Introduction In many applications, where ac power is not available, equipment must be operated off battery/solar systems. In these case, knowing your power requirements are critical. Recently, small inline USB power meters have become available and they can give you an immediate answer to this question (Ref.1). RTL-SDR – V1/2/3 Power Measurements I did a… Continue reading RTL-SDR – V1/2/3 – USBpwr
Category: Telecommunications
Telecommunications: Propagation, HF, VHF, UHF, uWave
OpenPlotter – RPi4 Headless_a
Introduction Previously all my work on OpenPlotter was done on an RPi3B+ installed in a PI-TOP3 development Laptop that featured a screen, keyboard, and proto board connected to the GPIO (Ref.2-Ref.9). I started with the basic installation, OpenCPN with GPS, OpenCPN with GPS & AIS, Marine Weather on GQRX, Sensors for Temp/Pres/Pitch/Heel/Compass Bearing and GRIB… Continue reading OpenPlotter – RPi4 Headless_a
OpenPlotter – Marine HF Weather Fax
Introduction Last August I discussed using the RTL-SDR for reception of HF Weather Fax information using a setup of Windows10/SDR#/FLDIGI (Ref.1). Recently I was asked whether OpenPlotter could be used to do the same thing. OpenPlotter has an equivalent program to SDR# called Gqrx which can be installed and used with the RTL-SDR (Ref.2). FLDIGI… Continue reading OpenPlotter – Marine HF Weather Fax
OpenPlotter – GRIB Files
Introduction OpenPlotter has many excellent features that we explored in previous posts (Ref.3-Ref.9). Weather information is critical for sailors and OpenPlotter features a GRIB file viewer as well as the ability to overlay this information on OpenCPN. The weather information is contained in GRIB files that can be downloaded over an internet connection either from… Continue reading OpenPlotter – GRIB Files
RTL-SDR for Shortwave Radiogram
Introduction Recently I read several posts on various amateur radio forums regarding the reception of Shortwave Radiogram broadcasts. VOA Radiogram was a Voice of America program that experimented with various digital transmission modes, starting in March 2013. It was superseded by Shortwave Radiogram (Ref.1). I decided I would try reception using the very popular RTL-SDR… Continue reading RTL-SDR for Shortwave Radiogram