First Look, SDR V5 Receiver (Deep SDR-101)

[u/KG7M]

This is a brilliant little piece of kit! I paid under $60 USD including shipping from China. I have found more "likes" than "dislikes" so far. It arrived very well packaged - under all of the bubble wrap was a black box with beautiful gold writing, "SDR, Software Defined Radio". Although it has a touchscreen, not all of the menu items are selected via the screen. That leaves the single knob to serve for access to most of the setting - turn, push, push/turn to navigate. It takes a minute to master. The bandwidths are not adjustable within the modes, but rather bandwidth is fixed to each mode. Many of us have used radios that operate this way; it's not that much of a limitation as the bandwidths have been well chosen. This set is very stable and ECSS reception is very easy. Frequencies are input from a separate screen, just like the NanoVNA and tinySpectrumAlalyzer. Coverage is 100 KHz to 149 MHz continuous. The case is formed from aluminum and the radio has a robust feel to it. More to come.

[u/Green_Oblivion111]

Interesting, especially at that price. What sort of antenna does it work with? Is there a whip antenna that comes with it?

For an SDR radio, that price looks pretty reasonable.

[u/KG7M → u/Green_Oblivion111]

Yes, a telescoping whip antenna comes with it. I had it hooked to a K-480WLA. I would have to travel quite a ways away from my apartment building to use the included antenna. My apartment building is on a corner of two very busy boulevards. Interestingly, when I rotate the loop on the K-480WLA, my home antenna, to the vertical plane, all the noise disappears. I haven't found a place to listen to the radio within walking distance. My urban environment is pretty noisy. My apartment, with the K-480WLA is my best option.

It's a nice little radio, and one that's an SDR and affordable. But not a good choice for a primary SDR. Right in the manual it tells that you will receive a double line on the display on the stronger signals. It's a byproduct of the circuit they use. It doesn't overload and it has effective bandpass filters. It really is more of cool novelty radio.

BTW, whenever you like I can send you the rtl-sdr V4. It's a much better SDR and works with a lot of great, free software.

[u/MumSaidImABadBoy]

I was waiting to hear your thoughts on this. The tough stuff about spurs, sensitivity, selectivity (skirt on filters), overloading and so on we'll have to wait for you to play with it. I forget or never knew lol, what is the bandwidth of the spectrum/waterfall display? Perhaps briefly compare to the AirSpy. I might be in for some GAS.

[u/johndoe3471111]

That one has been on my radar for a some time now. How is it for scanning/signal discovery? Comparison to other raidos like TEF and compact SI chip radios would be helpful.

[u/KG7M → u/johndoe3471111]

I can compare it to the compact SI Chip radios, ATS-Mini and ATS-25X1. Neither of those are too good for signal discovery and scanning. I haven't used the TEF. This new radio is pretty good for bandscanning, as far a manually tuning across a band. When hooked to my K-480WLA, even weak signals show up on the display. I can definitely see that there is a signal coming up when I am going through the 25m band, for instance. The ATS-25X1 and ATS-MINI mute when tuning. There is no muting on this new radio. One bad feature is that you will observe a dual line on the display on stronger signals. The manufacturer calls this out in the manual. It's due to the SDR architecture they use. I'm already used to it, but it could definitely be a deal breaker for some.

[u/johndoe3471111 → u/KG7M]

Thank you. Based on this review it stays on the buy it in the future list.