The 125MHz upconverter for the RTL-SDR arrived last night in the mail.
Darn it! I'm missing an adpater to start using it right away. Once again I'm faced with the hardware arriving before the adapters and cables do.
The 'Ham It Up' Upconverter from NooElec version 1.2 will essentially add 125MHz to all the incoming signals allowing me to receive HF signals through the RTL-SDR. No longer limited to the lower range of 25MHz, I'll be able to scan all the HF bands from 160m to 10m.
The upconverter at $45 is more expensive then the sub-$20 RTL-SDR's but for a Ham Radio guy the HF bands are a key receiving range so it's worth the money. All said and done I'm still putting together a SDR Receiver kit for well under $100 that I can carry around in my pocket.
Since I couldn't use the upconverter right away due to my cabling issue, I used the time last night to surf around the internet and stumbled upon a shared 3D model for an enclosure designed exclusively for the Ham It Up. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:150101/#files Thanks Tim Deagan - KC5QFG.
I brought the 3D model files into the office and during some spare time today we cranked off a copy on our MakerBot.
I'm really pleased with the outcome and I'm totally geeking out over the last few weeks, QRP Radios, SDR, Kits, 3D Printing, YIPEE! Once again it's time slow down and start USING instead of just BUILDING.
