Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] Alternates to USRP

[Marcus D. Leech]

On 01/20/2013 10:49 AM, Michael Ossmann wrote:
> On Sat, Jan 19, 2013 at 07:10:31PM -0500, Karan Talasila wrote:
> > http://www.amazon.com/DVB-T-Receiver-Low-Cost-Software-Defined/dp/B008XFDHWW/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1358639740&sr=8-4&keywords=rtl+sdr
> >
> > http://www.amazon.com/Newsky-Receiver-Low-Cost-Software-Defined/dp/B008DCBS94/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1358639740&sr=8-2&keywords=rtl+sdr
> Either one of those is fine.  NooElec is a reputable seller.
>
> You can see the difference in operating frequency range for the E4000
> vs. FC0013 here:
>
> http://sdr.osmocom.org/trac/wiki/rtl-sdr
>
> I have heard that the FC0013 has somewhat better receive sensitivity
> than the E4000, but I have not verified that.  The E4000 has a wider
> operating frequency range.
>
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Something to note about FC0013 based dongles is that while the FC0013 
has an L-band input, it's typically *NOT CONNECTED* on any of the
  dongles out there.

The E4000 is  great tuner, but out of production now, due to the company 
who made it going out of business.  The up and coming
  logical replacement in the market for the E4000 is the R820T, which 
covers a continuous frequency range of 24Mhz to about 1.5GHz, with
  sensitivity falling off precipitously above 1.3GHz, but overall a 
very nice tuner.  Again, eBay has them in two different physical formats.

But these things aren't, in any sense, comparable to a USRP in many 
dimensions.  The maximum no-samples-dropped sample rate is
  only 2.4Msps (even though you can ask for 3.2Msps, the hardware 
starts dropping samples above 2.4Msps).  They have an 8-bit
  ADC, so maximum dynamic range is 48dB.  The decimator inside the 
RTL2832U chip isn't very good, and only really works properly at
  2Msps--alias suppression at other sample rates isn't nearly as good.  
Isolation between the digital side and RF receiver side is poor,
  which means more spurs and higher noise floor than devices that are 
more "purpose built".

But for $10.00 apiece in some cases (patiently waiting for the ebb and 
flow of market-economics on eBay to drive the price down can allow
  you to pick them up for as little as $10.00 apiece), they're a good 
value for cheap experiments.

--
Marcus Leech
Principal Investigator
Shirleys Bay Radio Astronomy Consortium
http://www.sbrac.org