NooElec NESDR SMArt HF Bundle: 100kHz-1.7GHz Software Defined Radio Set for HF/UHF/VHF including RTL-SDR, Assembled Ham It Up Upconverter, Balun, Adapters & Cables

Great little device.... some assembly instructions would have been nice but youtube had all the answers. In my opinion the manufacturer would do well to include some freeware just so folks could get it up and running right away and not have to spend hours searching the internet but once you have it sorted out its a great device to work with.I opted for the whole bundle to include the "Ham it up box" because I wanted access to the ham bands.... and it works really well.... with a decient antena....and when you have figured out that you have to modify the software to operate on those frequencies.All in all.... a good piece of kit.... have to say though...the dongle does run a little hot for my likings ...... but so far so good.Ariel wise..... depends largely on your location... if you can erect an outside ariel....DO SO !!.... unfortunately I am stuck with indoor ariels but with a little research on youtube I was able to construct a really good sensitive unit that does the job nicely.....spend some time researching ariels and how they work .... it will pay off and you will end up with a neat little dongle that turns into a powerfull and versitile srd radio.

This is a very nice little starter kit for VHF/UHF/HF SDR.Over the years I've looked for various ways to combine my old late 1980s/early 1990s hobby of scanning and SWLing with my lifetime love of computers, but all the solutions were either technically problematic (powerful computers and sensitive receivers aren't the best of friends) or ridiculously costly.Not any more. Not only are kits like this inexpensive for what they deliver, the availability of software like Spyserver combined with a cheap Raspberry Pi or similar allows you to keep all the RF stuff far away from the electromagnetic maelstrom of the desktop computer, and just enjoy the experience of dipping in and out of nearly 2GHz of spectrum from the comfort of your favourite office chair. I've been waiting 30 years for this.Make no mistake, even armed with some prior knowledge and research there is a very steep learning curve with this gear as various other reviews both positive and negative will testify. Even if you follow all of the FAQs and YouTube tutorials and dedicate fifty browser tabs to searching, there may be times when you come unstuck. I certainly did. But if you have a decent grounding (pardon the pun) in radio and computer technology and aren't afraid to tinker and search, you will be rewarded. The hardware and software will do pretty much anything you ask of it, as long as you ask in the right way...The only operational gripe is having to swap between my exterior HF and wideband antennas when switching the Ham-It-Up's conversion on or off. This isn't the hardware's fault of course, just a consequence of the very different requirements of HF, but it's worth noting as it's obviously one of the few things that can't be done in software. It's especially annoying if your hardware is remote from your workstation. At some point I'm almost certainly going to buy a second one of these, dongle only, so I can dedicate it permanently to the HF bands and just switch sources in SDR# which has fast become my software of choice.The only thing that makes me question the long-term quality of this kit (hence the one-star drop; it would only drop half a star if I could) is that one of the centre pins of the pigtail connector broke off in the dongle the first time I removed it. It wasn't the end of the world -- it turned out I didn't need the pigtail and I was able to easily remove the errant pin from the dongle's socket -- but it gave me pause to think about other possible quality issues. SMA aren't always the most robust connectors in the world, but I'd expect even the poorest connector to survive more than one insertion.Still, at time of writing everything else is working fine, and in the space of a long, sometimes exasperating but ultimately rewarding, weekend I've gone from knowing next to nothing about SDR to having the sort of PC-based wideband receiving setup I've been dreaming about for decades. Isn't technology wonderful?

The kit arrived and the same day I attached it to my Android Phone, jumped in the car and minutes later was receiving ADSB signals from aircraft up to 170 miles away. A further 5 minutes later I was listening to Shanwick on HF USB. The only tiny issue is that the aerial proved for ADSB is great but there is no HF aerial provided and I am struggling to find a suitable aerial for good HF reception. However an old VHF mag-mount is doing a reasonable job.

Nice bit of kit. Going to take a while to learn the in's and out's but it's a learning curve. Few good videos on YouTube to help get you set up. Still confused about what the two black Aerials are used for but I'm sure I'll work it out in the next week or so.

I can only comment on the VHF/UHF side of the scanner as the HF converter crashed my computer. I downloaded the drivers and HDSDR software and connected it to a Skyscan loft antenna which works fine with my other radios it pulled in some nice clear stations but nowhere near as sensitive as even my cheapest dedicated radio. It is not supplied with any instructions just a link to the drivers. I had to download a separate DLL file in addition to the HDSDR software in order to get it working at all - no mention of that little gem! for nearly £90 I expect it to work out of the box more or less. The VHF/UHF dongle gets quite warm which is normal but you have to remember all that power going to make that little dongle hot is travelling straight through your USB computer port. There is quite a mess of cables when it is setup which looks unsightly and makes it hard to install into a permanent position. What's needed is one box, one USB cable, one power cable, two antenna sockets and definitely no switches.

Had it for around 3 weeks and fallen to bits had to be re- soldered it was doing the job also when you use hamitup you have to keep trying offset to get it working if it wasn't for youtube I wouldn't have worked it out also no instructions at all

Need to do a fair bit of research on software etc depending on what you want to use it for, but performing very well for me

Good piece of kit once you decide which software to use it with. My only complaint is there is only one antenna socket so you have to swap antennas over if you want to switch between vhf and hf operation as well as a little switch to turn the ham it up converter on or off. Also some software is complicated to add the 125mhz offset required for the converter. Receiver gets very hot too. It doesn't receive as well as a proper radio bit good for the money. Come with good extras like the long wire balun. The other antennas are quite poor tho and not obvious what they are for