Things you can do with a Software Defined Radio (2024)

Fifty Things you can do with a Software Defined Radio 📻

Last week, I went on an adventure through the electromagnetic spectrum!

It’s like an invisible world that always surrounds us, and allows us to do many amazing things: It’s how radio and TV are transmitted, it’s how we communicate using Wi-Fi or our phones. And there are many more things to discover there, from all over the world.

In this post, I’ll show you fifty things you can find there – all you need is this simple USB dongle and an antenna kit!

The “Make 50 of Something” technique

A couple of years ago, I heard about the “Make 50 of Something” technique in Vi Hart’s Fifty Fizzbuzzes. Since then, I’ve already made fifty programs for the fantasy console TIC-80 in one weekend in 2021.

I found that a very exciting experience – trying to make so many new things really pushed me to leave my comfort zone, to be creative, and not to get sucked into rabbit holes too deep.

I knew I definitely wanted to try the technique again. So, when I took a week of vacation, I decided to try to find 50 things to do with a Software Defined Radio!

What is an SDR?

A Software Defined Radio is essentially a radio that relies on a computer to do most of its data processing. It doesn’t rely on analog hardware too much – instead, most of what is does is “defined in software”, hence the name.

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