Review on Nooelec NESDR Smart v4 Bundle - High-Quality RTL-SDR with Aluminum Enclosure, 📻 Accurate 0.5PPM TCXO, SMA Input & 3 Antennas. RTL2832U & R820T2-Based Software Defined Radio. by Kham Fisk

I bought this tuner to use with a Raspberry Pi as a cheap VHF/UHF receiver. It is very well suited for this purpose as it is a wideband tuner and has no tuned input bandpass filters. I live within 5-10 miles of some powerful paging and NOAA weather stations and they don't seem to affect the tuner when listening elsewhere. In view of the costs, this is quite an acceptable performance. The included antenna unit works well for VHF/UHF and the cable is long enough to place the antenna away from the Raspberry Pi. You can also connect an outdoor antenna to the SMA connector if you need more power. Installing the drivers was a breeze and Nooelec sent instructions that were easy to follow. When using the Zadig utility, be very careful about choosing which device to install. Take your time and you will be fine. One of our club members accidentally chose their Bluetooth adapter instead of the SDR dongle and it took a bit of work to fix this error. It's not Noolec's (or actually Zadig's) fault - with a lot of power comes a lot of responsibility. Please note that these devices (as well as all SDR dongles) get very hot, even if the all-metal housing emits energy. warm, so be careful when touching the case after it has been in use for a period of time. Although I would have preferred a lower operating temperature, this doesn't seem to affect the performance and hopefully the lifespan of the product. I have a Nooelec Nano 3 that runs even hotter and has been running for a while with no issues. Nooelec was very quick to respond when I contacted them and shipped my orders quickly despite the current pandemic. a reliable and inexpensive way to experiment with software defined radio.