dmchalmers
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has anyone tried sdr play thought of looking for a used sdr to explore dx'ing like i do with my scanner hit me up with any suggestions or other ideas
sdr play
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They are amazing receivers. I bought the RSP2 first and used it for about a year. Most of my activity was in lower HF, and a little in the aircraft bands. Then the RSPdx came out and I bought it as well. The RSPdx has substantial improvements in the low frequency areas (below 2 MHz) and I really enjoy listening to longwave beacons when I can find them. The Tampa area is saturated with AM broadcast stations and the only radio I have that can reject them is the RSPdx. It's the only radio I have that can hear the WWBV signal at 60,000 Hz. It's also really nice having three antenna ports, this allows a diverse set of antennas which is electronically selected. The software takes a little getting used to but once learned it's quite capable and also supports both memory and frequency range scanning. I think you would enjoy it.
I use my RSP2 often. One port connects to a splitter connected to my 30 MHz and up antenna. The other connects to whatever HF antenna using a switch. I have various filters inline on each side to knock out the broadcast AM/FM and other stuff like paging on 152 MHz and NOAA.
I have and use the lower cost RTL-SDR $25 dongles, but for dedicated single frequency monitoring. The SDRPlay RSP2 device costs more, but certainly provides more features. As previously noted the SDR Uno software takes a little bit to learn, but it is nice. There are videos available that provide assistance, as well as plug-ins to enhance its use.
The other important part, the computer
I previously used it on an old laptop with a 2 core/4 thread 2.3 GHz CPU (i5-2410M) and 8 GB of RAM. It worked well enough with a 2 MHz spread, but not so well at 10 MHz wide. I now use it on a 2015 mini PC with a 4 core/4 thread 2.5 GHz CPU (i5-6500T) also with 8 GB of RAM. Both computers use 64 bit Windows 10. The 2015 PC handles the wide 10 MHz spread fine.
To anyone who has not used an SDR before, in particular viewing signals on a waterfall, a 10 MHz spread is massive. Fitting the signals on a display shrinks them down. Much depends upon an individuals needs, but even viewing a 2 MHz spread down below 30 MHz is quite a bit. I find myself reducing it (zooming in) to 1 MHz or less quite often in order to pick out individual signals.
I don't often use a 10 MHz spread and 2-5 MHz of bandwidth is often fine when I'm searching for something on VHF and up, especially on UHF.
I have and use the lower cost RTL-SDR $25 dongles, but for dedicated single frequency monitoring. The SDRPlay RSP2 device costs more, but certainly provides more features. As previously noted the SDR Uno software takes a little bit to learn, but it is nice. There are videos available that provide assistance, as well as plug-ins to enhance its use.
The other important part, the computer
I previously used it on an old laptop with a 2 core/4 thread 2.3 GHz CPU (i5-2410M) and 8 GB of RAM. It worked well enough with a 2 MHz spread, but not so well at 10 MHz wide. I now use it on a 2015 mini PC with a 4 core/4 thread 2.5 GHz CPU (i5-6500T) also with 8 GB of RAM. Both computers use 64 bit Windows 10. The 2015 PC handles the wide 10 MHz spread fine.
To anyone who has not used an SDR before, in particular viewing signals on a waterfall, a 10 MHz spread is massive. Fitting the signals on a display shrinks them down. Much depends upon an individuals needs, but even viewing a 2 MHz spread down below 30 MHz is quite a bit. I find myself reducing it (zooming in) to 1 MHz or less quite often in order to pick out individual signals.
I don't often use a 10 MHz spread and 2-5 MHz of bandwidth is often fine when I'm searching for something on VHF and up, especially on UHF.
Thumbs up on the SDRPlay units. I bought an RSP1 just when they had been discontinued in favor of the RSP1A (and the price reduced), and it does everything I could possibly want in an SDR receiver.
Ditto on the bandspread; while I have no trouble at 10 MHz I rarely go over a span of 3-4 MHz, and it works great on a Windows 7 Pro 64-bit virtual machine (VMWare Fusion on a 2019 MacBook Pro).
Do yourself a favor though, and make sure that what you're buying is the genuine article; there are several places out there on the 'Net selling phony knockoffs which purport to be genuine SDRPlay products.
The RSP1A is a good place to start; Ham Radio Outlet sells them new for $119 (I think shipping is included); I got my RSP1 from them. You can order direct from SDRPlay, but it would be shipped from the UK so would cost more in shipping and probably take longer.
Ditto on the bandspread; while I have no trouble at 10 MHz I rarely go over a span of 3-4 MHz, and it works great on a Windows 7 Pro 64-bit virtual machine (VMWare Fusion on a 2019 MacBook Pro).
Do yourself a favor though, and make sure that what you're buying is the genuine article; there are several places out there on the 'Net selling phony knockoffs which purport to be genuine SDRPlay products.
The RSP1A is a good place to start; Ham Radio Outlet sells them new for $119 (I think shipping is included); I got my RSP1 from them. You can order direct from SDRPlay, but it would be shipped from the UK so would cost more in shipping and probably take longer.
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Ryangn
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I have the RSP1a and I really like mine. I have had no complaints with it. I really like using the SDRuno software with it.
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