ARINST SDR Dreamkit

[KC1UA]

Here I go again, back to "early adopter mode"...

This one looks like it has great potential. 5 MHz bandwidth and a lot of features in a small package. Should be interesting! I'll follow up after it's in my hands.

Arinst Dreamkit SDR now on sale for $230 + Shipping

About a month ago we posted about the Arinst Dreamkit, which was an unreleased Russian made portable receive only SDR with 16-bit ADC, 1 - 3100 MHz tuning range, up to 5 MHz instantaneous bandwidth, and very fast scanning capabilities.Reader 'sunny' has written in and informed us that the Arinst...

www.rtl-sdr.com

280.0US $ |Arinst Sdr Dreamkit V1d Portable Radio Receiver - Spectrum Analyzers - AliExpress

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[vince48]

Wow, Scott, this is a fantastic device. So, you purchased one? Please share your opinion. Too bad it can't trunk

 

[KC1UA]

It's a fantastic looking device....hopefully it will be at least a decent performing one. There will never be a hand held Icom IC-R8600 but for portable use I'm guessing this will be pretty good. It seems like a pretty well thought out interface. I will definitely report back once I have it. Not sure on the ETA at this point but it'll probably be a while.

 

[vince48]

Thanks Scott, eager to hear your findings

 

[KC1UA]

I received mine about a week ago. It is a neat little receiver. It is very sensitive; I'm receiving signals with just a telescoping whip that I would not have expected to receive, to be certain. I would be hesitant about using an external antenna, especially in a high RF environment, as the specs indicate the maximum signal input to be -35dBm.

There is a firmware update that added some improvements, including squelch, so that alone shows that it is a definite work in progress. Having some step sizes and a "snap to step" feature would be ideal. I have suggested this but it was not acknowledged. I have only used it at VHF and above. The display is beautiful. The battery life is not beautiful, maybe 2 hours tops. Firmware updates are very simple, which is nice as the updates for the Malahit and Afedri LAN-IQ are not.

I have not tuned around enough to see if there are images of the FM broadcast band elsewhere, there were reports that was the case. The latest firmware appears to have added some better attenuation features. The below screenshot shows it being used with a +/- 1 MHz view.

 

[ratboy]

If you ever figure out how to update the firmware on the Afedri, let me know how. I seem to be too stupid to get it to work. I have read and reread the afedri forum posts and it seems that what's his name (The guy who makes them, I can't remember his name at 545am) is of the opinion that all the people who post questions about problems doing it are idiots. I haven't even tried to see if there is an update for my Malahit HFDY V3 yet. That works as well as the Afedri does as long as it's on an outside antenna, and the audio is pretty good. The Malahit display noise, which is supposed to be pretty low on my version, is horrible on a whip or even a loop used near the reciever.