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Reviews For: NooElec HamItUp

Category: Transverters

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Review Summary For : NooElec HamItUp
Reviews: 8MSRP: $42.95
Description:
RF Upconverter For Software Defined Radio based on devices like the RTL-SDR DVB-T dongles
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.nooelec.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0084.4
KD7RDZI2 Rating: 2019-07-21
Updated review: Well designed SDR upconverter Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I own the first version of this upconverter. The newest versions seem even better on chart.
This up-converter is just how I would have designed it, The mixer is a passive Minicircuit with good IP3, 15dbmand have some loss -10/-15db. LO and IF bandpass filters are well tailored and the low-pass RF filters makes sense too. Although meant for cheap RTL Dongles I prefer to use it with the original Funcube Pro which has a 16bit ADC.
As a front-end I use a good RF preselector with a 16db preamp that overcome the losses of the preselector and those of the converter (I set no gain on the LNA of the Funcube instead). The GUI is Quisk and Qthd. With this seup performance is very very good.
KK4WMX Rating: 2016-03-27
Works well, no complaints Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
It works great for me, attached to a 5BTV as a signal source and driving two usb sdr's via a 't" on the rf out. No issues with the transverter at all, only hiccups have come from the sdr's (and those have been minor). Results have exceeded expectations.
KK4YMB Rating: 2015-01-11
In a world of limited options it does the job Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The up converter gets the job done. I have had no issues and have sent three others out to friends along with other sdr hardware to get them started. 0 problems. Very happy and would buy more.
AE5YJ Rating: 2015-01-11
exceeded expectations. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
After 3 hours of frustration trying to dial in the offset in HDSDR, I realized in true LID fashion that I had the switch on passthrough. Works perfectly. Sure there are some shortcomings with it and the RTL stick, it is not perfect, but it is loads of fun for the money. It allows me to add a second receiver to my alinco DXSR9T and with HRD and HDSDR communicating through DDE link, I have a synced panadapter and waterfall that can go extremenly wideband (approx. 2.8mhz) instead of the narrow 48khz-192khz expected with soundcard SDRs. At any rate, works perfectly, and gives me a wonderfully wide panadapter display for my rig.
KP4MLF Rating: 2015-01-11
Mine never works, lost my money Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
After long days trying to get it to work that never happens. I contacted the company for a return and they ask me for 20% Re-stoking fee. I guess I lost my money on this. Of course not recomended.
KB9ERU Rating: 2014-09-08
Impressive! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought the NESDR Mini-HF bundle from NooElec, and tested it against my trusty Yaesu FT-840.

Test setup: NooElec NESDR bundle, consisting of a stock NESDR, Ham It Up v1.2 (with 125 MHz LO, without noise source upgrade, mounted inside the NooElec enclosure), and cables/adapters to connect to one half of my A/B switch. Software is SDR#. Power for the up converter is fed via a USB connector from my computer. On the other half of the A/B switch is my FT-840. The antenna is a ground mounted 40m homebrew vertical, with 4 radials.

I went all over the bands from 80-10m, both day and night, all weekend long. I had to adjust the RF gain setting in SDR# when I change bands. It’s totally my choice - as I feel I have more control that way, instead of letting the software make the gain adjustments to prevent overload. At night I had to reduce the NESDR gain to almost nothing on 40m to prevent overload. The setup isn’t deaf by any means!

I compared SSB, CW, and AM signals for several days against the FT-840. To my ears, there wasn’t a noticeable difference. Even weak CW on 10 meters was heard the same on both the FT-840 and the SDR setup.

For less than $100, you can’t beat this setup! It is really nice to be able to view an entire band with a mouse click, instead of spinning the dial over and over. Money well spent!
KG4RUL Rating: 2013-02-13
COOL!!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Aside from problems setting up the TV Dongle software (SDR#), the HamItUp worked perfectly straight out of the box. Not as sensitive as my base HF rig but, a good way to explore SDR technology. The next step is to install it in a cast aluminum box.
KB7WO Rating: 2013-02-13
Great for inexpensive HF SDR Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
This is an excellent way to inexpensively explore HF SDR. This little converter's size belies its sophistication and quality engineering. It uses properly matched strip line between input and output, has shielding and component separation in all the right places, and has a back side groundplane. While it is not going to replace my Flex 3000, it provides surprisingly good performance for receiving MF and HF bands. There are several SDR SW packages go well with it. Two of the better, each with its own advantages, are: SDR# which is good for general coverage; and HDSDR which is a relatively capable SW and amateur receiver. They can provide up to a 2MHz spectrum display. There is no reason to spend money on the few non-free programs; they have the same core routines and offer no advantages according to other knowledgeable reviewers. Jeff at NooElec provides super customer support - they care and are sincere. You can read all about this unit at hamradioscience. While I have not tried it with SW like CW Skimmer, it decodes RTTY, PSK etc using DM780 just fine. I used it with the Newsky DVB-T USB VHF Receiver dongle that goes well with it.