OS: Windows 8.1.
Install SDR# (SDRSharp)
***IMPORTANT***
Do not install any of the software that it came with (if any). If you've already installed the DVB-T drivers that came on the CD bundled with some dongles, uninstall them first. Don't plug in the USB DVB dongle before completing the below software installation procedure.
1. Install Microsoft .NET 4.6 or newer redistributable installed to use SDRSharp.
Note, for my laptop running Windows 8.1, Microsoft .NET 4.6 is already installed.
2. Go to https://airspy.com/ and find the downloads button on the top menu. Next to the "SDR Software Package" heading click on the download button to download sdrsharp-x86.zip.
3. Extract (unzip) sdrsharp-x86.zip to a folder on your PC.
Note, Many people who have issues forget this step! Do not run the files from within the zip file or the following steps will fail. Also, do not extract into a folder within the Program Files directory, or installation may fail as these folders are often automatically made read-only by Windows.
4. Double click on install-rtlsdr.bat from within the extracted folder. This will start a command prompt that will download all the drivers required to make SDRSharp work with RTL-SDR. The command prompt will automatically close after a few seconds when it is done. It the bat file ran successfully the files rtlsdr.dll and zadig.exe will be downloaded into the SDR# directory. If they were not downloaded then your PC or anti virus solution may be misconfigured and may have trouble running batch files (Check that the folder is not read only, and not located in the Program Files directory).
Press any key to close the command prompt window.
5. Plug in the USB DVB dongle and wait a few seconds for plug and play to finish attempting to install the dongle (it will either fail or install Windows DVB-T TV drivers).
6. In the folder where you extracted the sdrsharp files find the file called zadig.exe. Right click this file and select "Run as administrator".
7. In Zadig, go to "Options->List All Devices" and make sure this option is checked. If you are using Windows 10, in some cases you may need to also uncheck "Ignore Hubs or Composite Parents".
Before performing "Options->List All Devices"
After performing "Options->List All Devices"
8. Select "Bulk-In, Interface (Interface 0)" from the drop down list. Note on some PCs you may see something like RTL2832UHIDIR or RTL2832U instead of the bulk in interface. This is also a valid selection. Do not select "USB Receiver (Interface 0) or Interface 1" or anything else or you will overwrite that driver! Double check that USB ID shows "0BDA 2838 00" as this indicates that the dongle is selected.
9. We need to install the WinUSB driver, so also ensure that WinUSB is selected in the box after the arrow next to where it says Driver (this is the default selection).
Note that there has been some confusion for a few people over this step. The goal is to install the WinUSB driver. So to be clear, the box to the left of the arrow shows the currently installed driver, whereas the box to the right of the arrow shows the driver that will be installed in the next step. The first time you open zadig the box on the left will show either 'None', or the default DVB-T drivers installed by Windows (RTL2832UUSB), depending on your Windows configuration and version.
10. Click the Replace Driver button. On some PC's you might get a warning that the publisher cannot be verified, but just accept it by clicking on "Install this driver software anyway". This will install the drivers necessary to run the dongle as a software defined radio. Note that you may need to run zadig.exe again if you move the dongle to another USB port, or want to use two or more dongles together.
Click the close button to close the notification window.
11. Open SDRSharp.exe.
Set the "Source" drop down box to 'RTL-SDR (USB)'. This "Source" tab is on the top left. (Note that the first time you do this you may get a smart screen message indicating that Windows has protected your PC, this is a false alarm. Simply click on "more info" and then "run anyway").
12. Press the Play button (the right facing triangle). Your RTL-SDR software radio should now be set up and ready to use! If everything has worked you should be able to start tuning to frequencies.
13. Important! Don't forget to also adjust the RF gain settings by pressing the Configure button (looks like a cog) up the top next to the Play button. By default the RF gain is set at zero. A gain of zero will probably receive nothing but very strong broadcast FM - increase the gain until you start seeing other signals.
To receive HF signals with a RTL-SDR.com V3, please see the V3 users guide.
The RTL-SDR is now ready for work.
Additional references:
SDRSHARP USERS GUIDE
https://www.rtl-sdr.com/sdrsharp-users-guide/
Featured articles
https://www.rtl-sdr.com/category/article/
Planar Disk Antennas
http://www.wa5vjb.com/references/PlanarDiskAntennas.pdf
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