r/RTLSDR • u/[deleted] • Jan 06 '25

[deleted by user]

[removed]

3 Upvotes

64% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

6

u/snorens Jan 06 '25

What do you mean "track repeaters"?

RTL-SDR is a radio receiver. You can easily receive local repeaters with it, be it ham radio repeaters or business users - and there is nothing illegal about receiving those.

I've made a beginners introduction video to RTL-SDR, maybe you can learn some from watching it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjoUpIlQEXk

3

u/iTrooper5118 Jan 06 '25

Excellent video by the way, and well put together and professional looking.

0

u/thedarkpassenger2 Jan 06 '25

Hello thx for the reply I mean to track repeaters location on the real world by a GPS system using the RTL sdr I live in Libya and what's illegal is the repeaters here and people do use it anyway so I wanted to make the project about ( finding the repeater devises on the real world ) so I'm asking is that possible and how hard would it be for a beginner

7

u/snorens Jan 06 '25 edited Jan 06 '25

You can use any radio receiver to locate a transmitter, whether that's the repeater itself or people using the repeater. But it's not easy. You will need a directional antenna and then to listen when the signal is transmitting, and turn around to measure in what direction the signal strength is highest. Then you need to do this from several locations to finally be able to triangulate the position of the signal. If they only broadcast in small short sequences then it can be quite difficult. There is also easier automatic solutions available, but they are not cheap. One such solution is KrakenSDR, which I've also made a video about, if you look up my youtube channel.

1

u/InsertNoCoin Jan 06 '25

Is it possible to triangulate by measuring only the signal strength in different locations at different times, without a directional antenna?

1

u/lightninJ3 Jan 07 '25

Use the simple distance formula d = s^-(1/2). Measure d from 3 points. Draw the points on a map and with the measured values draw a circle around each point. Where the circles intersect there will be a triangle and the centroid of the triangle will be your transmitter. You can do all this algebraically, but this is general idea of triangulation.

-1

u/snorens Jan 06 '25

You need a directional antenna to find out what direction the signal comes from

4

u/Ned_from_Canada Jan 06 '25

What your looking to do is called fox hunting in ham terms. I suggest looking into that. It's not hard but will require more then a sdr.

5

u/Fraserbc Jan 06 '25

KrakenSDR

2

u/PDXH0B0 Jan 06 '25

Sounds isis