RichM
Member
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2004
- Messages
- 69
I started with the $30 RTL-SDR Blog V3 to learn about SDR and to make sure it would work with my older duo core laptop. This was money well spent as the learning curve was a bit steep. After much trial and error I was able to find an older version of SDR# that worked well with my computer, the RTL dongle and the fast scanner plug-in. After a lot of adjusting and tweaking I was able to finally get respectable band search times. I use it to search the large MilAir band 225.00-380.000 MHz.
Once I got the bugs worked out I ordered an Airspy Mini hoping for improved sensitivity, rejection of RF and faster scan speeds with the old laptop still being the wildcard. The Airspy Mini specs claimed it would work with my duo core so I gambled on their claim. It shipped the following day and arrived 2 days later, more than twice as fast as Amazon took with the RTL-SDR. The Airspy is truly plug and play. The computer recognized it, searched for and installed the driver and it was up and running. No need for Zadig to create a driver, which by the way is not actually included in SDR#. The Zadig folder that comes with it is empty so it had to be downloaded separately adding to the set up confusion for a novice like me.
After adjusting the gains (there are multiple gain stages available) for optimum SNR and adjusting some of the filters for clear sound it’s performing beautifully. While it sees more bandwidth for faster band searching the real kicker is it’s improved sensitivity. I am now able to turn the fast scanner detect level down to 70 for that lightning fast speed and it still catches everything. With the RTL-SDR it had to be set at 120 and above to reliably stop on active signals, dramatically slowing down the speed. The fastest speed I could achieve was around 10 seconds but it would still sometimes scan right over active signals. Now I‘m searching the entire band in 3.5 seconds and it reliably catches everything every time. Signals are cleaner sounding and well centered and the faint signals are now breaking through the noise floor.
The old saying “you get what you pay for“ really holds true here. Performance improvement is like night and day even on my marginally capable computer. The RTL-SDR is still a good value for the price and a good tool for the tool box. But the Airspy Mini is a well designed, high performance, plug and play device that really raises the bar.
Once I got the bugs worked out I ordered an Airspy Mini hoping for improved sensitivity, rejection of RF and faster scan speeds with the old laptop still being the wildcard. The Airspy Mini specs claimed it would work with my duo core so I gambled on their claim. It shipped the following day and arrived 2 days later, more than twice as fast as Amazon took with the RTL-SDR. The Airspy is truly plug and play. The computer recognized it, searched for and installed the driver and it was up and running. No need for Zadig to create a driver, which by the way is not actually included in SDR#. The Zadig folder that comes with it is empty so it had to be downloaded separately adding to the set up confusion for a novice like me.
After adjusting the gains (there are multiple gain stages available) for optimum SNR and adjusting some of the filters for clear sound it’s performing beautifully. While it sees more bandwidth for faster band searching the real kicker is it’s improved sensitivity. I am now able to turn the fast scanner detect level down to 70 for that lightning fast speed and it still catches everything. With the RTL-SDR it had to be set at 120 and above to reliably stop on active signals, dramatically slowing down the speed. The fastest speed I could achieve was around 10 seconds but it would still sometimes scan right over active signals. Now I‘m searching the entire band in 3.5 seconds and it reliably catches everything every time. Signals are cleaner sounding and well centered and the faint signals are now breaking through the noise floor.
The old saying “you get what you pay for“ really holds true here. Performance improvement is like night and day even on my marginally capable computer. The RTL-SDR is still a good value for the price and a good tool for the tool box. But the Airspy Mini is a well designed, high performance, plug and play device that really raises the bar.
