Anyone into RTL-SDR as a hobby? Need help with dongle purchase

sandclouds

sandclouds

Beginner
Hey folks,

Just wanted to ask if anyone here is into RTL-SDR as a hobby (listening to radio signals, decoding ADS-B, NOAA satellites, etc.)? I've recently been getting interested in it and was looking to buy a basic RTL-SDR dongle to get started.

I noticed that on Amazon India, the dongles are almost 2x the price compared to what they're sold for in the US Amazon or even other international sites. Just wanted to check — where did you guys buy yours from? Any reliable and affordable options for shipping to India?

Would love to hear your experiences or suggestions. Thanks in advance!
 
Man, I always wanted to get into the HAM stuff, it's so cool that you can talk over radio and the waves just travel directly to the receiver at other end of the planet, no internet, satellite involved, it's crazy.

I already have too many hobbies to manage, I think I will squeeze this one in at some point in future.

I encourage you as you move forward, just log everything here, what you learned, what worked, what didn't worked, your setup, regardless of anyone replying or not, use this place as your logging area, cause HAM is cool who knows maybe someone at later date joins you.

Anyways post the link of the item, what you are looking for?
 
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I had purchased directly from AliExpress back in the day and the entire set was $40 or so. It was nice listening in to tower and approach communication as I am near the airport or to tune into ADS-B to get free premium membership from Flightaware or FlightRadar24. Could also receive the transmission from Meteor M2 for weather besides using it as an AM/FM radio. The main limitation is that these dongles are single frequency tuners, so have to use them for one use case at a time. Eventually sold it off after a year or so as I was not going anywhere with it, but it is quite cool to start off with.
 
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I had an ADSB setup but it is not active now. Fab-to-Lab may have better prices for RTL-SDR dongles. For listening to communications it is better to go for a RSP1a or similar SDRs. These will be bit expensive compared to RTL-SDR dongles. Matching antenna is important for good reception with RTL-SDR.
 
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Heisen said:
Man, I always wanted to get into the HAM stuff, it's so cool that you can talk over radio and the waves just travel directly to the receiver at other end of the planet, no internet, satellite involved, it's crazy.

I already have too many hobbies to manage, I think I will squeeze this one in at some point in future.

I encourage you as you move forward, just log everything here, what you learned, what worked, what didn't worked, your setup, regardless of anyone replying or not, use this place as your logging area, cause HAM is cool who knows maybe someone at later date joins you.

Anyways post the link of the item, what you are looking for?
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sure i will share in future
I had an ADSB setup but it is not active now. Fab-to-Lab may have better prices for RTL-SDR dongles. For listening to communications it is better to go for a RSP1a or similar SDRs. These will be bit expensive compared to RTL-SDR dongles. Matching antenna is important for good reception with RTL-SDR.
Click to expand...

i agree but its really expensive for just getting started.

The RSP1A has been discontinued. Production ended in 2023. It has been superceded by the newer metal-case RSP1B which can be found here: RSP1B – SDRplay

have you purchase from fab to lab is it good?
 
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sandclouds said:
i agree but its really expensive for just getting started.
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Radio communications is an expensive hobby unless you take the DIY route, even that is not exactly cheap. I bought several RTL-SDR for different purposes and my experience with them has not been very good. RTL-SDR cannot receive below 25 Mhz without an up-converter. When you add the cost of an up-converter, it becomes almost as expensive as the SDRPlay SDRs. If you dont need HF then it might be just ok, but the dynamic range is much better with SDRPlay or AirSpy SDRs.
sandclouds said:
have you purchase from fab to lab is it good?
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I have bought from Fab-to-Lab a few times, before you place the order, call them and confirm the items are really in stock. If they are not, the lead times can be long because of customs issues etc, not really in their control
.
 
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