It reads the SDR data directly. So, can be back engineered to do radio astronomy things. I intend to combine this with an allsky camera to both radio and visual meteor detection , if possible.
Does this software store scans in suitable form for later processing?
When I was playing with 21cm receiver last year, this was the biggest problem, so I ended up using spectrum analyser as recording device, because it was easier than designing the detector, ADC etc..
The biggest drawback of that approach was huge power bill ( ~500W continuosly on for one month).
Yes , the code can be added too to write a data file. In the screen shot I added a print line at the point the the data is being graphed to the screen.
This prints to the console, see the data values....
Some further thought as to a how to replay the data or send to a spread sheet, or other (Sky pipe?) would be needed.
Two years ago (time flies!) I was scanning the sky on 1420MHz (link is here).
For each frequency band scan I used timestamp, frequency (actually position on the screen) and recorded level. Other parameters (Ref level, VBW, RBW, CF) were rrecorded with each scan readout
IMO, this was enough to construct the 21cm map of the southern sky..
I definitelly managed to observe the rotation of Milky Way
At firs I was considering Skypipe as a recording device but abandoned the idea mainly because I needed to build detector, ADC.. and I already had all that in a form of Spectrum Analyser (and associated HPIB controller).. so my approach at the time was much faster.
I would very much like to go to the next level with this work (motorization of the antenna, sky scanning..) but my experimental setup was simply too expensive (power bill).
Your work is giving me a new hope for cheaper gear and much easier data processing.
Hi Alan,
I downloaded all and I have some troubles, probably not everything is placed in right folders..:
No library found for controlP5
No library found for rtlspektrum
Libraries must be installed in a folder named 'libraries' inside the 'sketchbook' folder.
Here is the simple steps to a working environment.
Get Processing 3.0.2 ( the latest download, either 64bit or 32bit version)
32bit is more portable to other users...later
expand to default locations, try to run an example sketch to test.
In the processing window menu , find
Sketch>import library>add library...
A list of many libraries appear...
Add ControlP5 library
Add Minim library
Find the location that these libraries are deployed to.
Should be something like the attached directory structure.
Add the spektrum library to this location as seen in the structure.
You may need to remove a controlp5 java exe from the spektrum library as we now should have the real bigger complete controlp5 that is used to build good user interfaces...
plug in you SDR. and try the example from pavel.
you could also download spekrtum-win64 the ready to work version, no source code though....
let me know, I should some what interactive today...
Seems it wants to go to web server, but for some reason it can't.
Will try later from home
Source is more interesting, because I want the record in numerical form.. and probably a lot more that that .
In the meantime, I will try to play with compiled version.
Precompiled version apparently works on my desktop, with DVB dongle.
Not sure if this is real, because previosly I couln't tune this dongle to 1.42GHz.
Terratec dongle (E4000) works OK (it needed drivers update), however the spektrum (no input) looks strange with those dips, this is probably interference from desktop.
However, with signal from network analyser (set to -50dBm) the screen looks more reasonable (display is interupted because the NA scans over the same frequency band with its own timing)
BTW, the input impedance of Terarec dongle at connector is around 25+j15ohms (it's supposed to be 75 ohms).. there will be a need for impedance matching to avoid standing waves on the cable, I can do it with resistive circuit (or 3-6dB pad) since I have plenty of gain available in LNA section so some loss at this location is acceptable.
As for dongle, there are reports that RT820T based dongles are problematic at 1.4GHz and above, at elevated temperatres (not your problem, though). http://www.rtl-sdr.com/tag/r820t/
Hi Allan,
Thanks for the update, those are good news
I spend my weekend fiddling with my spectrum analyser, attenuator control switch malfunctioned (it is a miracle it happened 35 years after manufacturing, considering the switch design).
I also had some progress with Processing at home - I managed to insert libraries (I had to disable firewall) but this was with 32-bit XP, the file structure is nothing like yours described earlier, and I couldn't locate where to put Pavel's libraries... It seems they are placed in some other user's directories... very strange.
Here at work (64bit w7 pro) I can't bypass company's firewall, so there is no hope Processing will ever work here. I wonder why this package is designed so, does it reallyneed to have internet connection? I don't think so.
Is there a theoretical hope to use this code in some other environment? Visual C or Python or whatever, less spread all over the HD?
Anyway.. I hope I will have it all sorted in a day or two.
Hi Malcolm,
yes, I know about this and I tried to place it here and there in subfolder architecture but no joy. It seems the material on github is not all that's needed.
I found another app (RTLSDR_Scanner), it is based on python v2.7... but again, some critical libraries are missing from installation so the package doesn't work on it's own. And when I found the instruction how to install missing library (mathplot) the installation refused because of some version issues.
It seems too often authors of open-source application are distributing half-baked products... or, the open-source environment can't keep the pace with speed of it's own evolution.. or most likely it's just me and my lack of patience and knowledge about programming
EDIT:
It was the lack of my patience... Also, Scanner executable must be placed in the subfolder created by extracting this archive: http://sdr.osmocom.org/trac/raw-atta...ithDebInfo.zip
Then apparently the application works (it seems it needs only MSVCR100.DLL from that package to run).
Author also published the source code...
It is possible to export the averaged scan (in numerical form, with timestamps) on HD for further processing, export in cvs format is provided in the main menu. To save the whole session, option "retain previous scans" must be enabled.
.
Also, Scanner executable must be placed in the subfolder created by extracting this archive: 
