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things proceeding apace, but could use more gear (Patreon)

Published:
2026-04-25 23:31:57
Edited:
2026-05-22 20:11:35
Imported:
2026-08

Content

I am continuing work on the tempest PC - I got some really useful feedback from that post (thanks everyone!) and I think I'll be able to make a good story around it, but since demos are such an important element of my videos I am trying to rack up as many as I can.

TempestSDR is the go-to for this kind of stunt, but what you see above is as good as I can get it because I only have an RTL-SDR receiver, which tops out at about 2.5 megahertz. according to the GitHub, I need more like 20 megahertz to get a clear picture. I not only have no idea how to shop for the sort of thing, I don't really have the budget for it at the moment, especially since I'm going to get rid of it the moment I'm done with the video.

So! Does anybody out there have an expensive SDR they can loan me? Happy to put a shout out in the video if that makes a difference. I think it needs to have an "ExtIO" library available to work with the app, and I'm pretty sure the band is somewhere between 300 and 800 MHz, but otherwise I don't think there's any specific needs. Thanks!

Files

Comments

scj643

I have a LimeSDR mini that I could loan you. I don't really use it that much

Matt Falcon

👀 you need a... an ADC capable of ridiculous bandwidth? The VHS-Decode community uses a cheap commodity TV tuner chipset ("CX Cards") that happen to have a debug "data dump" mode that makes it into a poor man's high bandwidth capture device ("28-40msps"). Just one piece of the puzzle I thought I'd throw out there. A $30-ish card. I guess from there it's just about tuning and amplifying it. RF voodoo above my pay grade, but it could be a useful tip? edit to add: https://github.com/oyvindln/vhs-decode/wiki/CX-Cards

Chas Becht

That's essentially what an RTL-SDR is.

BigDev

is it the bandwidth on your SDR that is limited to 2.5MHz? I have an RTL-SDR as well, but I use it for ham radio stuff that uses very narrow 25kHz channels, so I don't often capture more than 100khz or so at a time with my software, so I dont know if mine is different, but mine definately can tune to and capture frequencies above 1GHz.

Matt Falcon

Not even similar. A CXADC has no tuner, it's fixed at at zero. It's just a big, bulk, waterfall of HIGH BANDWIDTH data sampling. An RTL-SDR is mid-bandwidth (KHz to MHz) tunable sampling. It is a flexible tunable radio. If one were able to add a tuner to a CXADC, then it'd be able to basically swallow the entire FM radio band at once. But at 8-bit resolution (the tradeoff).

epic__beard

Gravis, it's about $90. My apologies if this isn't helpful due to being outside your budget.

Aaronjamt

Another potential option would be to get a second (or third) RTL-SDR and tune each of them to different frequencies. That's what I've done in the past when setting up a WebSDR to monitor multiple bands simultaniously.

Tevruden

I actually came here to suggest a HackRF device, they're just nice all around, and the new pro got rid of my main gripe with it, with the Type-C connector

NateG

I'd be happy to lend my HackRF One. It doesn't get much use these days and it works from 1 MHz to 6 GHz so that ought to meet your needs.

Jessica Stokes

Ohhhh… I see where this is going and I’m excited!!!

Chas Becht

The issue isn't the frequency range that can be tuned to, it's the bandwidth that can be captured. It requires a higher speed adc and a better rf frontend design. There's a lot you can do with cheap rtl-sdr style dongles and frequency converters, but sadly this kind of application just requires more oomph from the hardware.

LegitBinary

I have a HackRF One and RSP1A on offer.

Nick R.

I have an Ettus research B205mini that could be loaned if useful.