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Post by Shazepe III on Jan 10, 2014 6:46:57 GMT
I wanted to get my own receiver but have little experience outside of an sdr. I also don't wanna spend over $80+
pl-600 and pl-660 seemed like good choices. After discussion with some people on the Twente SDR they might not be so good, since the 600 can't even do USB. Monochrome was also there, and said pl=660 might not even get shortwave, just FM.
Any suggestions?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 10, 2014 9:56:52 GMT
Well, my radio is SUPPOSED to pick up SW but doesn't. It might not be an issue with the radio (since it has good ratings). In my case it might just be my location, where I tried the radio, and just plain operator error.
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Maris
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Post by Maris on Jan 10, 2014 10:44:44 GMT
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 10, 2014 20:07:13 GMT
Get any kind of receiver you want, but it must cost over 20 dollars.It wont pick up any european ransmission since you live in europe.
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Post by Shazepe III on Jan 10, 2014 20:32:24 GMT
Maris, out of all of those, what would you say is best overall?
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Post by zabastov on Jan 11, 2014 1:24:24 GMT
The question of what radio has so many answers, some quite good and some quite bad. But most important to remember, what might be great for someone else might not work at all for you. Portables are an interesting problem. They NEVER work as well as a good desktop and an external antenna, period. Regardless of what some users may claim. However, it generally is not fair to judge a $80 total setup against $600+, either. That does not mean portables are not worth it, just remember the limitations and don't expect world class performance at an entry level price. Using a portable depends on so many variables that are specific to your location. If you are in an RF quiet location, little electrical noise such as out in the country, and outside, a portable might be very decent. If inside a metal or metal and concrete building and in the heart of an industrial area a portable probably will not work at all well. Those are the two extremes, situations in between those is going to have performance, well, in between those Portables can often be improved with an external antenna, but it is also very easy to overload the front end of many portables with a relatively small external antenna. The PL660 works pretty well on HF, at least my copy does, and I have a Degen DE1103 that is pretty good. My Grundig G3 is also OK. Several other portables are around here also. As a general rule I do NOT recommend a portable as a first radio. Yes, I know, many cannot afford something better. My concern is that portables can lead to a new user being disappointed in performance and being turned away form the radio hobby. The new listener should be very aware that a portable is just not going to perform as well as the remote SDRs and some of the remote tuners on Globaltuners do. If it is a portable or nothing, then by all means, get the portable, get hooked on the hobby. Now, there are some very good portables out there. But by the time you look at those the prices approach what you can get an AFEDRI SDR for. I also recommend that new people avoid the USB Dongle + Upconverter combination if possible. Yes, for the money this is a killer combination, but it is not without problems, many of the type that the a new user will not see or catch. For example images, the new user is also often the person who will not know what stations should be on what frequency / band and they will accept the received station frequency as correct, when really it might be very far off. If the new user has a sound card and computer up to the task, and they have access / room for an outside antenna, something like the SoftRock Ensamble II is a much better introduction to the hobby. In can be purchased with the board built for under $100 but still needs a case, and for a total of about $120 you can end up with a very good receiver. It is not going to be a Perseus or Excalibur competitor, but it will be very decent. Of course if you can afford about twice this much the AFEDRI is an excellent performer for the cost. Still not up to the better SDRs, but competing with and in several ways better than the $500 RFSpace SDR-IQ. There ain't no simple answer. You have to define what you want to do, you have to look at where you will do it, and you have to look at budget. If budget is the driving factor then the answer will come quickly. If what you want to do is the driver with budget secondary then the decision is a little harder. Z!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 17, 2014 14:30:10 GMT
Also, consider that there are some cheap kcibo radios...They cost less than 10 euros
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Post by victor on Jan 17, 2014 22:47:51 GMT
about SDR, if you have a laptop with you look at this ( zao.jp/radio/soft66ad/ ) it's a vry good receiver. I've one and it's everytime in my bag... I travel a lot and [moreover] it seems a computer add-on, not a receiver ;-) I got also an AFEDRI and I'm really impressed about performance... I usually use SDR [not really cheap... EM100 / EB500 R&S] but AFEDRI is wonderful! ...my one cent... Victor aka __!__
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