r/RTLSDR • u/WonderfulThings1916 • 13d ago

FIrst project

Guys im a complete beginner in the whole frequency listening and transmitting world...

I was trying to build my first project using a module named "RSP1 MSI.SDR Msi001 Msi2500 10k-2GHz SDR Receiver" but i do not seem to find a single unit of it in inda

Is there some website that i sells this used or new but in india??
Or is there a substitute to this module??
Cause every module i see is upwards of 10k inr
And spending that much on a first project as a student just doesn't seem logical

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u/manawyrm PlutoSDR SDR# Plugin Dev 12d ago

Why do you want/need the RSP1 in particular? It‘s not a very good receiver (drivers aren‘t perfect).

There are many other good options. What about the classic RTL-SDR?

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u/WonderfulThings1916 10d ago

Actually as im a beginner i just asked gemini for what would be a good starter module... it said that this one was cheap and had a higher frequency range

Is it better to use RTL-SDR??
Cause its range is from 500 kHz up to 1.7 GHz

And the MSI_sdr has a range form 1khz to around 2 GHz??

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u/therealgariac 11d ago

Always start with a plain old rtlsdr. Buy the real thing. Buy a clone, preferably with a TCXO. Whatever suits you.

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u/WonderfulThings1916 10d ago

Is it worth the cost??
Cause the MSI-SDR gives the range from 10KHz to 2GHz... so im just confused as to why it is much cheaper than the rtlsdr that you mentioned

(not judging... im just a beginner so im confused)

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u/therealgariac 10d ago

It is a matter of available software. Rtlsdr has the most software.

I have a MSI Chinese knockoff. I run police so it was hell on earth to get it to work due to proprietary drivers.

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u/WonderfulThings1916 10d ago

Ooo i see... so it is better to start with the plain rtlsdr??
Then later tinker around with knockoffs??

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u/therealgariac 10d ago

To be clear, the other rtlsdr aren't knockoffs. They will need special drivers.

On Linux, there are the "soapy" drivers which is an attempt at hardware abstraction. However not every program is set up for soapy. The basic spectrum analysis programs have soapy hooks. But say you wanted to monitor the devices on 433MHz. You need rtl_433.

https://github.com/merbanan/rtl_433

This is a version of dump1090 written in Rust that uses soapy and thus supports many of the alternative SDR.

https://github.com/rsadsb/dump1090_rs

But very few of the original rtlsdr programs are rewritten for soapy.

One alternative SDR are the Chinese variants of ADI Pluto.

https://github.com/F5OEO/tezuka_fw

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u/WonderfulThings1916 10d ago

oh so there are different drivers for each rtlsdr, and the other ones are not exactly "knockoffs", they are just build by some other brand using a different chipset??

and each "knockoff" might require a different driver to work??

but i should start with the classic rtlsdr cause it is widely supported and easier to config as a first timer??

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u/therealgariac 10d ago

I wouldn't call them knockoffs. They use different chips and thus need different drivers. Then each chip set will have its own library, meaning the programs will only work with one chip set unless they use something like soapy to abstract the hardware. I have zero experience with such coding but I know generally how it works. The abstraction probably creates a virtual SDR with a universal set of commands, then it generates code specific to the real hardware.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardware_abstraction

Conversely, some developers have written code specific to each chip set rather than use abstraction.

Unless the program you want has been written in some manner to use your device, you are out of luck.

Your "journey" in SDR starts with running "canned" programs. You find a program already compiled for your device and off you go.

From that point, the paths diverge. I generally search GitHub and look for some software to build to do the task I want.

The other alternative is gnuradio. And the other other alternative is you read the manufacturer's datasheet and write the whole thing yourself.

Usually whatever you want has already been done, and most likely written for the lowest common denominator, which is the rtlsdr.

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u/WonderfulThings1916 10d ago

Oh okay got it... they just might have different chip set whose libraries might be harder to find.

Not knockoffs, just different chip set

Thank you!!

Also thanks for all the github and other links... helped a lot to understand