K5ACL wrote this review

[jon]

I started out with the usual cheap dongles everyone is finding these days online, while those were fun to tinker around with, I wanted something that could handle more bandwidth, had better filters, and most importantly a support group! Thank you to the SDRPlay team & SDRPlay Facebook support group, you guys have been great, and your product deserves a 5 star review! This little guy can be tweaked, so don't knock it until you've adjusted your station appropriately. Initially I was using it for shortwave listening with a discone antenna, but found out how to hook it up as a panadapter to my Kenwood TS-590SG, and voila! Instant panadapter through the DRV out port on the back of the radio. No IF tapping, no soldering, no headache!

The SDRPlay is the perfect little accomplice if your radio has this feature. And at the current price of $149, it can't be beat. I wasted $60 on my first RTL setup, wish I would have went with the SDRPlay initially, but it was fun to compare different dongles.

I even tried building a protective metal box around the SDRPlay, just to see how it would help with RFI, but I honestly think it's just me living in an urban setting. It didn't really help, but did look cool

Ensure you are using a HIGH quality USB A to USB B cable with this device. Shielded & ferrite cores are a must, and keep the length as short as possible (mine is 3ft). Tripp Lite & Belkin make some.

The SDRPlay RSP is opening up new doors in ham radio, and I'm very interested to see where it will go! Firmware updates have been steadily and continually released since I've owned the device, and there's tons of knowledge already about the SDRPlay, so ask away if you get stumped!

I ordered mine from HRO, and it was here the next day. Ensure you've got the proper adapters or cables to go with it, the SDRPlay has an SMA female on the unit, I use a PL259 to SMA Male adapter to reduce stress on the SMA adapter on the unit.

On a side note, my preferred software of choice with the SDRPlay is HDSDR (for panadapter use) & SDRConsole (for SWL).

Probably the best $150 I've spent in ham radio yet. K5ACL