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Realtek SDR, DAB, TV & Aircraft Radar dongle for £10

Posted on 3 March 20138 June 2019 By Pete M0PSX 68 Comments on Realtek SDR, DAB, TV & Aircraft Radar dongle for £10

Does the idea of adding the following to your PC for under £10 appeal?

  • Software-defined receiver covering 24MHz to 1.85GHz (FM, AM, SSB, CW)
  • DAB Digital Radio
  • Freeview Digital TV with programme guide
  • ADS-B Aircraft virtual radar receiver
  • TV and radio recorder

All of the above is possible with this cheap little USB dongle!

The Realtek RTL2832U Radio & TV Dongle

This is marketed as a “Mini Digital TV USB Stick” and comes with a basic remote control and a tiny digital TV aerial. It’s supplied with Blaze software for use with digital TV and radio. If you’re happy to install a few bits of other software, the receiver can be opened up to a host of other possibilities, great for use with amateur radio!

The Realtek RTL2832U Radio Tuner USB Stick
The Realtek RTL2832U Radio Tuner USB Stick

I picked one of these up at the Rainham Radio Rally for a little over £18. Online, it’s even cheaper. At the time of writing, it’s available from Amazon priced from around £10 – here are the listings:

Realtek RTL2832U SDR Dongle Availability

Realtek RTL-SDR DongleHere’s where to get the original RTL-SDR dongle (R820T chipset), or the second generation blue model with the R820T2 chipset offering slightly better performance:

  • Realtel RTL-SDRs available (just £12) from Essex retailer HAMtronics (Available online and for local collection)
  • Realtek RTL-SDR (R820T) at Amazon
  • Updated Realtek RTL-SDR (R820T2) at Amazon (improved performance)
  • Realtek RTL2832U Dongle on eBay UK

 

RTL-SDR Software Defined Radio: Installation

Go to airspy.com/download and download the package “Windows SDR Software Package”.

You’ll need to download a zip file, and extract all of the files using an unzip application. Unzip the files to a folder called c:\sdrsharp\ and then run the file install-rtlsdr.bat – This will go online and download the latest versions of the drivers for the RTL dongle.

Now, plug in the dongle. Windows will try to find a driver. I let Windows install whatever driver it wanted, as apparently the SDR software can use its own drivers.

Next, go to the /sdr-install/ folder and look for /sdrsharp/ – In there, run the Zadig.exe file to install drivers. Zadig detected two devices when I plugged the dongle in, and I selected the first one “Device 0”. Can’t see “Device 0″? Go to Options > List all devices, and look for the Realtek device there”

Installing the Zadig drivers for use with SDRSharp
Installing the Zadig drivers for use with SDRSharp

The driver installation app is rather chatty, as installers go. It points out, while it’s working, that Microsoft doesn’t pass back information about the process, so can’t estimate installation time. To kill the time, it has a chat. Nice touch

Installing Zadig - Very chatty installation program
Installing Zadig – Very chatty installation program

 

Using the dongle as a Software Defined Radio

With the driver installed, and the operator suitably amused, time to run SDR#, using the sdrsharp.exe file

The interface started up, and to get things running, there are two things you need to do:

1. Set the software to work with the dongle. From the box on the top left, select “RTL-SDR/USB” and hit Play
2. At this point, I could see a signal in the waterfall, but not hear anything. If you get the same, go to Configure, where you’ll file that the RF gain is set to zero. Slide up the gain, and it all starts working.

Starting up SDRSharp and selecting the right SDR
Starting up SDRSharp and selecting the right SDR

Here is my first screenshot, showing stereo audio from commercial radio station Heart FM on 96.3MHz. The software even decodes the RDS station name and “now playing” information.

Heart Essex on 96.3MHz showing on theRealtek SDR
Heart Essex on 96.3MHz showing on the Realtek SDR

Broadcast radio working fine, and nice audio, especially when connected to a decent rooftop antenna. Now to try the ham radio frequencies. I gave 2 metres a try:

SDRSharp showing the output of the GB3DA repeater on 145.725MHz
SDRSharp showing the output of the GB3DA repeater on 145.725MHz

 

Having problems with SDR#? Try a different USB port, or try re-installing Zadig

 

RTL1090 Aircraft Tracking

The dongle can get aircraft signals (ADS-B) on 1.090GHz. This is done using an application called RTL1090 (download from rtl1090.web99.de – note the Readme.txt contains info about extra files you’ll need) When you install this, it just brings in raw data.

RTL1090 ADS-B
RTL1090 showing incoming ADS-B data on 1.090GHz

You need an app called ASDBscope to get a map (download from here). You will need to download and extract the ZIP file – The file you need to run is called adsbscope27_16384.exe , which is buried in the folder abdb_all/pc_software/adsbscope/27/

When I start ASDBScope, I get a Registry Error (Win code error: 2) message, but this doesn’t seem to cause a problem.

Three other settings had to be changed:

1. Under Other > Network > Network Setup – Press the “RTL1090” preset button
2. Same screen set URL IP address to “127.0.0.1”, and ‘Close
3. Tick Other > Network > Raw Data Client Active

ASDBScope
Live aircraft information on 1.090GHz displayed on ASDBScope

Digital TV

To get digital TV to work, it’s a case of installing the drivers found on the supplied mini CD, and then installing the Blaze software application. As this is the purpose for which the dongle is designed, this is not too fiddly, and should present no problems.

I connected the dongle to a standard TV aerial (as opposed to my ham radio antenna) for this test. The first thing that Blaze does once it find the dongle, is perform a channel scan, and it correctly found all of the Freeview channels on offer in my area. Access to the Freeview channels was pretty straightforward, and the Blaze software supports access to the electronic programme guide, has recording facilities and lets you capture screenshots of live TV

Watching Freeview Digital TV via Blaze on Realtek USB stick
Watching Freeview Digital TV via Blaze on Realtek USB stick

 

DAB Digital Radio

As with digital TV, you need the drivers and Blaze software to be installed from the supplied mini-CD. This presented no problems.

From Blaze, switching to DAB digital radio for the first time caused the Blaze software to start another scan. The scan took quite a while as it scanned quite a wide range of frequencies. After several minutes, it returned a list of 88 received DAB stations from several multiplexes. Audio quality was very good, and the app has a pretty good interface, as pictured here:

Realtek USB stick playing Absolute Radio DAB station
Realtek USB stick playing Absolute Radio DAB station

 

Switching between radio and TV

It’s not immediately obvious how to switch from Freeview TV to FM and DAB. The trick is, to press the green ‘TV’ button in Blaze to get to a menu that allows you to select the different services. Here’s a screenshot:

Blaze: How to switch between TV, Radio and DAB
Blaze: Switching between TV, Radio and DAB

 

Antennas and the Realtek USB Stick

With a tiddly, and cheap, 12cm of antenna supplied, I wasn’t expecting much, and it was only when I was able to connect the dongle to a decent antenna that it started to open up more to me.

Antenna supplied with the Realtek RTL2832 tuner
Antenna supplied with the Realtek RTL2832 tuner

The supplied antenna is unlikely to be great for reception unless outdoors or at a prime location, so I was quick to get a decent connection. The connector on the USB stick and supplied aerial is tiny. I’ve seen it before on sat navs and some pocket TV sets, and I’ve today discovered that it’s called a “mini TV MCX” connector. The good folk at the Rainham rally didn’t have one, but Maplin did – and with a lead on the end too. Their part: L59LN has a MCX plug on one end, and a UHF TV coax on the other. This is available here: Portable MCX Adapter Cable at Maplin.

Maplin's Portable Digital TV MCX Adapter Cable
Maplin’s Portable Digital TV MCX Adapter Cable

Obviously, this is perfect for TV and DAB radio reception, but as mine was more for ham and VHF work, I snipped off the UHF coax plug and replaced it with a BNC, which I could then connect to a more useful antenna. Worth a try if you want some decent results.

Connecting the Realtek RTL2832 USB stick to a decent antenna
Connecting the Realtek RTL2832 USB stick to a decent antenna

Summary

For £10, this is an awesome toy… dare I say it, far more useful than a £100 Fun Cube Dongle, that was very tricky to set up, and not able to access as much in the way of content. For under £20, you can’t go wrong!

Any questions or comments? Please add them below and I’ll try to help.

Pete M0PSX

Handy Links

  • Getting started with the Realtek USB SDR Dongle

 

Hardware Tags:DAB, SDR, software defined radio

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Comments (68) on “Realtek SDR, DAB, TV & Aircraft Radar dongle for £10”

  1. mitchell says:
    4 March 2013 at 18:49

    Just thought about trying this out. What antenna did you use for the radar part.

    Reply
  2. Pete M0PSX says:
    4 March 2013 at 19:15

    My test of virtual radar was done using a loft-mounted 2m/70cm colinear antenna, which is normally used for ham radio. It works with the supplied antenna too, but not as well as with my loft antenna

    Reply
  3. mitchell says:
    4 March 2013 at 20:01

    Oh cool, i will now have to make sure my 2m radio is running for tonight to ask more on the mnn later

    m6gyn

    Reply
  4. Chris Stubbs M6EDF says:
    4 March 2013 at 21:40

    Great write up Pete! I shall be trying the radar side of things with my EzCap RTL-SDR soon. These sticks are also capable of picking up the High Altitude Balloons as SDR# has a SSB/USB mode. From what I’ve heard it is worth replacing the antenna connector with an edge-mount SMA connector if you are handy at soldering!

    Reply
  5. mitchell says:
    4 March 2013 at 22:26

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Coaxial-Antenna-Cable-Adaptor-DVB-T/dp/B005HBRO2O/ref=wl_mb_hu_m_2_dp Just found a link for the connector from ebay for thoses who like to bulk order in one hit

    Reply
  6. malcolm reynolds says:
    10 March 2013 at 12:41

    thanks for a very thorough write up Pete,I missed Rainham this year but have the same item on order coming from Singapore for £13 inc!
    Can’t wait,Mac G6NLZ

    Reply
  7. Matty MD0MAN says:
    11 March 2013 at 00:22

    Hi Pete,

    These are interesting devices, and I do like the 2-3mhz bandwidth spread on them.

    I own one of the original FunCube Dongles (4th one shipped when they first became available) and I think you are being a bit unfair with your comparison between the devices, personally I found the FunCube Dongle much, much easier to install than the RTL devices.

    (Admittedly, the RTL stuff has got a little easier over the past year to run).

    There is quite a difference in price, however when you think of all the band filters that are in the FunCube dongle compared to none in the RTL devices, as well as the FCD having 24bit audio compared to 8bit on the RTL devices (giving the FCD a much, much better dynamic range) – they’re not really comparable to the capabilities of the FCD.

    Some of the funds from the sale of FCD’s also helps out Amsat UK.

    However, as a taster for getting into software defined radio, yes – the RTL devices can be great introduction to the capabilities of this method of reception.

    Simon Brown – creator of Ham Radio Deluxe has also added support for RTL dongles in version 2 of his SDR software – I would also recommend a look at this, link here:- http://v2.sdr-radio.com/

    Best 73’s

    Matty

    MD0MAN

    Reply
  8. Tom says:
    11 March 2013 at 13:30

    Hi

    I have been using one of these to listen to the satellites as you can watch a very large bandwidth at a time. I do get interference from time to time, so SAW filters would improve this. For a cheap route into SDR this is a must, you can get one for under £10.00 delivered from

    Tom

    Reply
  9. East End dude says:
    11 March 2013 at 14:10

    Hello mate
    Please remove the lupo link you have listed at the top, it does NOT have a Realtek RTL2832U chipset, I have learnt the hard way :-(

    Reply
  10. Sverre LA3ZA says:
    19 March 2013 at 22:25

    Nice overview. I have exactly the same RTL-SDR stick and get SDRSharp to work so I can receive FM, 2m repeaters, aircraft communications etc. I also have the Blaze HDTV player (ver 6.0), but I see that you managed to switch it from TV to DAB, that doesn’t seem to work for me. How did you do that?

    Reply
  11. Juan Carlos says:
    21 March 2013 at 12:43

    Hello.

    What about sensibility vs Funcube and other SDR. Can I use it to receive ham satellites.?

    Thanks in advance.

    co8tw(at)frcuba.co.cu

    Juan Carlos, CO8TW.

    Reply
  12. jimbo says:
    21 March 2013 at 14:28

    after all the site i visited this is the most straightforward and clearest
    Going to uninstall a whole load of stuff on 2 PC’s and do what you did.
    Thanks.

    Reply
  13. Bert says:
    23 March 2013 at 19:25

    Anyone help with this ?
    When I run the SDRSharp.exe file I receive the error message ” error loading.Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation”.
    I also do not see the option RTL-SDR/USB in the “play” drop down menu.
    Many thanks…Bert.

    Reply
    1. NEIL G0RNU says:
      13 June 2013 at 13:18

      Try removing the supplied software and driversonce again…….i found that they stopped SDR sharp from working in my case.

      Reply
  14. Thomas says:
    27 March 2013 at 08:44

    Hi, great info!
    Do You have any solution on how to plot AIS-signals with the device?
    TNX es 73 de SM2SYV

    Reply
  15. Charlie - M0PZT says:
    22 April 2013 at 21:05

    Good write-up, Pete – My dongle arrived today, cost all of £4.99 from Amazon using one of your links above. Installation was exactly as you described: Windows 7 found the dongle and I ran Zadig. Both HDSDR (my favourite app) and SDR# work well with this dongle.

    Now looking forward to running a cable from the FT-950 IF output so I can use it as a Panadapter :)

    Reply
    1. NEIL G0RNU says:
      13 June 2013 at 13:19

      Try the LP-PAN2 panadapter it works great With the ft-950

      Reply
  16. John Bowen says:
    6 May 2013 at 21:41

    Peter,

    Very well presented but all a bit too complex for me!

    What happens when an EasyJet hits one of these Balloons?

    John G8DET.

    Reply
  17. Pete M0PSX says:
    6 May 2013 at 21:58

    Hello John,

    Yes, balloon tracking with a dongle is a bit tricky to set up, and with so few flights, you have to try to get it right first time.

    We had Chris M6EDF on the Monday Night Net tonight, explaining the issue with Easyjet. You have to apply for a waiver with the CAA to be able to send off a balloon, you have to check the predicted flightpath to keep it away from London and major airports, and you have to call the local airfields before launch so they can advise local pilots.

    All interesting stuff!

    Reply
  18. NEIL G0RNU says:
    13 June 2013 at 13:23

    Great Little Device…….Ideal for spectrum monitoring
    Not as good as a dedicated unit costing more but for what it is its pretty dam good.

    Reply
  19. alan says:
    4 July 2013 at 16:12

    Hi Guys

    New to this Dongle thing but im looking for a simple way of how to download and receive aircraft and whats the best way to do this

    I have PP and SBS but dont want to take SBS with me as dongle will do just the same job any offers.

    regards
    alan
    BHD

    Reply
    1. Pete M0PSX says:
      4 July 2013 at 16:56

      The dongle mentioned here will allow you to receive aircraft transponders, and this page explains the basics of the connectivity and software. If you don;t want to go the dongle route, there are various web-based and smartphone apps that allow real-time flight tracking. Hope that helps.

      Reply
      1. Tango says:
        17 November 2021 at 00:03

        Hello is this place still active

        Reply
  20. Sten says:
    9 September 2013 at 17:48

    Hi Pete,

    thanks for this nice site. At your picture from sdr# i can see a carrier exactly in the middle of the windows. Same with me here. Do you know what kind of carrier this is?

    73 Sten

    Reply
  21. Mantgirdas says:
    11 September 2013 at 10:51

    Hi, I need your help! I bought Mini Digital TV USB Stick and lost my drivers CD. I tried to find them on internet, but I could`t. Maybe you can copy them from your mini cd and send to my email? I don`t need blaze software, just drivers! This is my email : mantgirdask@gmail.com

    Reply
  22. Pete M0PSX says:
    11 September 2013 at 19:18

    You don’t need drivers from the CD – Windows installs the drivers by default. I didn’t need the CD to get the SDR running.

    Reply
  23. René Welter says:
    24 December 2013 at 10:48

    hi

    If the sdr reception works, the dvb-t reception doen’t,
    and vice versa.
    One driver excludes the other one.

    Is there a solution to have both SDR and dvb-t

    Thank you for an evt answer.

    René

    Reply
  24. Arnnav says:
    6 February 2014 at 00:03

    I have the exact same problem!! Any help from the experts please!! I think the zadig drivers need to support dtv drivers.

    Reply
  25. Martin says:
    27 February 2014 at 23:57

    Hello Pete.
    I am getting data from RTL1090 but cannot get it connected to adsbScope.
    What should the comport setting be?

    Martin

    Reply
  26. Martin says:
    28 February 2014 at 11:09

    Disregard last message, its now working.

    Reply
  27. Nigel says:
    11 March 2014 at 15:31

    Thanks a lot for this very informative article.

    I’m having the same problem as 2 of the posters above in that once I have installed the sdr driver I can’t use the dongle as it was intended – as a TV/ DAB tuner. Before I installed the sdr driver I did get the dongle working with the Blaze software using the supplied drivers (This was difficult as my computers optical drive is vertical so I had to turn it on its side before I could get the mini cd to load.

    I noticed that many of the DAB stations cannot be heard using the Blaze software. For instance Blaze will play BBC Radio 2, but not BBC Radio 3 or BBC Radio Five Live. I guess that’s because both these channels are encoded in unusual bit rate formats? Virtually all of the commercial stations on the National DAB multiplex are silent using Blaze with the exception of Classic FM, presumably for the same reason.

    The Blaze software doesn’t allow you to record DAB for some unknown reason. It would have been easy to “download” the DAB radio signal as an mp2 audio file.

    Has anyone found an alternative to the Blaze DAB tuner that allows you to hear more of the DAB stations and record DAB Radio?

    Has anyone found a way of switching between drivers so you can use the dongle as an sdr tuner and as a TV/ DAB tuner? I’ve tried plugging the dongle into different USB ports, but my computer always ‘prefers’ the sdr driver no matter which USB Port I use.

    Thanks guys

    Reply
  28. Simon says:
    3 April 2014 at 04:33

    Hi,
    Ive bought loads of these and find the odd one has its sensitivity down a bit. Still works but not is fiesty as the rest.

    A tip to share also about the rather low performance antenna which comes with a mini magmount. Dont waste your time with it, chop the cable say ten inches from the mini mcx connector and solder your own usable sized connector onto chopped end, BNC chassis socket or SO239. Then link it to decent antenna for the outside world.

    In SDR sharp also adjust the gain to suit your environment and monitor by colour density on the waterfall display.

    73 Si…

    Reply
  29. M0PZT says:
    12 April 2014 at 11:00

    Well, almost a year on and it’s amazing how often I find myself using this little gadget. I’ve found that I get coverage to about 24.2MHz before it goes “silent”. It makes a great reference RX with my HF Vertical, especially when 10m is open and I want to record a few minutes of activity across a wide range. I’ve not touched SDRSharp in ages and prefer HDSDR, the recording interface is a joy to use and the scroll-wheel tuning is “always-on”. The layout is configurable, too.

    I’m almost at the stage where a Funcube Dongle seems like a good idea, but not just yet :)

    Reply
  30. Geoff Boyce M1AHN says:
    15 April 2014 at 22:18

    I use 2 of these dongles for ADS-B plotting using RTL1090 and ADSBscope, one on a pc in the shack and one on a netbook for portable use. I use a scanner antenna from Maplins, I think it’s an MS100 with BNC fitting, connected to the patch lead which comes with the dongle. This is in turn connected to the pc with a long USB extension cable.
    I’m going to invest in a long 5 metre active USB cable to act as ‘coax’ to prevent any signal loss so I can mast mount it in a plastic pipe. I’ll let you all know the outcome.

    Reply
  31. Keith Moseley says:
    18 April 2014 at 09:19

    Thanks for this really useful webpage. I’ve got RTL1090 and ADSBscope running (after a few glitches as Win 7 would only let me install ADBScope manually, putting the required files in the running folder). Even with the titchy supplied aerial I’m picking up planes, provided I put it by a window. SDR# is proving more of a problem as the version that runs with the dongle keeps crashing after a few seconds. I might try it with Win XP. A note to Mac users, Zadig identifies the dongle as a generic USB tablet if you are running Windows in a virtual machine, such as VirtualBox. However, Mac users Running windows on a dual boot disk (‘bootcamp’)should be OK.

    Reply
  32. Lee Lewis says:
    26 June 2014 at 13:52

    nice site guys, also own the rtl dongle,

    use this for a decent dab player, if your struggling with blaze http://www.ukwtv.de/cms/downloads-aside/281-dab-player-von-andreas-gsinn.html

    Reply
  33. Bob Adlington says:
    26 July 2014 at 13:38

    Hi Pete,

    I am trying to install ADSBscope, but I cannot see an obvious .exe file in the download. The first folder that I have is adsb-all and I searched the subsequent folders. Have I downloaded the correct software?

    Thanks,

    Bob.
    M0BOB..

    Reply
    1. Pete M0PSX says:
      27 July 2014 at 17:31

      Hi Bob,

      I agree – it’s not obvious. Go to the folder /abdb_all/pc_software/adsbscope/27/ – The file is adsbscope27_16384.exe

      Pete

      Reply
  34. Bob Adlington says:
    27 July 2014 at 20:25

    Thanks Pete..

    Reply
  35. biggles1998 says:
    28 July 2014 at 08:44

    these devices a a super versitile solution for people on a budget, i picked up one a little while ago for ADSB etc, the antenna is a little less to be desired so i made up a colineer with sections of RG58 inside a small plastic tube, i ended up using about 10 small cut sections of coax and arranged them in a clasic coliner approach..at the roof line this picked up aircraft from up to 100miles away.. and for WXsat the are a good tool also pluged into my 2m amp and the turnstyle ant i can get all the wxsat images pretty sharp.. bar the paging interferance i get at my location.. it s definet recommended buy…

    Reply
  36. dakka says:
    29 July 2014 at 19:26

    Hi. I have dongle 73e pinnacle pctv but I can’t use it as RTL-SDR please help me

    Reply
    1. Pete M0PSX says:
      29 July 2014 at 20:47

      As far as I can tell, that dongle doesn’t havce a suitable chipset, so can’t be used as an SDR.

      Reply
  37. Ty Smith says:
    14 September 2014 at 16:08

    Hi Pete,

    great article, well explained.
    Amazing how much amusement you can get from just £10.Just starting out in the amateur Radio crowd, this was a great way to start.
    thanks
    Ty

    Reply
  38. David says:
    6 November 2014 at 18:04

    Hi Pete, Thanks for an excellent article. My laptop runs Windows 8. Could you recommend a couple of current dongles that will play well with that OS.

    Reply
  39. m0ans says:
    1 December 2014 at 12:55

    Thanks very much for this website and the comments section.

    All very informative and well presented. A pleasure to work through and digest.

    I’d never really looked at SDR dongles before, but thanks to being directed to Essex Ham, I got a really useful leg-up.

    73 de m0ans (Adrian)

    Reply
  40. Barry Stoll says:
    3 December 2014 at 14:23

    Has anyone tried the Realtek USB SDR Dongle with Linux Ubuntu 14.04 operating system

    Reply
    1. LHT says:
      24 April 2015 at 09:47

      Have you had any luck with this? I want to do the same.

      Reply
    2. LHT says:
      24 April 2015 at 23:12

      Got as far as installing gnuradio and GQRX but am getting errors. Could be because I don’t have an equivalent step to installing zadig drivers – something to do with configuring the dongle itself? If anyone comes across a guide to getting this working on ubuntu linux please share, I’m keen to try but currently stuck.

      Reply
      1. LHT says:
        25 May 2015 at 10:32

        Getting further, and sharing in case this is of use to anyone. I am now no longer getting errors, but I’m still doing something wrong. But scroll down to the bottom of this page for Linux instructions and driver info. If anyone gets this working, let me know. I’m close, there’s just still something I’m missing.

        http://www.rtl-sdr.com/tag/zadig/

        Reply
  41. M0PZT says:
    3 December 2014 at 20:37

    For those who like to tinker (or can’t stretch to the Funcube Dongle) – The direct-sampling DLL works rather well with SDR# I was able to tune down to 40m with acceptable results on my HF dipole. Details (and the source) of the DLL are here: http://www.rtl-sdr.com/new-experimental-r820t-rtl-sdr-driver-tunes-13-mhz-lower/

    Here’s a direct link to a pre-compiled DLL: Just place this in your SDR# program folder (renaming the existing one so can roll-back, if required) and launch the program.

    Reply
  42. Jon says:
    6 December 2014 at 16:13

    Hi has anyone got a realtek DVB-T like the picture,going on LinuxMint17,(Ubuntu based) apart from Windoz7 which i do have (dual boot) with Win7
    ,just use win 7 for DXLabs/jt65-hf or wsjt-x. so has anyone done it.Help please.73`s Jon

    Reply
    1. LHT says:
      24 April 2015 at 09:48

      Have you had any joy with this? I’m also looking for a way to sent the dongle up with Ubuntu Linux

      Reply
  43. jon says:
    27 February 2015 at 11:51

    After reading about the use of a dongle up a pole,withe 23cms yagi. going to try the same stunt here have ordered the long usb cable.And going to make a 23cms quagi they are quick to build.
    Just to see what happens if not down to 70cms and put the Parabeam made by J beams.
    I also found an artical on low cost relays for masthead preamps and been tested over here. so getting 4 of the bliters!.
    73`s jon`CCL.
    Will try to get to chelmsford meeting,looks interesting.

    Reply
  44. malcolm says:
    15 March 2015 at 00:43

    I keep on getting the following message,Cannot access RTL device ?

    Reply
  45. John says:
    5 June 2015 at 14:54

    I bought one of these 10 months ago from Amazon, but I wasn’t convinced of its authenticity as a genuine KEEDOX item. I sent the company an email requesting info, but it went unanswered.
    Today I finally installed it, making sure it was on a PC with nothing ‘sensitive’ on it and after installing the BlazeTV software and using the provided serial nimber, I got a message saying it was suspected counterfeit, and the serial number had already been used several times on other PCs.
    I’ve not yet tried other software, but please be careful with this item – it may not always be what you think – and with the increase in ‘spy’ hardware from the far East, better sfae than sorry. 73.

    Reply
  46. Hugh Doherty says:
    22 July 2015 at 18:01

    Dear Sir,
    After reading your page I bought one of these devices. I have one question – do the LEDs on your device light up? Mine don’t and I get no signal at any frequency. The supplier says that the LEDs wont light up so I fail to see why they are fitted!
    I would appreciate any info.
    Many thanks,
    Hugh

    Reply
  47. chris_debian M6BSN says:
    5 August 2015 at 20:10

    These leads may also be useful. I’m going to purchase a bundle from Amazon, but as a newbie, am not sure which aerial I’ll need to buy or make, so whether it will be a PL259 or BNC, I’m uncertain.

    http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MCX-Right-Angled-Male-to-SO239-PL259-UHF-Female-Pigtail-Cable-RTL2832-SDR-/121697526984?hash=item1c55bce4c8

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Female-Right-Angle-Cable-Adapter/dp/B00VJSHBK4/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1438801081&sr=8-7&keywords=mcx+bnc

    Thanks,

    Chris.

    Reply
    1. chris_debian M6BSN says:
      5 August 2015 at 20:17

      Also,

      http://linuxtracker.org/index.php?page=torrent-details&id=cf412240ffcaad6edaace0a2bca0ca410d2ac353&_m=3n.004f.1425.ea0ao00hou.t5w

      Reply
  48. kitd says:
    18 August 2015 at 09:18

    Just got this working with a Keedox dongle. Great fun, thanks!

    BTW, the latest version of SDR# contains a tool called ADSBSharp which performs the same role as RTL1090, while the latest ADSBscope has a preset for ADSB#. So RTL1090 is no longer needed separately.

    Reply
  49. jim says:
    2 January 2016 at 14:18

    anyonr know why i get sdrsharo is not a valid win32 app ?
    cheers jim

    Reply
    1. jim says:
      2 January 2016 at 14:22

      sorry it shoud have said
      anyone know why i get sdrsharp is not a valid win32 app ?
      i have tryed it on 3 pc running win732 bit win764 bit and xp 32bit
      all with the notice
      cheers jim

      Reply
  50. james says:
    9 February 2016 at 08:52

    HI

    I purchased this SDR but the signal I get from the supplied aerial is terrible. I would like some kind of aerial in the loft that can receive a broad range of frequencies throughout the spectrum. I’m not sure how much I am going to get into this so I don’t want to spend a fortune to start with. In the future this may change.

    Basically what’s a good all rounder aerial.

    Thanks

    Reply
  51. james says:
    17 March 2016 at 15:26

    it sounds like a driver problem good old windows that started this off

    any of you lotremeber the BBC computers?

    Reply
  52. Nigel says:
    11 April 2016 at 18:02

    Thinking about buying a dongle..what is the best for vhf,airband?hf any help would be most greatful Thanks..Nigel…you can email me please fifty2day@gmail.com..

    Reply
    1. Pete M0PSX says:
      11 April 2016 at 18:29

      What’s your budget Nigel?

      Reply
  53. Rob says:
    6 July 2016 at 18:28

    Hi there, I’m new to these topics… I have just got a scanner to get into airband listening, however once I discovered ADSB can be received and flight tracking I have been looking some more… :)

    Couple of questions if I may
    Can I get a dongle that will perform like a flight scanner for a PC? load freq’s to scan and have software to run / display it?
    Can I get a dongle or RPi box that will handle both airband and ADSB from external aerials, I have seen that the RPI can be left in the loft close to the aerial and on mains power, broadcasting on Wifi..

    Thanks in advance, great website by the way.

    Reply
  54. David says:
    28 March 2017 at 12:12

    Got one of the T2 types, the driver installation for XP worked well via the zadig_xp.exe, it saw my blue dongle all seemed to go well. But like Jim, when I run SDRSharp.exe my computer throws up an error message saying “SDRSharp.exe is not a valid Win32 application.”… drat!
    I notice many of the other exe files also throws up the same error. I downloaded version 1533 of SDR# (28th March 2017) – the files seem to be the right ones for XP, sdrsharp-x86

    any clues? thanks

    Reply
  55. David says:
    28 March 2017 at 16:12

    I have made progress, I finally found a statement that said 1533 is not for XP, got directed here: http://hdsdr.de/faq.html and got a spectrum analyser package and it all worked! Nice one. (feels abit of a twit now)

    Reply

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