RTL SDR V4 New Software defined receiver dongle personal comments

Looks interesting, the V3 definitely was surprising for the price VS performance but it is difficult to install and operate for non computer savvy people

[@joshuagardner894]

Just got mine in the mail today, have not had a chance to play with it, but is my first SDR

[@ethimself5064]

One would think that these would be a plug and go item.

[@jimcny3]

Newest drivers switch the V3 to Q below 25 MHZ now without changing the .conf now in spyserver. So both V3, V4 go from HF to VHF seamlessly.

[@MrsG7swr]

I have not had an SDR before, I ordered the V4 a couple of weeks ago should arrive by the end of the coming week. looking forward to playing with partly for Broadcast LW band DX and for 10/11/12M listening along with some other SWL'ing checking if a radio is close to on frequency and audio check, the record function will help there. also like the idea of decoding digital comms and Digital Radio (the kind they are trying to replace FM with) that and listen in to the ISS and perhaps some slow scan tv reception.

[@AsciiWolf]

V3 has direct sampling for HF reception which is far from being ideal. V4 on the other hand has an actual upconverter and thanks to the updated drivers, HF works out-of-box without setting anything in the software. SDRplay is great and I love my RSPdx, but it is far from being "plug and play", in fact, it is the exact opposite since it requires a proprietary API/system service to be installed in order to work - unlike RTL-SDR (or Airspy) that only requires a .dll (or a .so on Linux) library + very simple, lightweight libusb driver.

[@OfficialSWLchannel]

having to play a DLL is not what people want, installing a SDRplay device is done automatically and yes that is what plug and play is. for 80% of users having to play with DLL files is far for simple.

[@Rushgamer-yw3lm]

how does it perform in relation to your rspdx. what attracts me is that it is a viable option to run sdr+ without immeditately spending on a airspy .

[@AsciiWolf]

@@Rushgamer-yw3lm I did not get my RTL-SDR V4 yet. I will do some comparison testing when it arrives.

[@michaeledmonds3027]

Thanks Gilles.... I've had an SDRPlay RSP1A unit for several years now. Is there any reason to upgrade in 2023? Michael

[@ethimself5064]

A while ago you mentioned here that the 2 Canadian government weather channels were not working/were not set up right etc. is this still the case? And just how they do not work properly

[@ravenimages8779]

How do you get these type receivers to receive SW without the external upconverter? And yes, I've switched to Q mode.

[@OfficialSWLchannel]

The RTL SDR V3 and V4 receives shortwave when you switch to Q mode... if it does not ... you have a conterfeit RTL SDR or a original RTL SDR those do not receive SW

[@erlendse]

V4 got internal upconverter so all good there. Don't switch to Q-branch on v4, there is nothing there, use for HF on v3. The driver takes care of the switching input mode on v4, given you have the needed new driver. The new driver does also auto-switch for v3 and others (HF support must to be built in). The critism about setup is warranted, but works well when you are done with that process. If you use various software, remember to replace the file for each software. (or otherwise make sure no old version is used) Also, variable gain is nice to have (signal level from the antenna is far from fixed level).

[@jetset2174]

V4 is sold out already!!