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2-Having a listen, what can you do for free, or under £50?
2-Having a listen, what can you do for free, or under £50?
WebSDR
Yes, you can listen to someone else’s radio over the internet, tune it in and take advantage of antennas and bands not previously available to you. Ideal if you live in a flat or a location with limited views. These are time shared and only simultaneously available to a small number of users so patience may be required.
* These sites are not secure, but they are not accessing any personal data so they should be fine.
https://www.dxzone.com/catalog/Internet_and_Radio/WebSDR/
http://hackgreensdr.org:8901/ * UK fav
http://sdr.codedv.com:8091/ London
http://rx.linkfanel.net/ worldwide
If you want you can set up your own Web SDR service and share with friends or the general public as a service!
Some great supplementary information https://youtu.be/fPf3kj_dAsc?si=xoJ_IzLEuVW5GCyN
Your own SDR - Software Defined Radios
SDR were originally intended for Digital TV reception on caravans and boats. But they found a second life when someone altered the software (of course you can still use them for TV with the right software).
The advantage of an SDR over a portable radio is its versatility. The signal decoding is done by your PC or Laptop and that can use many different pieces of software to decode many types of signal, analogue, digital audio, data, pictures and video, even encryption.
Budget ones like NooElec SDR and SDRPlay Blog V3 or 4 are great for a first purchase. They can be had for around £50 on ebay or Amazon, be sure to buy the genuine ones as there are cheap clones. These are a great introduction to radio, but so have some limitations when operated near strong radio stations and sometime suffer from poor double image rejection, so some stations can appear twice and inverted (SSB) normally receive from 100 khz to 1.7 or 2.0 Ghz
https://www.rtl-sdr.com/rtl-sdr-quick-start-guide/ * make sure the name contains blog v3/v4!
Photo: some of my personal SDR collection from top down -
RTL-SDR Blog v3
Saw Bird Noaa 137 Mhz pre-amp/filter for satellites (connector behind is propping it up)
NESDR SMArt SDR
Receiving HF is easiest on RTL-SDR V4, though can be done on others by changing parameters. Better radios handle it better as they do antenna switching.
Avoid the MSI2500 as it is a cheap Chinese clone with bad filtering!
Better quality SDR radios, many others are available, see reviews.
Airspy https://airspy.com/
SDRPlay.com https://sdrplay.com/
Dedicated Hardware Receiver (may include SDR functionality too)
A next level could be a stand alone portable radio like
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shortwave-Radio-Receivers/s?k=Shortwave+Radio+Receivers
Malahit SDR Radio Receiver 50KHz-2GHz, Malahit DSP SDR Receiver with 3.5'' Touch Screen for around £200, there are many alternatives by leading brands too.
Malahit SDR Radio Receiver 50KHz-2GHz, Malahit DSP SDR Receiver with 3.5'' Touch Screen for around £200, there are many alternatives by leading brands too.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=Shortwave+sdr+Radio+Receivers&ref=nb_sb_noss_2
Airband and VHF/UHF Scanners - around £200
For receiving only, scanners are way superior to transceivers, they can store more channels and scan channels and frequencies by design.They work best with multi-band aerial like the discone when mounted as high as possible. These days they can decode many different types of signal, but be sure to get one designed for the UK market.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=radio+scanner&ref=nb_sb_noss_2
You will NOT be able to decode the Emergency services as their primary transmissions are digital and encrypted on tetra/Airwave. Any lost or stolen receivers can be digitally de-commissioned due to GDPR privacy regulations. Unlike the USA’s trunk radio.
https://moonrakeronline.com/blog/how-to-listen-to-police-radio-in-uk
Advanced SDR receivers/transceivers
Or for around £200 upwards, a better SDR like SDRPlay https://www.sdrplay.com/products/
Airspy https://airspy.com/airspy-hf-discovery/
Hack RF One https://greatscottgadgets.com/hackrf/one/ * also transmits low power and receives up to 6 Ghz! Primarily designed for scientific purposes it’s a very comprehensive radio.
*You need a license for any band that you intend to transmit on, if one is available except for 27 Mhz, 446 Mhz and low power 433 Mhz *
Aerials and antenna for listening only!
Cheap SDRs come with aerials. These are generally cheap and badly wired, so budget either to rewire/replace them. Better still build your own. Any old wire will do for shortwave and the length isn’t that important for receiving so old TV coax or speaker wire will be an improvement for short wave. Of course a proper antenna or discone is better still!
What goes on out there? - A hell of a lot!
Broadcast
The usual music, sports, news and current affairs. But, you will get to hear opinions and political slants from all over the world. You will be amazed how the rest of the world sees the UK and how biased the BBC are. Especially if you understand other languages!
Amateur
Yes, you too, like me can become a licensed amateur radio station. I can transmit up to 1000 watts on many bands and in many different modes. If you have a basic understanding of radio and electronics you can get a license too. There are three levels, foundation, intermediate and full. I did all three in three months and there are many resources to help you such as YouTube, Essex Ham Radio (not just for Essex) for free!
https://rsgb.org/main/operating/licensing-novs-visitors/uk-licensing/
https://www.essexham.co.uk/train/
Satellites
You can listen to or receive voices or phone (FM/SSB), pictures (SSTV), amateur television (ATV), and weather data (Images, they are not photos) and lots of telemetry data!
Sadly the NOAA (FM) satellites have now gone very low power so that leaves Meteor SATS which are digital and on 137 Mhz, you will need quite good antenna and a filter/pre-amp such as NooElec SAW Bird NOAA (137 Mhz, yes im aware NOAA is dead. It’s still called that) for the best results. Also several pieces of software, or SATDUMP which does it all.
The main types of orbits include Low Earth Orbit (LEO), Medium Earth Orbit (MEO), and Geostationary Orbit (GEO), each serving different functions like communication, navigation, and Earth observation
https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Transportation/Types_of_orbits
Aviation
Air Band Radio frequencies
I live about 12 miles form East Midlands Airport and can pick up some of the transmissions, but also direct from aircraft and repeaters for other Airports as far as Scotland!
Airband frequencies operate globally within the VHF range of 108.000 (118 uk) to 136.000 MHz using Amplitude Modulation (AM), split primarily into navigation aids (108–118 MHz) and voice communications (118–137 MHz). [1] (No they don’t receive well on a Baofeng UV-5R)
Frequency Ranges and Uses
108.000 – 117.950 MHz (NAV): Used for navigation beacons, VORs, and localizers.
118.000 – 121.400 MHz & 121.600 – 136.975 MHz (COM): Used for air traffic control (ATC), ground control, clearance delivery, and tower operations.
225.000 – 399.950 MHz (UHF-AM): Used for military air-to-air and air-to-ground communications.
Common Emergency and General Frequencies
121.500 MHz: The universal international air guard/emergency frequency.
123.450 MHz: Widely used for informal plane-to-plane (air-to-air) communication.
122.800 MHz: Common Unicom / non-towered airport frequency.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXDBHZqyH-Q&t=178
Places to find frequencies and bands
https://www.hamradiostore.co.uk/ukafg-uk-airband-frequency-guide-2026
https://www.radioreference.com/
https://rsgb.org/main/operating/band-plans/
https://www.radio-workshop.co.uk/cb-radio-citizens-band-27mhz-11-metres/
ADS-B Data
You can set up your own station to monitor ADS-B signals from aviation and even submit your received data to FlightRadar24 and other services. FlightRadar24 will even give you a business subscription for free for doing it, and you can get a free Raspberry Pi based radio kit, subject to terms and conditions!
https://www.flightradar24.com/
https://www.flightradar24.com/apply-for-receiver
Airband is very addictive in the community and many people know a lot more about it than me.
Other!
Telemetry & ISM
433 Mhz - your car keys, smart meters, tyre pressure sensors and weather station all transmit and can be decoded with an SDR, you’ll also get a surprising amount from your neighbours and passing vehicles – fascinating!
https://m0taz.co.uk/2019/09/rtl-sdr-fun/
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