I've reviewed lots of SDR tutorials, "unboxings" and related videos but this is the most comprehensive and useful video of them all. Keep up the good work and thank you for all of the thought and skill that went into producing this great video.
No Kev , Sorry I am 80 yrs old and I love the challenge of SWLING and this is cheating as it is half transmitted by land line to a computer.. No for me sorry..
Bit of an update. Sdr I have discovered over time has a very poor selectivity. A good radio and external antenna are far superior to sdr. Example: Sdr and receiver run from same antenna. Sdr no received signal. Stand alone radio, signals booming in
Very grateful that you put this video out. I've been reading a great deal about these devices with the aim to buy one. However your end to end overview filled in a lot of gaps including things I needed to understand but didn't realise I hadn't understood. Well done!
Agreed... We've come a long way since the old days of radio. Thank you for the information on various types of radios, antennas, and accessories. Well made video!
I have been using an indoor skeleton discone with a wide band preamp, also suitable for radio scanners. I live on the ground floor, but find this works very well.
As a newby ( a 62 yr old newby) I find this very helpful. i was looking at the Uniden range of receivers, by my goodness they are expensive for someone on a meagre income, so having found your excellent guide, I shall look into this further- many thanks for a concise and clear description of the hobby and available hardware/software.
Love it! I just bought my first setup and am super excited to get started. On a side note, the whole video I am just waiting for you to say something about 15% and Geicko! Sorry I had to
Another old SWL who detoured into computer apps for writing and web publishing in the '80s and '90s and only vaguely knew that this stuff existed. Thanks for the introduction!
Excellent and very informative. This is a high quality documentary as they all are from Tech Minds. I wish that many documentaries on You Tube would be as good as this one is. Most of the documentaries and editions are simply rubbish!!! Well done and thank you for your great and logically explanations.
I use several Kiwi SDRs regularly which are in a very quiet noise sites, great reception. Much better than locally using my R5000. Now have many logs each day. Am now back fully involved with Intl SW B/Cs
TCXO stands for temperature compensated crystal oscillator. Devices that have temperature control are actually called OCXO - oven controlled crystal oscillators.
As a ham operator who uses a high end version of SDR transceiver, I must say I learned almost nothing except that leaving out the safety aspect of outside antennas does the user a disservice.
2020: Was just thinking about the use of a Raspberry Pi with many of these to have a relatively self-contained receiver, given a solid 5-volt battery supply. I dislike tying up my phone. Great review!
Excellent Videos......I’ve just started getting back into scanning used to do a bit in the 90s but having coming across your videos will definitely be starting to use these SDR 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
2:47 - I believe that TCXO stands for Temperature Compensated Crystal Oscillator, not temperature controlled; that would be undesirable in this application.
Thanks I've been playing with web sdr and I'm getting curious about what I could pick up from home with my own sdr set up.. really appreciate your vids!
Excellent tutorial...👍 Question: instead of joining back to back those 2 Receivers (NOO Elec NESDR SMArtee 25-1750 MHz and the NOO Elec Ham it up 100 KHz for a total of $66), isn't wiser to just buy the SDR Play RSP 1A 1 KHz- 2 GHz at $99 ? Thanks for answering :).
Good video but is the only properties that differ quality is an SDR as presented. I was a professional radioman for 20 years and the way we would rate a receiver used completely different specs. Receiver sensitivity and audio quality consisted of a SINAD reading. My RTL-SDR with a amplified loop antenna doesn’t receive well. Unfortunately I don’t have a Motorola 2600 service monitor to measure its sensitivity, And I can’t find these specs in sdr videos to help me decide if my SDR is lame or my antenna. Am I missing something ?
the rtl-sdr v3 is basically best bang for your buck since it has bias t, txco, some other stuff, goes down to about 20mhz and up to about 3ghz for about 25 euro/ 30 dollars.
Thanks a lot for the information sir, I want to get started as soon as possible. Btw, your voice reminds me of another youtube channel 'cameralabs' by Gordon Laing... not you?
Thanks for the great beginners guide! What setup do you use to test handhelds for spurious emissions (i.e. harmonics)? I have a few handhelds I'd like to test but don't know what is required outside of an SDR + software.
Can the "RTL-SDR Blog V4 R828D RTL2832U 1PPM TCXO HF Bias Tee SMA Software Defined Radio with Dipole Antenna Kit" I bought provide the relatively new USA HD Radio function? I couldn't get this information from the Amazon page I bought it from. I bought the unit a week ago and it's supposed to arrive this week.
Wonderful video! Thank you so much for putting all this information together. If you would be willing to put together a list of the ideal components for Amateur use, I would almost certainly purchase the items through your Amazon store. Thank you again, 73s
I bought the NooElec device and it's built like a tank! (I just wanted to be able to receive FM stations in stereo on my PC, to avoid having regular FM radio). I merely use a spare HDTV antenna, via a screw-threaded adaptor. The SDR# (SDR Sharp) software is OK, but installation is unnecessarily clunky and the interface could be a lot clearer. There should be a way to turn off the "waterfall" display, which is not needed for most users. However, I am happy with my purchase.
There are applications which can be used on pc just for listening to FM Radio using the NooElec, without having to use SDR sharp. If your antenna is good enough, you’ll also be able to receive DAB radio too. I might make a video on this topic. Thanks!
You can turn off the waterfall in SDR# Go to FFT display, look for View at the top of that panel. The options are Both, Spectrum Analyzer, waterfall, none. Try the different options to get your required look.
Great video, thank you. Apologies if the question is silly -I am a total newbie: Does the SDR software + the receiver hardware on a personal computer substitute a purely hardware based transceiver setup? I assume that antennas etc. equipment is same on both SDR/non-SDR setups.
Your videos are awesome man, very informative. I am totally new to SDR, setting up to use it with my HF rig (ICOM 718, took your recommendation on the switch from banggood). Are there any any particular SDRs you recommend for those of us who are only in that end of the spectrum? This is a fun project currently, working through setting up my offshore boat for data, weatherfax, long range com, ect. SDR seems like an obvious part of the plan.
I understood some stuff because I have some RF knowledge, but I was expecting a true beginners course, like what is RTL? More in how it differs from a traditional Radio, and how the software actually works in tandem with some of the hardware, etc....I feel this assumed a lot of existing knowledge.
