Software Defined Radio Receiver USB Stick - RTL2832 w/R820T

This worked ok but it wouldn't pick up a 433mhz signal from the distance I needed. I fiddled for quite a while with various settings but eventually just bought an official rtl-sdl dongle which worked perfectly first time (though cost £20 more).

Second one I've bought from here but this time for someone else wanting to get started in SDR. It's definitely worth the extra price over finding other SDRs elsewhere to have one from a known supplier (both Adafruit and PiHut!). Having the tutorials at Adafruit is really helpful for getting over the beginning learning curve. As others have pointed out, I do suspect the included antenna is pants. I've not got crystal-clear audio, but this has more been for learning for me.

It worked fine for a couple of days, then it just died and became completely unresponsive. I had no choice but to return it.

i'll be honest, i purchased this sdr kit after watching 'truth seekers' on amazon prime video and getting hooked on the idea of number stations. with the necessary raspberry pi and other bits just waiting to be cobbled together i just needed a cheap radio receiver and this usb stick fitted the bill perfectly. i used an all in one rasp pi image from hackaday to provide the necessary software and in no time at all i have an sdr radio up and running. i tested it by setting it to pick up a well known commercial fm station and sure enough it really works rather well. now to go hunting the airwaves for some more interesting frequencies. highly recommended!

Could not get it to work. It is now being recycled

I am a complete radio novice, never tried to do CB or anything even close before, so take this as a newbie's review. Ignore the disk it comes with. That's for watching TV with it on Windows because it's really a TV card that you're misusing to receive radio. I believe you can make the remote control work with LIRC but I didn't try as I already have a LIRC hat on my Pi. You have to do some software driver jiggery-pokery to make it work on Windows (but that's true of all such dongles), and have the right software, but on Linux / RPi it's easier to do. I was able to pick up FM stations, 433Mhz signals for various things (my car key, etc.) and lots of air-traffic voice and ADS-B air data (seeing where planes are in real-time) from just inside the M25 with the right software, just with the supplied antenna stuck inside a window. It's tiny and works well, I'm ordering a bigger antenna to try to see how far I can take it (without becoming an accidental radio ham). Nothing to do with the product, but as I am really not a radio-guy at all, it was surprisingly easy to pick up some things I never thought I would (ADS-B) so clearly, and surprisingly silent in bands I thought would be swamped with voice traffic (CB, etc.). Maybe that's me doing it wrong, with the wrong aerial, or those kinds of things are just dead nowadays, but the kit worked well. Probably you need a HUGE aerial to pick up some things at all, I imagine. Hint: Put the little aerial onto a metal biscuit tin lid of similar. It greatly improves reception.

Had been looking a SDRs for a while and picked this one as it had the Adafruit name on it rather than an unknown. Surprised at how small it is. Loaded SDR# and it's drivers as per the instructions and it worked first time on both a 64 and 32 bit win 10 PCs. The little aerial that come with it is ok for proving it works, but have now got a BNC to MCX adaptor and a proper scanner aerial which makes a big difference. Have mounted this in a small project box, with the dongle inside the box on the end of a long USB cable. This way I can stick it in the window for best results. Currently using to listen to aircraft as live on an approach to London. Next step big outside aerial and decoding weather satellites. Loads of on line support which is good as I'm still learning. It does get a bit warm when it's being used but read that they all do this so I'm not worried. Good bit of kit if you are thinking of starting out experimenting with an SDR.

Works flawlessly on macOS. Lots of helpful tutorials on the web.