Oh crud, the rabbit hole is deeper than I thought!

[Omega-TI]

For a couple of years now I've had an RTL-SDR.COM dongle, that has served me well for what I use it for, but I am thinking of dipping my toes a little deeper into the water, because retirement sucks and it appears I can get the most bang for the buck out of this type of communications receiver. Now I want to make this clear, this is one of many hobbies, my life does NOT revolve around radio, so I'm no expert, nor do I pretend to be, so I ask questions of all the experts here and rely on your insights and suggestions. With that said...

I came across, "Receive, monitor and record up to 10MHz of spectrum at a time (single tuner mode)", damn, that's impressive, although I wonder what the file size would be after an hour of recording! Anyway, the thing is called an RSPduo, a little pricey at $300.00 and the specs don't look bad at all in the PDF data sheet <HERE>. My question is, are there any other comparable or better contenders/competitors within this price range?

 

[belvdr]

AirSpy R2 is a single tuner version that I use. An entire list is here, some of which are out of my league:

List of software-defined radios - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

HackRF, AirSpy, RTL, and SDRplay are the usual manufacturers I see posted in the wild.

 

[Spleen]

The cheaper alternative: RSP1A You still get the 10MHz (nominally). The SDRUno software is a bit daunting for the newbie, but it comes with their radios and has soooo many tweakable features. I picked one up really to just throw against the Airspys, thinking I'd just use it for all bands...it's been HF-only pretty much since I bought it...handles urban noise a little better than the comparable Airspy product(s)...

 

[UTE-GE]

Depending on what your wanting to do...

I use the Airspy R2 for civ/mil air with sdrsharp and a Omni X ant. it's screaming fast scanning 118-136 & 225-400
RTLSDR for playing around on HF on the cheap. Not awful at all for what they are
Also bought a used RSP2 that I like due to the 2 antenna inputs for a W6LVP loop and a Par EF-SWL to switch around with.

If I only one to have, and this is due to my current interest in listening as I mix it up, I would go for the Airspy R2. So much more going on to keep interest peaked.

I have SWL'd for years starting with a couple Icom R71's. Good fun poking around to see what's going on. But then the SDR's came along.

 

[krutzy]

You could also check out the RX-888 mkii which is a little cheaper.

 

[Omega-TI]

The cheaper alternative: RSP1A You still get the 10MHz (nominally). The SDRUno software is a bit daunting for the newbie, but it comes with their radios and has soooo many tweakable features. I picked one up really to just throw against the Airspys, thinking I'd just use it for all bands...it's been HF-only pretty much since I bought it...handles urban noise a little better than the comparable Airspy product(s)...

Thanks, the RSP1A does look intriguing and it's going on my short list. It has a good price too! Also, due to the HOA, I'm going to have to consider INDOOR (yuk) antenna options.

 

[PDXh0b0]

The rtl-sdr dongles work with just about all programs windows/Linux, so having a few is always a plus. Program compatibility wise, airspy's R2 is the runner up, but many programs don't utilize the sample rate you paid for.

My biased opinion sdrplay vs airspy hf+ discovery

Rsp1a - fabulous, it's software sdruno has small learning curve, but soon becomes easily used and dependable. Sdrconnect , sdrplays still in development, is sleek and easy to use (lacking some bells and whistles) sdruno is a little resource intensive for older/low spec computers

Airspy hf+ discovery - got it for Xmas, still riding the learning curve. It is the essence of plug n play, download and extract the software sdr# ,plug in the hf+ discovery, start sdr# select it in source panel, click play. You can surf & dx at this point, most of the filtering is done as you tune around. Sdr# is less resource intensive, the learning curve is steep with some of the manual filtering options and plug in adjustments (though I just got it, so still tinkering and surfing discussions) sdr# has the largest support of plug-in developers

The airspy is below your $300

Sdrplay RSp devices can be aquire simply by popping in to your local HRO.

Friend of mine has all the sdrplay & airspy devices & he votes RSPdx as his hands down favorite

 

[Omega-TI]

Rsp1a - fabulous, it's software sdruno has small learning curve, but soon becomes easily used and dependable. Sdrconnect , sdrplays still in development, is sleek and easy to use (lacking some bells and whistles) sdruno is a little resource intensive for older/low spec computers

Friend of mine has all the sdrplay & airspy devices & he votes RSPdx as his hands down favorite

I'm leaning towards the RSP1 over the RSPdx because of price, because I still need an antenna and hardware. About the only thing I don't like about it is that they don't supply the power cable with it. I've looked at videos of the software in action and even downloaded the user manual...



I'm not concerned about how resource intensive the program is, nothing has ever slowed down this computer.
I was pleased to see that the later version of the software has a scanning option. I got used to that feature with my RTL-SDR and AirSpy software...



What I really like is the ease of software installation, because everything is included in that department, so I'll not have to jump through hoops to obtain third party stuff like a seperate net driver and such.

I don't think it'll take too much getting used to as I've been using my cheap dongle for a couple of years now, so the concepts are fairly ingrained.

 

[belvdr]

I'm leaning towards the RSP1 over the RSPdx because of price, because I still need an antenna and hardware. About the only thing I don't like about it is that they don't supply the power cable with it. I've looked at videos of the software in action and even downloaded the user manual...

It's powered over USB.

 

[PDXh0b0]

I popped into a goodwill store after walking out of HRO noticing the rsp didn't have a cable, found a few nice usb a to b cables with ferrite cores on each end

 

[Omega-TI]

I popped into a goodwill store after walking out of HRO noticing the rsp didn't have a cable, found a few nice usb a to b cables with ferrite cores on each end

Well I popped for the RSP1A. Most of my listening will not be on HF, maybe 25% at most. So while the RSPdx might be better on HF, HF has become a wasteland of sorts, so I didn't think that (FOR ME) it would deliver the bang for the buck as the RSP1 does. Hopefully everything will be here on the 12th.