My new SDR Play

[dosformat]

Hi there.

I would like to share a few words on my new SDR PLAY I purchased from this site.

Now I have been dabbling in software defined radio for a few years now mainly with R2832 TV dongles. I have quite a few actually. A couple that I have modified, put in metal enclosures to help shield it from the noisy environment which is my house. A few which I have used for ADSB monitoring and various other things.

Anyway I left it for 6 months due to life getting in the way and now I have a little bit of time I started to play with SDR again and decided I wanted to upgrade to something a little better without breaking the bank and also have something to listen to HF on the computer without having to use my HF transceivers.

I looked around and spotted a few sdr's on the market for around the same price as the SDR Play so I researched for a while to weigh up the benefits of each SDR radio and what it can do for me. Eventually I settled on the SDR Play for a number of reasons.

The frequency range (which has no gaps) 0.1 - 2.0Ghz, the 8Mhz spectrum size and also the fact I can listen to HF without the need for an up converter (which sold it for me)

So it arrived and immediately I fitted some rubber feet to the bottom of it to stop it sliding of my desk as the cable coming from my antenna is westflex 103 and it is one chunky cable. I fitted it to the computer and was amazed just how easy it was to install the drivers and then put the relevant file to my chosen software. I fired it up and was thrilled to see the wide spectrum it could see and the fact it was pretty much bang on the frequency with hardly any drift. I had to pop out but left it running for six hours and when I came back again to my amazement it was bang on the frequency and it had not drifted! Which is something I hate on the RTL-SDR dongles.

I then had a flick around the 40 meter band and tuned in to a few frequencies and switched on my Kenwood ts-480sat to see the difference.. It was picking up everything my kenwood could pick up and with the added benefit of certain features in the sdr software I got it sounding crisp and clear unlike my Kenwood.

Although I have not had it long and have not really had much time to play with it, the time I have spent on it has been very impressive and for the money I paid I am even more impressed. Its a well built device, quick delivery and a very helpful and welcoming community on here.

If your looking for a wide band software defined radio for an excellent price then look no futher.

Regards

Dos

[pidloop]

Please, which OS are you using? Thanks.

[dosformat]

I am using Windows 10 Home 64 Bit

Regards

Dos

[GasMan]

Hello...

I do believe OMNI-RIG will allow you to use the SDRplay (HDSDR software) 8MHz bandwidth as a point and click interface with that TS480.
Have you tried that yet??

It seems to work fine on the TS-590S. What a neat feature, "parallel tracking radio". Turn the radio dial and HDSDR tracks the SDRplay.
Click on the HDSDR spectrum and the 590 jumps to that frequency. The mouse "thumb wheel" tunes the Kenwood as well.

73,
GasMan