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TELE-audiovision International — The World‘s Leading Digital TV Industry Publication
— 01-02/2015
—
TELE-audiovision.comDVB-T and DVB-T2 are the
terrestrial digital tv standards
in many parts of the world. If
you own a laptop or a desktop
computer, then a very eco-
nomic way to receive those
tv signals is the use of those
thumb-sized dongles. They
run off the USB port, are pow-
ered by five volts, and most
of them receive from the low
end of the VHF band all up to
the top of the UHF band.
In other parts of the world
the terrestrial digital tv stand-
ards are ISDB-Tb (most of
South America) and ATSC
(North America). So in those
parts of the world such a DVB-
Use of Digital Video Broadcast-
Terrestrial (DVB-T) Dongles as
Broadband Receivers
by Mario Filippi, N2HUN
1. Typical R820T DVB-T dongle
covering 25 - ~1700 MHz.
2. Terratec TStick+ dongle
covering 64 - ~2400 MHz with
Elonics 4000 tuner.
T dongle is of no use, right?
To the contrary! Amazingly,
these dongles support listen-
ing modes of interest to the
hobbyist everywhere in the
world, such as AM (Amplitude
Modulation), FM (Frequency
Modulation, both narrow and
wideband), USB (Upper Side-
band), LSB (Lower Sideband),
CW (Continuous Wave, a.k.a.
Morse code) and even DRM
(Digital Radio Mondiale). Add
to this the feature of view-
ing a two MHz wide portion of
spectrum (using companion
software) you’ll have a verita-
ble receiving powerhouse that
opens up a world of listening
pleasure.
Prices of those DVB-T don-
gles range from $12.00 to
$90.00 USD depending on the
chipset. By chipset I’m refer-
ring to the two most impor-
tant electronic components;
the tuner and demodulator,
which govern not only the
price but the receive frequen-
cy range. For example, DVB-T
dongles with the Elonics 4000
tuner covering 64 – 2300
MHz cost upwards of $90.00
USD while those based on the
R820T chipset cover 25 - 1700
MHz and are more reasonably
priced around $16.00 USD.
Some points to ponder
before purchasing a dongle
are: compatibility with your
computer, the type of operat-
ing system, need for at least
one USB port, what software
to use, access to the Inter-
net (for downloading soft-
ware programs), soundcard
requirement, user’s level of
computer literacy, what an-
tenna to use for reception,
coaxial cable for the antenna,
and coax adapters for con-
necting the DVB-T dongle to
an external antenna. Last-
ly and most importantly is
choosing a reputable vendor
since very little documenta-
tion exists for this adaptation
of the dongle for radio recep-
tion.
My first dongle was pur-
chased from Nooelec (www.
nooelec.com) and my experi-
ence has been very positive
as their customer service is
superb and they supply de-
tailed product specifications
for most of their dongles.
Keep in mind that this is not
a “plug and play” endeavor
so be prudent when buying,
check out the customer feed-
back on the product and the
seller, and see what the speci-
fications of the dongle are pri-
or to purchase.
When you’ve finally pur-
chased your dongle it will in-
clude accessories such as a
miniature magnetic/suction
cup mount antenna for DAB
Self-Made Broadband Receiver
FEATURE