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Reviews For: RTL-SDR

Category: Receivers: General Coverage

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Review Summary For : RTL-SDR
Reviews: 2MSRP: about 18€
Description:
RTL2832U chip with R820T2 Tuner.
Reception 24MHz - SHF (about 1700MHz)

frequency stability ~ 70ppm

MCX antenna connector (female) and USB connector

works with the program SDR - Sharp
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.rtl-sdr.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0022.5
AC9Y Rating: 2019-06-18
Works, but you get what you pay for Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The RTL-SDR v3 works. Not difficult to setup. Windows 7 (Dell Optiplex 9020 i7), RTL-SDR with a NooElec Ham It Up Upconverter. Antenna was an 80-10m EFHW.

Not so good:
1) Software is clunky. Really for geeks, which I can appreciate.
2) Image rejection is poor. It reminds me of cheap shortwave radios from the 70's. BUT... the Ham it Up was really the HF device here. It upconverts from HF to 125Mhz that the RTL-SDR receives.
3) Frequency accuracy is poor. The manual talks about correcting it, wasn't very clear.
4) Panadapter worked but nothing as clear as you'd see on an IC-7300.
5) Tuning it was clunky. You use the arrow keys on your PC. The mouse click on the screen didn't seem to work as expected. Often you'd find yourself on some other freq and not know how you got there.

The good news:
1) It's just $24.
2) Was easy to set up. READ the Manual.
3) It's fun to tune across the band with this little device.
4) You can set an "offset" so you "see" the HF freq number that is familiar to you and not 125Mhz + Your HF freq.
5) The Ham it Up Upconverter works well...with the exception of the image rejection.
6) I used the Ham it UP as a panadapter for a Kenwood TS-820s. This was fun, but very simplistic. You're looking at the radio's IF bandpass.

Ham radio is about experimenting, investigation, having fun with technology. If you like to tinker, get these devices and have some fun. You'll need a good PC with some computing power. These devices are nothing like the IC-7300, FT-991a or any more expensive SDR radio. Not even close. But fun they are.
RADIOMANN Rating: 2019-01-03
Hears alot but needs Bandpass Filters Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I use this SDR - Dongle on a Desktop Computer with the Program called "SDR Sharp" (or SDR#) and a cheap active Antenna (made for TV & Broadcast Radio) from the Supermarket.

The good thing is, it hears ALOT with the active Antenna, significantly more than more expensive Transceivers.

The bad thing is, when i turn up the gain on the active Antenna, then i get a number of false signals on the screen but to me that wasnt much a problem yet, because the false signals usualy didnt fall on the frequencies i wanted to hear, however, this thing should have bandpass filters to filter out side signals. i know, what to expect from such cheap device, but there is minimum requirements, these devices were made for receiving TV & FM Radio to, at least they should then have some bandpass.

the frequency drift becomes less when this thing is active in recption for about an hour.

i transmitted with over 100W on HF with this RTL-SDR active, i thought to try, it's cheap, wouldnt have been a big deal if it had taken a damage, it didnt damage. its strange those more expensive SDR receivers need an expensive extra device to protect from damage when transmitting nearby, when this cheap device doesnt.