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

This is the RTL-STL dongle to get for sure. I had a previous one that finally burned out. But this one the frequency is perfect. I no longer have to use offsets to get it set correctly to match my yaesu rig. Works fantastic.

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.

As an amateur radio operator, scanner addict, electronic gadget freak and lifelong radio hobbyist, this has to be one of the greatest inventions I have seen in the past 30+ years. It used to be that if you wanted a wideband, all-mode receiver with a spectrum display and more features than you could count, you would be plopping down a few thousand dollars for a piece of gear that needed to be mounted on a 19 rack. Now, for around $20, you can plug this little USB gadget into your computer and get just as good, if not better, results with free software. While I had read articles about Software Defined Radio many, many years ago, I never thought that I would be able to afford such a device as most early hardware cost as much if not more than a dedicated wide-band radio receiver. Of course, back when the earliest SDR hardware/software first came out computers were 10x the size and only had about 1% of the processing power as todays computers do. The fact that hobbyists were able to hack a hardware/software solution that does what this device does along with a program like SDR# absolutely blows my mind. To be sure this is NOT a simple plug-and-play device. The USB stick may plug right into your computer, but there is no documentation and no instructions that come with the hardware. None. Fortunately, there is plenty of documentation on the Internet to get you started. Even so, just setting up the proper drivers is a manual process and mastering the software will probably take you quite some time and involve more than a little bit of reading. If you know a LOT about computers and a LOT about radio you can be up-and-running in probably about 30 minutes after plugging this gadget in. If you dont know much about either you will really have your work cut out for you. If I tried writing a description of all the things this device and combinations of different software could do I could easily fill a 1,000 page textbook. The possibilities are nearly endless. As far as I am concerned, these SDR devices are the greatest invention since sliced bread, even if they cost $100. For that much money you could buy almost 5 of them though. I am looking forward to eventually upgrading this kit so that it can more effectively pick up transmissions in the long, medium and additional shortwave bands. The bands I have tried it on so far though have yielded incredible results. I couldnt possibly be happier with my purchase. On a scale of 1-5 stars I would probably rate this item a 10. Five stars is all I am allowed to give though.

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.

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

Works great. As advertised. This is the most fantastic device I have used in a very long time. This hardware device enables your computer to see radio signals. Associated software enables you to process (tune) those signals in a variety of ways. To be able to continuously tune 500 KHz to 1.7 GHz is astounding in itself. Throw in a RF Spectrum Analyzer, Audio Spectrum analyzer and assorted filters and it is mind blowing. And the software is free (donations accepted). This is incredible. To do this a few years ago would have cost tens of thousands of dollars. If there were 10 stars I would pick 10 stars. Dont expect a simple thing. Using this device involves unlimited options and radio/science and thus it is not necessarily intuitive :)

A few years ago, I had a previous model of this SDR dongle which wasnt capable of tuning HF without the purchase of additional hardware. The current version does not have this limitation. Just remember to switch to Q Branch Direct Sampling in your favorite SDR software and youll be tuning in HF signals in no time with the proper antenna. So far, Ive just used SDRTouch on my Android phone and received everything from the local FM Rock station to amateur radio VHF/UHF repeaters and broadcast shortwave stations. Ill install the SDRTouch app on my Samsung Galaxy tablet later and then try out SDR# again, after several years, on the Windows computer. I was amazed at how full featured the Android app was while using the RTL-SDR dongle. Being able to use this dongle with an Android app makes it quite portable. The best $30 Ive spent in a very long time!

pretty cool little bugger, never used one before so i am still learning be aware they run hot, not hot enough to burn your fingers or anything, but one might think something is wrong when that is just how hot they are in operation. i bought a ham it up unit to down convert so that i could receive sw and ham bands below 25mhz along with the AM broadcast bands, without which this unit does not have the ability to resolve. also have to download the drivers and software to make it work on your computer, i use it with windows 10 and youtube smokingape or smokinape is your friend when it comes to getting this thing running. i am using it with a 9:1 balun and a 30ft long wire antenna inside so it is not at all optimal, but it seems to work for proof of operation. my next move will be getting a better antenna and mounting it outside. my use will be in the shortwave bands. so far it is great on the FM broadcast band, and with my poor antenna ok on AM broadcast, and somewhat works on shortwave below about 11mhz or so... i think the antenna is the shortfall. i would recommend it to anyone wanting to try an sdr

I can hear ALL the shortwave stations with this I can here on my Satellit 750 Shortwave Radio including SSB (USB/LSB). I do get bleed over and EMI. I hear a close by, strong AM radio station throughout the SDR-RTL spectrum. I understand this and it is NOT a problem as NONE of them are running over any Shortwave Station. I like this rtl-sdr dongle as I can SEE all the broadcasting frequencies in the range I have set on my software (I use CubicSDR). To hear shortwave, dont forget to change your softwares direct sampling settings. MOST rtl-sdr Software (like CubicSDR, HDSDR and GQRX) support direct sampling. It may entail setting a device string, and for the Q-branch, the value should be 2 (or sometimes 3). In GQRX for example, the device string would be rtl=0,direct_samp=2 (without the quotes).

I like the module very much. I use it for digital radio on PC and it works like advertised