Have you ever wanted to build your own radio receiver? Looking for a challenging but fun software project? Coding SDR meets both objectives. It is a project within reach of radio hobbyists with a bit of skill in writing software. Here are some ideas.
Anyone with a computer and $25 can play with SDR. You can listen to and watch radio signals: AM, FM, shortwave, public safety, airplanes, satellites, even phones. An example of cheap SDR is the USB dongle described in a recent article.
What is SDR radio? SDR stands for software defined radio. This means a radio whose functions and capabilities are defined by software rather than hardware. Here’s how that happened.