Over the past few days I've been reading about decoding digital signals in SDR with other software like DSD+. This has got me interested in SDR again. I'm no stranger to it, I just didn't bother with it for a number of years. The last time I was using it, it was clear that it was outdated. And I got bored quite quickly. But lately my interest has been sparked again and I decided to get out my really old RTL R820T dongle and get it set up with SDR# and SDR console to kick things off. One of things about RTL dongles that has always bothered me, was the RF / EMF radiation that they seem to give off. I mentioned in another post that it makes me feel quite sick when using it. Even though its across the other side of the room.
SDR Console V3.2
So I decided to make a little shield for it. I read online that a good blocker / shield for RF radiation is aluminium. I had a slim drinks can laying around so thought I'd use it to half encase the dongle. I didn't want to completely cover it because I think that would affect its performance. And it gets hot and needs to breath.
So in the can it went. Just so long as it shields me and the cans opening is not pointing in my direction that's OK. I also remembered when I had to package some belongings in boxes. So I unintentionally placed a load of cardboard boxes in front of my Wi-Fi router, not thinking for a second that it would block the Wi-Fi signal to all my devices. But it did. It completely blocked the signal. So I thought I'd also place the RTL R820T dongle inside a cardboard box to give it / me some extra protection.
Why buy a new RTL-SDR dongle when this old one still works great
Only took a few minutes to make. I've tested it out and it seems to work well. Not sure if its just a placebo, but I think the 5 minute home made faraday cage is doing its job. I don't feel sick when the dongle is powered up. Lets hope it stays that way. I'll be posting some more updates on my little journey back into SDR. I was surprised at how well this old dongle still works with SDR#. The antenna isn't great, and the dongle is so old it has a coax connection. It can take a normal TV aerial lol. But it was still able to pick up some good signals. Stay tuned.
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