Looking to buy an updated SDR Dongle

moonbounce · Mar 6, 2018

I have not been keeping up with the changes in these dongles so I thought I would as everyone what you would recommend. I am looking to buy one or two at the under $50 range. Thanks for your help.

MB

P.S. I don't listen to HF.

jonwienke · Mar 6, 2018

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0129EBDS2/

Will receive HF below 100KHz in direct sampling mode.

n9mxq · Mar 6, 2018

+1 for the one Jon recommends. I have one and love it.

BM82557 · Mar 6, 2018

Rafael Micro has officially discontinued the R820T2

I have read on several websites that Rafael Micro has officially discontinued the R820T2

moonbounce · Mar 6, 2018

And what would you have to back that up?

mciupa · Mar 6, 2018

From the manufacturers of the Airspy but affecting all RTL820-T2 based dongles. Get your orders in NOW.

"I have some bad news. Rafael Micro officially discontinued the R820T2 since a few months ago. This is the tuner we use in the Airspy R2 and Airspy Mini.
We tried to secure an extra batch from Rafael (even at a higher price) but the quality of the silicon of the samples we received wasn't very good and most units didn't pass our automated QA tests. Sacrificing the performance is out of question. The alternatives proposed by Rafael are not pin compatible and require both a significant hardware redesign and new tuner control code - and this is a large investment with very little guarantees on the final result.
I can say this has been one of the longest running designs that resisted the new silicon tuner SDR's popping in and out while setting a standard for performance and price.
For now, our distributors are running out of R2/Mini's very quickly and, until a final solution is found or a new replacement is designed, there won't be any new batches out."

eorange · Mar 6, 2018

I just bought this in October and it does very well. I'm using it for ads-b and Android.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HA642SW/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_wfYNAbZH18YKA

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J320A using Tapatalk

slicerwizard · Mar 6, 2018

US$20 each, no tax, no shipping fees.

https://www.rtl-sdr.com/buy-rtl-sdr-dvb-t-dongles/

c_snyder · Mar 6, 2018

Well it looks like the airspy supply is done for. I'm 24 hours late to the party and you can't get one anywhere.

I was literally going to put in an order for one last week and thought I would wait until some other things arrived. I checked itead and airspy.us, no stock.

c_snyder · Mar 6, 2018

If you want a mini they're still in stock! Looks like R2's are out. I just ordered a mini but who knows how long they'll be in stock.

moonbounce · Mar 6, 2018

Guess I better get my butt in gear and order from somewhere.

Thanks
MB

slicerwizard · Mar 7, 2018

The $20 dongles aren't going away. Order whenever.

c_snyder · Mar 7, 2018

It appears the rtl-sdr dongles will still be in production in the future however the manufacturing element of the R820T2 has changed.

This is from Prog on rtl-sdr.com

More precisions about the situation. We sampled new reels of the R820T2 before launching bigger batches as usual and discovered that the quality is not the same as before. Rafael Micro confirmed that they moved the extended production to another fab for the discontinued parts. I suspect the change in quality results from the quality of the silicon. This might be OK for the ultra cheap dongles, but it does not pass the rigorous testing we have in the Airspy production.
The question is more about the quality of the last few runs of R820T2 than our ability to purchase high volumes. These thingies cost less than $1/piece in volumes.
Time to move on.

eorange · Mar 7, 2018

Who cares if you can get them from Airspy or not? IMO all R820T2-based SDRs are in the same class with no dramatic performance differences between any of them. Buy any $20 unit and move on.

slicerwizard · Mar 7, 2018

Not true. Airspy Mini definitely outperforms the rtl-sdr / NooElec / whatever dongles. Better dynamic range and fewer false images, for starters.

BrotherStare · Mar 8, 2018

anybody have a LimeSDR Mini? Just wondering if the extra expense would be worth it performance-wise(vs. buying a dongle)

SDR_Lumberjack · Mar 8, 2018

BrotherStare said:
anybody have a LimeSDR Mini? Just wondering if the extra expense would be worth it performance-wise(vs. buying a dongle)

I'm waiting on mine which should get to me in a few weeks but from the reviews I've been reading it's not as friendly as other SDRs. You might also want to take a look at the XTRX if you're looking at that price range but you'll be in the same boat as the LimeSDR Mini as it's also new to the market and not much documentation is out on it yet.

rtl-sdr.com said:
Again, just like in the previous review of the LimeSDR we have to critique that there doesn’t really exist any quick start documentation. This is a product that you have to already know how to use, or be willing to dig through wikis and forums to get results. This is probably just a case of the LimeSDR being fairly new and only for people who buy the bleeding edge, but by now we would have expected something a little more in terms of documentation. Fortunately the setup on Windows is fairly simple.

RF-Guy-El-Loco · Mar 9, 2018

SDR Dongles

I have a few NESDR Smart dongles as well as the blue NESDR Mini 2+ units. They are the same chip inside except the NESDR Smart black dongle has a narrow width to not block the other USB slots. But it gets as hot as a tin roof on a summer day. In GQRX, yes, they both have a ton of noise/false images coming up in VHF, but this is somewhat lessened with a good outdoor antenna. I'm using them now for SDRTrunk and man, they're putting all of my digital scanners to shame! On the cheap included mag mount mini antennas. No BS either. :-')

jonohudson · Mar 10, 2018

SDRplay has RSP1A back in stock again as of yesterday. The RSP1A has received excellent reviews and should also be considered as the natural step up from a dongle. https://www.sdrplay.com/reviews/ and also on eHam: https://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/12358

N4GIX · Mar 10, 2018

RF-Guy-El-Loco said:
I have a few NESDR Smart dongles as well as the blue NESDR Mini 2+ units.

Not to sound more stupid than I am, I just received an NESDR Smart XTR dongle in the mail...

...with no documentation whatsoever. What software is recommended to put this thing to work?

Looking to buy an updated SDR Dongle

Member

More Info Coming Soon!

Member

Member

Member

Canadian Database Admin

♦Insane Asylum Premium Member♦

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

♦Insane Asylum Premium Member♦

Member

Member

Newbie

Member

Member

Member

Similar threads