Here's what I've found useful about SDRs so far...
Good ol' learning...
For those who don't even have a ham radio or getting started, these SDRs are great. You can listen in on what this hobby is all about. If you have the technician class license and curious about all the bands outside of your spectrum, just check them out through the comfort of your web browser. It may give you the motivation to get your general ticket. For me, I'm starting to realize I may want my Amateur Extra ticket to get the last allocations of spectrum assigned to us by the FCC.
If you're not into ham radio but want to know what's it all about, this is great, too. There's no up-front investment to be made to experience what we're experiencing. Well, you're only getting half of the experience, since you can't transmit, but at least you don't have to purchase a shortwave receiver.
For those days that I'm too lazy to fire up my own rig to listen to some CW, I just open up my browser. My computer is up almost all day, since this is really convenient for me. It's much easier to drag my mouse on a stream of CW and listen than spin that giant Tec Tec knob to look for a signal. That thing is so big, it feels like I'm turning a boat sometimes. I know it's blasphemy after writing my glowing review of the Ten Tec Omni Series D, but I may strongly consider one of these software-defined transceivers, like the Flex-Radio or a TS-B2000, as my next rig. I work with computers all day, so clicking a mouse certainly does seem natural. Hey Apple, if you're listening I'd love to see a software-defined program on the iPADs. How cool would that be. K, I went off on tangent...getting back on track.
So another area where my frontal cortex has been stimulated by these SDRs is cultural awareness. I get to listen to what other operators around the world are listening. For instance, if you check out www.websdr.at located in Austria, you hear the locals on 160m and 80m. Where I'm hearing a lot of good ol' boys on 80m here in the southeast, you tune in on German and some Russian "good ol' boys" on 80m. Definitely a cultural experience. :)
Checking your own equipment...
For the last couple of days the only signals I would hear in the evening were on 80m. Recently, we've been having a lot of rain and thunderstorms in the Atlanta area and figured this was causing all the other bands to sound "dead". Nope. By checking WB4MAK's SDR (he's also located in the Atlanta area), I'm hearing 40m (and 20m) very much alive. As a matter of fact, as of this posting it appears that a bunch of hams are prepping their equipment for this weekend's CQ Worldwide DX SSB Context.
So my prognosis? My antenna sucks. Duh. Yeah, it's obvious given that I've got just 50 feet of wire in a loop strung up in my spare bedroom. This analysis just gives me more motivation to get a better antenna in my attic; though I'm sure it will have to be a compromised antenna. Curious why I can get 80m with this setup and not the higher bands. Go figure.
Great for traveling with no radio...
Finally, I tend to travel (business or pleasure) and lament not listening to the airwaves. These days I think I'm listening more than watching television. Don't know which degrades my brain more. (Have you listened to some of the conversations on 80m?--HI HI). Though it's not my station at my QTH, having these SDR websites allows me to listen without a radio. It's better than nothing I guess.
To all the SDR operators out there. Thank you. I certainly appreciate this service, and I hope it continues to grow. Heck, these SDRs are like 21st century beacons. As the younger generation starts to get more web-savvy, I feel these websites will be a great conduit to introduce the next generation on the wonders of ham radio.
73 de KJ4YFU
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