[Fourlanders] Latest FCD/SDR Dongle update

[Bob Lear]

Okay, so you know it doesn't take much to get me sidetracked on 
projects, but this is some new neat stuff.

First of all, Kim started it by sending me a link to the following 
youtube video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuRcaxpbYCw

Check it out.  Very interesting and a real nice job of editing and 
screen grabbing that I haven't been able to master yet.  So it appears 
there is a cheaper alternative to the Fun Cube Dongle, in fact probably 
quite a number of them.  From what I gather, the rest of the world uses 
DVB for their digital TV rather than the 8VSB used here in the US.  So 
these TV tuner dongles are in large supply and quite cheap. 
Enterprising hams/hackers have figured out that they can get into the 
chip via the USB interface and set the frequency and gains that way so 
that they can be used for other than the TV frequencies.  Most of them 
use the same wide band, 60-1700 MHz tuner chip that is used in the FCD, 
which is an Elonics E4000 chip.  They also seem to use the same DAC 
chips also.  One of the first devices hacked is the:

EzCap EzTV668 USB2.0 DVB-T/DAB/FM stick
It has the RealTek 2832U decoder chip and the Elonics E4000 tuner chip, 
same as the FCD.   Also see sdr.oscom.org/trac/wiki/rtl-sdr
for the discussion about recent pricing and availability on the EzCap
stick.

I think dangerousprototypes.com also had a discussion about the pricing
and availability that was up to date, and on one of the pages mentioned 
(I think it was reddit.???) there is a list of similar units that have 
been found to be compatible with the use/hacking.

The ham who did the youtube video above (and some other nice ones) has 
written a program that he makes available on his website that will 
program the EzCap stick, in the same way that the small program that 
comes with the FCD dongle allows you to select frequencies, etc.

So all this is pretty interesting in that the EZCap stick is only about 
$20 on the market.  According to the websites mentioned, it appears that 
some of the dealers are pulling them back to increase the price because 
of the renewed interest, especially here where they really aren't useful 
for TV.  Scott and I looked at this stuff and found one of the 
compatible ones for only $10.60 shippped from China and they are on 
order for us to check out.  We are getting the Unikoo UK001T, (P160). 
Realtek 2832U chipset with the E4000 tuner, Same as the EzTV 668.  Will 
update again when we get them and try to get something going.


Just wanted to let everyone know, so that it isn't necessary to fork 
over the big bucks for the FCD, although it does have more capabilities 
overall, but if we are just going to use it for an IF spectrum analyzer, 
then why not go for the much less expensive alternative.  Sure makes it 
seem like the FCD is overpriced considering the hardware inside, 
although the FCD guys in England did package it nicely and have made 
provisions for internet firmware updates along with the full control 
program where you can select gains of at least 6 stages and bandwidths 
of several filters too.  Plus it is 16 bit, etc.

We shall see.  A fun project so far.  This stuff is pretty addictive. 
The dangerousprototypes web page is quite interesting too.

Bob