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[TowerTalk] pattern measurements with a drone

To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: [TowerTalk] pattern measurements with a drone
From: "Jim Lux" <jim@luxfamily.com>
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2026 18:21:58 -0500
List-post: <mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
        


I'm in the middle of testing a scheme at work where we use 3 RTL-SDRs and a RPi 
with 3 whip antennas at 90 degrees from each other.
If all you want is amplitude, that's all you need. 
If you want phase and direction of arrival, then you need to sync the RTL-SDRs, 
either by driving with a common clock, or by using a sync calibration signal.  
You use the RTL-SDR in "direct" mode which bypasses the front end down 
converter. A LeoBodnar GPSDO with 2 outputs can make a nice pulsed signal at 
any frequency as a cal reference. You use the 1pps output on the IF port of a 
mixer to modulate the CW tone. 
Then you get nice 100 millisecond long pulses at a known frequency, exactly one 
second apart, so you can calculate the oscillator frequency offset, etc.



 


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