[GreenKeys] German WX service via SDR & Websdr...

Thu Aug 3 14:36:50 EDT 2017

I'm not a ham (yet), and I've only briefly used an online SDR a few times a
long time ago, so I can't provide any interesting details about SDR along
the vein that has already been discussed.

However, one interesting and somewhat tangential aspect of SDRs is that
people have been using them for a while as a sort of hacking tool, playing
around with common household wireless devices. Often for less than $100
these days ($20 on eBay will get you one "good enough" for many uses, or so
I hear) you can get a cheap SDR and, with some clever programming and other
wizardry, do fun things such as turning someone's home security system
against them: https://www.reddit.com/r/YouShouldKnow/comments/2c5qok
/ysk_if_you_are_one_of_the_800000_vivint_customers/

Also a few guys recently were able to hack unencrypted Zwave devices, which
are surprisingly many:
http://www.csoonline.com/article/3024217/security/ez-wave-z-wave-hacking-tool-capable-of-breaking-bulbs-and-abusing-z-wave-devices.html
I understand that there has yet to be a real breach of Z-wave devices that
encrypt transmissions. So far encrypted Z-wave is the most secure protocol
I can find for IoT and one I would rely on if absolutely necessary (for
now-- knock on wood).

This is one reason I avoid wireless systems in my home as much as possible,
especially wireless IoT devices, especially if someone sends a salesman to
my door to try to con me into buying it (in my view a consumer product with
proper marketing these days will speak for itself well enough that I go to
the salesman, not the other way around). While a targeted attack is
unlikely to happen to most people even on systems with mediocre security,
I'm paranoid enough and have enough of a security mindset to wire
everything as much as possible and use heavily tested, generally open
source technology.

This is a really interesting video that goes into the nitty gritty of how
people do it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3UUazj0tkg I'd love to hack
around with SDR one day. For now I'll have to throw it on to the
ever-growing pile of fun projects I've dreamed up but rarely have time to
do.

--Jordan

On Thu, Aug 3, 2017 at 6:49 AM, Kenneth Gartland <trnsrme at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi all!
>
> Many thanks to all those folks on here
> who provided so much info and links
> to this amazing new world of remote radio
> control technology...SDR & Websdr...
>
> I can recall some years back, there were "Plug-in"
> cards for the PC's which wud enable a similar
> type operation...
>
> I have never seen one in operation, I gess it
> turns your PC into a super radio receiver,
> with the adapter board, soundcard, and external
> antenna...
>
> I played around with the Websdr last nite, and it was
> so interesting...
>
> I had no idea how far the idea of SDR has advanced
> and how the technology has improved...
>
> I have much to learn abt these new things...
>
> I do have a cuple of questions abt all this,
> how are you guys able to decode the odd
> frequency shifts being used, i.e. 85hz & 450hz ?
>
> My only operational TU rite now is a Flesher TU170,
> it has 850 & 170hz, not sure if there is any way
> to modify it for other shifts...
>
> I may have to dig out my old venerable 5763 TU
> which has a new lease on life, thanks to Jeff
> who kindly provided me a "Brand new" old stock
> 5763 tube!
>
> It will be interesting to see if it can handle this
> narrow shift stuff...
>
> The DDK signal I used to receive here was always
> very strong and little fading...
>
> My second question, to reliably receive these odd-ball
> shifts, do I need a TU like a CV89, Dovetron etc.?
>
> I do have a HAL ST6000 I got a few years back,
> but for sure needs a lot of work, horribly wired
> with mostly 4 cdr telephone cabling, a real
> "Rats nest"...
>
> When I received it, every cct board was lying
> in the bottom of the enclosure, so it is another
> job for another day...Luckily I have the manual
> and schematics for it...
>
> Tks guys!
>
> Cheers!
>
> Ken VE3-HMQ
> i-Telex 61663
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> GreenKeys mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/greenkeys
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:GreenKeys at mailman.qth.net
>
> 2002-to-present greenkeys archive: http://mailman.qth.net/piperma
> il/greenkeys/
> 1998-to-2001 <http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/greenkeys/1998-to-2001>
> greenkeys archive: http://mailman.qth.net/archive/greenkeys/greenkeys.html
> Randy Guttery's 2001-to-2009 GreenKeys Search Tool:
> http://comcents.com/tty/greenkeyssearch.html
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/greenkeys/attachments/20170803/7bfda236/attachment.html>