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Tuesday 18 July 2017

Salvaging my original RTL-SDR stick.

My previous post mentioned my original RTL-SDR stick (original in the sense that I have a new improved one from NooElec on the way), I salvaged it and the internal USB wiring from the tin of oil it has sat in for some months, and degreased it, it is currently out of its casing with the casing and all the cables drying off.

I did this as I intend to show it on the YouTube video of the new one when it arrives and the fact the can is leaking oil as the sealing I did to it did not work as intended, also I plan to take it along to the amateur radio club.

I first want to test the stick with my tablet on the USB-OTG, I know the OTG will work for flash drives but will it run the RTL-SDR without complaining? one way to find out is to plug the stick into the OTG connector and then onto the tablet, if successful I will see if the new stick will also work so I can do some field tests for YouTube in an RF busy environment without having to lug a computer around with me.

Before any of that can take place of course, the stick needs to be tested on a normal computer to ensure it is actually working, this will be done using the modified USB cable that I use for the stick (also degreased), and a Windows machine, possibly my laptop, and SDR# if it is still on the laptop which it appears to be.

The tests will cause the stick to pick up some noise, an antenna may be fitted for testing purposes but this depends on many factors, the coax for the antenna was also degreased along with the BNC connector and should in theory still work, the MCX connector at the other end was also subject to this, though I probably won't need to use this much once the improved NooElec unit with an SMA connector arrives in the next couple of days, time to see what happens next.

73 de 2E0EIJ

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