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

some trouble with software on win7 runs perfect on win 10 coupled it with 70 feet lm400 coax on a tram 1411 discone scanner antenna and it is nothing short of incredible, like the best ham radio ever for 20 bux WOW! if this isnt working well for you consider buying top notch coax and antenna because im sure anything less you will be disappointed yes but by time you antenna this up properly in my case 75 ft up a tower with lma200 coax and that top shelf discone you looking at nearly 450$ for a 25$ radio, high freq coax is EXPENSIVE! dont forget that inline amp that cost more than radio as well so all tolled 500$ for a 25$ radio AINT the best 20 bux i ever spent,is it worth it? YES

As far as I can tell it works well for a $21 SDR when used alone, but I purchased it to be a panadapter for my TS-590SG and right now, they dont play well together. Construction is solid but this is not a Plug and Play dongle by any means and youre going to need to download 3 programs beyond an SDR interface (SDR#, HDSDR et al) just to install the drivers needed to get it to function on a Windows machine (I wont even bother with the software headaches to attempt to turn it into a panadapter for a Kenwood). It also emits a heck of a lot of RFI. I had it sitting next to my Kenwood that I was listening to an AM signal on 3.750 MHz when I powered up the RTL-SDR and the S7 station I was listening was suddenly drowned in static at 20 over S9. Moving the RTL-SDR 3 feet away from my radio cleared the problem. Pros: Price and physical durability. Cons: Not for an SDR Novice due to software needs and set-up, not well shielded and produces RFI that will interfere with a HF radio. Buy it if you know what youre doing with an SDR and not planning on doing any Ham operations in the same room.

install the app via sudo apt install gqrx-sdr then just run it. pick the usb device as shown in the dialog box, here. there are many other apps but this was an easy one to get running. also gnu-radio and so on. Im interested in decoding HD fm radio and there is a plugin or app on github for that. later.. update: got it working with nrsc5 to decode HD radio for free ;) simply run the nrsc5 program with the frequency in mhz and the program (0 or 1, usually) inside the HD sideband: eg, nrsc5 88.5 0. last image shows the console output when you run it on an hd radio channel that is active.

With this USB SDR and the software packages named RTL-SDR and RTL_433 I can intercept and decode all my 319.5 Mhz Honeywell/Interlogix alarm window sensors and send that to my HomeAssistant automation via MQTT. This is the command line I test with decoding for Interlogix. rtl_433 -f 319500000 -R 100 -q -F json Then I use the /usr/local/etc/rtl_433/rtl_433.conf file to actually setup RTL_433 to send the formatted data. Here is the contents of mine for Interlogix: device 0 output mqtt://${host}:${port},user=${username},pass=${password},retain=${retain},events=rtl_433[/model][/id] output json frequency 319500000 protocol 100 convert si report_meta time:tz report_meta level report_meta stats report_meta protocol verbose 1 and my configuration.yaml from HA: mqtt: sensor: - name: Window 1 unique_id: a7d042 state_topic: rtl_433/Interlogix-Security/a7d042 value_template: {{value_json.switch1}}

Miss the boat anchors, but this requires no tubes!

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!

This flavor does not include any antennas, so if that is important to you make sure you order one that includes it. Works as expected. Im currently running this on a Raspberry Pi as an APRS iGate. This does get warm, hence the metal enclosure on it. I had an antenna to use with this, but still needed to purchase an adapter cable to get this to mate up to the antenna. This was my first adventure into an SDR, so I have to say overall I am happy with it. I bought this, built something with it, and it worked, so I have mark that as a successful first attempt.

It is not worth taking a chance buying a clone. This is the real deal Works well. The site does an ok job getting you started but on YT there are plenty of resources to follow to install the correct software and NET framework. It is getting the framework and drivers that requires some effort and time. It is not plug and play but a great product if you are interested in shortwave and Ham bands.

It works, but...it is mainly designed for the VHF and UHF range of 24Mhz and up. While, yes, it can receive HF, its effectiveness at receiving those frequencies isnt very high. On the HF band, its about as sensitive as a cheap $20 shortwave analog radio with a short whip antenna. If you want to get it for scanner purposes or for anything regarding ham radio in the 144 or 440Mhz range, then this will do fine as long as you get the kit with the antennas in it. I cannot recommend this for shortwave or HF ham radio band listening. With that said, let me say this, for just $20 or so this would be a decent way to give someone a dip into the Software Designed Radio waters. To give them an idea of what is possible with an SDR, what it can pick up, and what it can do with the right software. For Linux users: I run Ubuntu 18.04LTS and this was pretty much plug and play for me. All I had to do was install CubicSDR from the Ubuntu Software Center, plug in the dongle, and it started receiving. I couldnt get GQRX to work with this dongle at all on the HF bands. It worked just fine with CubicSDR. But like I said above, this is about as sensitive on the HF bands as a cheap analog shortwave radio. Thus is why Im returning it. It was a nice experiment into the SDR realm and give me a taste of the possibilities. However, I think Ill stick with actual hardware receivers and use an audio connection for decoding. That Im already doing.

Item was received in a timely fashion. This is the third one of these Ive purchased and each have been reliable. This one works out of the box. It seems of good quality (some others are plastic, or metal cased and rattle when shaken). This device is the go-to for reading signals, of using in a weather system to read temperature meters and rain gauges.