• Potato
  
• Fancy Potato
  
• DMR Potato. $110, but close enough.
  
• Nice Mobile Antenna + mount
  
• Cheapie, but still good mobile antenna
  
• RTL-SDR
  
• Upconverter for your new RTL-SDR
  
• A snazzy enclosure for your new upconverter for your new RTL-SDR
  
• A bunch of RG8X coax
  
• Or about half as much RG-213
  
• A chest harness if you do event volunteer work or just like to play whacker.
  
• A nice desk stand to organize all your HT's
  
• Dry or wet dummy loads
  
• Raspberry Pi starter kit
  
• A Ham Radio Deluxe license
  
• A bitchin' yagi antenna
  
• Hamsticks and dipoles and verticals, oh my!
  
• High Sierra JAWS mount. Ridiculously useful.
  
• Antenna tuner or a nicer one for a tad over.
  
• Antenna analyzer
  
• Cheap straight key or a nice paddle for a bit over budget.
  
• Coax switch
  
• Powerpole all the things!
  
• Rigrunner for all the stuff you just powerpoled.
  
• Scanner
  
• Headset
  
• Analog or a digital SWR/watt meter
  
• A Pelican case to start working on your go box.
  
• A sweet atomic wall clock for the shack.
  
  That's all I can think of for the moment. I may add to the list as I think of more cool sub $100 ham toys.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

I'm running the Connect (2 tuner) model and it works fine.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GY0UB54/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I use a HDHomeRun hooked up to my PC and Window Media Center to manage all of my recordings. It was amazingly simple to hook everything up.

HDHomeRun

If you're in the US and these are FRS radios (which I assume they are) then there is no better start than getting an RTLSDR.

Check out rtl-sdr.com, especially the quick start guide and also check out the /r/rtlsdr subreddit.

In addition to picking up other people's walkie talkies you can also do cool stuff like track aircraft and download near-real time weather satellite imagery.

ADS-B Receiver is a fun project. With some pretty cheap hardware, you can track nearby planes.

AV Access HDMI Extender(HDBaseT),Uncompressed 4K 60Hz over Single Cat5e/6a, 70m(230ft) 1080P,40m(130ft) 4K,PoE+IR+RS232+HDCP2.2,HDR & Dobly Vision,Dolby Atmos & DTS:X https://www.amazon.com/dp/B019MADOS8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_y0gdBbF3QV3TQ.

I use this at work. Runs 4k with no issues.


V.TOP USB 2.0 Network Extender Over RJ45 Cat5/Cat6/Cat7 Ethernet Driver-Free Version Adapter for Windows 10/Mac OS 10.12/Ubuntu (50 Meters) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01K9V7D18/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_F2gdBbZX0WQ5X.

I use these for USB. Never had any issues.

Both run over cat6

The word you're looking for is "balun". While you can find 4K capable baluns, to the best of my knowledge none of them are passive.

Example of a balun that's exactly what you're asking for, except not passive: https://smile.amazon.com/SDS-Extender-HDBaseT-Supports-Bi-directional/dp/B0107W8UP2/

Knowing the word "balun" will get you much better search results than just putting in the cable specs (this is a search I've been down before).

What you might consider is a PoE (Power over Ethernet) balun kit. This one is pricey... but it supports 4K, and you only have to plug one side of it in (either the transmitter or the receiver) to power, and it'll power the other device over the same cat6 cable that the video signal is transmitted over. So you only need to run the single cable, and whichever end has trouble supplying power won't need it. https://smile.amazon.com/AV-Access-Extender-Uncompressed-Supports/dp/B01GYL54JK/

$20 - RTL-SDR - see /r/RTLSDR, ability to listen to a wide range of frequencies, including the VHF/UHF ham bands, but also scanner activity and everything else in between.

$52 - HF upconverter for the RTLSDR - Add HF listening to the RTLSDR - this is where all the good stuff is (in my opinion), the shortwave, DX, data modes, CW, weather fax, etc etc.

$36 - Baofeng UV-5R - transmit/receive on 2m/440, might not be as nice as the B5 model, but it's $20 cheaper. And quite frankly, I think once you get a taste of HF, your HT is going to collect dust. These keep on getting cheaper and cheaper, they're almost disposable at this point. So if you really dig having an HT and want a B5 or a newer model down the road, it won't break the bank. I've got a hand mic for mine and it's hooked up to an outdoor antenna - talks to all my local repeaters quite easily. Get the USB programming cable and maybe an after market antenna.

it is really easy to track planes yourself within line of sight.

http://www.satsignal.eu/raspberry-pi/dump1090.html

http://planeplotter.pbworks.com/w/page/79995023/Dump1090

https://www.rtl-sdr.com/tag/rtl1090/


hardware needed
https://www.amazon.com/NooElec-NESDR-Mini-Compatible-Packages/dp/B009U7WZCA/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1512064336&sr=1-4&keywords=RTL2832U

I don't think there's a lot of hardware to buy. I haven't looked in a while but the SDR receiver is about $20 (here's one but there are a bunch), and there are instructions to make your own high-gain antenna. With the receiver and a 5' regular antenna (came with it) I was picking up AMI signals and mapping flights nearby from the ACARS data. /r/rtlsdr knows more I'm sure, also this.

Turn your laptop into a real-time wireless spectrum analyzer and sniffer!
https://www.amazon.com/NooElec-NESDR-Mini-Compatible-Packages/dp/B009U7WZCA

If anyone wants to receive and decode their own ADS-B and ACARS transmissions from aircraft to understand how this kind of stuff works, buy one of these for $20:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009U7WZCA/

Then check out http://sdrsharp.com/index.php/downloads

Considering that with $20 and a laptop you can receive and decode this stuff, one of these days there will probably be lots of people recording it all.

If you want general understanding, you could do a whole lot worse than picking up a ham radio license manual. ;-)

For antenna's specifically, for most frequencies of interest you're best off using a 1/2 or 1/4 wave antenna to start. Most of the better RTL-SDR receivers come with an adjustable antenna, which you can make either 1/2 or 1/4 of the wavelength (whichever fits). Use a calcualtor like this one, and just measure the metal part of the antenna from the base to the tip.

When you need more antenna than that for specific uses, you'll have learned enough to make a better decision then.

If you don't have a RTL-SDR yet, I'd get one of these, it's a great piece of kit and has everything you'll need to get going.

Get yourself an HDHomeRun network tuner, and then the HomeRunTV app.

Don't buy junk extenders.

The ABSOLUTE cheapest I would ever go is: https://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-106532-Extender-196-Feet-Support/dp/B000YCDU6U/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1475078378&sr=1-1&keywords=hdmi+extender+monoprice

But if you care about a quality uncompressed signal you'll go with:
https://www.amazon.com/AV-Access-Extender-Uncompressed-Bi-directional/dp/B019MADOS8/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1475078230&sr=8-16&keywords=hdmi+extender

https://www.amazon.com/NooElec-NESDR-SMArt-Enclosure-R820T2-Based/dp/B01GDN1T4S

SMA connector, metal case, 0.5PPM TCXO, etc.

I have a Win7 box w/a HDHomerun HD HR3 US OTA ATSC dual tuner with Windows Media Center on it.

If you install a piece of software called ServerWMC it can take your OTA live channel data and feed it into a plex plugin called wmc2Plex.

From there you can view your "plugins" section on a plex client, pick wmc2plex and stream live OTA TV.




Link to ServerWMC: https://0df317251eddfb99d4fce96eecb40d46cfc8ba25.googledrive.com/host/0ByNnAMYBoWvfTk8tRWJXYko1T2c/index.html


Link to wmc2Plex: https://forums.plex.tv/index.php/topic/137688-wmc2plex-livetv-with-serverwmc/


Link to the tuner I use: http://www.amazon.com/SiliconDust-HDHomeRun-Definition-Digital-HDHR3-US/dp/B004HO58SO (it's not the latest model, it's an MPEG2 based tuner)

This one: https://www.amazon.com/NooElec-NESDR-Mini-Compatible-Packages/dp/B009U7WZCA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1472959087&sr=8-3&keywords=rtf-sdr

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaKEYEyrRgk is a really good example

You can use REALLYYY cheap SDRs to get a very accurate picture of what's going on in the RF spectrum. If you're a windows user you can use SDR-Sharp.

https://smile.amazon.com/NooElec-NESDR-Mini-Compatible-Packages/dp/B009U7WZCA/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1502224074&sr=8-4&keywords=rtl+sdr ($20 Prime, but you can get them ~$10 from China) There are many other varieties.

HDHomerun + Plex.

Warning: This turned out way longer than I expected.

I'm in the US and I don't know how this would work with sensors that are available in Europe, but I'll share what I've been having success with lately.

I've been using cheap 433MHz sensors to measure temperature in a couple of locations using an RTL2832-based receiver (The one I'm using is a NooElec NESDR Mini 2+) and rtl_433.

I start rtl_433 in a screen session with the command:

rtl_433 -F json | mosquitto_pub -t home/rtl_433 -l

This tells rtl_433 to output in json format and pipes the result to mosquitto_pub (telling it to read from stdin with '-l').

On the MQTT side, the messages from my sensors appear formatted like this:

home/rtl_433 {"time" : "2017-04-10 15:06:11", "brand" : "OS", "model" : "THGR122N", "id" : 7, "channel" : 2, "battery" : "OK", "temperature_C" : 12.700, "humidity" : 23}
home/rtl_433 {"time" : "2017-04-10 15:06:15", "temperature" : 45.140, "humidity" : 70, "id" : 103, "model" : "LaCrosse TX141TH-Bv2 sensor", "battery" : "OK", "test" : "No"}
home/rtl_433 {"time" : "2017-04-10 15:06:51", "brand" : "OS", "model" : "THGR122N", "id" : 7, "channel" : 2, "battery" : "OK", "temperature_C" : 12.700, "humidity" : 23}
home/rtl_433 {"time" : "2017-04-10 15:06:52", "brand" : "OS", "model" : "THGR122N", "id" : 7, "channel" : 2, "battery" : "OK", "temperature_C" : 12.700, "humidity" : 23}

This is all nothing special. All of this stuff I just happened to have. The RTL2832 from a radio project I had been toying with. The sensors are a re-branded Oregon Scientific from an old, defunct temp/hygrometer, as well as the sensor from a LaCrosse weather station that I picked up on clearance a while back.

To get it into HA my config looks like this:

################

MQTT sensors #

################<br />

## rtl_433<br />
##<br />

# LaCrosse TX141TH-Bv2 sensor<br />
#<br />

Temperature

- platform: mqtt<br />
  name: &quot;rtl_433_lacrossetx141thbv2_temperature&quot;<br />
  state_topic: &quot;home/rtl_433&quot;<br />
  value_template: &quot;{% if value_json.id == 103 and value_json.model == 'LaCrosse TX141TH-Bv2 sensor' %} {{ value_json.temperature }} {% else %} {{ states.sensor.rtl_433_lacrossetx141thbv2_temperature.state | is_defined }} {% endif %}&quot;<br />

Humidity

- platform: mqtt<br />
  name: &quot;rtl_433_lacrossetx141thbv2_humidity&quot;<br />
  state_topic: &quot;home/rtl_433&quot;<br />
  value_template: &quot;{% if value_json.id == 103 and value_json.model == 'LaCrosse TX141TH-Bv2 sensor' %} {{ value_json.humidity }} {% else %} {{ states.sensor.rtl_433_lacrossetx141thbv2_humidity.state | is_defined }} {% endif %}&quot;<br />

Battery

- platform: mqtt<br />
  name: &quot;rtl_433_lacrossetx141thbv2_battery&quot;<br />
  state_topic: &quot;home/rtl_433&quot;<br />
  value_template: &quot;{% if value_json.id == 103 and value_json.model == 'LaCrosse TX141TH-Bv2 sensor' %} {{ value_json.battery }} {% else %} {{ states.sensor.rtl_433_lacrossetx141thbv2_battery.state | is_defined }} {% endif %}&quot;<br />

# Oregon Scientific THGR122N<br />
#<br />

Temperature

- platform: mqtt<br />
  name: &quot;rtl_433_oregonthgr122n_temperature&quot;<br />
  state_topic: &quot;home/rtl_433&quot;<br />
  value_template: &quot;{% if value_json.id == 7 and value_json.model == 'THGR122N' %} {{ value_json.temperature_C }} {% else %} {{ states.sensor.rtl_433_oregonthgr122n_temperature.state | is_defined }} {% endif %}&quot;<br />

Humidity

- platform: mqtt<br />
  name: &quot;rtl_433_oregonthgr122n_humidity&quot;<br />
  state_topic: &quot;home/rtl_433&quot;<br />
  value_template: &quot;{% if value_json.id == 7 and value_json.model == 'THGR122N' %} {{ value_json.humidity }} {% else %} {{ states.sensor.rtl_433_oregonthgr122n_humidity.state | is_defined }} {% endif %}&quot;<br />

Battery

- platform: mqtt<br />
  name: &quot;rtl_433_oregonthgr122n_battery&quot;<br />
  state_topic: &quot;home/rtl_433&quot;<br />
  value_template: &quot;{% if value_json.id == 7 and value_json.model == 'THGR122N' %} {{ value_json.battery }} {% else %} {{ states.sensor.rtl_433_oregonthgr122n_battery.state | is_defined }} {% endif %}&quot;<br />

Then I use a template to format it for display:

## Template Sensors<br />
##<br />

# LaCrosse TX141TH-Bv2 sensor (sensors_mqtt.yaml)<br />
#<br />

Outdoor Temperature

- platform: template<br />
  sensors:<br />
    sensor_temperature_outdoor:<br />
      value_template: '{{ states.sensor.rtl_433_lacrossetx141thbv2_temperature.state|round(1) }}'<br />
      icon_template: 'mdi:thermometer'<br />
      entity_id: sensor.rtl_433_lacrossetx141thbv2_temperature<br />
      friendly_name: &quot;Outdoor Temperature&quot;<br />
      unit_of_measurement: '°F'<br />

Outdoor Humidity

- platform: template<br />
  sensors:<br />
    sensor_humidity_outdoor:<br />
      value_template: '{{ states.sensor.rtl_433_lacrossetx141thbv2_humidity.state }}'<br />
      icon_template: 'mdi:gauge'<br />
      entity_id: sensor.rtl_433_lacrossetx141thbv2_humidity<br />
      friendly_name: &quot;Outdoor Humidity&quot;<br />
      unit_of_measurement: '%'<br />
<br />
# Battery<br />
- platform: template<br />
  sensors:<br />
    sensor_battery_lacrossetx141th:<br />
      value_template: '{{ states.sensor.rtl_433_lacrossetx141thbv2_battery.state }}'<br />
      icon_template: '{% if states.sensor.rtl_433_lacrossetx141thbv2_battery.state == &quot;OK&quot; %} mdi:battery {% else %} mdi:battery-outline {% endif %}'<br />
      entity_id: sensor.rtl_433_lacrossetx141thbv2_battery<br />
      friendly_name: &quot;LaCrosse TX141TH-Bv2 Battery&quot;<br />

# Oregon Scientific THGR122N (sensors_mqtt.yaml)<br />
#<br />

Garage Temperature

- platform: template<br />
  sensors:<br />
    sensor_temperature_garage:<br />
      value_template: '{{ ((float(states.sensor.rtl_433_oregonthgr122n_temperature.state)* 9 / 5)+ 32)|round(1) }}'<br />
      icon_template: 'mdi:thermometer'<br />
      entity_id: sensor.rtl_433_oregonthgr122n_temperature<br />
      friendly_name: &quot;Garage Temperature&quot;<br />
      unit_of_measurement: '°F'<br />

Garage Humidity

- platform: template<br />
  sensors:<br />
    sensor_humidity_garage:<br />
      value_template: '{{ states.sensor.rtl_433_oregonthgr122n_humidity.state|round(0)|int }}'<br />
      icon_template: 'mdi:gauge'<br />
      entity_id: sensor.rtl_433_oregonthgr122n_humidity<br />
      friendly_name: &quot;Garage Humidity&quot;<br />
      unit_of_measurement: '%'<br />
<br />
# Battery<br />
- platform: template<br />
  sensors:<br />
    sensor_battery_oregonthgr122n:<br />
      value_template: '{{ states.sensor.rtl_433_oregonthgr122n_battery.state }}'<br />
      icon_template: '{% if states.sensor.rtl_433_oregonthgr122n_battery.state == &quot;OK&quot; %} mdi:battery {% else %} mdi:battery-outline {% endif %}'<br />
      entity_id: sensor.rtl_433_oregonthgr122n_battery<br />
      friendly_name: &quot;Oregon THGR122N Battery&quot;<br />

The end result, I get some cards and graphs. Woohoo!

As it see it, the pros of this approach are:

• Cheap (Most people already have some of the sensors for their remote thermometer).
  
• Hardware is easy to implement as you don't have to build it yourself.
  
  The cons:
  
  
• Complicated setup. Requires linux. Requires setup of rtl_433 and mqtt. If you're particular about your usb devices staying put in /dev, requires some config in udev. May require blacklisting in modprobe.d (specifically dvb_usb_rtl28xxu, rtl2832, and rtl2830 to free up the device for rtl_433 to use.) If you aren't intimately familiar with your particular linux distro, by the time you get done setting this up you will be.
  
• These sensors change their ID every time you change the battery. If you're using the device ID in your config to differentiate between sensors (I am) you need to remember this.
  
• If you have neighbors with sensors you might have to do a bit of experimenting to figure out which sensors are yours and which ones are theirs.
  

Yeah, I doubt the Xbox One would have remote codes for changing channels on some random old VCR or even that one external tuner with a VGA connector. Realistically, your best chance for your specific situation may be a PC running Windows Media Center. I believe that the XB1 has the necessary remote codes built in to support WMC. You won't need a powerful PC. An old desktop or laptop with Vista or Windows 7 home premium would have WMC built in. (You can also add WMC to a Windows 8 PC, but it has to be running W8 Pro, and then WMC is a $10 additional upgrade.) The computer will either need an HDMI out or you'll need an adapter for VGA/DVI.

You'll need a tuner like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Diamond-TVW750USB-ATI-Theater-Tuner/dp/B002UOUQ08/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1409014269&sr=8-1&keywords=usb+tuner

And then you'll also need a WMC compatible remote sensor like this one (be careful, because you need a true WMC compatible sensor)

http://www.amazon.com/HP-Infrared-Receiver-Discontinued-Manufacturer/dp/B00KDNIRYA/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1409014954&sr=8-4&keywords=windows+media+center+ir+receiver

So if you can find a PC cheap enough, and don't mind doing a bit of cobbling together, you should be able to get it to work. Whether it's worth it or not is up to you. Sorry, I really don't see much of an alternative. Maybe an older Tivo with analog tuner(s) if XB1 supports it.

An RTLDSR and an upconverter should both be available in your country. This would be the most versatile setup.

Yes. I have also cut the cord with the help of this subreddit. I pay for my internet bill, Netflix, Hulu Plus, and I have Amazon Prime as well.

I also bought one of these antennas and an HDHomeRun and after several hours of struggling with software, I have a really nice setup to watch and record broadcast television with a full TV guide similar to digital cable with DVR. I just have my computer plugged into my TV. It took some time and money to setup, but now I'm saving almost $100/month.

You need a compatible LNB on the dish and an RTL-SDR dongle, like https://www.amazon.com/NooElec-NESDR-Mini-Receiver-RTL2832U/dp/B00VZ1AWQA

There are open source SDRs out there too... though they're fancier ones than the RTL-SDRs. In any case, it's all off the shelf parts. One of our major goals in this was to make the reception really low cost: the system is most useful if there are many receivers.

(Before you go rushing out to buy one: We don't cover Thailand yet. We need to build another uplink location out to cover that slice of the world. We're working on it!)

This one seems to be a very similar PoE balun kit that has shorter range (but still enough for OP's run) https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B019MADOS8/

From his description it is either:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011HVUEME/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=sl1&tag=rsv0f-20&linkId=e6b872ce4bf757ba9f71fbd35a53742e

OR

https://www.amazon.com/NooElec-NESDR-SMArt-Enclosure-R820T2-Based/dp/B01GDN1T4S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1500228932&sr=8-1&keywords=nooelec

Both are great starter receivers although there are a few small differences between them. Some people start with the really cheap ~$11-12 ones, but frankly they suck. $25 for a proper one isn't much.

Yeah

If you want to minimize cables, use something like this: https://www.amazon.com/AV-Access-Extender-HDBaseT-Uncompressed/dp/B01GYL54JK

This will run ethernet + HDMI + other stuff through a single CAT5.

I have Charter for internet (15Mbps down/3 up for ~$50/mo after the promo rate expires) and an antenna for TV. I built my own DVR so I can record the network shows, which is what we mainly watch anyway. I live in south Reno so the antenna reception is great coming off Slide Mtn. It is probably a bit tougher to pull off in the northern areas.

There's plenty of free DVR software. Windows Media Player can do it or if you use Linux mythtv is wonderful. That is what I use.

I use the HDHomeRun to tune the channels.

This, although to elaborate, you need to obviously have a way to get the TV signal (specifically the channel you want) into the computer. To do that you need a tv tuner of some sort, although you don't necessarily need a card in the computer, you could go with a network based tuner like the SiliconDust HDHomeRun http://www.amazon.com/SiliconDust-HDHomeRun-Definition-Television-HDHR3-US/dp/B004HO58SO/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pdT1_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=1X6E0A0LVR6GL&coliid=IZ68PKMJY53RZ
you do need some sort of tuner, which is what TheHater1 was answering you can't do it without a tuner, but you can do it without a card in your PC

Wow, Thanks for all of the great information! So it sounds like I can get better reception with my SDR by purchasing an "upconverter" like this one from amazon?

The SDR antenna I have is tiny. Is there an antenna I can buy and put in my attic that could give me better reception?

I've been using RTL-SDR with the Ham-It-Up. You'll need to get one of these SMA to MCX to connect them. After that I just built a simple wire dipole and strung it up in my attic. I can now do Rx on all bands. Furthest signal I've received so far was from Pakistan and I routinely listen to the shortwave broadcasts out of Cuba and the Bahamas. Best $100 I've ever spent in the hobby for sure.

I'm using Acurite temp/humidity sensors and a USB RTL-SDR to sniff the signals. Then a neat little piece of software called rtl_433 decodes the radio signals and can output in json format over mqtt. I have home assistant listening to the topics and just view the data there. I'm sure there is an easy way to get data into grafana as well. I ran that setup on a Rpi no problem but have since switched to a NUC and things are still going great.

https://www.amazon.in/Raspberry-Plus-Motherboard-Combo-Variation/dp/B07C6SN8PL/

https://www.amazon.in/NooElec-USB-Stick-RTL2832U-R820T/dp/B009U7WZCA/


I'm not sure locally where the best palce to get this stuff would be or what you costs are, maybe someone from India can help.

https://www.amazon.com/SiliconDust-HDHomeRun-CONNECT-broadcast-2-Tuner/dp/B00GY0UB54

I don't use this, but use their other device which works with a cable card. Built my own DVR using a Windows 7 PC. It relies on Media Center which is not available in newer Windows versions.

Why not grab the shield TV, and grab a hdhomerun to consolidate what you are doing to one box instead of two so you aren't switching inputs? The shield has a several different DVRs built in. Also if you wanted to you could use plex with the shield?

https://www.amazon.com/NVIDIA-SHIELD-Streaming-Player-Remote/dp/B075RXV2VR/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1510506499&sr=8-2&keywords=shield+tv

https://www.amazon.com/SiliconDust-HDHomeRun-CONNECT-broadcast-2-Tuner/dp/B00GY0UB54/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1510506517&sr=1-1&keywords=hdhomerun

www.plex.tv

Get this instead https://www.amazon.com/SiliconDust-HDHomeRun-CONNECT-broadcast-2-Tuner/dp/B00GY0UB54
It's awesome, watching morning news on it right now through it's app on my shield

If you want to get REALLY fancy in the future, buy a HDHomeRun Connect: https://www.amazon.com/SiliconDust-HDHomeRun-CONNECT-broadcast-2-Tuner/dp/B00GY0UB54

Hook your antenna up to it somewhere out of sight and use Channels on your AppleTV to watch Live television: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/channels-live-tv-anywhere/id1117689474?mt=8

There's an AppleTV version and it works EXTRMELY well.

For live content you're better off with Kodi/SPMC with a homerun device. There are others like Tablo, but they're buggy & have subscriptions. Or... I use a cheap HDHomeRun CONNECT wth TVHeadEnd on Linux. Plex has a channel to watch Live TV both from TVHeadEnd or HDHR Viewer & the recordings are seen just fine in Plex too, even tho they have to be transcoded to view on a lot of devices. You can even get fancy & use comskip to remove the commercials for ya. :-)

Android TV very good setup and will fit your budget read the reviews from the buyers that's only opinion that matter from people that actually own these products.

:

TCL 55S405 55-Inch 4K Ultra HD Roku Smart LED TV (2017 Model) $349.99 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MTGM5I9/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

:

NVIDIA SHIELD TV Gaming Edition | 4K HDR Streaming Media Player with GeForce NOW $199.00 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N1NT9Y6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

:

SiliconDust HDHomeRun CONNECT. FREE broadcast HDTV (2-Tuner) $73.95 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GY0UB54/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

:

[2018 Latest] Amplified HD Digital TV Antenna Long 65-80 Miles Range – Support 4K 1080p & All Older TV's Indoor Powerful HDTV Amplifier Signal Booster - 18ft Coax Cable/USB Power Adapter $27.95 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FVLXHYV/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have my server room in the basement and have a similar problem. Want to send video+audio signal up to my TV and the sound system in the living room. Currently looking at HDBase-T, something like this https://www.amazon.com/AV-Access-Extender-HDBaseT-Uncompressed/dp/B019MADOS8

​

Would love to here some feedback from someone has done something similar.

https://www.amazon.com/AV-Access-Extender-Uncompressed-Bi-directional/dp/B019MADOS8

But nowadays fiber optic HDMI cables are another viable option.

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=13700

> RTL-SDR

You mean something like this? Or do you have a better link or suggestion?

The XTR contains the E4000 chip. Most of what I've read says they are not really worth it. I think new users should get the plain nesdr smart. I have 2 and they are indeed great. https://www.amazon.com/NooElec-NESDR-SMArt-Bundle-R820T2-Based/dp/B01GDN1T4S/

NooElec NESDR SMArt Bundle - Premium RTL-SDR w/ Aluminum Enclosure, 0.5PPM TCXO, SMA Input & 3 Antennas. RTL2832U & R820T2-Based Software Defined Radio. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GDN1T4S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_zMGFzbCS18ZQH. I wish I knew more but do far I have been able to pick up ads-B well with the short antenna and FM radio with the telescoping one.

I suggest either the RTL-SDR Blog kit or the NooElec NESDR SMArt Bundle. The RTL-SDR V3 has one advantage over the SMArt, which is that it has a bias t.

Both kits include a selection of antenna. Attach the magnetic mount to a piece of metal, and go to town.

A cheap $25 software defined radio dongle paired with a long wire antenna is a very good way to get your feet wet with number stations and general listening.

I have this one and it works great. It also has a wide listening range and not just for number stations

Over here we have Netflix, Amazon (used Prime for shipping long before Video was added to it,) and a $40 indoors OTA antenna with a $180 box. It already paid for itself in savings over the cable subscription.

Plex has a DVR solution for OTA in beta right now which works great, and doesn't have fees for program guides. The only missing piece is post-processing to cut out commercials.

This is a really good option. Pair it with whatever antenna you'd like. It allows for two simultaneous streams. Meaning if you use Plex like I mentioned, you can stream two live TV broadcasts at a time.

If that's too expensive, you can go on eBay and find similar Hauppauge tuners for $20 used. Real cheap. Works well.

If you want something a little nicer, you can't go wrong with a HDHomeRun. It'll sit on your network and allow anything to connect to it. That model only gives you 2 streams as well but there are better ones available.

If you want cable, you're going to have to go with a HDHomeRun Prime box. They discontinued the first model because they're supposed to be releasing a new model soon™, meaning you'll have to either wait or seek it out on eBay. The old box supports 3 streams, the new 6. Just a warning, it'll be a hassle setting it up. Calling your cable company and begging for them to give you a card for it and such. Heck sometimes the support agentsdon't even know that's an option. But once you do have everything set up and working, it's rock solid and very performant.

I’ve been looking at this. Seems like I would have to have storage on my network for recordings?

SiliconDust HDHR5-4US HDHomeRun CONNECT Quatro 4-Tuner Live TV for Cord Cutters

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078LH47CD/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_QLVJAb5PDJPB1

If you don't need the DVR functionality and just want to stream live tv then the HDHomerun Quatro will work for you by itself. For DVR HDHomerun has a DVR service that requires an annual subscription and a NAS device for storage. I don't recommend that.

My setup uses a quatro as the tuner and a home-built PLEX server as the DVR.


If you want an easier setup I have read about a few products Tablo, AirTV, Amazon Fire TV Recast that need a USB harddrive added for DVR function to work. One of these may be the closest you get to a plug n play answer.

You've thought this out pretty well. I'd probably only change a couple of things. First would be to look into getting a networked HDHomeRun DUAL over a USB tuner. I'd go with this one because you'd be able to connect it to any computer in the house over LAN. If this wouldn't benefit you then a USB tuner might suit you better.

And the second is I wouldn't necessarily change, but you might want to consider. The chromebox ships soon, but we don't know yet if we'd be able to load any other OS on it yet. My guess would be yes. Other chromebooks have had success, but we just don't know yet so I wouldn't commit just yet.

The only other issue I can see is Plex might have an issue transcoding to play on your devices, especially the Celeron based chromebox.

Edit: Oh, and for wife proofing, I've got a Harmony 650 and FLIRC IR dongle that makes controling my TV, receiver, cable box, and HTPC easy

You are what? A sports fan? Nearly any "main stream" TV show can be obtained OTA. NBC/ABC/CBS/Fox... they are free and OTA in pure HD nearly everywhere. With something like a HDHomerun you can literally setup a free DVR system for all prime time television.

It's really a crime that they charge for the feeds through cable... but I believe they call it a "rebroadcast" fee and the directly relay the cost to the customer... so you pay for free services being given to you in a different medium.

If it were Me, I'd get this:

http://www.amazon.com/Zotac-ZBOX-1-6GHz-Barebone-ZBOX-AD02-U/dp/B004XYJLY0/ref=sr_1_7?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1319408109&sr=1-7

and this

http://www.amazon.com/SiliconDust-HDHomeRun-Definition-Television-HDHR3-US/dp/B004HO58SO/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_0

FWIW, this is what I currently own today:

http://www.barrymorrison.com/2011/04/25/my-htpc-coming-soon/

http://www.barrymorrison.com/2011/05/01/my-htpc-its-here/

Only thing I'd do differently, is a dual-tuner. BUT this was at Woot for $80 so I did it! A dual-tuner is a necessity (for me IMO).

Good luck!

hdhr3 + PC + wmc or myth

I've had it for a year now, so I would recommend a newer CPU/Motherboard. And please note that this unit is only up to running old arcade games, not something that takes a lot of display horsepower. Here is the system I built, it is running OpenELEC:

Case - Thermaltake Element Q - $75

Motherboard/CPU/APU - Asus AT5IONT-I - $180

Memory - Kingston 4GB (2 x 2GB) - $30

SSD - Crucial M4 64GB - $73

Blu-ray Drive - I have a discontinued Sony Optiarc full height unit - I would recommend - Asus Black 12X BD-ROM - $53

A couple of items that made the build easier:

10" SATA Cables - $10

1 Foot Right Angle Power Cord - $9

TOTAL: $430

EDIT: I forgot the remote. Any Windows Media remote works, I chose this one ($21) since its IR unit seemed to have a wide angle of signal capture, which it does. I also have a small mini-keyboard/remote ($37) for those times I need it.

EDIT II: I also forgot that I have a HD HomeRun ($90) to support TV. Storage is handled by a Startech 2 Drive Enclosure ($72) with 2 WD AV-GP WD20EURS 2TB ($120 each) These will be replaced by a server when I can afford it.

This makes a grand total that might not be so attractive: $430 for the HTPC + $460 for peripherals and storage = $890

Looks like it's $120 for the non-Prime model. If the cable outlet is near OP's computer, wouldn't one of the ~$60 USB ones he mentions work just as well?

HDHomeRun tuner puts QAM (unencrypted cable) and antenna streams into two tuners that hook up to your network. You can then record any of those channels on your PC using Windows Media Center.

Recording in WMC doesn't require much CPU power - I have a six-year-old Core 2 Duo and it only uses about 10% for an HD broadcast.

http://www.reddit.com/r/htpc/ might be a good place to ask as well.

Can't really provide any input on that card, but it's definitely an OEM device, so drivers could be an issue. Most that are available are pulls or remans, so there's a good chance that they are used, and will have no support or warranty. So the decision is if you want to risk the $$ on a used / unsupported part (that very well could work like a champ), or pay a bit more for something that's guaranteed to work.

Personally, I like the HDHomeRun tuners. They are external network devices, and don't require any space in the machine (or even have to be in the same room).

http://www.amazon.com/SiliconDust-HDHomeRun-Definition-Digital-HDHR3-US/dp/B004HO58SO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1380923301&sr=8-1&keywords=hdhomerun

Of course, they are more than $30.

• Antenna: ClearStream V2
  
  
• Amplifier: RadioShack Generic Amplifier
  
  
• Antenna feed runs through our preinstalled wiring from ATT U-verse without any changes
  
  
• I build my parents a custom built HTPC/server upstairs in the master bedroom, downstairs has a pretty cheap Refurbished HP Slimline Desktop that also runs as a secondary server for video games if necessary.
  
  
• All computers run Windows Media Center (Win7 Professional) + Airfoil for my parents iPads
  
  
• Tuner is a SiliconDust HDHomeRun Network Tuner. This pumps the signal to the HTPCs. It runs via ethernet which the upstairs runs along the baseboard, and gets to downstairs via TrendNet Powerline AV Adapters at 200mbps.
  
  
• The upstairs "server" has several hard drives which Windows Media Center saves to. The downstairs computer has the Recorded TV folder on one of the drives mapped as a network share, essentially creating the Uverse-esque "whole home DVR"
  
  
• My room just has an additional video out from my PC running over a 25 foot HDMI cable to my TV.
  
  
• Any other TVs that don't need DVR functionality just have a straight antenna feed through the preinstalled wiring
  
  
• For wireless laptops, we use Ubiquiti Unifi access points that can keep up with the HDHomeRun's large network requirements.
  
  
• Master bedroom, main TV, and workout room all have Roku 2 XD's attached to them.
  
  
• Any remaining TVs / the occasional projector we bring out, we will connect to a Nintendo Wii that we have lying around for Netflix.

If you can get your monitor hooked-up to your PC, you could get any number of gadgets to receive ATSC digital TV. My favorite at the moment is the HDHomeRun network tuner.

But since it doesn't sound like an option or what you really want to do, here is the product for you: Kworld HDmi Dvi VGA Qam/atsc External Digital Tv Tuner Box Hdtv (links to various ebay listings). This device outputs in DVI and VGA.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004HO58SO

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005YW7OLM

I bought a usb dongle. http://www.amazon.com/NooElec-RTL-SDR-RTL2832U-Software-Packages/dp/B008S7AVTC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1405475729&sr=8-2&keywords=usb+ham+radio+receiver+dongle and later bought the ham it up converter http://www.amazon.com/Ham-It-v1-2-Upconverter-Converter/dp/B009LQT3G6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405475771&sr=8-1&keywords=usb+ham+it+up You should do some reading up on this, its a great little receiver and you can listen to different digital modes.

> I don't care if the module is the size of a brick and I have to hide it in the glove box.

That's more/less 'easily' done then: get a nooelec 'ham it up' upconverter. There's a case as well.

check out /r/rtlsdr lots of friends, advice and links to cool things that can be done with them.

There are cheaper ones out there that are most likely exactly the same chips...but this is the one that I purchased:

http://www.amazon.com/NooElec-Previously-Compatible-Packages-Guaranteed/dp/B009U7WZCA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1420983857&sr=8-3&keywords=rtl-sdr

If you want to cover even more bandwidth (ham bands) I also have one of these: http://www.amazon.com/NooElec-Ham-It-Up-v1-2/dp/B009LQT3G6/ref=pd_sim_e_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=1CRMFJH1XA8H72GGV088

And depending on your OS of choice there are a few different free programs you can use to give you a front end.

windows: sdr#
mac: gqrx
gnuradio

There are a few like that one. Every article in here is worth a read if you're interested in that sort of thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Secret_broadcasting

I believe you'd need a contraption like this in order to pick them up with an SDR: https://smile.amazon.com/NooElec-Ham-Up-v1-3-Upconverter/dp/B009LQT3G6/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1446689941&sr=1-1&keywords=ham+it+up+upconverter&linkCode=sl1&tag=rsv0f-20&linkId=a7c84e914b0bbeeb3f2ee83fa6e5cd73

Using https://www.amazon.com/NooElec-NESDR-Mini-Compatible-Packages/dp/B009U7WZCA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1518873870&sr=8-2&keywords=sdr+radio&dpID=31hIXCwp63L&preST=_SX342_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

wxtoimg : http://wxtoimg.com/downloads/

sdrsharp : https://www.rtl-sdr.com/tag/sdrsharp/

orbitron: http://www.stoff.pl/

Here is how:

1 Buy one of these or similar

https://www.amazon.com/NooElec-NESDR-Mini-Compatible-Packages/dp/B009U7WZCA/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1523630442&sr=8-6&keywords=sdr

2 Download and install SDR Sharp ( https://airspy.com/?ddownload=3130 ) on the device you want to listen with (many sdr software available)

3 start tuning in for about 20$

Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the airbands use AM. You can listen on an rtl-sdr like this.
If I am wrong and they are FM, you can get that or a baofeng transceiver and an amateur radio license(optional but you are in the amateur radio sub, we have to tell you to). Links for info on getting licensed are in the sidebar.

Edit: The airbands are AM. You should get licensed anyway though.

Fellow openelec user here. I haven't set up TV, but have poked around enough to know it's possible.

You'll want to read up on their plug-ins here: http://wiki.openelec.tv/index.php/OpenELEC_Add-ons_%28Official%29

Looks like the tvheadend plug-in is what you'll need.

Then you'll want to pick up one of these: http://amzn.com/B009U7WZCA

And make sure you have a sufficient power supply.

If you really want a "one-button" setup, the RPi isn't the device for that; it's more for the DIY-er.

Direct link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GY0UB54/

what kind of antenna are you using?

i use this one
1byone
i velcroed it to the back of my entertainment center. i get great signals on some of the networks, but some are spotty. when that happens, i pull it out and move it around to higher areas until i fix the signal. i rarely can't get a channel when i try.

i know people who swear by this pricier box, but i've never used it.
SiliconDust HDHomeRun

and if you're not up for doing the antenna thing and cable's too expensive, there's tons of streaming options out there that get basic cable and local channels. pretty sure they can be as low as 20/month.

youtube tv, sling, playstation vue, directvnow, the list seems to be getting bigger everyday.

> I don't pay for cable so I have nothing to record

I don't pay for cable either. I use an antenna and I get about 30 channels.

>Private torrents have every show I've ever wanted basically unless it's some weird British show that I couldn't even DVR here even if I had cable ..

Well I happen to work in the industry, and I feel for me to pirate that programming would be a bit hypocritical of me.

AFAIK, however, you don't really see much pirating of shows like Meet the Press, nor do I easily see any ability to get any locally produced programming via pirating, including programs I worked on.

There's also a lot of oddball stuff that just isn't out there, or shows I just want to casually use as sort of background noise.

And then there's the fact this isn't using up some of my bandwidth cap with my ISP.

>I understand how the DVR is useful, but it's a lot of money/setup and again I don't want to pay for cable.

Well good news, it's not that big a deal. There are very basic and simple DVRs like the HomeWorx HW-150PVR, where all you have to do is add a USB hard disk. Pop an antenna and you're set. All done!

Or you can go a little more advanced. Get yourself a used computer for like $100 (I see some Core 2 Duo Mac Minis going for $100 and under on eBay, if you want something smaller), add a TV tuner (HDHomeRun Connect going for $77 on Amazon) and an antenna (I like the Winegard Flatwave since it has VHF elements in it and I live on the far side of the metro from the towers, $35 on Amazon, but depending on where you live you might only need an straightened out paperclip) and load it up with some software. You could use NextPVR if you want to stay in Windows, or if you're crafty you can use MythTV in Linux. If you like Linux, but aren't super confident you can use a pre-rolled distro like MythBuntu that has MythTV preinstalled and steps you through everything.

So that's about $200, plus $25/yr if you want more robust TV listings from SchedulesDirect (which I recommend). That's not that expensive, especially when you consider that's the price of a mid-range gaming GPU, and people spend twice that much on game consoles.

You could probably get that down a little cheaper if you look at busted laptops or trawled Craigslist for used PCs. You could run this on a Raspberry Pi if it had more RAM and faster USB disk access.

>Plus most WEB-DL's often look way better than any 1080p HDTV rip I've seen lately.

You should check your local broadcasters. They may be better than you realize.

If you want to be able to integrate it into your Plex server, you can use a HDHR Connect, and you'll be able to record OTA with your Plex server, (and also access it with your Roku devices if you have the Roku synced up with your Plex server. Of course, you'll need adequate HDD space to store the shows that you want to archive.

You'll need a USB ATSC TV tuner that is supported under Linux ARM and run something like tvheadend. It'll mean a lot of messing about with selecting the right tuner and then getting the right driver compiled for the kernel. TV tuners under Linux is fairly complicated still as the kernel provided drivers tend to be old.

How much do you really want to tinker though? I'd suggest just buying a dual tuner HDHomeRun box instead for $94. USB ATSC tuners looks to be ~$35 by themselves. The cheap TV tuners that say RTLSDR or DVB aren't compatible. The HDHomeRun boxes work very well and it is all ready to go for a reasonable price if you're looking for dual tuner capability.

Kodi supports streaming TV from a tvheadend server or HDHomeRun. I'm unsure how you'd get it to work on a Roku box though. AFAIK it doesn't support streaming the necessary TV broadcast codecs directly so you'd need a server somewhere transcoding. The HDHomeRun does support DLNA so you should be able to get it to stream to your Xbox directly.

Have you considered some under the counter tvs? These were popular in the kitchen before the age of tablets.

Speaking of which, if you already have a tablet with a wifi setup, may I suggest HDHomeRun. By connecting this device to an antenna and your home router, you can stream OTA channels to your PCs and mobile devices.

>eed these locals in Chicago. Channel 9 is WGN, one of the biggest local stations in the US, previously owned by Tribune and now Nexstar.
>
>Channel 11, WTTW, is our main PBS station.

I use one of these bad boys hooked up to an antennae. https://www.amazon.com/SiliconDust-HDHomeRun-CONNECT-broadcast-2-Tuner/dp/B00GY0UB54

Allows your phone, DNLA devices etc. to access the tuners over the network. It's actually so integrated into the Sony Bravia that my TV acts like I plugged the antennae right into my television even though it's just a box on the network.

I used it mainly for cubs games on WGN (and ABC used to be blacked out but the most recent year it wasn't) but now with the Cubs getting their own network (Marquee) probably won't even use it anymore. PBS is supposed to be coming to all of YTTV quite soon.

My Model: HDHR4-2US is supported and working.
My old HDHR-US does not work with live channels.

Works - https://www.amazon.com/SiliconDust-HDHomeRun-CONNECT-broadcast-2-Tuner/dp/B00GY0UB54/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=hdhr4-2us&qid=1572549566&s=electronics&sr=1-2

Doesn't work - https://www.amazon.com/SiliconDust-HDHomeRun-HDHR-US-Networked-Definition/dp/B0010Y414Q

So do I. just need a computer and one of these https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GY0UB54

They have the 2 Tuner SD (1080i) version for $69. Which is still 40% off the normal price.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GY0UB54/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I don't know if it's the cheapest, but the HDHomeRun Connect does two tuners with an HD antenna for $99. There are ones with more than two tuners but you'll pay more.

I've used those types of tuners in the past, as well as Hauppage cards for desktop pcs. Recently I picked up one of these, http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GY0UB54/ and feel like a sucker for using tuner cards all those years. Plug it into your router, hook up your antenna and you can have OTA TV on your laptop, phone, tablet, anything on your network. I use with Emby for DVR and also remote access.

Here is the radio I am using and here is the tutorial on finding police frequencys and decoding them. I bought it to better understand radio waves for my signal analysis class and use it for days like these.

I prefer media bridge, still cheap and good. Use this to get to your projector
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B019MADOS8/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481742975&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=4k+hdmi+extender&dpPl=1&dpID=51ruuuMFrYL&ref=plSrch

I'm unsure how far of a cable run you're looking at, but the the following hdmi over cat extender has a review that claims to have worked fine with the Vive:

https://www.amazon.com/AV-Access-Extender-Uncompressed-Bi-directional/product-reviews/B019MADOS8/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_fmt?ie=UTF8&sortBy=recent&formatType=current_format

I've been using mine with a 100' extender for a while now. There's a few threads that describe how others have gotten theirs working (I'm too lazy to find them and link them to you right now though). Here is what ended up working for me:

I'm using this extender: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019MADOS8 for HDMI and it works ok. I paired it with the 100' CableMatters Cat6a cable (which I wouldn't recommend, but I cant find the beefy, quality cable in less than a 500' spool!) I ordered two cables and one was defective. It's also a thin for cat6a. Maybe we could get some people together and split up a spool of the good stuff.

I have to power cycle the repeater when I turn on the vive or else it freaks out and displays a broken signal, but it is holding up ok and I think it would work better if I cut off the extra cable length I didn't need and re-terminate the cable so it's shorter (I only needed about a 70ft run).

For the USB, I installed this extender: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013VP3372 but ended up sending it back. It worked, but it couldn't provide enough bandwidth to run the Vive camera along with everything else. Instead, I am just using a passive repeater cable: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0081LNQR4 which works perfectly fine. I have the 65ft repeater cable plugged into a 16ft non-repeater extension to get some extra length and this works flawlessly, I can even use the camera.

My lighthouses are about 8ft up and 22ft apart (using the link cable) and it all works very well. It did take some trial and error. Here's my advice:

• Try using your repeater with a shorter cat6 or cat6a cable (<10') - if it works, go and find the best quality cat6a cable you can find and cut it to the shortest length that will work and go from there. It might work, or you might need to find a better repeater. Mine worked fine for video signals even when it didn't for the vive so that's not a great test other than to prove that the repeater is functioning at all.
  
• I just re-read your post and see that you are using cat5e - try cat6a if you can, it provides superior range than cat5e. Also, test the cat5e cable you have with a computer (or purpose-built cable tester/certifier if you have access to one) to make sure it works at all. For what it's worth, I'm 90% certain my run wouldn't work with cat5e, it just barely makes it with the cat6a.
  
• I'd also recommend testing each (USB extender and HDMI extender) separately so one doesn't create problems for the other.

I'll second this one. Ed's talking about Software Defined Radio (SDR) which is basically where you have a computer addon, often a usb dongle, that works much like a sound card to convert computer generated digital output to an analog signal only instead of the output being in the form of audio, it's in the form of radio. With a dongle like this and the right software to drive it, you can do pretty much anything that can be accomplished with a radio signal including building your own ham radio, radio control, or even radio based networking. You can get a basic SDR dongle for about $25 and there's software to drive them available for raspberry pi (and I'm sure lots of other small computers and microcontrollers). Seems like a great fit for a HB.

Just got my NooElec dongle in the mail today! I'm having some trouble picking up NPR but I'll trying fiddling with my antenna angle. Just a couple of questions:

1. I tried googling which software to use, and SDR# came up an awful lot but for some reason I can't connect to airspy.com, it just times out for me. I found an old build (1.0.0.1361) but can anyone point me to a newer build? (Or better (free) software)?
   
   
2. Is my window pane a Yagi antenna? Kind of random haha, but I found that pressing my antenna to it could really clear up the signal I was getting. I read about Yagi antennae while browsing this sub and I thought it'd be pretty funny if thats actually how my window was working.
   
   Thanks!

Sure! I bought this little kit: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GDN1T4S/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Mixed Feelings:

• HD Content (which is not much) records nicely.
  
• Everything else, regardless of signal quality, is a mixd bag. Some shows record nicely, some record as static.
  
• Live TV has worked 25% of the time for me.
  
  In retrospect, I may not have spent the $200 for the live-DVR as I probably jumped into this too early.
  
  Currently running an HDHomeRun EXTEND (I thought x264 would have been a no brainer over the mpeg 2 version) and the 60-80 mil boosted antenna from Amazon.

Secret messages for spies; weather maps and satellite imagery; tracking information for aircraft hundreds of miles away; old men discussing their medical problems in Morse code; GPS signals at 0.1 femtowatts that are easily decoded through the magic of digital signal processing; Cuban propaganda and crazy preachers on shortwave; pager messages containing a shocking amount of unencrypted private medical information; mysterious radar systems; atmospheric research devices; police, fire, EMS, commercial, military, rail, marine, and ATC chatter. Most of which I have received from my backyard with a $90 SDR kit and a long bit of wire. The electromagnetic spectrum is vast, and wandering around it has become a kind of meditative activity for me.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076FNSM6B

Would this be what you're talking about?

​

I remember reading about these a while back but I never dug too deep. Do I just connect it my cable coaxial cable, insert the Cable Card, then connect it to my network through ethernet? I'm sure I can figure something out in terms of mounting the box to my rack. Once it's connected I assume its just seen as a network wide device that I configure with NextPVR or something of the sorts?

its huge. lol

​

i think i'll wait a year until the price halves along with the size.

​

https://www.amazon.com/SiliconDust-HDHR5-4US-HDHomeRun-Connect-4-Tuner/dp/B078LH47CD/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1542189324&sr=8-3&keywords=hdhomerun

What is SiliconDust privacy like? Do they data-mine with the apps? How hard is it to teach grandparents to use this? Is this it https://www.amazon.com/SiliconDust-HDHR5-4US-HDHomeRun-CONNECT-4-Tuner/dp/B078LH47CD/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1521430408&sr=8-4&keywords=SiliconDust%2BHDHomeRun&th=1

I am running Plex on a FreeNAS server with a HD Home Run Quatro tuner box. The HD Home Run has 4 tuners, meaning I can watch / record up to 4 channels at once (although I rarely go above 2). Plex works pretty much flawlessly with the tuner box. As long as they are both on the network, the Plex can find it and tune into the channels. Pulling down the TV guide was simple as well. Any issues I've had have come exclusively from the very specific network setup that I have in place for the HD Home run and FreeNAS server. My server has two ethernet ports, so I figured since I would be watching all live TV via Plex anyway, why not just hide the tuner box "behind" the server using the 2nd ethernet port. Setting up the network configuration in the Server was tricky and still gives me problems from time to time, but basically the FreeNAS server has a direct 1 GB ethernet line to the tuner box for recording TV and it doesn't use up any bandwidth on the rest of the network.

Right now my tuner is connected to my cable provider (who provides free channels with any internet package), but none of the channels are HD and I only care about maybe 5 of them. I'm hoping to build a large OTA antenna so I can start picking up OTA HD broadcast channels in the area.

My biggest complaint is that I have been struggling to reliably strip commercials out of my recordings. The FreeNAS version of the Plex does not automatically remove commercials so I've had to try to configure external processes to pull the recordings down and cut commercials using comskip or MCEBuddy, but haven't had much luck with that. If you are running Plex on Linux or Windows, I don't know if you will have better luck with this or not.

Yeah, you need a tuner card. They come in internal, USB, and networked varieties.

The latter two types can also be used with an Android TV box using the Live Channels app, as I mentioned before.

Airtv 2 is available now on amazon

Sling Tv'S AirTV 2 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XLTYBQ6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_d2RZDbNNY7R50

I have a usb tv tuner. Mine I got from one of the deal-a-day sites for pretty cheap and I'm pretty sure they don't make it anymore. Something like this or similar would work great. (If you are in the US). There are similar tuners available for around the same price or more, but just make sure it supports the right signals (the US has ATSC primarily, with some NTSC...Europe is different).

I use Windows Media Center as my DVR software, which works very well.

My whole setup is outlined here

It was available last season without a DirectTV subscription and it's available this year without one as well: http://www.directv.com/sports/nfl-national-market

You can't watch locally broadcast games on the service though, because of the NFL blackout rules (not DTV's fault, the NFL's fault)... you can buy a HDTV tuner card + antenna for your PC for under $100 total (a + b) and get the OTA HDTV streams on your PC via Windows Media Center. You will either get great quality or no TV at all because it's a digital signal, so don't worry about fuzziness like old pre-digital OTA TV signals.

That is something close to what I have been looking for. But it's kind of iffy on if it works properly based on the the reviews.

And I'm not sure if the Xbox one would be able to control it cause its from a no name brand and who knows if the IR codes would be on Xbox live (or where ever it's held).

But thanks for the link :D

Also it would be awesome if I didn't have to have another box on top of the Xbox lol. A simple tiny USB stick would be perfect lol.

Edit: Something along the lines of This Tv Tuner would be awesome :D

https://mcebuddy2x.codeplex.com/releases/view/105099 is last free version of MCE buddy I am using. http://www.amazon.com/Diamond-TVW750USB-ATI-Theater-Tuner/dp/B002UOUQ08 is the tv tuner I got it during a cyber Monday sale for $29.95 with a 5 dollar rebate. The software is Window7 home premium and windows media center comes free with it. I installed the usb tv tuner and media center scanned the channels and downloaded the local program guide. I use a wireless mouse and keyboard and hdmi from the computer to my big screen TV, I hooked up the tuner card and my TV to my outdoor antenna so I can record one show on my computer while watching a different show on the big screen. It a fully functional windows computer so I can watch Netflix and other streaming site like Youtube, Hulu.

Which one is it? All of the ones I'm looking at have a ~3 star rating, so I'm not too confident. Leaning towards this one.

I'm looking at using this to upload the cassettes. Should this work?

It makes sense. So dorm = cable, yeah? The problem is, even with something like this, which isn't wireless, you'd still need a computer present. It looks like a great solution otherwise; you can stream and interface with software (there are very popular free ones) to control and record it to your computer just like with a DVR but to a hard drive or maybe a NAS instead.

Edit: Or this if it isn't digital cable.

Yes. The HDHomeRun is the best device for the purpose, just be sure you get a model for over-the-air channels and not the one for cable channels. The older model HDHomeRun DUAL (model HDHR3-US) works well and is a little less expensive than the HDHomeRun CONNECT, though either should work. Amazon links are:

https://www.amazon.com/SiliconDust-HDHomeRun-Definition-Digital-HDHR3-US/dp/B004HO58SO

https://www.amazon.com/SiliconDust-HDHomeRun-CONNECT-broadcast-2-Tuner/dp/B00GY0UB54

Both models have dual tuners so you can watch programs from two different channels at once, or if you have PVR backend software such as Tvheadend, MythTV, MediaPortal, NextPVR, etc. installed on a computer, you can record from one channel while watching another, or record from two channels at the same time. If you have any experience at all with Linux then I recommend Tvheaded, but that's a personal preference.

On your computer (or home theater PC, if you ever want to watch using a TV) you would run Kodi (please be sure you get the official Kodi from https://kodi.tv/download and not from some sleazy third party site that might contain malware), or you could even view the stream in VLC or possibly your operating system's media player, if that's your preference. Kodi just makes it a little easier.

The nice thing about the HDHomeRun device is it does not have to be connected to a computer; it streams directly through your network to whatever computer is requesting the stream. With a USB tuner stick you'd need to have it plugged into a computer somewhere to work. Also, you can locate the HDHomeRun wherever your antenna cable enters your house, as long as there's also a local network connection available. So if your antenna wire comes into the basement you can put the HDHomeRun there and still watch it on a computer in an upstairs bedroom, as long as there is a network (LAN) connection at both places, and electric power of course.

I did the HDHomerun:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004HO58SO/ref=oh_o02_s00_i01_details
and: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000HKGK8Y/ref=oh_o02_s00_i00_details

Works flawless!

here it is! It runs of the 5v supplied by your computer. It also allows for use of hf/sw bands, down to ~500khz.

Just like this one right? https://www.amazon.com/NooElec-Ham-Up-v1-3-Upconverter/dp/B009LQT3G6

This sounds simpler than soldering!

Thanks for the reply! This looks pretty great. This is cheap and does the job.
How does this one look?

http://www.amazon.com/RTL-SDR-RTL2832U-Popular-Software-Packages/dp/B00C37AZXK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408850993&sr=8-1&keywords=USB+sdr+tuner#cm_cr_dpwidget

or

http://www.amazon.com/Receiver-Previously-Compatible-Packages-Guaranteed/dp/B009U7WZCA/ref=pd_sim_e_7?ie=UTF8&refRID=1GTFVRQ2YBC6P749ZN8T

Thanks for the input!

So something like this guy? Price is certainly right!

https://www.amazon.com/NooElec-NESDR-Mini-Compatible-Packages/dp/B009U7WZCA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1538540479&sr=8-1&keywords=nooelec+rtlsdr+dongle

I have a laptop PC I could bring.

Here's a working link.

I use this one with a hf driver.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/NooElec-NESDR-Mini-Previously-Compatible/dp/B009U7WZCA/ref=pd_vtph_bs_tr_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B009U7WZCA&pd_rd_r=ecbbd4d2-e4e0-11e8-93cf-ddad281862c8&pd_rd_w=XChGN&pd_rd_wg=tFNY2&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_p=4c7bb8c9-529d-45ea-842d-4e34757ae738&pf_rd_r=1254P47E1X95RGGH21YV&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=1254P47E1X95RGGH21YV

like one of these???

They're on different frequencies, and will never work with each other. You'll need one of those tunable radio USB dongles to specifically tune and monitor that 303.217mhz frequency for data.

I know this is kind of old, but did you find a scanner? I've been playing around with RTL SDR dongles and I've seen a huge performance increase. Take a look at this page.

RTL SDR dongles are muuuuuuch cheaper than a new scanner. I have two of the NooElec dongles and they are about $20 from Amazon.

If you just want to receive, then a $20 USB stick like this is a good place to start. From there you can experiment with antennas and see what you can pick up. Here is a Hak5 episode covering it.

If you want to transmit, you will need to get your license and a transceiver. You can get a dual-band Baofeng handheld on amazon for about $30 if you want to just try the hobby out. Hamstudy.org has the question pool for each license class (start with technician), then you need to find a testing session in your area when you are ready to take the test. Sessions usually cost $15.

Also check out the links on the sidebar. The IRC channel is also a good place to ask specific questions.

I‘m not really into radio-things, but I want to get into it. I want something that is able to hijack a radio-audio system (basically speakers with the audio being transmitted on radio) , at best as far away as possible. Can you give me any advice for that?
Is this good, or could I also go with the ones you linked?

You can use these with a RTL-SDR setup. It's well supported in linux.

> If anyone wants to receive and decode their own ADS-B and ACARS transmissions from aircraft to understand how this kind of stuff works, buy one of these for $20:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009U7WZCA/

I imagine these guys don't need to source amazon.com for a $20 antenna/receiver.

I bought one of these a couple years ago

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009U7WZCA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and got the SDR# software

but I never managed to get it working properly so I kinda gave up and ended up buying a uniden bearcat police scanner

This is the antenna I used https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B009U7WZCA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I got the idea from these sites
http://www.whatimade.today/great-projects-for-your-spare-raspberry-pi-part-1-flightradar-live-worldwide-aircraft-tracking/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrNPDJIBZDc

While I do have a hack.rf, I was talking about one of the Rx only dongles.

Success! Ran cmake, make, make install and ldconfig. Looks like everything installed correctly!

Now I have a new problem. With the previous version I was able to run "modes_rx --rtlsdr" with my SDR plugged in and things would start happening. This time when I tried it, I got:

modes_rx: error: no such option: --rtlsdr

I just ran "modes_rx" to see what the command line options are and here's what I got:

user@ubuntu:~/gr-air-modes$ modes_rx
gr-air-modes warning: numpy+scipy not installed, FlightGear interface not supported
linux; GNU C++ version 4.6.3; Boost_104800; UHD_003.005.004-149-gc357a16e

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/local/bin/modes_rx", line 100, in <module>
main()
File "/usr/local/bin/modes_rx", line 59, in main
tb = air_modes.modes_radio(options, context)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/air_modes/radio.py", line 46, in init
self._setup_source(options)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/air_modes/radio.py", line 147, in _setup_source
self._u = uhd.single_usrp_source(options.args, uhd.io_type_t.COMPLEX_FLOAT32, 1)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/gnuradio/uhd/init.py", line 122, in constructor_interceptor
return old_constructor(args)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/gnuradio/uhd/uhd_swig.py", line 1716, in make
return _uhd_swig.usrp_source_make(args)
RuntimeError: LookupError: KeyError: No devices found for ----->
Empty Device Address

Just to make sure I wasn't crazy, I installed GNURadio 3.6 (using build_gnuradio -o) and the master branch of gr-air_modes, and the following command worked fine: "modes_rx --rtlsdr"

There's a good chance I didn't RTFM manual here, but I was working off the blog post in my OP which was easy as pie. So I'm fairly confident I'm screwing something up, but just in case, this is the device I use.

Rater than paying for FlightRadar24, I got one of those $20 USB RTL-SDR (https://amzn.com/B009U7WZCA) off of Amazon and set up an old PC to feed them data. In exchange for this you get a free Business tier subscription for feeding them airplane transponder signals.

The same setup can also send data to FlightAware and other similar services, which will also give you paid subscriptions for free for contributing data.

Amazon is always a good bet. The Connect is cheaper but Extend transcodes for you.

https://smile.amazon.com/SiliconDust-HDHomeRun-EXTEND-FREE-Broadcast-2-Tuner/dp/B01IRJQB1C/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1472829145&sr=8-3&keywords=hdhomerun

https://smile.amazon.com/SiliconDust-HDHR4-2US-HDHomeRun-CONNECT-2-Tuner/dp/B00GY0UB54/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1472829145&sr=8-1&keywords=hdhomerun

So you'll take one of these for your Prime HD?

Does anyone know if the HDHomeRun Connect will still allow DVR on Plex?

https://www.amazon.com/SiliconDust-HDHomeRun-CONNECT-broadcast-2-Tuner/dp/B00GY0UB54

The AmazonBasics antenna won't work well on VHF. Your local NBC station is on VHF...

I've had good luck using the HDHomerun network tuner.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GY0UB54

Sure!

So, below are my system specs. The process is hugely CPU bound, so if you can get something better, I would. I'm thinking about upgrading to a dual-socket 16 core Xeon in a few months.

For software I use Windows Media Center (in 8.1). The scheduling manager is probably a 3.5/5, it's all there it's just a pain to use sometimes because it was designed to be navigated with a remote so you have to click a lot for some things. The shows come in WTV format, which I assume is an AVI-like container because the files are gigantic. The program MCE Buddy takes those files and can generate MP4/MKV with .NFO files auto-magically with filters and naming conventions. It's basically a scheduling manager wrapped around ffmpeg/handbrake.

To strip commercials it uses a program called comskip which does a decent job out of the box, but you can spend some time fine tuning it (I spent 5-6 hours one saturday to just get SLIGHTLY better precision on the commercials, I've just started accepting a few slips).

For the last step I wrote some software I called torrentula that extracts screens and crawls for additional meta-data before wrapping it all up in a RAR/ZIP/TORRENT file. It's not ready for other people yet, but I can throw it on github if you wanna give it a try....it's just really raw still. Shameless plug to my twitch stream where I do walk throughs a couple times a week for a few hours on how I program these tools.

Storage can be whatever, I just have simple volumes in Windows.

For Library management I've surrendered to the Plex machine. It's not the best, but it's good enough and works without much configuration. Too resource intensive for me though.

• i5 4690k @ 4.5 Ghz
  
• 8 GB G. Skill 2133 DDR3
  
• ASRock B85M-ITX LGA 1150
  
• 24 TB of WD Storage (3, 4 and 5's)
  
• Cooler Master HAF Stacker 915F
  
• CORSAIR Hydro Series H50 120mm Quiet Edition
  
• 3 x 120mm Rosewell 75 CFM case fans
  
• SiliconDust HDHomeRun PRIME 3-Tuner
  
• SiliconDust HDHomeRun DUAL 2-OTA Tuner

The price of the HDHR4 had gone up about $25 from $89 to $114 since the Plex announcement.

Plus they look out of stock on Amazon right now.


Last I looked, Micro Center had them for $79.


http://camelcamelcamel.com/SiliconDust-HDHR4-2US-HDHomeRun-CONNECT-2-Tuner/product/B00GY0UB54?context=browse

To get started you'll need:

• An RTL-SDR (I've used these two with success: 1 2)
  
• Zadig & Install-RTL-SDR
  
• dump978 source
  
• compiler (I used Visual Studio)
  
  Once you have the pieces, you'll need to:
  
  
• Install RTL-SDR following their instructions
  
• Build dump978 and uat2Text
  
• Run rtl_sdr -f 978000000 -s 2083334 - | dump978.exe | uat2text.exe and see some output.
  
• uat2Text is useful to make sure you are receiving UAT data, but not the greatest as an intermediate step in processing data
  
• Figure out some way to convert the demodulated UAT frames into something your application can use (maybe gen_gdl90).
  
• The best option here really depends on what you want as input on your display: GDL-90, just a list of lat/lons, a json request interface, etc.

these are the blog SDRs
http://www.amazon.com/NooElec-NESDR-Mini-RTL2832-Antenna/dp/B00P2UOU72/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1450573736&sr=8-1&keywords=nooelec

and this is the new one..

http://www.amazon.com/NooElec-NESDR-Mini-Compatible-Guaranteed/dp/B00VZ1AWQA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1450573736&sr=8-2&keywords=nooelec

which one are you ACTUALLY using..

I just have the generic $20 NooElec. The cheaper ones may work too but I don't have any experience

Thanks Everyone, I went ahead and just bought 2 new RTLSDR (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VZ1AWQA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) and some adapters for now (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00RF15070/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1) Im hoping to use unitrunker with the 2 dongles and then eventually make an antenna to get NOAA Images

Thanks everyone. ATM I bought this https://www.amazon.it/gp/product/B00VZ1AWQA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It seems good enough for me even if it doesn't catch HF.

The one in your link is not available on Amazon.it (I'm from Italy). Besides I would have problems with a long antenna anyway (my neighbors wouldn't be happy if I lay an antenna on their property :) )

If I like this hobby my next move will be an upconverter, maybe I can use a fraction of antenna. I still don't get what are good ratios of lambda/antenna length but we will see. Thank you!

You could go the HDBaseT route. I have this and it says it passes DTS-HD audio.

If you're a stickler for video it does cap out doing 4K@60Hz 4:2:0 8bit HDR which isn't cutting edge best though. I've been very pleased with its performance, for what it's worth.

Easy shot but more misinformation from Oculus. Bought the exact cables, they do not work (HDMI at least.) 980 ti Classified

Update: This works, a little pricey but it's VR... I'm using the passive USB 3.0 extension cable mention in op with the HDMI extender below with a 980 ti Classified on an Asus Formula VII. Works pretty flawlessly.

http://www.amazon.com/Extender-HDBase-T-Uncompressed-AV-Bi-directional/dp/B019MADOS8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1464486499&sr=8-1&keywords=av+access+hdmi

I'm admittedly a little out of the loop with some new tech, but "fiber" HDMI makes no sense to me...

For longer runs, you may benefit from an extender that uses network cable. HDMI cables are limited by how far you can run them without a repeater, regardless of how much you spend. Instead of relying on an HDMI cable, these devices send a signal via patch cable. Something like this (disclaimer: I have no experience with this exact unit.)

It’ll handle 4K, just not HDR. I have the AV access HDMI extender from Amazon and I get full 4K 60fps gaming in my LG C6 OLED in the living room, but no HDR.

Take a look at this one, although your not doing 4k it’s good to future proof it anyways since you already have cat6 wiring done:

AV Access HDMI Extender(HDBaseT),Uncompressed 4K 60Hz Over Single Cat5e/6a, 70m(230ft) 1080P,40m(130ft) 4K,PoE+IR+RS232+HDCP2.2,HDR & Dobly Vision,Dolby Atmos & DTS:X https://www.amazon.com/dp/B019MADOS8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_a1tLBb92R0EN9

I have this HDBaseT kit and it works great (also mountable, threaded power connectors, IR included). Only rated for 70m but I'd try it with Cat6 and see if it works. Amazon's return policy is great and the unit itself is cheap for HDBaseT.

I have 2 of these in place for digital signage (~80ft) and another in a conference room and they work great:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019MADOS8
Best part (for me) is that they can be powered from either end so you don't need a power adapter at the TV/Monitor side. None of the cheap passive/powered adapters worked for me, but the HDBaseT stuff has consistently worked and it's no longer outrageously priced like a few years ago.

Can't comment on any introduced latency though. The company also seems to sell USB over Ethernet adapters but I haven't tried them.

Pretty much. I use ships power with mine.

Radio's

Antennas

Get a nice case 3D printed

Hmm ... the "bundle" may be out of stock but you can buy both components separately.

Antennas

https://www.amazon.com/ADS-B-5dBi-High-Antenna-Bundle/dp/B07PFLKM4W

Radios

https://www.amazon.com/Stratux-1090ES-UAT-Radio/dp/B01ENU1DQC

Here is the mobile version of your link

I used these https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01ENU1DQC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image?ie=UTF8&psc=1, but any SDR with the case removed would work.


I put them in this project box (though I'd recomend going a little bigger)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0195UP35C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

​

and then fabricated a bracket that fit snugly into that project box and held each SDR vertically, with their components facing inwards. The SDRs are held in the bracket by holes/slots that fit the USB connector and the antennae connectors. Then drilled vent holes in the project case over the center of that bracket. Build an airpath from one end of the project box to the bottom of the bracket, between the two SDRs, on either end.

Idea being that the heat from the SDRs will cause a natural convection airflow, draw in from the end of the case, into the bracket between the SDRs, and then up and out of the case through the top vent holes.

​

Then just use USB cables to go from your rPI to the SDR box.
I also mounted a GPS on top of the project box, but keep it as far away from the SDRs as possible. Basically put the SDRs at one end, and then the other end will hold the extra length of the antennae cables. and you can put the GPS over that end.

If that is clear as mud I can try to sketch it, let me know.

Here is the dongle I bought which I am very happy with: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01GDN1T4S/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_BxmIAbP9YB2XP

Don't forget to buy a USB extension cable. I was initially frustrated with the terrible quality of my received signals until I realized I was getting interference from my laptop.

I got a 47 dollar one (after shipping and tax) but it's bundled with a few antennas, but it doesn't arrive until tomorrow.

I don’t know. All I know about my sdr is it has a tcxo don’t know the part number

Here is what I got

Nooelec NESDR Smart v4 Bundle - Premium RTL-SDR w/Aluminum Enclosure, 0.5PPM TCXO, SMA Input & 3 Antennas. RTL2832U & R820T2-Based Software Defined Radio. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GDN1T4S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_0oTyDbGN48DQB

NooElec NESDR SMArt Bundle - Premium RTL-SDR w/ Aluminum Enclosure, 0.5PPM TCXO, SMA Input & 3 Antennas. RTL2832U & R820T2-Based Software Defined Radio. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GDN1T4S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_2snEzbMVZ3XQV

https://www.amazon.com/NooElec-NESDR-SMArt-Enclosure-R820T2-Based/dp/B01GDN1T4S/

Or a DVB Tuner / RTL-SDR used to watch broadcast TV in Europe or view/record wireless signals everywhere else.

(Remote comes with one like this - but don't buy that one. Buy one like this or this for better shielding - and the first one won't cover up three USB ports on a /r/raspberrypi.)

See /r/rtlsdr

All i got was the NESDR Smart, specifically this. Just start by looking at the various FM signals you're receiving then start scrolling around the frequencies that you're getting until you see an odd signal sticking out (like in this post), then try and identify it and hopefully decode it.

So I bought this Nooelec NESDR Bundle - warning amazon link and it came with a telecoping mast (it looks like one half of the old bunny ears from TVs).

I can kinda sorta pick up airband frequencies, but it's not great. I get maybe 1 out of every 6 or 8 transmissions, although I can see the spike on the waterfall. How much would something like this DIY dipole antenna improve my reception?

What frequency does your mouse work at? Might be worth a look at getting a sdr (software defined radio)... Some are around 20$ on Amazon or 40 for the kit.

The one linked below I have, and works well. It may help with you finding the interference & at what frequency range it's at. And if it doesn't help you it's a fun little project listening to different frequencies neighbors, truckers, air traffic control, ect.

Some frequencies you need purpose built antennas for but it should still at least give you a idea on the background noise.


Nooelec NESDR Smart v4 Bundle - Premium RTL-SDR w/Aluminum Enclosure, 0.5PPM TCXO, SMA Input & 3 Antennas. RTL2832U & R820T2-Based Software Defined Radio https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01GDN1T4S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_zTSUDbMZC80W3

You will want to buy one of these first, $30 USD: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GDN1T4S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

rtL_433 now supports direct MQTT messaging too :)

this one

price has gone up i think, but it works really well on *nix (tested on Ubuntu and Kali), and works well with all the major SDR software suites i tried (their names escape me, its been a while).

Note that it gets very hot, so maybe get some of those adhesive heatsinks that amazon sells as add-on items. The heat never caused me issues, but i'd say it's a good idea anyway.

The one you linked uses the exact same demodulator, so it should also be decent.

However, the NooElec stuff tends to have better support, and good build quality. The NooElec one has separate add-ons for Ham radio (called "ham it up"), and another one for Wi-Fi.

Anything with a RTL2832U demodulator should work on linux pretty well, though.

I have been getting really great results with this Nooelec and its provided antennas http://amzn.to/2eNClnn. Then I bought an extra antenna that i just have setup inside my house that works really well http://amzn.to/2w0AfUI

Thank you so much for all your help
Would this one work?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01GDN1T4S/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1502832090&sr=8-2-spons&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=rtl-sdr+tcxo&psc=1

If you want to make a cheapie spectrum analyzer you will find it difficult to be cheaper than a $20 USB SDR dongle

I have had more luck with this SDR than other models. Grab a baking pan to throw under the antenna as a ground plane and you will have much better results.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HA642SW/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

There are two models of the Extends. There is the HDTC-2US which has a plastic case and a fan. These units have been in short supply since last spring. They have been replaced by the HDTC-2US-M with an all metal body without a fan.

The HDTC-2US models were limited to what they vendors had in stock. Up to about a month ago silicondust still had a few. But unless you get a used one you are looking for the HDTC-2US-M model.

You can get one for 129 right now. Amazon Prime.

SiliconDust HDTC-2US-M HDHomeRun EXTEND.FREE Broadcast HDTV (2-Tuner), Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IRJQB1C

I just bought the extend from amazon a day or two ago for $140 (+$10 tax). Amazon still has them in stock, with a bit higher price. Jet.com has them in stock too for about $150 no tax. Not sure why you aren't finding any. I bought mine to use with plex as well, I'm hoping to set it up tomorrow and see how it works.

See other replies for the Tv, it is most likely ruined. The monitor is fine now.

Interestingly i just purchased 6 new amazon brand hdmi cables and replaced all of my old mismatched ones i was using i thought that was the culprit at first but then noticed my graphics card fans spiking.



This is the hdmi over ethernet which is using POE like you said.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073QL6YT3/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_YhARBbB5NWKBA

This is the hdmi splitter
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016O5NMMC?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

And this is the hdmi switch
(ignore the price, amazon no longer sells it)

https://www.walmart.com/ip/HDMI-Switch-EPOLLO-Premium4K-60Hz-4-Port-4-x-1-HDMI-Switcher-with-IR-Wireless-Remote/710897331

I am in the same boat as you right now.

While my TV is only on a different side in the room, the HDMI cable would still need to be 15m, still far too long to get 4k/60Hz across.

I have been looking at this and will probably order and test it next week. This is of course far more expensive than your solution with active cables. There are cheaper models, that only support 4k/60Hz 4:2:0, if that is sufficient for you.

I can not help you with USB but there are similar devices / boxes to get USB connections through ethernet, maybe that is better than an active cable.

I use these, with great success. I was getting some occasional problems using long (35 foot) hdmi cables, and have no regrets with the AV access products. They are PoE, from either direction, have IR return etc.

AV Access HDMI 2.0 Extender(HDBaseT), 4K60Hz YUV4:4:4 over single Cat5e/6a/7, HDCP2.2, HDR10,Dolby Atmos & DTS:X, 230ft 1080P, 131ft 4K,Bi-directional PoE+IR+RS232, Max Bandwidth of 18Gbps. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073QL6YT3/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_0Yj9AbEMN2ZZ5

Thanks

my guess was also the issue with ethernet i just don’t understand why it would work “direct” thru baluns to TV but not when via AVR

Thoughts on this kit from them?

NooElec NESDR Smart HF Bundle: 100kHz-1.7GHz Software Defined Radio Set for HF/UHF/VHF Including RTL-SDR, Assembled Ham It Up Upconverter, Balun, Adapters & Cables https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0747PX3NZ

With a technician license you have very few HF options for transmitting. But I would recommend one of the SoftRock SDR Kits:

http://fivedash.com/

For a more robust option on the receive only side I recommend an RTL-SDR dongle:

https://www.amazon.com/NooElec-NESDR-SMArt-HF-Bundle/dp/B0747PX3NZ/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1538044800&sr=8-6&keywords=RTL-SDR

Look at all you can do with it:

https://www.rtl-sdr.com/big-list-rtl-sdr-supported-software/

​

If you want to get more into the weeds then I recommend:

https://greatscottgadgets.com/yardstickone/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkTlTCUeec0

​

And if you want to do some arduino based stuff:

https://www.enhancedradio.com/products/hamshield

(Haven't actually used this one myself)

Man I love this hobby!!!!

So this?

SiliconDust HDHomeRun Connect Duo 2-Tuner LiveTV for Cord Cutters (HDHR5-2US) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076FNSM6B/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Wg-EDb7X3QPWM

anything cheaper?

Disclaimer I use Vue combined with an HD homerun and my plex server so I'll frame it from that perspective to a degree.

TL;DR - Vue has basically everything but CBS streaming, the DVR is a bit weird but works fine and Dish is basically you paying an extra $75~100 per month for a convenience fee just have everything work in one place.

OK so the main advantage to dish is all the channels all in one place and a pretty reliable DVR and auto-skip some commercials.

The biggest drawback other than the price tag is bad weather kills the signal.

For Vue, the main complaints so far is that it's entirely dependent on your internet. If your internet goes down, you lose TV unless you tether off your phone's LTE connection.

The other complaint is that the DVR is not like the dish DVR. All the recordings techincally just live on Sony's servers and when you mark a show to record, you simply flag it to stick to your profile like marking a show on netflix or something to watch later.

The other huge problem with Vue is no CBS streaming. You can download the CBS app and login with your Vue credentials but only watch shows that have already aired. This is where the HD Homerun tuner came into play.

My wife likes watching all the crime shows like NCIS and SVU and stuff like that which are on CBS so instead of using the CBS app and sitting through all the commercials, we use the HD Homerun and set the plex server to record her shows.

Now there's some setup involved with all that and it's another tradeoff you have to be ok with but the upshot is that (for us at least) the OTA HD channels are sent at 1080p near bluray quality (roughly 20,000~25,000kbps). The other thing is getting plex hooked up to the homerun and sync'd up with the channel listings. For a while plex was messed up and you'd have to manually download an XML file using a script and then copy that to your plex database folder and then go in plex and manually tell it to use the new file but now it's fixed (at least it seems this way) and the schedule is automatically updated. If that breaks and I don't realize it, there will be hell to pay.

So yeah, basically dish is paying for a huge convenience fee and nothing more. If you don't need streaming CBS and are ok with not being able to skip commercials on Vue, then you can probably get by without the HD homerun/plex.

That said, I think HD homerun offer their own DVR service so you wouldn't have to have or setup plex for that but it costs money.

If I didn't have a plex server, the wife would be fine with no streaming of CBS and I would probably do Homerun's DVR service. When you got SEC football and college hoops on CBS, it hurts not having that right then and there (you wouldn't be able to host a game day party or anything like that) and I'd take a swift kick in the nuts before paying for CBS all access. I've heard nothing but terrible things about it and you still can't fast forward through commercials (last I heard).

> You can't even take a photograph of your equipment/software/calculations without showing your coordinates? Editing them out? At the very least, explaining how you reached your conclusions, omitting your location but including everything else? After all these times I've asked for anything, even a trace of substance, even a hint of proof that you've done your experiment?
>
>
>
> Yeah right, you're completely full of shit. If I had spent 100 comments claiming I have a cat and a swimming pool, and I was basing my entire point of view on this, and someone was repeatedly demanding proof of this, you'd better believe I would have posted a photo of my cat, near my swimming pool, including my Reddit username for verification, long, long ago.
>
>
>
> This is the kind of thing people do when they're not full of shit.
>
>
>
> I don't give a shit where you live. Probably some shitty apartment. You think I or someone else is going to waste the time and money to track you down and..... do what exactly? Murder you? For believing in orbiting satellites?
>
>
>
> You're stupid as fuck.

This is what the SDR looks like https://www.amazon.com/NooElec-NESDR-SMArTee-Bundle-R820T2-Based/dp/B079C4S2BT/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1537138510&sr=8-5&keywords=software+defined+radio

You also wanted the raw data remember? Given that it is GPS it encodes my location doesn't it?

These are awesome and want to capture these, is there a guide for idiots out there? I have some kit, a NOoelec smartee bundle from amazon

​

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B079C4S2BT

​

What do I need to get images like yours? Im in the UK if that matters

You need to buy a TV turner. You shave a few different options:

• The simplest and cheapest is a regular TV tuner that connects to a TV or monitor via HDMI. Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-HOMEWORX-HW130STB-Converter-Recording/dp/B01EW098XS/
  
  
• The second type is a USB TV tuner that you connect to your computer. You watch TV from your computer and can record live TV on your computer: https://www.amazon.com/Hauppauge-WinTV-DualHD-Tuner-Windows-1595/dp/B015IL0FIW/
  
  
• The final option I think is the best. It is a network TV tuner. This type allows you to record live TV, but also stream it at any devices you want such as other computers, phones, TVs, etc. https://www.amazon.com/SiliconDust-HDHomeRun-HDHR5-2US-Certified-Refurbished/dp/B07GL4VK1H/

Would this work? https://www.amazon.com/SiliconDust-HDHomeRun-HDHR5-2US-Certified-Refurbished/dp/B07GL4VK1H/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1541693793&sr=8-1&keywords=hdhomerun&refinements=p_89%3ASiliconDust

​

The updated model came out 4 days ago for $100

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XLTYBQ6

Here you go:
USB tv tuner

http://www.amazon.com/Diamond-TVW750USB-ATI-Theater-Tuner/dp/B002UOUQ08/ref=pd_sim_sbs_e_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1BVN0MSS114WX2Z29WGX

>I use an hdhr3^^TM ^^SiliconDust ^^all ^^rights ^^reserved to record ota hd ... then stream it to my minix neo g4 ^^TM ^^Minix ^^all ^^rights ^^reserved

FTFY

Would this be any good?

No, you need "nano" SDRs.

The case you've ordered is the same one that was on display at the Maker Faire by /u/LithuanianAmerican.


Here's a nano SDR kit. You can get them overnight also (Prime). There are no pictures yet since I haven't gotten around to taking pics.

http://amzn.com/B01ENU1DQC

They're pre-programmed to match up with the antennas. With the enclosure, you'll also want some antennas:

http://amzn.com/B01EJUM83S

> to keep track of what recordings are on what DVR, and constantly switch between them.

easy - most tv's have multiple hdmi inputs, you dedicate one to dvr and the other to live view.
hell, if your flat tv has a ota tuner (most do) you don't even need the second astc-dvr box at all.
a single astc-dvr and any cheap streaming box can do pretty much all the same thing dvr+ can,
i'd rather save the $100 using many cheap little boxes,
sorry you got suckered into this dead end limited use box.
figure any maker charging $250 to add a $50 notebook HDD has gotta hope buyers are lazy.

DVR+ is no middle ground - OTA over Ethernet is where you wanna be,
so you can watch your OTA anywhere at home and even on the road
(that's something many cabletv streaming services won't let you do)
with additional configuration work. and with a HDHR/Tablo/Plex solution
you can keep adding to your bank of shared receivers as your needs grow.

bottom line; HDHR/tablo/plex is a far better $150 investment than a dvr+

btw, i'm NOT advocating "tivo" which is overpriced proprietary shit - that's your own foupa.

here's the best $150 investment you can make in your OTA future;
https://www.amazon.com//dp/B01IRJQB1C

I use an hdhr3 to record ota hd ... then stream it to my minix neo g4

picture's not 100% smooth ... but still 1,000x better than a vcr ... fast fwd commercials with a wireless mouse

I've little doubt, if I had a wired connection to the g4, it'd be perfect ... but vs runnin new wires, I'm very happy with what I got ... especially the monthly fees!

... bigger antenna wouldn't hurt, neither!