best advice on under 100.00 SDR

[danesgs]

I have the RTL-SDR 2832 and it does a great job above 24 MHZ. I am looking for user comments on the "best bang" for under 100.00 bucks SDR. I know that is a seeded question but there should be some consensus on what works best in that price range. Thanks in advance.

KJ4DGE

 

[kma371]

Well you mention above 24MHz specifically, were you trying to go below that?

 

[danesgs]

Yes at least down to BCB

 

[kma371]

nooelec sells a downconverter called " ham it up" which covers the HF portion.

 

[ka3jjz]

If you live in an urban area, there's a pretty fair possibility of BCB or FM station overload if you use a good sized antenna. There are filters you can buy to remedy this.

Don't go too big on the antenna, and you likely won't have quite as many problems. Mike

 

[KB9ERU]

HamItUp

I have 4 NESDR mini's + HamItUp upconverter + SDR# (using 4 separate instances) that I use often. Yep, you can run multiple dongles on a single upconverter. 4 at once is PLENTY for me!

I'd recommend adding a HamItUp to your arsenal, as it gives you access below 24 MHz. If you decide to go that route, I'd highly recommend putting it in an enclosure. I sprung for the nice aluminum one they sell.

I compared my setup against my Yaesu FT-840 transceiver. Whatever I heard on the NESDR + HamItUp + SDR#, I was able to hear on the Yaesu. The Yaesu has a better edge with all the internal filtering, but it also cost a lot more than $100

Mick

 

[BrotherStare]

everybody's default answer is dongle+"hamitup"

but by the time you buy the dongle, the enclosure, extra cable etc youre spending close to $100

for roughly the same price you can get a DX patrol sdr. It's basically the same "brain" as the above combo but it's all in one package and has a lower noise floor. don't confuse this with the chinese ebay ones people have been having problems with
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8qW2Z-SfHc

the only disadvantage is orders are shipped slowly due to high demand.

 

[RonnieUSA]

Have to disagree, they cost 89 Euro and that equals $100.77, plus the cost of all adapters.

 

[BrotherStare]

that was my point hamitup with the case, a dongle and the pigtail to connect them comes to $97.95.

I'd rather pay a few bucks more and have it all in one neat package with a lower noise floor to boot