Repeater Streaming

Details

Last Updated on Monday, September 26 2016 07:08

Like all ham radio projects, this one has evolved over time.   The first streaming setup was done with an old laptop fed by an HT.   This worked, but tied up both a laptop and a radio.   Further tweaks were needed to deal with audio isolation, preventing hums from getting through.    Squelch handling was another challenge - varying levels of QRM could change and require tweaks to the receive radio.   All the while always a PC or Laptop was tied up.

As any good project, it keeps evolving. 

This design has been improved again - this time utilizing SDR or software defined radio.  

The new design does not required a dedicated PC or radio and instead uses the Realtek SDR receiver to pull audio out of the air by itself - using a raspberry pi computer to run the setup.  

The setup being used is described at http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Raspberry_Pi_RTL-SDR_Broadcastify.  

This approach can actually allow streaming of multiple audio frequencies using the same hardware, including multiple modulation techniques.   It has a software-based squelch that will automatically null out audio when nothing is going on, reducing the bandwidth usage and making it quiet for streaming when nothing is going through.  

This new approach may still not be the final product, but it seems to be working better than its predecessors, which is all we can ask.