Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] Heard FM on the basic RX hooray!

[Berndt Josef Wulf]

On Saturday 06 January 2007 05:05, M. Ranganathan wrote:
> After some (perhaps needless) struggle I am happy to report I finally
> got to listen to some FM stations using the basic Rx. Some tips for the
> wary newcomer:
>
> 1. Dont try to build wxPython. It requires an act of God to get all the
> pieces together to make that happen. Instead install from the binary
> that you can get from wxPython.org.

Unless you use pkgsrc in which case you just type "make install" in 
meta-pkgs/gnuradio. pkgsrc will build and install gnuradio including 
documentation, examples and all missing dependencies... :-)

> 2. You are best off inserting a wire into the connector for the Antenna.
> Radio shack does not cary a suitable antenna that fits into the connector.

Get a SMA to BNC or SMA to N adapter which are available from Farnell, RS or 
much cheaper on Ebay! It makes life so much easier! 

I've installed the USRP and all accessories inside a 19" rackmount enclosure.

> 3. You dont need anything more than a long wire as an "RF Front End" to
> just fiddle around and get some FM reception.

Yep, that how I started. However, a low noise broadband amplifier will bring 
very subtle improvements. I have a RFA-403 low noise broadband amplifier 
(0.01-2.0GHz) that is used as a LNA and exciter amplifier. Its low cost 
(29,90 EUR), easy to build kit available from http://www.funkamateur.de

> So it actually works! That was the point of the exercise. I have the
> worlds most expensive FM radio finally (for the quality of sound I get
> from it anyway -- no this is not a complaint). I will now proceed to
> figure out the various pieces that make this all work.

Now that you've got this far, I'm sure there are many other applications for 
you to explore and enjoy.

cheerio Berndt