in itself is mindblowing to see.

[@shawnstone4949]

Oscillator??

[@dobdoa3691]

@@shawnstone4949 Spectrum analyzer

[@shawnstone4949]

@@dobdoa3691 Ahh thanks!

[@josephwisniewski3673]

That was an enjoyable and approachable presentation. Bravo. Even though part of my career involves tracking semiconductor trends, the thought that you can get a complete SDR, that small, ready to use, that can hit 1.7GHz for $40 just blows my mind. I've been doing SDRs for 1/3 century, but not everyone has my experience. One of my MSEE projects was a direct synthesis tuner up to 1 GHz (child's play, today, but back in 1989 it took a custom chip in an exotic technology called "ECL logic" to achieve the 3GHz clock needed. In 1989 CMOS was a "cute" low power technology that wasn't really fast enough to do much of anything) so $12 in 1980 money for twice that bandwidth without a stack of 12x9 inch PC boards and a 100W power supply is just incredible. For me, it's always easier to accept dramatic progress in fields I haven't worked in. Electric vehicles and autonomous cars going mainstream? Sure! SDR, speech recognition, or portable computers going from $5,000, 25lb, power-sucking boxes to $30, pocket sized, battery-powered devices? How? I worked on that: you "need" a lot of stuff to make it work!

[@kirillvishnevsky6327]

Cheers, friend with a cool last name ;)

[@josephwisniewski3673]

@@kirillvishnevsky6327 Same to you. Glad to have you in the clan.

[@chobai9996]

You know if it's possible to "upgrade" the receiver to be able to listen to things from across the world? Is it as simple as just changing out the antenna for something with more "umph", or would it be too complicated to use with an SDR set-up as an amateur?

[@josephwisniewski3673]

@@chobai9996 I believe you've replied to the wrong comment.

[@chobai9996]

@@josephwisniewski3673 no, just thought since you said you were skilled in this that maybe you would know lol

[@CARBON10]

What a video, clean crisp, no nonsense,fast and to the point, this is the way it's done right

[@knerdrider]

As a longtime ham, I’ve always thought of SDR as expensive huge clunky, though powerful, devices. I had no idea how much things have changed. I’ll be picking one up once I can find one that includes the antenna like yours (even the eBay link is out of stock now).

[@billk364]

Antenna tip: Noise is predominantly polaraized vertical- If you run the antenna wired horizontal, you will get less noise. This is why most big ham antennas are horizontal.

[@cdorcey1735]

That's nonsense. Mobile communications tend to be vertically polarized. The poke up toward the sky from the roof of the vehicle. Look at their base-station antennas, up on their towers! You'll see tall, not wide, antennas. Hams (like myself) use horizontal antennas because it's a lot cheaper to string 100' of wire 10' off the ground, than build a tower to hoist one end 110' off the ground. (There are propagation effects that matter, too, but this is a comment, not a text book.)

[@williamgaloosisjr235]

Every horizontal antenna I have set up has been very noisy. Specially my loop on ground.

[@MrLuanDo]

Thanks for the SDR radio video! No wasting time and unnecessary editorials! No loud background music! You are the man!

[@FishFemme]

Tom, here's a weird compliment: I almost always have to listen to YT videos at 1.25 or 1.5 speed because people talk so damn slowly and waste my time. You, sir, talk nice and fast, and full of info. Thank you very much. Subscribed.

[@skydaddy4192]

haha. i just noticed his tone/cadence, and this is the first comment i saw.

[@TomtheDilettante]

ha! thanks! It's different for everyone I suppose. I've been given feedback all over the spectrum from too fast to too slow to just right. Glad the tempo was good for you :)

[@RobertLowery]

FWIW, you do not really need to tune the length of a receiving antenna. Antenna length becomes much more important when transmitting because the antenna needs to resonate at the frequency that you are transmitting on. Anyone wanting to setup one of these SDRs should just fully extend the antennas, or extend them as far as your mounting location permits. Also, there are some websites that have a web interface to an SDR that will allow you to play around with SDR without the need to purchase any hardware. They are a great way to get hooked on the "Radio Hobby" and end up blowing you children's inheritance on gear. (-; Once you get into Amateur Radio, you will find that it is a vast field of possibilities that goes far beyond pushing a button to talk to your buddy three houses down the block. Welcome to the "hobby"!

[@adamadkins9210]

I was wondering if anyone was going to mention that. A discone would also be a good choice.

[@TheAlabamaWildman]

WHOOOOO - HOOOOO !! !! FINE A LEE ! ! I Grew up with an OTR Truck Driver in the '60s. So, CBs are in my DNA. I naturally made the short-hop to Ham & got stuck there thru the '80s. Sadly... my Adult years pulled me away from Radio but, thanks to You, I can, now, get a portion of my youth back. (maybe..can work on other portions, too) THANK YOU, SIR !!

[@jasonr63301]

Great video. I've been a ham tech for 2 years and this was dumbed down just enough for me. Not dumbed down too much. Just enough. Thanks

[@MartinBettler]

I had an old book of mine in my hand the other day - SOS at midnight form Walker A. Tompkins -, one of my childhood's favorites that made me dream and inspired me a big time, and I felt myself rehooked right away! I ordered an SDR the same minute. Thanks for introducing!

[@TukiNem-hf8jb]

Matin borlin Hoai yau

[@mitch_the_-itch]

Nice, thanks mate! I bought a cheap SRS usb dongle a few years ago and never got it working. After watching your video, I had it working in minutes, lol. Thx again!

[@kena9595]

I just stumbled on to your site. The way you presented the info was great. I've got an SDR and this is the first time someone explained the software that I could really understand. And the antenna explanation was really simple. Not even the manufacture of the unit made it as easy and clearly as you did. Thanks.

[@r5LgxTbQ]

That's really cool. My grandfather was really into Ham radio and I regret not learning about it before he passed in 2019.

[@normaneustice1112]

Seriously, it's not that difficult to get started in Ham radio. Yes you have to study for your ticket but most of your learning comes after that. Give it a go I've been a Ham for 18 years now & I'm still learning, I've made friends all over the world, made my own gizmos, antennas etc. You may be entitled to inherit your Grandfather's callsign, now that would be cool. 73's De M0NJE (England)

[@williammorse8330]

hello - your granddad probably left some stuff behind that you can explore and research at leisure.... hence, your granddad lives.... 73, Bill, KE1LC

[@fjb4932]

"When a person dies, a library burns down." ...

[@michaeldavidheit]

Ok ... just bought that set up and have downloaded the AIRSPY software .... now to wait for Amazon to deliver it .... thanks for this video.

[@Raptorman0909]

Extremely well presented video -- many YTers know what they know but are not adapt at communicating it, you, OTH, have a great presentation style. Keep it up!

[@rorymcil]

He constantly puts objects between his mouth and the microphone, muffling some sound. You can stop riding him and start riding a bike

[@mungomidge1090]

Very interesting, cheers! Didn't know these things existed until yesterday, may dip my toes in. I have to say you are a ringer for a young Orson Welles :)

[@6Minsto7Starbucks]

$10 to see him say: "Rosebud."

[@kless001]

Tom you are a natural teacher/leader. Excellent job explaining what I once thought of as a complicated subject.

[@deltatango5765]

Thanks for posing this. When I was a kid I had a very old SW radio that I used to listen to worldwide radio stations on (long before the internet), and had a great time with. I heard of SDR recently, then filed it in the back of my mind. You reminded me that I wanted to look into this, and I am ordering an SDR system right now!

[@RochelleM491]

Great video, I’ve got every SDR, ham, scanner and cellular radio interceptor known to man, but I really love the way you produce and narrate your videos, awesome great job..!!

[@esecallum]

WHATS THE POINT. USELESS HOBBY

[@dsandrews3]

Tom, you mentioned "Orwellian".... You know you remind me of Orson Welles in appearance and marrerisms. Thank for the SDR info. Dan

[@thomashulina8786]

From a Lisle, IL resident I really enjoyed your video. I have had the SDR dongle for a year but have not had the time I would like to play with it. I hope to catch the local municipal depts. when I get better at using it.

[@roypublic3269]

Now you've done it. I work in underwater acoustics and use Vector Signal analyzers all day. I also enjoy shortwave radios. But this combines the two quite nicely and as you say, you can get lost in this for hours. which is Exactly what I plan on doing. thanks for this video.

[@TomtheDilettante]

Thanks for watching! I know these things have been around for a while now, but it was new to me and just too cool not to share with others :)

[@williamgaloosisjr235]

I love the rabbit hole reference. Wonderful video. I started with a Nooelec Smart SDR. Now I have the Nooelec smart, Nooelec SmarTee XTR, 4 RTL-SDR v3's, MSi-SDR, Airspy Hf+ and a RSPduo. I have two RSP1A's and a HackRf One on the way. 4 antennas with splitters and 4 satellite dishes. I listen to the world, decode data and images from satellites, read messages meant for ships, track aircraft using ADS-b (local) and ADS-C (over the oceans), listen to emergency services on P25 trunking.... the list goes on.

[@DennisDesmarais]

Great Video! Used to be a Ham years ago. SDR software for Mac? Does anyone else think Tim looks like a young Orson Welles? ("Orwellian" indeed...)

[@christinearmington]

😆✨

[@douglasgreen437]

He does , looks like him & sounds like him..🤔

[@nrskd]

I use GQRX on Linux but it's also available on Mac and probably you won't need to do the driver setup. The graphical interface is a bit different to SDR# but the basics are the same - waterfall, frequency, and demodulation modes are almost the same in most SDR softwares. Easy, unless you go the hard way (gnuradio).

[@razeezar]

And just the faintest dash of Mark Wahlberg.

[@kevhaworth5313]

Cubic SDR as a starter- I believe that SDR Uno may be getting a Mac version too - in the future. The only way at the moment to get good functionality is to run parallels or buy a cheap win machine.

[@eschbachr]

Impressive and concise presentation. You should be getting offers for TV, and Radio. You are a skilled presenter. Great work.

[@TomtheDilettante]

Thank you very much!

[@presidentspilot]

I am K6PAM, but currently inactive. Yet your article is most intriguing, Tom!! I am going to check it out more thoroughly! Can you just imagine all that you get for a mere $35 bucks! What is REALLY intriguing for me, is HOW it is possible to get a SPECIFIC frequency, without ANY tuned circuits WHATSOEVER? AMAZING!! ...THAT, to me, is something out of 'Buck Rodgers' future! LOL! Thanks again, Tom!! Your article is GREAT!!

[@chrisnewbury3793]

This reminds me of when I had a scanner, before everything was scrambled and encrypted. Cell phones, even cordless home phones, were receivable.

[@semirecumbentoneYT]

It's kind of sad all this scope of possibilities that a scanner made possible - listening to aviation, short wave stations, taxi, police, military, phone calls, TV, VHF, UHF, guards... is just a memory left, never returning again. Glad you folks, like me, experienced this : )

[@David0lyle]

Well, it’s probably feasible to record the traffic and then if you can intercept some actual audio. Busting an encrypted signal isn’t too much trouble if you have a “kiss”.

[@barrybarnes96]

@@semirecumbentoneYT Shortwave was great 50 years ago.

[@keisi1574]

@B. Chan WOW!I I'm sending this message in June 1963. When did you receive it?

[@keisi1574]

@@semirecumbentoneYT Hello, from November 1974. What's up?

[@Vicncoffee]

Not sure how I stumbled on this video but it was so cool! Never knew there was such a thing as a radio hobby. Got yourself a new subscriber!

[@phildurall7466]

Tom ... I have been a ham for decades and you got me in the heart about what got me excited with radio as a kid! Nice job Sir! Keep staying inquisitive! 73, KF6IF

[@TomtheDilettante]

thanks for watching and for the kind words! I definitely see the appeal and only regret not getting into it earlier in life. For the most part, I've found the ham community to be very welcoming and encouraging to newcomers seeking to learn more, which is what's kept me in it this long. Sadly, I've heard from many others that their experience with the ham community has soured them on pursuing the hobby. I'm actually trying to write up a video script along the lines of "Not all hams are a$$holes" to try to re-encourage others to give it a shot :) Anyway, thank you for taking the time to chime in and have a good one! 73 de N9JDI

[@austinevplab7167]

What an incredibly well-made video about something I had never heard of! I gotta get one.

[@MarcWiddowson]

Thank you very much for this. You popped up in my feed due to the mysterious ways of KZbin. Your video was engaging and inspiring. And now I have one of these dongles and got it working. I followed the instructions on the online quick start guide and it worked absolutely fine. I got the FM channels dead easily and I also found some ATC and heard one end of a ham radio conversation. I'm looking forward to exploring more. My ambition is to tune in to UVB-76.

[@k4x4map46]

huge keyword 'if' they aren't digitally encrypted...first thing I thought of. Excellent presentation!

[@imeldaoconnor6221]

You remind me of Orson Welles!! Wonderful voice and presentation 👏

[@TheAdventureZombie]

Your videos are those among the few channels I watch, where I hit the Thumbs Up button before I even watch the video. Because I already know I'm going to like it. Another awesomely informative video, thanks for the upload Tom!

[@TomtheDilettante]

Ha! Thanks man! Really appreciate your support! I took a risk on this video because it's not exactly "new" technology...just "new to me" :) There's bound to be some viewers that are like "what's next? electronic mail?" LOL. But, it's cool to me and so far it seems those checking out the channel are diverse enough that it's bound to be interesting to someone so yeah... Anyway, thanks as always and have a good one!

[@kennethbrady7978]

@@TomtheDilettante can you use this on an Android tablet is 10.0?

[@user-tv6zz1vm3x]

Great video. Not gonna lie, the fact that I thought you were wolverine didn’t hurt.

[@darylnd]

I'm getting one! I'm taking the Technician exam next week and currently have the FT-3DR handheld. As a Chicago native, I'm glad to see you're holding up: I was in elementary school at the time of the 1967 blizzard.

[@lb3406]

Good luck with technician ham I need to study for general class. I have a chinese hand held.

[@darylnd]

@@lb3406 Thanks! Good luck with your General: I'm studying for it now. KN6NPZ, 73!

[@lb3406]

@@darylnd I will when I take care of family issues. My wife's father just passed away.

[@darylnd]

@@lb3406 My condolences to you and your family. I lost my father-in-law in 2013, my father in 2014.

[@lb3406]

@@darylnd I lost my father before the turn of the century in 1999. My father in law was the last oldest child of his family and lived the longest at 88 and a half. My mother in law took good care of him with meals and snacks kept the weight off most of his brothers were overweight when they died. Thanks it's hard on my wife especially when we drive and pass by where he worked. I may try a different route.

[@lightfusegetaway]

Miss the old days when you could get all the police chatter on a plain ole Uniden scanner.

[@brettrohring]

@Ryan D Everything’s encrypted around here.

[@brettrohring]

@Ryan D You’re lucky you’ve got that.

[@lightfusegetaway]

@Ryan D Police have gone encrypted cellular in my city.

[@stardolphin2]

@Ryan D I do, even as I write this. But it *does* have P25 capability, and the police in my area don't encrypt, as far as I can tell. And it took awhile to understand programming, until I found a way that 'looks' like old-style banks, that served me well in the past. We have to re-define 'plain ole.'

[@keithlucas6260]

Still own my PACE 123A I bought back in 1975 during the CB days...still works.

[@davidholmgren659]

AND I may add...great links to more information on installation and equipment! Like one-stop shopping! Thanks.

[@PeterGagen]

You have a fantastic presentation style, Thanks. Love you're workshop too.

[@dvsr5296]

Is he a workshop?

[@boscomac2434]

This brings back memories of listening to my scanner thirty-five years ago... 👍👍👍

[@MrTangent]

Why did you stop?

[@theunconventionaldeal3879]

This stuff makes a scanner 35 years ago look like a donut.

[@boscomac2434]

@@MrTangent I moved and trunked systems cane into being about the same time...

[@douglasfreestone5101]

After watching your presentation, which was well presented, I went an ordered my RTL-SDR I already have a Sony ICF-SW7600GR, but this SDR looks and works so awesome, I couldn't resist! Thank you.

[@davidwittie4177]

You HAVE whetted my appetite indeed, good sir.

[@RobMacKendrick]

Terrific video; I'll warrant you just made a thousand sales for that company. Though I do admit that when you mentioned a dipole with 19-inch legs, the SWR to this HF guy's brain tripped my breaker.

[@dieseldood]

good thing it's just a listening device! Blown finals here we come!

[@peterdow1908]

Portage Park myself. Originally from Roscoe Village. Thank You for the info.

[@TomtheDilettante]

Very cool! Thanks for watching!

[@lenrusnak162]

WOW! How cool is that device! For one very low priced piece of hardware to have the frequency range and mode availability is almost unbelievable. Also a real plus is that this item definitely can fall into the Prepper category AND it is less than lethal. I know what a few friends is going to get for Christmas from me. Thanks for the nifty heads up!

[@menone8532]

Going to look into using a ras pi setup for use in a shtf situation, low power draw, now a monitor? Not sure yet. I do have a new lap top with a 9 hour batt life, but too bulky/fragile for shtf stuff.

[@velox__]

@@menone8532 another cool thing these can do is receive ADS-B singals, which are location signals from aircraft (its what flightradar24 and such use).

[@menone8532]

@@velox__ Yes. I have not had the time to really play with it yet, work, ect. I'm in my garage, most nights, metal building, working on my shtf trucks. No signal, even cell. Can't play with it the house as the wife hates my tech stuff, lol. Ill have to wait on spring warmer weather so i can play with it on my back porch bar.

[@pi11sburydoeboy]

You can also use an SDR with a QHF antenna to capture images from the NOAA satellites as they make passes

[@_zproxy]

you mean thumbnails

[@StrikerIrie]

Hi Tom, I'd bought an SDR off of Amazon before the end of the video. Great video!

[@Payasoplas]

First time i watch this channel, I'm subscribing, he explains very well!

[@patriot9455]

Same here. Even if I understand it, sometimes I get lost in the weeds.

[@BamaChad-W4CHD]

Great video. I've been using ssr for years now and it's just amazing. You can even listen to and decode police, fire and ems digital radio. Also the mention about screwing up your computer drivers is very true. If you do it wrong you may just discover you can't use your mouse or keyboard. It's nothing that will permanently damage anything but it's rather annoying.

[@brianspillner7770]

This video convinced me to buy one. I was not disappointed. Thanks Tom

[@TomtheDilettante]

Awesome! Thanks for watching and I hope you have fun :)

[@Andysfishing]

I had a radio as a teenager where I could hear people on the other side of the planet. The radio signal used to bounce off clouds.

[@darylefleming1191]

I learned something today. A good way to end a Friday.

[@wagsman9999]

Nice. I'm getting one of these for sure. Would be great traveling in the camper.

[@PashaDefragzor]

He promotes very well, I've been watching for 3 minutes about some radio that I don't need, but what a good look

[@ejohnfel]

The tripod is basically a very cheap GorillaPod clone. As such, you can wrap the legs around things. For example, I have my dipole hanging vertically from some crown molding. Don't forget you can add Upconverters and other mixers to cover bands outside the SDR's freq. ranges. Lastly, you can also track aircraft (ADSB) and if you live near water, commercial shipping. It's also fun for tuning into some satellites including NOAA sats for live weather images.

[@TomtheDilettante]

Oh yeah! No shit huh? Surprised that didn't occur to me as I own a GrolliaPod for my cameras LOL. Guess I'll keep it around afterall as now that you said that, I can see that being quite versatile and handy. And yeah, it seems like there's so many cool things you can do with SDR and I can't wait to experiment more. I'd like to try decoding digital like DMR, tracking aircraft, and I'd really like to learn more about direct sampling for HF frequencies. But that NOAA weather imaging idea...that sounds awesome! Thanks for sharing and I'll definitely add that to my list of many things yet to learn about this hobby :) Have a good one!

[@ejohnfel]

@@TomtheDilettante No problem and you made a very concise tutorial, btw... it took me a few frustrating days to figure out my first SDR (A Nooelec), would have made my life less frustrating 3yrs ago. :)

[@nyanates]

Great!! Yet another crazy interesting hobby to get neck-deep into. I’m going to be sleeping under a bridge. Thanks a lot!! 🎉🎉

[@LFC303606ACID]

Great! Something else I didn't know I wanted....thanks a bunch!!