GNUradio: Build Your Own Receiver

A bit of time and reading and you can enter this fascinating facet of the hobby (no license needed)

GNU Radio is a free & open-source software development toolkit that provides signal processing blocks to implement software radios. It can be used with readily-available low-cost external RF hardware to create software-defined radios, or without hardware in a simulation-like environment. It is widely used in hobbyist, academic and commercial environments to support both wireless communications research and real-world radio systems.

If you've never touched GNU Radio before, these pages will get you started with a running installation of GNU Radio and will show you how to take your first steps with this software radio tool.

The recommended way to get started with GNU Radio is to read the Guided Tutorials.

SARC members received a very interesting hands-on introduction in the fall of 2017. It was presented by Kevin VE7ZD. Here is a PDF of the slides.

A simple FM receiver in GNU