I've never bought a nooelec bundled with anything else (perhaps the UK market works in a different way).
Fully agree with NF2G
I've never had a problem with any of the nooelec dongles I own (about 20) and on the one occasion I spoke to the tech people it was about a possible new item and they were positive and communicative. As for falling out of the USB socket...never had that happen (but I have with an
rtl-sdr.com one due to it's longer 'plug' - it wasn't an issue, just a one off).
As mentioned I do also have
rtl-sdr.com dongles (two v3's) and have found those and the nooelec equal in performance.
I even have a few of the cheapo originals left from a batch I bought for around $2 each several years ago. Still perform OK and the drift isn't too much of a problem if you know about it.
Big jump in price and I have a couple of Airspy R2s...they are certainly better than the cheaper ones but are they worth the money...18 months ago perhaps, now I wouldn't say so......
Most of the above are in use 24/7 and I've never had one fail.
I happen to like SDRplay devices (maybe I like British in the way that a lot of Americans like to support their domestic market) and would have to say that the RSP1A has to be one of the best value for money devices if you want to take that step up from the $20 point. SDRplay are still producing and supporting them despite adding the RSP2 and RSPduo to their range. In fact the two newer models helped push the price of the 1A down a touch.
A very good P25 trunk tracking set up would be two RSP1As with DSDPlus Fastlane
Whilst not as relevant to the OP (depending which actual device he opted for possibly)
Software is also a nightmare...a wide range of free choices with a whole range of features. Some is a real pain to set up, some is easy. Everyone will have their own favourites (based on what they want to use it for).
SDRSharp - buggy and resource hungry but fairly easy to set up and having a plugin API is a real bonus. (not compatible with all receivers). If you want to use an rtl device as a scanner then this is your best choice currently (by using a third party plugin).
SDRConsole - Slick and easy to use, especially if you have multiple types of receiver. Multiple receivers controlled at once and with multiple VFOs per receiver easy to set up. Compatible with most receiver types
HDSDR - installed it and uninstalled it ten minutes later as it wasn't for me. Many people love it and on screenshots it looks tidy.
SDRuno - very different from everything else. Powerful and very configurable as long as you only want one VFO...more than that and things deteriorate into a horrible mess quickly. Latest version has some scanning functionality.
Antennas...there are very good reasons for them having dedicated parts of this bulletin board but surely you'd want to have something designed for the frequency of interest? If not, just shove some random piece of bellwire in the socket and tape it to the wall.
