AMSAT-UK FUNcube SDR USB Dongle

Videos of the new AMSAT-UK FUNcube Dongle, a Software Defined Radio (SDR) covering 64 to 1700 MHz all modes are now available.

On the AMSAT bulletin board Howard Long G6LVB writes:

I've been enormously gratified by the large volume of interest I've had in the FUNcube Dongle over the past few weeks, and as the pace of enquiries has stepped up I've decided to come clean about the development progress.

In case -bb subscribers are unaware, the FUNcube Dongle was originally designed to be an accessible way to be able to receive amateur satellites, most noteably AMSAT-UK's forthcoming FUNcube cubesat (http://www.funcube.org.uk).

What does accessible mean? Essentially we mean both low cost and easy to setup. The original target market is, and remains, what I call the unconverted, those, particularly in education, who need a means of being able to practically introduce and demonstrate real space technology in a hands-on way.

When the work on FUNcube was distributed, I was given the task of coming up with the ground segment, and the result is the FUNcube Dongle.

As it's tuned out, the FUNcube Dongle has the added bonus that it's a VHF/UHF and low microwave equivalent to the well-known Softrock in an integrated plug and play package. We intend to have two models, an entry-level frequency-restricted version targeted at the educational market, and a full blown Pro version that seems to piqued the interest of many radio amateurs, radio astronomers and short wave listeners.

In précis, it includes an integrated front end filter, LNA, quatrature LO, zero-IF quadrature downconverter, dual 16 bit ADC and USB soundcard. In it's simplest of forms, it's SMA in, USB out. It's also compatible with pretty much any software that works for the Softrock, for example LinRad, Spectravue, M0KGK and Rocky.

The passband is 96kHz, tuneable from 64MHz to 1,700MHz. The tuning is via a USB HID interface meaning that as well as your favourite soundcard SDR program, you'll need a little app supplied with the

FUNcube Dongle to control the centre frequency or you'll end up only listening to my favourite FM broadcast station ;-)

It's also compatible with XP, Vista , Windows 7 in 32 bit and Vista and Windows 7 in 64 bit. Initial testing on the Mac and Ubuntu 32 and 64 bit shows compatibility too, however I haven't written the frequency control application for those platforms yet.

So, no USB drivers are required!

To keep people informed going forward, I have set up a blog here: http://www.funcubedongle.com/

Watch videos of the first pre-production unit:

fcd001_0001.wmv

funcube dongle_0002.wmv

Projected availability of the first production batch of the Pro version is December 2010. Pricing is subject to assembly costs, but to give you indicative pricing we are working on an initial price of the Pro version to be circa USD150/GBP100.

AMSAT-UK SDR USB Dongle and ARISSAT-1 at AMSAT Space Symposium
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/october2010/
amsat_video.htm

AMSAT-UK FUNcube
http://www.funcube.co.uk/

AMSAT-UK publishes a colour A4 newsletter, OSCAR News, which is full of Amateur Satellite information. Join online at
https://secure.amsat.org.uk/subs_form/

AMSAT-UK
http://www.uk.amsat.org/

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