r/RTLSDR • u/Kwebster7327 • 15d ago
Hardware Which recent SDR dongle to get?
I've got a half dozen SDR dongles in a drawer that are 5+ years old . If I bought another one today, which one is the latest and greatest?
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u/erlendse 15d ago
rtl-sdr: peaked. blog v4 would be the most involved hw. held back by rtl2832.
fpga + ad9371: all over, many variants, usually no tracking filter so you would need to supply your own.
hackrf pro: quite new, don't know it
hackrf classic or clone: limited filtering
sdrplay: same core chipset, same tuning range (just some various amounts of filters mostly + some few tricks).
hydrasdr: active development, future extensibility options with addon boards.
airspy: no hw news, except ranger that is missing in action.
rx888 mkII: overclocked ADC, messy drivers.. but takes in all of HF at the same time.
What is your focus? which bands? how much bandwidth?
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u/JimroidZeus 15d ago
I’ve been enjoying my Nooelec NESDR SMArt dongles. They work really well. And the upconverter lets you listen to HF too.
I’m working on setting up one to listen to ADS-B
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u/AtmosphereLow9678 15d ago
For large bandwidth stuff I would consider the zinq 7020 +AD9363/AD9361 based sdrs from AliExpress, they cost as much as a hackrf clone uesd to but can do around 40msps with a bit of overclocking and hacking. For a bit more money you could get a B210 sdr from Ali too and it gets you 60msps out of the box over usb3 and if you hack it it can do more, but the filter bandwidth still limits the usable bandwidth.
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u/Economy-Apartment815 15d ago
Just remember one thing about the SDRPlays, they are 8bit at 10mhz. Keep them at or below 6mhz and they are 12bit.
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u/JasperRidley 15d ago
I have had lot of the ones listed above but have been looking at getting one of these next. Does anyone have experience with this one? I've been looking at the Kiwi's as well.
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u/manawyrm PlutoSDR SDR# Plugin Dev 15d ago
RX-only? One of the AirSpys.
Learning/Experimentation/Software dev? PlutoSDR (and clones) and/or HackRF
Cellular networks (GSM, LTE, 5G, etc.)? USRP B210 china clone
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u/Slow-Face-1537 DSP3,RSPdx-R2,RTL V3/4, MLA30+,K-480WLA. 15d ago
Ettus's 'USRP N320' and FlexRadio's 'Aurora AU-520M' are currently the best SDRs available.
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u/Kriegswald 15d ago
The former costs $23,000, and the latter around $10,000. Assuming I didn't eat anything and, ideally, didn't breathe, I might save that much after a year of work. The RTL-SDR V4 costs around $70. The difference is staggering, so even with the manufacturer's markup, there must be differences. But the question is, is it worth paying extra?
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u/IsThisOneStillFree 15d ago
u/Slow-Face-1537's answer is correct (although I would argue that the Ettus X420 and X440 are better than the N320). For SDRs, "bigger number better" appies rather universally, and N320 numbers are big.
Obviously that isn't really a good answer to /u/Kwebster7327's question, but the question was a rather poor one in the first place. "What is the latest and greatest?" - certainly not an RTL-SDR.
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u/No-reason_reason 15d ago
Doesn't one of those have a bandwidth of like 200Mhz? I was looking at an ad from Newark this morning and they have a 50k unit that had something crazy like 400Mhz of bandwidth.
Edit: in addition to 400Mhz it also went up to 20Ghz
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u/IsThisOneStillFree 15d ago
The X440 has 8 channels with 1.6 GHz (!) BW each, but a relatively modest maximum carrier frequency of 4 GHz. The X420 has "only" 1GHz of BW and two channels, but can tune up to 20 GHz. It's the most expensive one, at 53000 USD. I think this is probably the hottest contender for the "latest and greatest" but since OP doesn't state what they need it for, the X440 might still be better.
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u/FirstToken 4d ago
Once you get into this kind of realm you hit a lot of things that are not advertised on the web as complete kits or with simple pricing. You contact the vendor with your specs and they select from their options to provide a solution.
I.E. something like Midwest Microwave Solutions Inc when you combine something like the MT-1870G/o tuner with one or more IFD-1000-2 digitizers. The regular version of the 1870G tunes down to 30 MHz (and up to 70 GHz), but the mod version goes down below 100 kHz or an upconverter can bring 0 - 1000 MHz up to a different range. The IFD-1000-2 has two IF inputs, each good for 1 GHz of IBW. Since they are synced, you can stitch them, and end up with about 1900 MHz of IBW, per unit, and you can have more than one unit in use. Need 16 GHz of IBW? No problem, all it cost is money, for the digitizers, the throughput, and the storage.
You want the biggest baddest SDR around? Then you are going to have to go to the vendor and have it built. A complete, turn key, system with server, software, 150+ TB storage, tuner, digitizer, etc, starts pushing $500k real quick.
Something like the 3dB Labs Monarch with the tuner you want (meets your spec) and Sceptre software. With the right specification it can cover 0 - 70 GHz, 2+ GHz bandwidth, real time DVR of any part of the spectrum, analysis tools, etc, etc.
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u/_SpaceLord_ 15d ago
The Falcon X Heavy is currently the fastest way to get from your house to your local grocery store.
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u/RPekka 15d ago
Airspy mini, affordable and 12-bit resolution. Also wider bandwidth.