No drivers required! Device drivers are already included in your operating system - Windows, Linux or Mac OSX, 32 or 64 bit.
* The guaranteed coverage of the FUNcube Dongle Pro+ is from 150kHz to 1.9GHz, and there is a gap in coverage between 240MHz and 420MHz.
Folks,
Nils has very kindly sent me a link to an article he wrote recently about using the FUNcube Dongle Pro+ on the shortwave/HF bands. Here is the note he sent to me:
Dear Howard – recently I got two FCDPRO+ V2. I wanted to know how this SDR is doing on shortwave. The results were stunning. I filed them into a multimedia PDF (text, 40 screenshots, audio, video, hyperlinks) which you can download here:
http://bit.ly/15PCCa4
I show how to receive broadcast, amateur radio and utility, and how to decode digimodes from RTTY over SSTV-DRM to PACTOR-III with solely free software. The PDF is just meant as preview. If you like it, I would be proud to see it some day also on the official FCD page. I am convinced that FCD plus an approach to show what to do with it (and how attractive shortwave still is) will trigger much more interest.
Your critics & comments are welcomed! 73 Nils, DK8OK
Folks,
I have been trying to figure out for some time why there are a significant number of failed Paypal transactions when purchasing. After some discussions with Paypal, it transpires that some Paypal accounts and card transactions will only operate directly in US dollars, and will not allow a currency conversion into UK Pound sterling.
So if you’ve been having difficulty making payment, please try again. I have set up my account to accept transactions directly in Euros and US dollars.
The FCD+ stock remains good, so follow this link about ordering details, or to order right now here’s a direct link straight to the shopping cart.
Many thanks, Howard
Folks
I’ve just returned from this year’s Dayton Hamvention, and met up with some folks from Virginia Tech who are successfully using the FCD+ with the Raspberry Pi. Briefly, they are using their RPi’s to allow remote reception from LF to 2GHz. They’re using a recent Raspian Wheezy image together with some code to stream the full 192kHz span over UDP (I guess similar to the code that I wrote recently for OpenWRT & the FCD+ together with GnuRadio), plus a version of Alex Csete’s FCDCTL to remotely set the frequency.
Once I have more details I’ll post a how-to here. I’ve long been convinced that the RPi and the FCD/FCD+ are perfectly do-able, but I had difficulties with earlier Raspian Wheezy releases and its USB stack as well as the use of Qt to control the FCD/FCD+ on the RPi, so I’d been waiting for a more stable software platform which it looks like we now have.
The FCD+ stock is still good so follow this link about ordering details, or to order right now here’s a direct link straight to the shopping cart.
Many thanks, Howard
Folks
I’ll be travelling to Dayton on Thursday 16 May and I return on Monday 20 May so orders placed during this time will be processed on Monday 20 May.
We continue to have a good inventory, follow this link about ordering details, or if you’re in a real hurry here’s a direct link straight to the shopping cart.
Many thanks, Howard
Folks
After the initial demand, we finally have a good stock of the FUNcube Dongle Pro+ ready for immediate dispatch.
Follow this link about ordering details, or if you’re in a real hurry here’s a direct link straight to the shopping cart.
In Western Europe and North America typically delivery is the following working day. Also if you order three or more, shipping is free!
Many thanks, Howard
Folks
Here’s a video showing the FCD+ streaming the full 192ksps wirelessly to GNU Radio which demodulates a broadcast FM signal streaming from the FCD+.
It uses a MiniEmbWifi router running OpenWRT. GNU Radio is running in Ubuntu in a VMware guest under Windows 8 running on a Mac mini – there’s no platform prejudice here at FCD Towers!
It’s a work-in-progress as part of something else I’ve been working on (http://www.funcubedongle.com/?p=889) that went on the back burner for a while when the FCD+ was being developed and brought to market, but if you enjoy hacking embedded Linux I am sure others with more experience than me of doing that will achieve far better things!
Many thanks, Howard
Folks
Increasingly recently we’ve been seeing problems where the symptoms suggest that folks have used a utility called Zadig to override the operating system’s own drivers, probably because there has been experience with an RTL dongle where it’s common to have to hack user-mode access to the device, overriding the device’s own drivers.
Fundamental to the FCD’s and FCD+’s design was to make it as easy to install as possible, and that means that it uses drivers that are native to your operating system so you don’t have to mess about fruitlessly searching the internet for the right driver, or, indeed use Zadig.
Using Zadig to override the operating system’s drivers for the FCD & FCD+ will not work!
What’s worse is that Zadig doesn’t appear to present a clean way to uninstall its own work from the investigations I’ve done, so getting you back to square one isn’t as easy as it was to install those pesky Zadig configured drivers in the first place.
In order to uninstall it’s a bit complex but here’s a recipe.
o Insert the FCD+ if it isn’t already.
o Look in your C:\Windows\Inf directory and look for all the oem*.inf files which relate to the FCD or FCD+. They are text files, so you can open them in notepad.
o Open an administrator command prompt and run “pnputil -f -d oem##.inf” for each oem##.inf file you found.
o In Device Manager, find entries marked “FUNcube Dongle V2.0 (Interface #)”, right click each and uninstall.
o Remove the FCD/FCD+.
o Now, after 10 or 10 seconds, reinsert the FCD+ and you should now have the device properly recognised. I recommend too that you take this opportunity to read the manual.
When properly working, the FCD+ presents a sound device (FUNcube Dongle V2.0), a human interface device (“HID-compliant device”), and under Universal Serial Bus controllers there should be a “USB Composite Device” entry for it. When properly configured, whn removing the FCD these three entries should all automatically disappear, and reappear when inserted.
If you still have entries in Device Manager in the form “FUNcube Dongle V2.0 (Interface #)” then you still have work to do to uninstall them.
Removing Zadig’s work is messy, time-consuming, and prone to possibly catastrophic errors if you remove the wrong driver.
So, to save yourself a whole lot of grief, the advice is simple: while you are welcome to use Zadig with your other devices, please DO NOT USE ZADIG under any circumstances to override the drivers for the FCD or FCD+!
Many thanks, Howard
Folks
We’re expecting to receive a new batch of FCD+ units from the manufacturers on about 12 April. We can have these tested an ready for dispatch within 24 hours.
Please register you interest here, and we’ll send you an email as soon as your unit’s ready.
Many thanks, Howard
Folks,
The Royal Mail increased Special Delivery costs from £5.90 to £6.22 over the weekend and I’ve updated the shipping costs appropriately.
Many thanks, Howard
Folks
We’re taking a slightly extended Easter break this year, so the last time for shipping before Easter will be at 11:00 UTC on Wednesday 27 March (12:00 CET, 06:00 EST, 03:00 PST).
We’ll be open as usual on Tuesday 2 April.
Many thanks, Howard
