Frugal Radio

SDRs, Scanners, and other wallet friendly radio fun!

Direction Finding Road Test

Oh yeah! Under 90 seconds to locate a DMR trunked system! Now that is a successful DF mission 🙂

This … Read the rest

KrakenSDR Setup

I recently received a KrakenSDR device used for Direction Finding, from the team over at RTL-SDR.COM.

Having never played … Read the rest

Playing with rdio-scanner

Now this has serious potential! Turning an SDR-based receiving system into a mobile hardware scanner with an old laptop and … Read the rest

What’s in my travel bag?

When I’m traveling around, I always have Software Defined Radios and often hardware scanners with me. I like to be … Read the rest

Does the Youloop antenna receive VHF?

How well can a YouLoop receive on VHF, UHF & 700/800 MHz? I have often been asked if this $35 … Read the rest

Scanner shopping at HRO

Turns out there was a Ham Radio Outlet (HRO) store in Phoenix. I couldn’t resist popping in to find out … Read the rest

My Loop on Ground HAM antenna worked!

I’m not a very “handy” man. In fact I really don’t enjoy construction projects at all, and try to avoid … Read the rest

Sometimes it all goes wrong!

But even when it does, there all is not lost!

In this video I set out to monitor a bunch … Read the rest

How to choose a Step Up SDR

Mostly the Frugal Radio channel has focused on budget SDRs like the RTL-SDR v3 and NooElec SMArt units.

These cost … Read the rest

Decoding Fire & EMS MDT pages

In some juristictions it is possible to monitor and decode Fire & EMS pager traffic.
Hospital pagers are also quite … Read the rest

Decoding HFDL with a Web SDR!

You don’t even need your own SDR radio or antenna to begin decoding HFDL signals.
In this episode we looked … Read the rest

HFDL Resources

If you’ve watched my recent video on decoding High Frequency Data Link signals (HFDL), then this is the page you’ll … Read the rest

Make a low cost HF Dipole

I took an old electrical extension cord that someone was throwing away, and have been using it to receive signals … Read the rest

Beginner Guide to Decoding Satellite ACARS

There is just something really exciting about receiving and decoding messages from space. And if you are also an aviation … Read the rest

NooElec Inmarsat Bundle Review

If you are looking to get started with decoding L Band satellite data going to aircraft, this is one bundle … Read the rest

Listening to Long Range HF aviation Communications

The HF bands are alive and well with aviation related communications. Within the last week, from my location in Edmonton, … Read the rest

Decoding VHF ACARS messages with SDR

ACARS are messages transmitted via VHF from aircraft to ground stations, and back again. These messages contain many kinds of … Read the rest

Monitoring General Aviation Comms

The new video is now live. It gives some detail about monitoring General Aviation, that is non-military and non-airline traffic.… Read the rest

RTL-SDR L-Band Patch Antenna Giveaway

This is a free to enter Giveaway. No purchase is required to participate.

YouTube is not a sponsor, or … Read the rest

En route Air Traffic Control inc transmitter sites!

Are you interested in monitoring en route Air Traffic Control communications?
If so, you’ve found the right episode!

In this … Read the rest

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