So, the plan is to put an antenna on the roof. Rather than having a lot of antenna cable, I thought I’d put the receiver dongle in a box next to the antenna and run a USB extension cord. Is there a limit to the length of the USB cable? Will a 30-foot one work ok?
USB just for power or will you be running a keyboard/mouse?
If it is just for power the distance is a loooong way if you have a good power supply. I’m powering one of my PIs via 50 feet of RCA video cable. I converted to red RCA wires to carry 5 volt power to the PI. Works fine. To make edits, etc. I just log into it remotely via a virtual network connect (VNC) and that keeps me from needing a keyboard/mouse connected to the PI.
The USB extension would be to connect the receiver dongle to the Raspberry Pi so I can put the dongle up on the roof next to the antenna.
I’d be curious to know what you find & your results… yourcablestore.com/USB-Cable … _42-1.html
I have used active (repeater) USB cables with success. I have not tested them with the SDR.
My experience with the Active USB Extension cables is that they work well for Printers and other devices that don’t draw significant power over the USB cable - which tend to have fairly small wires.
I found I needed to use a USB power injector between the end of a USB extension and my 3G Wireless modem. I ran it from a separate wall wart near the modem.
altronics.com.au/p/k2910-usb … ector-kit/
I suggest that a similar thing would be needed for the RTL dongle since they seem to give unpredictable results when not getting enough power…
You could also use a cheap powered USB hub to power the dongle.
i use a 32 feet usb powered extension to go from dongle to pi.
Excellent! That’s just what I needed to know. Thanks!