{"id":28707,"date":"2017-10-11T06:34:30","date_gmt":"2017-10-11T10:34:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=28707"},"modified":"2017-10-11T06:34:30","modified_gmt":"2017-10-11T10:34:30","slug":"sdr-spectrum-to-radio-can-someone-please-make-this-device","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/10\/sdr-spectrum-to-radio-can-someone-please-make-this-device\/","title":{"rendered":"SDR Spectrum to Radio: Can someone please make this device?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

The venerable RF switch box from the 1970s\/80s allowed game consoles and computers to use analog TVs as monitors.<\/p><\/div>\n

As I’ve mentioned in the past<\/a>, I actively record and index radio spectrum recordings via my various software defined receivers. Indeed, I have at least 50 TB of SDR spectrum recordings at the moment–and that number is growing!<\/p>\n

I was just chatting with SWLing Post<\/em> contributor, Mark Fahey, and a familiar topic came up: the idea of an RF switch box for radios.<\/p>\n

The concept is a piece of hardware that\u00a0re-modulates–converts digital spectrum data from a digital storage device back to analog RF– and injects a signal into a real tabletop radio.<\/p>\n

As Mark described:<\/p>\n

“This is just like early computers and Atari-like games consoles did to allow the “computer” to display on a lounge room TV. The games console tricked the TV into thinking it was tuned to a TV station on “Channel 1 (or whatever the console outputted the video to).”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Radio time travel machine!<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

How cool would it be to take a spectrum recording from 2008, play it through your Hallicrafters SX-100, Kenwood R-1000 or Alinco DX-R8T, and tune through the 31 meter band? You’d receive Radio Australia, Radio Bulgaria, Radio Netherlands Worldwide, Radio Canada International, Voice of Russia and many other broadcasters that are no longer on the air. Indeed, there’s a strong possibility you might uncover DX you didn’t catch when the recording was first made.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I’m enough of a radio geek to know that I would thoroughly enjoy travelling back in time once in a while with a classic radio.<\/p>\n

Additionally, this device would make it much easier for museums to create kiosks where visitors could tune through recordings of, say, important events in history.<\/p>\n

Can it be done?<\/h2>\n

I know the technology is out there.\u00a0 In fact, if you’ve ever been to a large hamfest where Icom, Yaesu or Kenwood have a number of their transceivers “on the air”–so customers can try out transceiver features–they are using a device called a “radio time machine.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Icom uses recorded IF instead of live antenna input so customers can experience “contest conditions” while evaluating a radio.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Radio Time Machine injects recorded analog RF, from a HiFi VCR, into the antenna ports of a vendor’s various transceivers. The recordings are typically of a ham radio band during a contest–that way, the customer can get a sense of how well the rig would perform under crowded band conditions.<\/p>\n

These devices have limitations: while their bandwidth is ample to tune through the CW or phone portion of a ham band, it’s much too narrow for most broadcast bands. They’re also fed the recording from an analog HiFi VCR.<\/p>\n

The device Mark and I dream of would convert digital<\/em> spectrum files–from a WinRadio, Perseus, Elad, SDRplay, Airspy or other SDR–into analog RF any radio with an external antenna port could tune.<\/p>\n

SWLing Post<\/em> readers:<\/strong> you’re a diverse and knowledgeable community–please comment if you know what it would take to develop such a device and how it could be done. Is this a dream or could it become reality?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I’ve mentioned in the past, I actively record and index radio spectrum recordings via my various software defined receivers. Indeed, I have at least 50 TB of SDR spectrum recordings at the moment–and that number is growing! I was just chatting with SWLing Post contributor, Mark Fahey, and a familiar topic came up: the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,3,43,158],"tags":[1647,6560,6561,6559,806,6558,6562,5713],"class_list":["post-28707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-news","category-shortwave-radio","category-software-defined-radio","tag-mark-fahey","tag-radio-rf-switch","tag-rf-switch","tag-sdr-rf-switch","tag-sdr-spectrum-recordings","tag-sdr-spectrum-to-radio","tag-spectrum-converter","tag-spectrum-recording"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-7t1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10475,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/08\/best-application-for-the-sdr-iq-on-a-macbook-air\/","url_meta":{"origin":28707,"position":0},"title":"Best application for the SDR-IQ on a MacBook Air?","author":"Thomas","date":"August 12, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm plotting travels soon and plan to take my RF Space SDR-IQ along for the ride. I've noted a number of excellent open source applications that work with the SDR-IQ, but many of them don't work on the Mac OS X operating system. Those that do work on Mac OS\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Shortwave Radio"","block_context":{"text":"Shortwave Radio","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/shortwave-radio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"RFSpace-SDR-IQ-2","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/RFSpace-SDR-IQ-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/RFSpace-SDR-IQ-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/RFSpace-SDR-IQ-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12803,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/03\/an-inexpensive-windows-tablet-for-portable-sdr\/","url_meta":{"origin":28707,"position":1},"title":"An inexpensive Windows tablet for portable SDRs?","author":"Thomas","date":"March 26, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I've never been a fan of tablet PCs. I have an old Android tablet that I occasionally use to watch Netflix and read eBooks, but when I want to interact with a computer, I typically want the convenience of a proper\u00a0keyboard and the precision of a mouse or large track\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"A tablet with two USB ports would be ideal.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Tablet-PC.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Tablet-PC.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Tablet-PC.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":33915,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/software-defined-radio-primer-part-1-introduction-to-sdrs-and-sdr-applications\/","url_meta":{"origin":28707,"position":2},"title":"Software Defined Radio Primer Part 1: Introduction to SDRs and SDR applications","author":"Thomas","date":"September 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The following article originally appeared\u00a0in the June 2018 issue of The Spectrum Monitor magazine: SDR Primer Part 1: Introduction to SDRs and SDR applications I author a radio blog known as the SWLing Post; as a result, I receive radio-related queries from my readers on a daily basis. \u00a0Among the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo by Kody Gautier","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Money-Budget.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Money-Budget.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Money-Budget.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Money-Budget.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":32052,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/05\/sdrplay-announces-the-rspduo-a-14-bit-dual-tuner-sdr\/","url_meta":{"origin":28707,"position":3},"title":"SDRplay announces the RSPduo: A 14-bit Dual Tuner SDR","author":"Thomas","date":"May 18, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: SDRplay Press Release) SDRplay announces the RSPduo \u2013 A 14-bit Dual Tuner SDR Today at the Dayton Hamvention, SDRplay Limited is announcing the launch of a new Software Defined Radio product \u2013 the RSPduo. The RSPduo is a radical new addition to the RSP line of SDR receivers from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/SDRplay-RSPduo-Antenna-ports-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/SDRplay-RSPduo-Antenna-ports-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/SDRplay-RSPduo-Antenna-ports-1024x768.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":27775,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/08\/dan-shares-spectrum-files-from-his-solar-eclipse-data-collection-project\/","url_meta":{"origin":28707,"position":4},"title":"Dan shares solar eclipse spectrum files","author":"Thomas","date":"August 28, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: The K2DLS blog) Solar Eclipse Data Collection Project Between 1600 \u2013 2015 UTC on August 21, 2017, as the solar eclipse swept across the nation, I captured much of the lower 2 MHz of the radio frequency spectrum.\u00a0 I used a\u00a0Microtelecom Perseus SDR, a 130? inverted L with four\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Spectrum-Waterfall-SDR.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Spectrum-Waterfall-SDR.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Spectrum-Waterfall-SDR.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":29651,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/12\/don-shares-spectrum-recordings-from-northern-peru\/","url_meta":{"origin":28707,"position":5},"title":"Don shares spectrum recordings from northern Peru","author":"Thomas","date":"December 14, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Don Moore, who writes: I've been traveling through northern Peru and I've made some SDR recordings along the way - medium wave, long wave, and some shortwave meter bands. I hope to eventually get through them all! I have also uploaded some recordings to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/HDSDR-Spectrum.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/HDSDR-Spectrum.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/HDSDR-Spectrum.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/HDSDR-Spectrum.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28707\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}