[Skimmertalk] Using Skimmer with RTL-Dongle SDR?

[John Ackermann N8UR]

There are some nice dongles available now for about $20 that have 1PPM 
TCXOs.  I'm using one of them now for an 800 MHz P25 scanner with pretty 
tight frequency requirements, and it works fine for that -- it really is 
within 1 PPM of nominal, and pretty much stays there.

What we're trying to do is build a reference design for a VHF RBN 
station, with the idea of putting several of them around the midwest (to 
begin with).  We want to monitor the beacon and CW segments on 50, 144, 
222, 432, and 1296 MHz.  If we can make the dongles work for this, it 
allows the whole thing to be very low cost.

I'll keep the list posted on progress; we're hoping to have at least a 
skeleton station running in a couple of weeks.

73,
John
----

On 01/11/2018 08:29 AM, N4ZR wrote:
> A couple of years ago I was in touch with some guys who were 
> experimenting with a battery of dongles for a multi-band Skimmer 
> receiver.  I heard (maybe second-hand) that they dropped the project 
> because of difficulties with frequency instability.  Perhaps they read 
> this reflector (?) and can correct or clarify.
> 
> 73, Pete N4ZR
> Check out the Reverse Beacon Network
> at<http://reversebeacon.net>, now
> spotting RTTY activity worldwide.
> For spots, please use your favorite
> "retail" DX cluster.
> 
> On 1/11/2018 7:43 AM, John Ackermann N8UR wrote:
>> Thanks, Bob!  That's exactly what I was hoping to hear.
>>
>> 73,
>> John
>> ----
>>
>> On 01/11/2018 12:25 AM, Bob Wilson, N6TV wrote:
>>> See http://dxatlas.com/SkimServer/.  The N1GP RTL Dongle is supported 
>>> by HermesIntf.dll, the same one we use for the Red Pitaya.
>>>
>>> See 
>>> http://lists.contesting.com/pipermail/skimmertalk/2015-March/001481.html 
>>> .
>>>
>>> 73,
>>> Bob, N6TV
>>>
>>> On Tue, Jan 9, 2018 at 6:05 AM, John Ackermann N8UR <jra at febo.com 
>>> <mailto:jra at febo.com>> wrote:
>>>
>>>     A group of VHF contesters in the Ohio area are looking at the
>>>     possibility of using Skimmer and RBN (or something like that) to
>>>     monitor the CW and beacon segments of 2M, 222, 432, etc. to generate
>>>     propagation information.  We're now looking at the hardware options.
>>>
>>>     It seems as though the inexpensive RTL-Dongle devices would be good
>>>     for this application.  Has anyone looked into interfacing them to
>>>     Skimmer?
>>>
>>>     If not, has anyone looked into this issue and come up with a
>>>     different solution for VHF monitoring?
>>>
>>>     One possibility is using a Red Pitaya with VHF converters in front,
>>>     but that adds hardware complexity and cost.  We'll take that route
>>>     if there's no other reasonable alternative.
>>>
>>>     Thanks!
>>>
>>>     73,
>>>     John N8UR
>>>
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