Pico SDR

Using RP2040 / Raspberry Pi Pico as a software-defined radio receiver.

See the blog post for more informatiom.

Circuit

Software

1. Clone using git clone --recursive as this package is using a custom USB stdio library for better throughput and to avoid deadlocks.

2. Build and flash the firmware as usual:

   export PICO_SDK_PATH=/path/to/pico-sdk
   cmake -B build src
   cmake --build build
   picotool load -f build/pico_sdr.uf2
   

3. Start the USB serial to TCP bridge:

   python util/bridge.py
   

4. Open grc/PicoSDR-WBFM.grc in GNU Radio Companion, adjust carrier frequency to match your favorite FM radio station and press F6.

5. Alternatively gqrx seems to work fine with rtl_tcp input mode. Maximum sample rate seem to be 400 ksps, above that the samples are dropped.