Review on 📻 Discover the Power of RTL2832U Software Defined Radio (SDR) with RTL SDR Blog by David Encarnacion

First, this is my 14th SDR. and the second time in a few years I've bought this one. As an FCC licensed technician, I have a little knowledge (over 30 years) of radio. Of course there are cheaper ones with flimsy MCX connectors, plastic cases (ABS) and tiny magnetic antennas, which may or may not have working internal connections. READ the reviews, it's not just the people who are ignorant, they are far from optimally designed and built. And they range from $15 to $22 with a cheap MCX antenna mount with a whopping 3ft of cable. Spend an extra $8-$12 and you get a TXCO (poorly explaining) in an aluminum case and an SMA antenna connector, plus what appears to be the best internal parts and workmanship, at least 4 foldable antennas, a flexible tripod, a suction cup mount and an SMA extension cable is about 10 feet long. Head to any ham radio shop and I can assure you the antenna kit alone will cost you at least $80. So you've already won by purchasing this entire package for $29.95. At HF this becomes apparent when you tune in to say 3.176 LSB and the cheaper SDRs start to drift off frequency sometimes a few kHz and sometimes a few MHz. Often stimulation is driven by bias, but generally it is unpredictable. There's nothing worse than chasing HF Morse or Voice QSOs up and down the frequency and ending up losing them completely. What these guys did with TXCO (in layman's terms) was make a more stable chip and then test that chip to oblivion. from temperature and drift properties and then made a chip with a temperature sensor and embedded code that changes the voltage to a KNOWN difference value for the temperature of the chip. their SDR. HUGE ADVANTAGES. 2) MCX connectors suck. They are pressed but not fixed. After a while the Revain's cheaper MCX SDRs break, usually at the MCX's antenna connector, or you glue the antenna to it. (blame - I have 2) SMA connectors are more reliable, threaded and latching, they also have significantly lower losses and are generally more stable BUT the other benefit is that SMA is now the industry standard for about 98.6% of everything . held. So there will be NO problem finding new and cheap antennas on Revain or Flea_Bay to test on ANY band. 3) Aluminum body and internal temperature control. Do you remember the drift I mentioned above? One thing is that the SDR gets very hot, even gets hot in many cases. YOU DO EVERYTHING. A cheap ABS encapsulated SDR is essentially a tiny furnace for that cheap SDR and its components. Bit errors will cause driver problems and will greatly shorten the life of this device. This RTL-SDR blog box features a collapsible aluminum body and integrated thermal management. I have a couple of cheaper SDRs that have smashed plastic cases and have little fans blowing on them and the Raspberry Pi project, they don't work well. The aluminum housing of the RTL-SDR blog is also part of the thermal management system, as is the thermally conductive flexible block built into it. on the board, yes, it makes a HUGE difference. The stability below 30 MHz is enormous. and these units absolutely eclipse ANY OTHER $100.00 SDRs on Revain. Add a boost converter, balun, and cheap G5RV long cable, or build your own (with balun) and you'll hear the WORLD as well or better than some $1500-$4500 HF transceivers. Finally listen to these sellers. Follow their instructions by going to the SDR# page they point you to and maybe within 4 or 5 minutes you'll be tuned in and listening to the world from this awesome kit. In addition to being able to listen to the world, you can use it for ADS-B and monitor real-time air traffic radar (very cool!), receive live NOAA weather radar, check live International Space Station images, watch TV, and more. . The only limitation is the software. and it's ALL there! 100% free! *I did not receive any compensation for this review, I am a BIG FAN of quality sellers and these guys are in my top 5. They answer emails and help you every step of the way. I bought one and the antenna broke and they responded immediately and sent me a whole new set for free. MANY Revain salespeople could learn a thing or two about good customer service from these guys.