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Your cart is empty.If you've ever been curious about software defined radio (SDR), this USB stick is the easiest way possible to have fun with a powerful, configurable receiver. Packed with the powerful RTL2832U and R820T tuner, it can tune into signals from 24MHz to 1850MHz. That means you can use a computer (with Windows, Mac, or Linux) to tune into: FM Radio, AM signals (but not AM radio), CW (morse code!), unencrypted radio signals (such as those used by many police and fire departments), POCSAG pagers, and more.
We plugged it into our windows computer and used Zadig+SDR# to poke around and listen to the wireless world around us, it's lots of fun!
Please visit adafruit website for more information
Comes with a very compact (but very good quality) RTL2832+R820T module with an MCX RF connector, and a basic 'DVB-T' antenna (used to tune into DVB TV signals, not available in the US but will work in Europe or any country with DVB-T broadcasts) as well as an IR remote which isn't terribly useful. The antenna seems OK for basic experimentation. We also have some MCX to BNC and MCX to SMA adapters (see below) which you may want to use to connect a better antenna.
Please note! Depending on your location, listening in to some radio signals may not be legal. So consider this your warning to check before 'accidentally' tuning into naughty frequencies.
Pen Name
Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2021
Great for having a peek at local radio waves
KitKat
Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2019
With the right software, it works well. The range is what you'd expect for the price.
Susan F Bishop
Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2019
Have used it on both linux and windows, and for listening to FM radio, our local control tower, and our local ham repeaters and more. Works as advertised. Not too hard to set up with GQRX or something similar.
Iris Doucette
Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2019
Not as big as it appears to be in the pictures. It’s 6 inches tall. Did not improve my fm reception at all. Very disappointed.
G1001000
Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2019
This was a quick and easy way to start learning about SDRs. I was able to install the software on a Raspberry Pi then shortly later I was listening to radio stations. For learning the range of 24MHz to 1850MHz seemed to be sufficient.
bert64
Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2018
its a 5 year old device with evaluation software
Jonathan P. Martin
Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2018
This was a cheap way to test out what SDR is. I got it to do a project I found on the Hackaday website. I wanted to use it with a Raspberry Pi to pull in traffic maps from iHeartRadio stations. Turns out that project wasn't specifically for the raspberry pi, but Adafruit did have another project on their site that was very useful in testing it out and showing how to work with it in Python.If you are interested in this but are on the fence, go to the Adafruit site and check out the projects that use it. I opted to purchase from Amazon due to the faster, cheaper shipping with Prime.
S. Jackson
Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2017
I have a couple of these. They work great with Stratux on 1090 and 978 as well as FlightAware and FlightRadar24. I even pick up UAT (ground-based services aimed at aviators) from a nearby airport.
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