After hearing from reddit all about a cool Software Defined Radio project, I obtained a BlazeVideo DVB-T dongle from eBay. This spiffy device lets you scan almost anywhere in the RF band! I’m still seeing what I can do with it, but it grabs local FM broadcasts without trouble.
The SDR# software recommended by one site seems to work fairly well under Windows XP. I’ll also be making tests in Ubuntu and Windows 7 fairly soon.
Here’s some samples of what it sounds like, picking up broadcasts in my area:
KFJM – KNTN – WWF83
Scanning for FM traffic should be easy with this thing. Programming it to decode digital ham radio modes — well, that’ll be a challenge!