sdr on ebay

[WB4JFI]

Alex & tacos:
Actually, I was wrong about one thing.... this doesn’t use the ham-it-up style upconverter.  Instead, it appears to tap into the circuit, and drive the input to the Q-side A/D converter directly for HF.  That may be a little bit better, in that there isn’t an upconversion mixer involved, but it is still driving an eight-bit A/D.  It may be worth playing with to see how it compares to the other method.
73, Terry, WB4JFI


From: WB4JFI 
Sent: Saturday, November 22, 2014 5:27 PM
To: Alex Fraser ; Tacos 
Subject: Re: sdr on ebay

I haven’t played with that exact one, but basically it’s a typical RTL dongle with a ham-it-up upconverter in front of it, all packaged in a box.  It has all the limitations of the cheapy RTL dongles, with a wide-open upconverter thrown in for HF.  Within those limitations, it seems like a decent buy.  Keep in mind that these have virtually NO filtering, and eight-bit A/D conversion, so they are extremely easy to overload.  Careful attention to the AGC or RF gain setting is often required, and some filtering before the unit would be quite beneficial.

Some hams have had pretty negative comments about these types of SDRs on ebay, but I think if you manage your expectations, they can be useful and fun.

Within those guidelines, the device seems to be a good deal.  I have used just the RTL dongles for VHF/UHF reception, and the ham-it-up upconverter plus RTL dongle for HF.  Both combinations CAN be fun, but can also be frustrating.

You get what you pay for!
73, Terry, WB4JFI


From: Alex Fraser 
Sent: Saturday, November 22, 2014 4:58 PM
To: Tacos 
Subject: sdr on ebay

Anyone play with this SDR?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/100KHz-1-7GHz-Full-Band-UV-HF-RTL-SDR-USB-Tuner-Receiver-R820T-8232-Ham-Radio/251609856587?_trksid=p2047675.c100010.m2109&_trkparms=aid%3D555012%26algo%3DPW.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D27891%26meid%3D2868bda0fd8a47a0a6e499a10dad090c%26pid%3D100010%26prg%3D11452%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D24%26mehot%3Dpp%26sd%3D201218966031

-- 
   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\-----++++*0*++++-----//////////////////
       No electrons were harmed in the creation of this message
         --------------------------------------------------------
 ~~~********************Alex Fraser********************~~~
         --------------------------------------------------------
[[[[[[~~^^^#___=>>>```/\/\**O**/\/\```<<<=___#^^^~~]]]]]]


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________
Tacos mailing list
Tacos at amrad.org
https://amrad.org/mailman/listinfo/tacos



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________
Tacos mailing list
Tacos at amrad.org
https://amrad.org/mailman/listinfo/tacos
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://amrad.org/pipermail/tacos/attachments/20141122/70f0f3d5/attachment.html>