my question is whether the jump is actually worth it for casual use or if im just falling into the upgrade trap. i mostly run SDR# on windows and occasionally fire up GQRX on a raspberry pi when im feeling adventurous. not doing anything serious like decoding weak signal digital modes or serious spectrum analysis, mostly just listening and occasionally logging aircraft with dump1090.

anyone actually made this switch and noticed a real difference day to day or is the RTL-SDR v3 good enough for what im describing. i dont want to spend the money and then realize i cant tell the difference at my noise floor anyway

ive been going back and forth between picking up an SDRplay RSPdx or just jumping straight to a HackRF One. the price gap isnt huge if you consider what youre getting but theyre pretty different animals from what i can tell. the SDRplay seems more like a serious receiver and the HackRF is more of a do-everything swiss army knife thing but not quite as sensitive on receive. is that a fair read on it? im not planning to transmit anything with it, i just want better dynamic range and actual coverage down to like 1khz or whatever the RSPdx specs say.

also running SDR# right now on windows and wondering if ill have driver headaches switching to either of these. ive heard the SDRplay API is pretty solid but the HackRF on windows can be a bit of a pain depending on the software. anyone gone through this comparison recently?

main thing i notice with the RTL-SDR on HF using the direct sampling mode is just how noisy everything feels. like i can hear stuff but its buried and i find myself cranking gain until its a mess. running SDR# on windows and ive tried SDR++ which i actually like better but same hardware limitations obviously. does the RSP1A genuinely clean things up that much or is a chunk of that just my antenna situation. running a random wire out the window which i know isnt ideal.

also curious if anyone has tried running SDRangel with either of these, i messed with it briefly and got confused by the interface but maybe im missing something

been looking at the SDRplay RSPdx and it seems like the obvious next step but its like 8-9x the price depending where you find it. ive also seen people mention the HackRF but from what i understand thats more of a transmit capable thing and the receive performance isnt actually as good as the SDRplay? someone correct me if im wrong on that.

mostly want to use it with SDR# or maybe HDSDR, and i do run a modest noise floor at home (semi-rural, not terrible). is the SDRplay actually worth jumping to or am i better off just getting a better antenna setup first before spending money on the radio itself. genuinely not sure which is the bigger bottleneck right now

mostly i want to do better HF monitoring, maybe some airband, and eventually i want to play with decoding some of the utility stuff like weatherfax and maybe WSPR reception just to see how my antenna is doing. i dont do transmitting so the HackRF's TX capability is kinda wasted on me but the frequency range is appealing. the RSP1A has way better dynamic range from what ive read and the 14-bit ADC vs the HackRF's 8-bit is apparently a big deal on crowded bands

anyone actually run both or switched from one to the other? SDR# and SDRuno both seem fine from what ive seen on youtube but i spend most of my time in SDR++ now anyway so software isnt really the issue. just trying to figure out if the RSP1A is actually noticeably better in practice or if its one of those things where the specs look great on paper but in real use its not that different

ive read a bunch of reviews but they all feel kind of written by marketing people if that makes sense. just wondering if anyone here has actually used both and can tell me if the RSP1B really does pull weaker signals out compared to the V3 with the direct sampling hack. the dynamic range thing keeps coming up in specs but i honestly dont fully understand how that translates to real world use.

not opposed to spending the money if its actually going to make a difference but i dont want to buy something just to say i have it

so now im looking at either jumping to a HackRF One or going with the SDRplay RSP1B. the price difference isnt huge, hackrf runs around 300-350 for a clone or 400ish for the real Great Scott Gadgets one, RSP1B is like 100-120. but obviously theyre pretty different things. HackRF can transmit which is appealing even though i dont really have a use case for it right now, and it covers a ridiculous range. RSP1B seems like it would just be a straight up better receiver though, 12-bit vs 8-bit, better sensitivity, the RSP series has a decent reputation.

mostly i want better HF performance and cleaner reception overall. not planning to do any serious transmitting with SDR, i have my FT-991A for that. anyone been down this road? is the RSP1B just the obvious choice here or am i missing something about the HackRF

anyway i was looking at the SDRplay RSP1A which is like $110 or so and supposedly has way better dynamic range and a proper frontend vs the RTL-SDR which everyone knows is basically a TV tuner chip doing something it wasnt designed for. but then i see people saying you can get a HackRF for not much more and that covers transmit too which the RSP1A doesnt do. i dont really need to transmit from the SDR right now but maybe eventually?

anyone actually compared the RSP1A to an RTL-SDR on like 40m or 80m and noticed a real difference in what you can pull out of the noise? or am i just going to be disappointed either way without a better antenna

but ive been reading more about the RSP1A and the specs look a lot better on paper — 1kHz to 2GHz, 12-bit ADC vs the 8-bit on the RTL, better dynamic range etc. the price isnt insane either, like $120ish depending where you find it.

question is whether the real-world difference is actually noticeable for general HF monitoring and stuff like that or if im just going to end up with a more expensive dongle that still needs a good antenna to do anything useful. i already have a decent wire antenna out back so thats not the issue. been using SDR# mostly but also tried SDRangel a bit. anyone made that jump and have a take on it?

been looking at upgrading and kind of torn between the SDRplay RSPdx and a HackRF One. i know they're pretty different tools but hear me out — i mostly want better HF receive, maybe some light transmit experimentation if i ever get around to it, but receive is the priority. the RSPdx seems like the obvious choice for pure rx given the specs and the 14bit ADC but the HackRF does tx which is tempting even if its only at like -10 to 0 dBm or whatever.

anyone actually used both or switched from one to the other? im running SDR++ most of the time now, moved off SDRuno because it kept crashing on my linux box. wondering if the RSPdx driver situation on linux is decent these days too because i remember it being kind of a pain a while back.

main thing i want to do more of is HF. the RTL with the direct sampling mod works but its... not great. lots of noise, dynamic range seems to fall apart when theres strong signals nearby. was on 40m last night and could barely pull anything out with a strong broadcast station like two MHz away just absolutely stomping everything.

so is the RSP1A actually meaningfully better on HF or is it one of those things where youre paying for specs on paper and the real world performance is kind of meh. also curious if SDRuno is actually decent or if most people just use it with SDR# or HDSDR anyway. i dont mind paying like $120 or whatever but id rather not if the dongle with a better antenna would get me most of the way there.

SDR++ advantages: Lower CPU usage (~15% vs 25% in GQRX), smoother waterfall on wide spans, better plugin ecosystem developing. The new Low-IF mode fixed the center spike issues I had with SDRplay units.

GQRX advantages: More mature, better AGC implementation, superior noise blanker, rock-solid stability. Remote control capabilities are excellent.

For casual monitoring and weak signal work, still preferring GQRX. But SDR++ is impressive for spectrum analysis and multiple VFO monitoring. Anyone else doing similar comparisons? Particularly interested in experiences with GNU Radio integration differences.

my main uses are just general HF listening through a upconverter, watching the 2m/70cm bands, and occasionally i try to decode some APRS or NOAA weather fax. nothing super serious. im not doing any transmitting with it obviously. the RTL noise floor has been bugging me on HF especially, even with the Ham It Up upconverter i still get some birdies and the dynamic range just feels kinda mushy compared to what people describe with better hardware.

has anyone actually done a side by side or switched from one to the other? is the SDRplay difference noticeable enough on HF that itd actually improve what im doing or am i just gonna end up with the same limitations because my antenna situation isnt great anyway. running a random wire off the back of the house right now, maybe 40 feet of it.

my main use case is just monitoring 40m and 80m during the evenings, some WSPR decoding, and occasionally poking around the MW broadcast band. not doing anything crazy. running SDR# on windows and ive played around with GQRX a little but keep going back to SDR# mostly out of habit i think.

anyone actually made that jump and regretted it or thought it was worth it? the RSP1A specifically, not the RSP2 or the dx version, those are way out of what i want to spend right now

been looking at either the SDRplay RSP1A or just jumping straight to a HackRF One. the price gap is real though — RSP1A is like $120ish and the HackRF is pushing $300-350 for a decent one (or like $120 for a clone but i dunno how much i trust those). main thing im trying to figure out is whether the HackRF transmit capability is actually useful for a ham or if its more of a SDR experimenter thing. i have my tech license and studying for general so TX below 30mhz isnt happening for me yet anyway but still thinking ahead.

mostly interested in HF shortwave, maybe some satellite stuff down the road, and just general wideband monitoring. dont really have a specific project in mind, which is maybe the wrong reason to spend more money but here we are. anyone gone through this same upgrade path?

my question is really whether its actually worth the $120 or whatever they're going for now. i know the dynamic range specs look way better on paper but i've also seen people say the SDRuno software is kind of clunky compared to SDR# or even CubicSDR. does anybody run one of these with SDR++ or is everyone just stuck with SDRuno? i tried to find a straight answer on the reddit but everything is like 3 years old at this point

also not really interested in HackRF for this use case, i dont need to transmit, just want cleaner receive on 40m and 80m mostly. running a random wire up in the attic which is probably part of the problem too but thats a separate issue

anyway i started looking at upgrading and now im kind of stuck between the SDRplay RSP1A and a HackRF One. the price difference isnt massive but its not nothing either. the HackRF does TX which sounds cool but im already licensed and i have real radios for that so i dont know if i actually need it. the RSP1A spec sheet looks way more impressive on paper for receive — 12 bit ADC vs the 8 bit on the hackrf, better noise figure, hardware notch filters. but i dont really know how much of that translates to real world difference sitting at my desk tuning around.

anyone actually used both or switched from one to the other? im mostly doing HF monitoring with an upconverter right now and some VHF/UHF stuff, not any serious TX experiments. just want cleaner receive honestly.

been looking at the RSP1A as an upgrade, the 14-bit ADC and better front end filtering sounds like it would help a lot with that. but im also wondering if i should just save up more and look at the HackRF instead even though i know that's more of a transmit-capable thing and not really optimized for receive. i mostly just want cleaner HF reception, some medium wave DX on nights when the band's good, maybe decode some digimodes off the air passively.

anybody gone from RTL-SDR to RSP1A and actually noticed a real difference in a noisy RF environment? my QTH is suburban so there's a fair amount of crud on the lower bands. running SDR# right now but ive been messing with SDRuno a bit since that's what the RSP stuff uses natively.

I bought it for TX capability and wide frequency range, but if RX performance is this poor, wondering if I should have gotten an RSP1A instead. Anyone running both units who can comment on VHF/UHF receiver sensitivity? Using GQRX on Ubuntu 22.04, latest firmware 2021.03.1.

Maybe my expectations were too high, but for $300+ I expected better than a $30 dongle. Running out of antenna connector to try different software combinations.

been looking at upgrading and im kind of torn between the SDRplay RSP1A and just going full send on a HackRF One. price difference is real — RSP1A is what, around $120ish, and the HackRF is pushing $350-400 depending on where you get it. the HackRF can transmit which is cool i guess but im not sure i actually need that. i mostly just want to receive better across a wider range with cleaner noise floor.

anyone actually done this comparison or gone from RTL-SDR to either of these? curious what the real world difference feels like in SDRuno or SDR# or whatever youre running. and does the RSP1A actually do 1kHz to 2GHz as cleanly as they advertise or is there fine print i should know about

The RSPdx specs look impressive (HDR mode, better ADC resolution) but I'm wondering about real-world performance for weak signal work. Anyone doing EME with either of these units? My preamp chain is already optimized (0.3 dB NF at 144 MHz) so I need the SDR to not add significant degradation.

Software preference is GQRX or CubicSDR for simplicity, though I could learn GNU Radio if there's a compelling reason.

However, when I run 'SoapySDRUtil --find', no SDRplay devices are enumerated. Downgrading to GNU Radio 3.9 resolves the issue, but I need the newer features in 3.10 for my weak-signal work.

Anyone successfully running RSP1A with the latest GNU Radio build? I'm wondering if this is a SoapySDR compatibility issue or something deeper in the driver stack.

main thing i do is just wideband monitoring, some WSPR decoding with WSJT-X piped through SDR#, occasionally ill run it through SDR-Console when i want the waterfall to not look like garbage. not really doing anything serious, just like to see whats happening across the bands.

the direct sampling mode on the RTL-SDR always felt like a compromise to me, like yeah i can hear stuff on 40m but the dynamic range is obviously not great when theres strong local stations around. wondering if the RSP1B actually makes a meaningful real-world difference or if its one of those things that looks good on paper and in practice youre like oh its slightly better i guess.

anyone whos actually used both and not just read the spec sheet?