rons wrote:if you have any tablet recommendations I would appreciate them.
I use my SDRplay with these tablets:
HP Stream 8 5801 (1 GB RAM, 32 GB internal storage/C: drive, up to 32 GB optional micro-SD card/D: drive)
WinBook TW800 (1 GB RAM, 16 GB internal storage/C: drive, up to 64 GB optional micro-SD card/D: drive)
WInBook TW100 (2 GB RAM, 32 GB internal storage/C: drive, up to 64 GB optional micro-SD card/D: drive)
The HP tablet only has a micro USB socket, and the two WinBook tablets (sold by MicroCenter, and sometimes they show up on Amazon) each have full-size and micro USB sockets. I would not recommend the TW800, as it doesn't appear to be upgradeable to Windows 10, but the WInBook TW802 8-inch and TW100 10-inch tablets are good ones for this sort of use - and can be upgraded to Windows 10. Both of these have 2 GB RAM and 32 GB internal storage, improvements over the TW800. As with any of these low-end tablets, don't expect to use the SDRplay at its full 8 MHz bandwidth. These tablets can't handle much more than the 1.544 MHz bandwidth from an SDRplay without the reception becoming choppy. The same thing happens with other SDR devices that have more than 2 MHz bandwidth.
These tablets generally come with 1 GB or 2 GB RAM. I have done fine using my SDRplay and HDSDR with tablets that have 1 GB RAM, but I don't try to run more software at the same time. SDR Console is difficult to run in 1 GB RAM, and can run in 2 GB RAM, but you have to disable much of the functionality in that program to get it working on these tablets. When I used to put SDR# on my tablets, it would use more resources when running than HDSDR, plus I preferred the HDSDR interface over SDR#.
Try to avoid tablets that come with just 16 GB internal storage, which is the C: drive under Windows. You can't expand this, so try to get tablets that have at least 32 GB internal storage, and then add the largest micro-SD card you can which becomes the D: drive under Windows. You can install most software on the D: drive, keeping the C: drive free for the operating system, Microsoft stuff, and some programs that must go on the C: drive (the FUNcube Dashboard software is one that cannot be installed on the micro-SD cards of these tablets; it must go on the C: drive).
Good luck!