RTL-SDR "Ham it Up" Upconverter Unboxing and Case Assembly

As many Amateur Radio, Shortwave, and Scanner Enthusiasts will tell you, things can get arguably more interesting as we lower the frequency to which we listen. Down there, among the well known Amateur Radio and Shortwave bands, some mysterious and possibly clandestine signals can be found.

Have you ever heard a "Numbers Station" or an offshore pirate radio broadcast? Have you ever heard those seemingly unidentifiable sounds while scanning down toward frequencies where no one has gone before?

Very often those mysterious noises are of earthly origin and most are not so secret. Many of them are simply modulated in a fashion not often employed by the more familiar commercial broadcasts.

Now enter the world of Software Defined Radio where, if you can receive the radio signal and get it into your computer, you can find some software that will decode that modulation and retrieve the intelligence buried within that signal.

The increasingly available and strikingly affordable RTL-SDR USB dongle which has been getting a lot of attention these days has a lower limit to the radio frequencies it can capture and digitize. This limit is typically around 25 MHz. If you wish to explore the lowest frequency bands then you must augment your SDR equipment.

Now enter the world of superheterodyne receivers and the "Ham it Up!" upconverter available from NooElec. That little gem is the subject of this unboxing and assembly video. Actually, the upconverter board, itself, requires no assembly. Since this board is sold without an external enclosure, I chose to order the optional extruded aluminum case which is also available from NooElec.

This video does not cover software installation nor will it demonstrate the use of this device and the additional frequencies that can be received when using it. This video covers only a physical review of the parts and components and serves to document the build experience.

All in all, I was very impressed with the quality of construction and attention to detail that was given to the development of these components.

However, there is one small exception to my overall satisfaction with the enclosure kit as delivered. The kit did not include screws of the proper size to allow the board's standoffs to be attached to the case. This was a surprise because the standoffs aligned with some holes in the case which appeared to be intended for this use. This may have been a simple packaging and shipping oversight. It was not a big problem but it is worth noting.

As assembled using only the parts delivered with the kit, the board sat just slightly loose in the case because it was only being held in place by the mechanical connections provided by the switch, antenna jacks, and USB hardware. The entire assembly rattled a bit when shaken. You can see this in the video (below).

A careful search of my extensive collection of "extra" screws and other spare parts produced a set of screws that fit the standoffs and provided the necessary rigidity of assembly. Unfortunately, these screws were not countersink screws and they protrude from the bottom of the case. I had intended to add some rubber feet to the bottom of the case anyway, so this does not really matter much.

As you can see in the video (linked above), the device powers up and behaves as expected (short of actually testing its ability to pull signals out of the air). A future video will include step-by-step software installation instructions as well as provide a demonstration of how to use this new piece of hardware.

Thanks for visiting. If you enjoyed the video, please click the "like" button and remember to subscribe to the YouTube channel to receive notice of future content. Please comment below if you'd like to join the SDR revolution!

Purchase on Amazon.com (affiliate links)...
NooElec RTL-SDR - http://amzn.to/2v9vOb4
Ham-it-Up Upconverter - http://amzn.to/2udRUvy
Ham-it-Up Case - http://amzn.to/2udrOJi

Keep coming back!

73,
KC7ZXY
Donald Watkins

► Twitter: @KC7ZXY
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Other Links...

RTL-SDR Blog - http://www.rtl-sdr.com/
NooElec NESDR - http://www.nooelec.com/store/sdr/sdr-receivers/nesdr-mini-rtl2832-r820t.html
AirSpy.com (Free SDR Software) - http://airspy.com/download
Software Defined Radio - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software-defined_radio