It's an SDR that costs under $1k!
There are several, one could say many, SDRs under $1k, starting from about $45 up. But, it is the only SDR in the price range that I know of, that covers ~ 60 MHz to just under ~ 2 GHz. Of course it does that at the cost of having no coverage below ~50 MHz as well as making some technical compromises.
Let’s keep in mind what this is. It is a very cool little simple device that digitizes a small segment of spectrum (slightly over 80 kHz usable, 96 kHz minus ADC decimation) and has the ability to tune from about 60 MHz to about 2 GHZ with a small gap around 1100-1250 MHz. It has good sensitivity numbers and because it is an SDR and the filters are done in software the co-channel selectivity should be good. Since it does not transfer the data to the PC via audio (as some other low cost SDRs do) the dynamic range should be improved.
However, there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch, so there are some compromises, as I said above.
It appears the DC bias is pretty hard to totally get rid of (
http://www.funcubedongle.com/MyImages/SpectravueConfigurationForFCD.pdf ). Of course SpectraVue has a function called NCO null that might remove this from the display, but most probably all of this means there could be a slight loss of sensitivity around center freq. No big deal, put the demod window off center slightly and you should be good to go.
The band pass filtering on the front end is exceptionally wide, almost to the point of being non-existent. I would bet this means there will be some interesting imaging.
The FunCube is probably meant more for the “tinkerer” or the experimenter rather than the turn on and listen kind of user. If you expect this to take the place of a good multimode superhet covering the same range or a good trunking scanner then you are probably going to be disappointed. But, if you see this as an entry into other than FM modes above 60 MHz it is probably just right. Or if you see it as a dedicated receiver that works great in a specific region once you have tweaked everything it will also probably please the user.
This device truly is ground breaking if the data on the web site is correct (and there is no reason to doubt it, I merely add that for completeness). If you had told me 10 years ago it would exist today I might have thought you needed a drug test. There is not a less expensive way that I know of to get into weak signal modes from VHF/LO up. But, it might not be right for everyone.
If the designer goes forward with larger scale production I could see me having to add one to my selection, just to see what it will do. And I look forward to users reports on how the units function. I expect some buyers will be disappointed because it is not quite what they thought, I also expect other buyers will be ecstatic because it is so versatile.
I also await a hands on review, and hope it comes quickly. Of course, I probably am not as antsy for a review as KB1QZH is to get his hands on it...I bet he can't check the mail often enough...lol
T!