RTL-SDR Blog V3 R860 RTL2832U 1PPM TCXO SMA Software Defined Radio (Dongle Only) (Black)

Use this item for my live ATC / ADSB Radar feed on YouTube. First purchased three between Jan & Feb of 2019. One died in January of 2021 and one in May. Guess they have a lifespan of roughly two years when used continuously. Just ordered two more. Hope the third one survives until they arrive. Cant complain about the performance, get good range, pity that they get so darn hot. Guess the heat contributes to their early death. UPDATE 13/5/21 - The one that died in May, just decided to plug it in again before throwing it out. ITS ALIVE! Decided to remove the circuit board from the metal casing. Like I said, the thing gets too hot. Perhaps the heat will dissipate easier. Its plugged in and running, will report again if it dies a second time.

This takes a little work to use but compared to a regular scanner you cant beat the price for the range it picks up. Yes its got some issues, but nothing comes close to being able to do what this does for the price. So far Ive listened to PD, NOAA, FM broadcast (music statioins), CB, airband, decoded pagers, WWV, HAM, and more. This is not for the novice but there are plenty of YouTube videos on what you can do and how to do it for this receiver. This would be an excellent gift for a teenager interested in radio (and yes itll receive image data too, like wether maps directly from satellites). A good computer is required to use it. Software exists for both Windows and Mac systems.

It was simple to install physically. The software was a bit complicated and required extra steps, but the instructions were very clear and easy to understand. Ive been having fun using it to listen and see the radio spectrum.

Havent use it on a cpu yet but works perfectly with an Fire tablet just cant charge it at the same time. Have had any problems with the sdr dongle

This is the real deal. Not a fake or clone.

Quick to setup and easy to use. It works well with the correct antenna and does an excellent job. I hear air traffic control at 120 miles away with just a short antenna inside the house. It does get hot, very hot, but not too hot to handle. It doesnt seem to drift frequency even when it does get hot.

This is a very sensitive and versatile receiver. Works great on both my Linux and Windows laptop computers. I also have it running on a Raspberry Pi mini computer. Does voice and data, analog and digital. I suggest outdoor antennas and good grounding for optimal performance. Highly recommended.

Works really well - though probably would benefit from a high-pass filter to block strong AM stations, Im not having an issue. For the price, it performs well and can absolutely use it as a competent general-coverage receiver. I have an older version with the Noo-Elec ham-it-up up-converter, and had planned to use the up-converter with this, but found the up-converter introduces some birdies at a few of my favorite 75-meter frequencies. So I use this with SDR-sharp software in direct Q-branch sample mode so I can receive HF without the upconverter. One problem with that is Ive found it difficult to find and use other SDR software with more features than SDR sharp (like a notch filter, lacking in SDR-sharp). Other SDR software seems to lack the direct-sample mode. Im still looking though. For the price, and simplicity, this is a fantastic product and I highly recommend for someone interested in getting into software-defined radio.

Im using this SDR at 10 MHz (ham band digital modes receiver), and with an external antialiasing filter / preamp it works quite well. As expected, without the filter the 28.8 MHz sample clock gives us some textbook aliased images above 14.4 MHz. Im also using this SDR at 162 MHz (marine AIS) and it does well. I am also using a filter / preamp to improve the strong-signal rejection and desired-signal sensitivity. The frequency accuracy and stability are quite reasonable. Ive got about five of these running now and they all work well. There are better-performing SDRs for 4X the price (or more), but the bang for the buck on this one is hard to beat.

I am using this in direct mode, where you can tune lower than the intended (24 MHz) minimum frequency range. I am using this for WSPR decoding, and it is working excellently! I do have some front-end interference issues, but this is a symptom of using the direct sampling without any filtering. All said, I am absolutely thrilled that this device can be used for Ham Radio (Amateur Radio) WSPR work! I have tried other SDR dongles for Ham Radio work, but for those I used a Ham-it-Up upconverter. That upconverter shifts the input up 100.0 MHz. I prefer THIS DONGLE over the upconverter-plus-dongle because it reduces the need for external power, saves on interconnection cables, and is much easier to toss into a go bag for travel fun! I have purchased a large number of SDR dongles like this. I now prefer this specific dongle above all the others, even the FlightAware ones!