Listening for Nearby Cars

June 19, 2023

Who passed by my house?

Do you want a short project with incredible information? That's me with an old Raspberry Pi 2, a NooElec NESDR Mini 2 and some time.

I read this article last year and like many articles, I thought it would be great to replicate one day, adding it to my list of projects to do when I have free time. After my large project recreating my company's product was successful, this was the time to do something quick, different and fun.

Hardware

• Raspberry Pi (I used Rpi 2B)
• NooElec R820T2 SDR & DVB-T NESDR Mini 2 (or any other similar product)
• 16 GB+ SD Card
• Bonus: Battery Pack, Rpi 7" Touchscreen display and case

Installation and Configuration

Install

I used the Raspberry Pi Imager to get the latest version of Raspberry OS with desktop environment (since this will be mobile). I also adjusted the settings to set hostname, enable SSH, WLAN, etc to all my needs.

With the OS installed, I built the hardware, connecting the screen to the Rpi and inserting the SD card.

Configuration

At first boot, the screen will be backwards, we can fix that by going to Preferences > Screen Configuration.

We don't need to install much to get this project underway:

sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade -y && sudo apt install rtl_433 -y

With the NooElec device connected and its antenna plugged in, run sudo rtl-433 -y .

Running the scanner

Run around a parking lot when you run "sudo rtl_433" and see all the fun things you find! Adjust different parameters to find new devices around your home, such as car fobs and more. Check out more information on Github.