If you want to dabble for _cheap_ with SDR, the RTL-SDR [1] is a < $10 USB receiver that works from 24 to 1766 MHz.<p>It allows to listen to FM radio, decode most 433MHz devices (weather stations), car keys signals, and even NOAA weather satellites [2] with a DIY antenna [3].<p>[1] <a href="https://osmocom.org/projects/sdr/wiki/rtl-sdr" rel="nofollow">https://osmocom.org/projects/sdr/wiki/rtl-sdr</a><p>[2] <a href="http://www.rtl-sdr.com/rtl-sdr-tutorial-receiving-noaa-weather-satellite-images/" rel="nofollow">http://www.rtl-sdr.com/rtl-sdr-tutorial-receiving-noaa-weath...</a><p>[3] <a href="http://tinhatranch.com/how-to-build-a-qfh-quadrifilar-helix-antenna-to-download-images-from-weather-satellites/" rel="nofollow">http://tinhatranch.com/how-to-build-a-qfh-quadrifilar-helix-...</a>
For what it's worth, Great Scott Gadgets (Michael Ossman's group) put out a great series of primers [1] on Software Defined Radio (SDR) and the fundamentals of Digital Signal Processing (DSP) a while back, that are some of the best I've seen out there to date.<p>[1] <a href="https://greatscottgadgets.com/sdr/" rel="nofollow">https://greatscottgadgets.com/sdr/</a>
For anyone interested in Software-defined radio (SDR) I can also highly recommend the Cyberspectrum YouTube channel [1].<p>[1] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPmwwVknVIiXGzKhtimTMjhcyppeRRsnE" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPmwwVknVIiXGzKhtimTM...</a>
This discussion from 6 months ago brought together a bunch of introductory info and example applications:<p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13101924" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13101924</a>
If you want to see a lot of HF signals, field day is this weekend: <a href="http://www.arrl.org/field-day" rel="nofollow">http://www.arrl.org/field-day</a>
Anyone know the story behind why baudline hasn't been updated in seven years? The site has promised a beta version with some highly desirable features for a LONG time, but nothing. Also, since it's closed source, there's nothing we can do but hope and wait (unless someone were to start an open source equivalent project).