RTL-SDR BlogV4 R828D RTL2832U 1PPM TCXO SMA Software Defined Radio (Dongle Only)

Working great so far although its not exactly "plug and play" (which I expected) .. I'm using a Pi3 with the PI-SDR image. Works great with SDR++ on the image. The one issue I'm having is not being able to pickup AM broadcast bands. I suspect thats antenna related but not sure yet. This has been fun to play around with. Not allot going in my area with uv- vf so cant comment on that yet. I have a MLA-30+ antenna coming soon. Will update here more after that. I can say its definitely an improvement over ver 3 just because of the increased coverage. Looking forward to installing on a android tablet .Update - works great. Overall .. these are cludgy to use compared to a dedicated radio, but fun and allow you to learn and experiment with several spectrums of RF. I was finally able to get AM but ended up installing and using on a Win11 machine. You will probably want to set up multiple antennas to use with one of these. The MLA 30+ works great on HF and lower bands but truly doesnt perform well at all above 30 MHz (expected). For that I'm going to try a simple setup with a DPDT switch and use a long wire (by long I mean about 15 feet strung along the floor). The ability to go lower in the bands makes this a worthwhile purchase. I never went the route of the upconverter before because of the added cost and hassle . Plenty to experiment with and learn. Now that I feel like I have the antenna situation addressed and have a baseline I can start tweaking the software and bookmarking stations. Nice to have good sounding stereo FM radio available on my PC setup as well. I still have a couple things I want to try - like going portable in the camper, completing a comparison of SD# and SD++, things like that. This thing will keep me busy for a while.

Works quite well, performs great in the hf range, and the vhf/uhf bands are good too. Worked with the software I have tried it with ( it does require an updated driver but most of what I have is already equipped. ) Price is good, is the original item, not a clone. Recommended

Although it took a few steps (follow their online guide precisely) to get the driver's installed correctly on an older Windows 10 system (finally having to use Zadig to get it done), it works perfectly! Sound quality, sensitivity and flexibility really gives you soooo many option for a wide range of receiving pursuits.I have seen a lot of reviews that trash the receiver because they weren't able to correctly follow directions in installing the new drivers so didn't hear anything. I guarantee you that if you follow their very good directions and recommendations, you will be rewarded by having a great and absolutely endless range of fun listening ahead. Getting SDR systems (especially the wide range of software that supports this receiver) setup can be challenging for beginning listeners, but it's also a wonderful learning experience. Be patient with yourself, and you can have a tremendous monitoring station at an unheard of price value.The built in HF up converter provides a much better HF listening experience than the direct sampling on other brands and previous SDR dongles.Highly recommend this as THE BEST way to enjoy radio listening cross a huge variety of useful spectrums.

Great device. Received it only a few days after ordering. The only downside is the 20 cumulative pages of "Quick Start (?) Users Guide" to configure the unit for your PC. Once you eventually get it configured, the device proves to be a great value for the features it provides. Well worth the price but plug and play it is not.It would be a nice improvement if the start guide included a short cut icon link for your PC device display.

Took me a while of trial and error to get this to work properly in an SDR software. I put that blame onto the software, though, not the hardware.

I found the v4 a substantial improvement over the v3, especially for HF (also known as shortwave) signals. It's also excellent for FM broadcast-band reception, although not as sensitive as my Airspy HF+ Discovery in that it cannot receive a station I enjoy that is 40 miles (64 km) away. The Airspy receiver has no problem hearing that station, but then the Airspy costs almost five times more than the v4. I consider the v4 an outstandingly good value for how little it costs. Also: the v4's two connectors ... to the antenna and to the computer ... work much better than those on the Airspy. A slight jiggle tends to interrupt the Airspy signal, requiring me to restart my SDR++ app, but that doesn't happen with the v4. I have attached small stick-on heat sinks to both sides of it (see photo) since it runs warm and I will be using it outdoors in hot weather.

Good product, definitely premium quality. Work as defined in technical description - checked ! Thanks.

Works great. It took awhile to install the software but less thann30 minutes