CF30 Internal Software Defined Radio Mod

Group,

A lot of you helped me figure out my issues with the internal USB breakout board, and if you guys are anything like me, getting to see the end result is always awesome. So here it is.

I wanted an internal Software Defined Radio (called an SDR from here on out) inside my tough book using the WWAN cellular antenna for the SDR.

Ultimately I went with a Mk3 CF30.

Parts used:
http://www.custom-toughbooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=68&products_id=201 (USB Breakout Board)
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00UXIS5KG/ (uFL antenna to SMA adapter)
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B011HVUEME/ (SDR Itself)
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00OK5YTQC/ (USB Male A solderable connectors)

There is some circuitry (I suspect a filter) inside the WWAN antenna housing. I bypassed this and got much better reception on the freq's I was interested in (75mhz-200mhz).

With this setup I can pickup all public service frequencies, police, fire, ambulance, water company, local college security, 2m and 70cm amateur radio, FRS, GMRS, NOAA weather radio, and since the whole thing is driving by a computer, using DSD+ I can decode digital radio for my local Police Department, which no scanner is capable of doing.

Anyways, here's some pictures, and thanks for the help everyone has given to me!
http://noep.net/images/notebookreview.com/CF30MK3-antenna-cable.png
http://noep.net/images/notebookreview.com/CF30MK3-antenna.png
http://noep.net/images/notebookreview.com/CF30MK3-overview.png


Thanks!
Knight.

 

Fantastic.
Thanks for sharing the details.
How about a screen shot of the software in use?

reputation points given

 

"There is some circuitry (I suspect a filter) inside the WWAN antenna housing."
yeppers ... they are a couple of BPF/LPF/HPF circuits .
they are used to provide some degree of isolation between the various rf devices .
a big pain is the de-sensing caused by adjacent band devices/services ... these circuits were used to lower that interference .

hmmm ...
maybe *santa* will bring me the stuff to drop one inside of my '31 ?
although , if i could make one fit inside of the '19 it would be easier to take along in the plane .

 

There are a couple that are mini pcie. I think they use pci interface which leaves us out. Toughbook mini pcie is usb only.
I am looking into using a mini pcie to usb adapter. Then the usb dongle into the adapter in a CF31. May need to remove the dongle from its housing and direct solder it to the pcie adapter..

 

yep ... that is what i was contemplating as well .
i don't know if the inside of the plastic housed types have metal shielding ...
but i am willing to bet that the performance would be better if shielded .

 

I have metal tape.

Thinking on maybe putting the dongle in the lid. Run the usb cables down.
Or maybe connect to the usb already in the lid--webcam port

Best price for a plastic housed SDR dongle. USA based. Doesn't give much info
http://www.ebay.com/itm/121794368581?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

This looks interesting
http://www.ebay.com/itm/162132282077?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Here is a micro
http://www.ebay.com/itm/262590095958?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

This is the same as the OP's
http://www.ebay.com/itm/322330873585?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

 

Shawn I have one of those mini pcie to usb adapters for wwan and it has a sims card slot on the back of it. Just doing some plug in testing a while back every WWAN card I had was reconized by windows (didn't try to load any software or drivers) but it wouldn't recognize a Toshiba GPS card or a SSD I had. That was the only one I could get my hands on at the times. There is a different version out now that may work. For example, http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-PCI-E-...ive-PCBA-Converter-Adapter-Card-/401165009938

The one I have is this one. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-PCI-E-...Card-Slot-Test-WWAN-Module-E0Xc-/271824339295

There is another tuner I have out in the shed that I tested on a CF-30 but never fully installed everything. It's made for a HP and comes with a remote, plugs into the express card slot.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-dv-9000-...740191?hash=item2a73e0d25f:g:4NcAAOSwo4pYE08I
Since the swap to digitial tv I have never tried it to see if it still works. My plan was for the ultimate shop pc originally.

 

Paul,
I have that TV card. I use it to interface my Panasonic video camera. (Like what they use for security cameras.)

You are thinking the wrong direction for the mini pcie adapter.
I am thinking of this and use the usb SDR dongle in the WWAN slot of a CF19 or CF31.

 

It's funny, that's actually exactly what I was originally considering doing on my CF30, just place one of these inside the WWAN sled, then I could swap sleds, Cellular WWAN, or SDR! .... But... the filter on the antenna kind of changed that idea.


Knight.

 

i obtained one of those hauppage video card/tuners out of an HP *media center* machine ...
i could not get software for it because i did not have a *code* that comes with the original machine .
i tried 'nix mint ... no go .
this was a couple of years ago ... maybe it is supported in 'nix now ?
but , with the price of that sort of stuff dropping , it is easier to just buy a new one .

 

Hi I was wondering what you did to bypass the filter system in the cellular antenna? I just love this idea and was planning on getting an sdr anyways and would really enjoy not having to carry extra cords and antenna around. Also, I noticed that this one seems to work between 100khz-1.7ghz with out the added filter split antenna. I might give it a try:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MRFGW9...TF8&colid=26VOGRJSO1195&coliid=I21T1SUR7S7RZJ

 

First, my apologies for the late reply. I didn't realize there was a reply, and Notebookreview didn't send me a message.

The SDR I used is also capable of 500khz to 1.7ghz. The one you listed is 100khz to 1.7ghz. So you get a bit of the lower bands. I might actually upgrade at some point to that, but since the way I designed it, it's a simple plug and play to change out the dongle to another one. I was half way pondering if I could figure out a way to cram in an upconverter in there, but I never got past the "that'd be neat" phase.

I used: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011HVUEME

To answer your question, to bypass the filter I just soldered a small wire from the incoming coax, straight onto the small clip that connects to the antenna. Just made a simple jumper wire. No, it's not shielded... didn't much care, the antenna itself is tuned for the wrong freq's anyway. But this does seem to work very well for my purposes. (Ham 2M, as well as local public utilities, police, sheriff, and fire department). The only thing I really use my SDR for is stuff above 75mhz. My local Law Enforcement switched to digital and so I have to run SDR with digital decoding to listen to LE. My local LE is NOT encrypted, just digital.

Knight.

 

Hello. I am new on this forum, and new to Toughbooks. I have a CF-30 MK3. II found this forum because I am looking for CF-30 mods.

I found a thread about internal SDR radio mod using the RTL-SDR USB Dongle. I found a conversaiton by user Knightofoldcode, and he listed pictures and links to parts. The first link he had is for www.customtoughbooks.com, for parts he got from them. However, that site has been down for weeks for maintenance, and I cannot see what parts he bought from them.

Can anyone help me with this? A member named Shawn gave a link to him for the same website. I have looked on this forum, but have not been able to find a way to message Shawn directly.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, as I want to build/install this mod. I already have the other parts, I.E. RTL-SDR dongle, connectors, etc. Thank you in advance, Joe

 

Hello Joe. Thank you for your confidence in my abilities and knowledge.
I ask the moderator to open the SDR thread and maybe move this post to that thread.

I do not mean to offend or insult. I need you to help me, so we can help you.
I had a stroke a few years back and I have concentration and focus issues at times. Easy for me to get overwhelmed and frustrated with posts that are jumbled together.
What I need is for you to break up your above post and future posts into paragraphs and some sort of semi direct questions so I can understand what you are talking about.
To me, posts like the above can seem to be rambling and jumbled together. It frustrates me quickly when I am tired.

I think you want a SDR radio of some kind. USB? Internal? External? Full model number of your laptop? What are you using your laptop for?

Can you see how I broke everything up into separate paragraphs? It's MUCH easier to read this way. A link to the thread you are talking about would be a great help also.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/cf30-internal-software-defined-radio-mod.799307/

I am magic.
Here is the link to the missing page via the internet wayback machine.
https://web.archive.org/web/2017040...in_page=product_info&cPath=68&products_id=201

And more magic.
Here is the board Knightofoldcode was talking about. It is custom built. In order to obtain one, you may need to email the site owner directly. He is a very nice guy.

 

All moved and open and edited his post some.