Thanks for sharing your experience. Always been intrigued by ham radio, but the steep barriers to entry have turned me off and it seems to be a declining field. SDR might be a way for me to do some listening without the ham radio barriers.
You don't have to take a long and involved Ham operator's course to get a Ham radio license. What the people who teach such courses never tell you is that the exams contain little of a technical nature. They are mostly about the rules and restrictions surrounding use of the airwaves. You can get everything you need by reading a book.
@@real_rivolta I didn't have the time to use it so my nephew took it to play with. He says it's really good but like all radios, needs a better antenna than the supplied one to do well. I hope that helps and good luck with your project.
I feel there should be a device with screen and speakers need to be launched That has this build in. So this doesn't end up just a niche for enthusiasts
All I want is two to recieve an 850mhz(ish) trunked p25 system. Must be mobile so using a surface go. Between USB cables not working a bad sdr dongle and a bad antenna cable I'm going mad. It's a simple goal been at it a week. I got 2 of the smarte kits the antennas don't work for my application. Why can't this just work. I had it working for 2 days then a single refuses to work
Problem is to configure these devices into your pc because its hard enough to find right software and then hardcore configuration is also a nightmere, i nearly left RF hacking bcz of these tough configuration devices.
Hey nice video! I want to listen to 909 KHz (an AM Radio station in the UK) when hiking in remote areas (i.e. no internet available). I think I can use my android phone plus an SDR receiver via USB coupled with some kind of portable magnetic loop antenna (unless bringing a long line of cable to lay on the ground is better?). I am considering the SMArTee v2 with Ham It Up Nano which seems like a good balance of portability and value. Could I then just use a NooElec balun One Nine wired to a Tecsun AN-200 passive loop antenna for example? How would you best create a portable AM receiver set-up for hiking? Cheers!
@@TechMindsOfficial If budget wasn't ever a problem, which one would you buy as an all-rounder first to get into the hobby? Not looking for a one-size-fits-all solution, just one that would give me the most possibilities as a starter, then if I really get into it I look into niche ones for very specific ranges and usage.
My SDR (the silver one) doesn’t work on my Mac laptop. Probably give it away to a PC user. I may buy a stand alone unit. I’m a ham and like listening to everything. RWB
That's because I have never owned one. These are the SDRs that I can recommend because I have owned them. I wouldnt recommend any products that I have not owned or tested. Do you have link for that as I might buy one if its good?
@@rogue_spirit I get it but the video was about the 5 best SDRs, not the 5 best cheap SDRs. Signal Hound makes really good SDRs but they are expensive, and some companies make SDRs that are over $100,000. Yes the Ettus is more expensive but it has better tuners and does more. All depends on your budget.
Traditional short wave receiver/transceivers are rather expensive. SDR devices, on the other hand, are often well below the cost of a video game, making them very attractive to wide segments of the population & age groups curious about the hobby. That being said most videos on the subject of SDRs fail to inform, enlighten, & encourage due to them preaching mainly to the choir, rather than that "wide segment of the population & age groups". This video is a good example of that. You sound like someone reading from the results of an eBay search for SDRs. You can do better than that.
Hi Gence, thank you for your comment and explanation of your dislike. I think this video was more geared towards people that know what SDR is, but not too sure which model to buy. Definitely wasn't reading from a Ebay search result, each of these SDR receivers I own, have tested and know they are good SDR receivers. I did take some information from the specifications for each of the SDRs, but I only pulled out the information which made them stand out. I think if I called the video "A dummys guide to SDR" then yes, this video would of been a bit over the top, but it was geared towards those that know the fundamentals. I appreciate your comment and feedback, take on board. Thanks for watching. :-)
@ Tech Minds: UA-cam videos, including yours, are like pizza. Some are better than others, but there is no such thing as bad pizza. So who’s your target audience for this video? Clearly, you have answered that it's the Choir. For everybody else, its “come back tomorrow, maybe” Thus you should embrace your “for Dummies” blurb by adding a rating on your videos. “This video suitable for Dummies” all the way up to “Not suitable for anyone that thinks they know more than me” finally I suggest that you listen to some part of the audio from this video with someone you trust then read a few paragraphs from any printed matter then ask then to grade your talking speed most importantly how long you pause when you come to a comma or period in the text you are reading Most people can read text with smelling nistakes & words printed order the in wrong however most have difficulty following both written text and spoken word when punctuation is not correctly used or not used at all itcreatestheequivalentofaneverendingwordwaterfallthatslowsdownapersonsabilitytocomprehendwhattheyarereadingorlisteningto Want more subscribers, & more views which results in more ad revenue? Then ignore the video rating suggestion, I was just kidding there. However, you can improve your channel by improving your reading & speaking skills. Use this simple exercise that will help you relearn when to add punctuation pauses, especially as you speak. Read any text aloud for 10 minutes a day, including saying period & comma aloud, then drawing a breath before continuing. This will reset your internal clock which everybody has & uses to know when & for how long to pause when they speak. This is how some storytellers sitting around a campfire put everybody to sleep, while others scare you so badly you can’t sleep for days.
Grant, In my original comment, I stated that the speaker sounded like he was reading the results from an eBay search for SDRs. Actually, he was reading the specs in the exact order they were printed either on the box it came in, or the instruction booklet contained in the box. So my mention that he sounded like he was reading is confirmed. He was! After reviewing comments directed at me, including yours, despite its rather immature and rude start, I relistened to the audio several times and I now suspect that frequent splicing (editing) of the audio removed many of the pauses present in normal speaking and contributed to my suggestions on punctuation.
Gence... I script all of my videos, and it certainly wasn’t a copy and paste from a specs sheet. I take the most interesting points from the specs and write them how I would like to say them.. however, you are correct about the audio editing, and on this occasion I may have edited too much, and removed natural pauses. I will consider this for future videos. Thank you.
Any 'top' SDR list that doesn't include a hackRF one isn't hitting the mark for me personally. Sorry I get why you prefer the one that has networking, but it should have also been included, with the caveat that you prefer X over y personally due to networking. It's like saying 'top Italian foods' and not including most of them because you don't personally like tomatoes.
I agree with you, the HackRF should be, but I had 5 to choose from. As well as networking the Pluto has full duplex support with SDR Console, whereas the HackRF does not, not even TX. So for me, and my personal use, Pluto over HackRF. But, I also wouldn’t live without the HackRF, it’s awesome and is capable of more due to hardware/software support. Maybe I should of chose “My Top 6” instead.
@@TechMindsOfficial perhaps I should have worded it wrong, you could have gone ' that's my top five, here's a honorable mention, and it missed my personal top five because xxx' In the video you just said 'no ethernet, meh' But the mentioned things in your reply are definitely more valid reasons. Not trying to be a dick at all, just offering up a view (obviously mine, not everyones!)
Hey from germany i did the noaa project with good results for a beginner all thanks to your videos
Youre welcome! :-)
Good job! Which antenna did you use?
I wish there was a compact turn key unit/antenna that received EVERYTHING! In ONE
If you're into HF only, I suggest the Airspy HF+ Discovery.
That’s a very good choice!
If get the opportunity to try the Airspy HF+ discovery, do. I've found it to be more sensitive than my SDRPlay RSP DX.
This is always a good one to revisit!!
So if I wanna listen to 1.9mjz to 60mhz what would I need and what kinda antenna I see rtl has a v4 with upconverter now
Which sdr is best rtl-sdr blog,NooElec NESDR SMArt v4,Nooelec NESDR SMArt XTR, Nooelec NESDR Mini 2+ ?
Thanks for sharing your experience. Always been intrigued by ham radio, but the steep barriers to entry have turned me off and it seems to be a declining field. SDR might be a way for me to do some listening without the ham radio barriers.
You don't have to take a long and involved Ham operator's course to get a Ham radio license. What the people who teach such courses never tell you is that the exams contain little of a technical nature. They are mostly about the rules and restrictions surrounding use of the airwaves. You can get everything you need by reading a book.
The morse code requirement is gone. There are inexpensive study guides.
Informative, thank-you! I'm a ham and have bought but not unboxed yet the RTL-SDR V3. I hope I've made the right choice.
How's the V3? Does it work great. I'm planning to order one to sniff aircraft and possibly listen to police trunk
@@real_rivolta I didn't have the time to use it so my nephew took it to play with. He says it's really good but like all radios, needs a better antenna than the supplied one to do well. I hope that helps and good luck with your project.
I want to know every single rang of frequency. Tell me what should I do and buy.
I want to buy SDR for practice on making cellular network with osmocom so which one is good to begin bladrf or LimeSDR and what are the different?
Hi ya, I havnt personally tested it yet, but LimeSDR supports that I believe
Want:
Ref clock Input
Lowest possible T sys
Low clock jitter
I use mixers and BP filters to bring the signal where it fits...
I feel there should be a device with screen and speakers need to be launched
That has this build in. So this doesn't end up just a niche for enthusiasts
Is it possible to use a power transmitter to boost signal? I am talking about a linear or some HF booster.
I don't know specs, plz sum and dumb this down
All I want is two to recieve an 850mhz(ish) trunked p25 system. Must be mobile so using a surface go. Between USB cables not working a bad sdr dongle and a bad antenna cable I'm going mad. It's a simple goal been at it a week. I got 2 of the smarte kits the antennas don't work for my application. Why can't this just work. I had it working for 2 days then a single refuses to work
Thanks for the vid.
Just FYI there to much bass in the voice. My subwoofer is going crazy right now. :(
Problem is to configure these devices into your pc because its hard enough to find right software and then hardcore configuration is also a nightmere, i nearly left RF hacking bcz of these tough configuration devices.
Hey nice video! I want to listen to 909 KHz (an AM Radio station in the UK) when hiking in remote areas (i.e. no internet available).
I think I can use my android phone plus an SDR receiver via USB coupled with some kind of portable magnetic loop antenna (unless bringing a long line of cable to lay on the ground is better?).
I am considering the SMArTee v2 with Ham It Up Nano which seems like a good balance of portability and value. Could I then just use a NooElec balun One Nine wired to a Tecsun AN-200 passive loop antenna for example?
How would you best create a portable AM receiver set-up for hiking? Cheers!
909 is BBC RADIO 5 :)
Please update this for 2023. I need a SDR that will let me fox/hound 5.8 wifi. I'll happily paypal you a $1 if you suggest one. hobby budget.
At the end of the day you'll end up buying many different ones as your interest in them changes ... 😅
Exactly!! They all serve a purpose :)
@@TechMindsOfficial If budget wasn't ever a problem, which one would you buy as an all-rounder first to get into the hobby? Not looking for a one-size-fits-all solution, just one that would give me the most possibilities as a starter, then if I really get into it I look into niche ones for very specific ranges and usage.
amzon us link is broken.
www.amazon.com/shop/techminds
Does that work for you?
@@TechMindsOfficial not .
My SDR (the silver one) doesn’t work on my Mac laptop. Probably give it away to a PC user. I may buy a stand alone unit. I’m a ham and like listening to everything. RWB
Pluto price, that would have been helpful!
Top sdr wideband low cost ? Up converter 125mhz 20€ et sdr 5€
My area of interest is all of it! And so far with the rtl-sdr I'm not too happy. The air spy isn't seeming to work very well.
You left off the Ettus B200 mini
That's because I have never owned one. These are the SDRs that I can recommend because I have owned them. I wouldnt recommend any products that I have not owned or tested. Do you have link for that as I might buy one if its good?
@@TechMindsOfficial I don't have a link but you can Google Ettus B200 mini and find them. Great range & they can transmit. Solid radio.
@@jasonpitts8395 Not for everyone's budget :/
@@rogue_spirit I get it but the video was about the 5 best SDRs, not the 5 best cheap SDRs. Signal Hound makes really good SDRs but they are expensive, and some companies make SDRs that are over $100,000. Yes the Ettus is more expensive but it has better tuners and does more. All depends on your budget.
Traditional short wave receiver/transceivers are rather expensive. SDR devices, on the other hand, are often well below the cost of a video game, making them very attractive to wide segments of the population & age groups curious about the hobby.
That being said most videos on the subject of SDRs fail to inform, enlighten, & encourage due to them preaching mainly to the choir, rather than that "wide segment of the population & age groups". This video is a good example of that. You sound like someone reading from the results of an eBay search for SDRs. You can do better than that.
Hi Gence, thank you for your comment and explanation of your dislike. I think this video was more geared towards people that know what SDR is, but not too sure which model to buy. Definitely wasn't reading from a Ebay search result, each of these SDR receivers I own, have tested and know they are good SDR receivers. I did take some information from the specifications for each of the SDRs, but I only pulled out the information which made them stand out. I think if I called the video "A dummys guide to SDR" then yes, this video would of been a bit over the top, but it was geared towards those that know the fundamentals. I appreciate your comment and feedback, take on board. Thanks for watching. :-)
@ Tech Minds: UA-cam videos, including yours, are like pizza. Some are better than others, but there is no such thing as bad pizza.
So who’s your target audience for this video? Clearly, you have answered that it's the Choir. For everybody else, its “come back tomorrow, maybe”
Thus you should embrace your “for Dummies” blurb by adding a rating on your videos. “This video suitable for Dummies” all the way up to “Not suitable for anyone that thinks they know more than me”
finally I suggest that you listen to some part of the audio from this video with someone you trust then read a few paragraphs from any printed matter then ask then to grade your talking speed most importantly how long you pause when you come to a comma or period in the text you are reading
Most people can read text with smelling nistakes & words printed order the in wrong however most have difficulty following both written text and spoken word when punctuation is not correctly used or not used at all
itcreatestheequivalentofaneverendingwordwaterfallthatslowsdownapersonsabilitytocomprehendwhattheyarereadingorlisteningto
Want more subscribers, & more views which results in more ad revenue? Then ignore the video rating suggestion, I was just kidding there. However, you can improve your channel by improving your reading & speaking skills. Use this simple exercise that will help you relearn when to add punctuation pauses, especially as you speak.
Read any text aloud for 10 minutes a day, including saying period & comma aloud, then drawing a breath before continuing. This will reset your internal clock which everybody has & uses to know when & for how long to pause when they speak.
This is how some storytellers sitting around a campfire put everybody to sleep, while others scare you so badly you can’t sleep for days.
Grant, In my original comment, I stated that the speaker sounded like he was reading the results from an eBay search for SDRs. Actually, he was reading the specs in the exact order they were printed either on the box it came in, or the instruction booklet contained in the box.
So my mention that he sounded like he was reading is confirmed. He was!
After reviewing comments directed at me, including yours, despite its rather immature and rude start, I relistened to the audio several times and I now suspect that frequent splicing (editing) of the audio removed many of the pauses present in normal speaking and contributed to my suggestions on punctuation.
Gence... I script all of my videos, and it certainly wasn’t a copy and paste from a specs sheet. I take the most interesting points from the specs and write them how I would like to say them.. however, you are correct about the audio editing, and on this occasion I may have edited too much, and removed natural pauses. I will consider this for future videos. Thank you.
@@TechMindsOfficial hahaha there is always one.. mate love the videos keep up the good work
No HackrfOne?
I mentioned in the video that the Pluto wins for me because it can be networked via Ethernet :)
@@TechMindsOfficial oh, sorry, i didn't have enough time to watch the whole video, my bad
Yes
Title is misleading. It's just the ones you own. No Lime. No Ettus, No Elad, No Icom...
Title has been changed, better?
Which one can decode police
SDR with 12 bit? Nonsense...
One of my rtl-sdr receivers died tonight after eight months of light use. Won’t be buying another.
Why 60 fps for slideshow?
All my videos are 60fps, normally because I have SDR software. Is it a problem?
Why are you complaining?
The cheap ones are a complete waste of money! They barely pull in a 100k watt FM radio station that is less than 3 miles away
I must be doing something wrong. I tried 3 of the 5 devices here, and had zero luck. I had a good antenna, im in a great area, but just no luck.
Same here but playing around with it a bit tweaking it got better antenna and works fine I learned a lot more about radios than with handheld radio
Yep, completely lost me!
Any 'top' SDR list that doesn't include a hackRF one isn't hitting the mark for me personally.
Sorry I get why you prefer the one that has networking, but it should have also been included, with the caveat that you prefer X over y personally due to networking.
It's like saying 'top Italian foods' and not including most of them because you don't personally like tomatoes.
I agree with you, the HackRF should be, but I had 5 to choose from. As well as networking the Pluto has full duplex support with SDR Console, whereas the HackRF does not, not even TX. So for me, and my personal use, Pluto over HackRF. But, I also wouldn’t live without the HackRF, it’s awesome and is capable of more due to hardware/software support. Maybe I should of chose “My Top 6” instead.
@@TechMindsOfficial perhaps I should have worded it wrong, you could have gone ' that's my top five, here's a honorable mention, and it missed my personal top five because xxx'
In the video you just said 'no ethernet, meh'
But the mentioned things in your reply are definitely more valid reasons.
Not trying to be a dick at all, just offering up a view (obviously mine, not everyones!)
DISLIKE... Worst review ever, where are sensitivity per band and demodulation modes?
I think you expected too much! Besides, this is a really old video now.