My favorite recommendation is the NooElec NESDR Mini 2+ kit you can get on Amazon for around $24 which includes the SDR, antenna adapter, extendable antenna with suction cup mount that also work magnetically. Funny enough though, a good PL259 on an LMR-400 cable is bigger than most of the RTLSDRs you will find so it looks a bit strange.
ELEKTOR SDR KIT REVIEW PROFESSIONAL
Using a cheap antenna or cable just makes us do a lot of work for not a lot of return.īesides, most of the SDRs can simply use an adapter to connect to anything including the N or PL259 types used in professional antenna installations. Sure you could use a cheaper antenna and cable, but if we are going to climb our butts up on a ladder to the roof, or up on the roof, to mount an antenna, we want it to be a good one so we don’t have to ever do that again. How many people do you know who want to connect a $25 SDR to $290 worth of antenna gear (not including clamps, bolts, screws, etc)? For example, a really good scanner antenna would be the Diamond D3000N Super Discone Antenna which runs about $150, then you need 50′ of LMR-400 cable to connect it for another $100, then an adapter for $20 to connect it to whatever you are using for a SDR and finally, an antenna mast and mount for another $20. I find this a little less important than most because few people will be doing serious work with a RTLSDR so a serious antenna is not really required. As things progressed this tuner became less and less available and was supplanted by the R820T and now the R820T2 which has a range of 24MHz to 1850MHz (or 25MHz-1750MHz depending on who you ask) while being cheaper than the E4000.īe sure to stay away from the FC0012 and FC0013 tuners that only have a range of 50MHz to 1000MHz and are generally less well supported than the E4000, R820T, and R820T2.Īnother feature that people put a lot of concern into with their RTLSDR is the antenna connection. The best was widely considered to be the E4000 as it allowed tuning from 60MHz to 1700MHz which was about the widest available. The first concern is which tuner has been mated to the RTL2832U chip.
ELEKTOR SDR KIT REVIEW SOFTWARE
We have also used them on a variety of computers which includes Windows, Mac, and Linux machines with different software packages such as our favorites SDR# (free, Windows) and GQRX (free, Mac & Linux). We have tested them to see how they work with nothing but what comes with them, and then with upgraded antennas etc. What follows is based on playing with more of these SDR units than we will ever admit to. It can be exhausting trying to pick one out. To make it even more difficult, each of those brands may have a slew of different models, and then several different kits for each model. If you do a quick search for RTL SDR units anywhere online you are sure to find them sold by RTL-SDR Blog, NooElec, Radioddity, Zerone, and many others. This tiny package includes a USB port which provides all needed power as well as allows it to talk directly to the computer you plug it into. The chip is mounted with all the necessary support electronics on a circuit board not any bigger than an old school stick of gum, or a typical USB thumb drive. These little units are the basis of virtually all cheap SDR units out there today.
What is a RTL SDR?Ĭheap SDR receivers are generally based on the RTL2832U chipset which was originally designed for receiving digital television. It also makes them perfect for people wanting to learn more about how radio works. This makes these types of radios perfect for scanners as they can access a wide range of services such as police, fire, amateur radio, satellites, aircraft, marine, sporting events, and much more. A typical FM radio will tune from 88 to 108 MHz whereas a typical cheap SDR will tune from 500 kHz up to over 1.7 GHz.
This allows the radio to be extremely small, inexpensive, and very flexible.
SDR (Software Defined Radio) receivers are radios which have had some of their traditional components such as modulators, and tuners replaced by software and programmable chips in a very small circuit. Those who want to dip their toe in so to speak, not spend a lot and find out it isn’t that interesting to them. This article is for people brand new to SDRs who are unsure of the best place to start. Fortunately we have played with a lot of them so we can help guide you along the path to finding the one that suits your needs. There are a lot of SDR kits out there so finding the best cheap RTL type SDR kit to get started with can be a daunting task.
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