Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] Alternates to USRP

[Karan Talasila]

Hi All,
         Thank you all for replying..

@Fosforo I will check the reddit..

@Martin I checked the gnuradio site. I understand  the quality issues and limitations of a usb dongle of sdr. But my main intention is to not leave working on gnuradio.So I was looking for alternatives to work and learn on my own. I have no specific project in mind right now. I feel that if you leave working on this platform for a few months, you will take a long time to get back again because of the rate at which changes happen. So just wanted to be in touch with it.

@Ossman Thanks. I will buy one of these two and try.

@Marcus Thanks for a detailed explanation on the performance limits and limitations for usb based sdr's. I understand it better now.

On Sun, Jan 20, 2013 at 12:31 PM, Marcus D. Leech <address@hidden> wrote:

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.

_______________________________________________
Discuss-gnuradio mailing list
address@hidden
https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss-gnuradio

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

_______________________________________________
Discuss-gnuradio mailing list
address@hidden
https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss-gnuradio

-- 
Regards
Karan Talasila