{"id":18158,"date":"2016-04-08T09:18:27","date_gmt":"2016-04-08T13:18:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=18158"},"modified":"2016-04-08T09:18:27","modified_gmt":"2016-04-08T13:18:27","slug":"mikes-overview-and-review-of-the-40-soft66rtl3-sdr-by-kazunori-miura-ja7tdo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/04\/mikes-overview-and-review-of-the-40-soft66rtl3-sdr-by-kazunori-miura-ja7tdo\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike’s overview and review of the $40 Soft66RTL3 SDR by Kazunori Miura (JA7TDO)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RTL3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mike Ladd<\/a>, for the following guest post and overview of setting up and using the\u00a0Soft66RTL3 SDR:<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Soft66RTL3 SDR:\u00a0A low cost\u2026Good performer direct from Japan<\/strong><\/p>\n

by Mike Ladd<\/strong><\/p>\n

Much has changed in the last 8 years in the world of SDR radios. Fast forward to 2016 and just about everyone in the hobby has heard the buzz word \u201cSDR radio\u201d. When SDRs first came out to the market they were all aimed at HF listening and you had two types to pick from. The first being soundcard based and the second being direct sampling. The price gap between the two were several hundred dollars. The more expensive being direct sampling. As the hobby progressed, so did the technology and the prices started to shift dramatically.<\/p>\n

You can now purchase a TV dongle for $10.00 and turn it into a SDR. The Soft66RTL3 is basically a TV dongle but with a lot more features.<\/p>\n

The Soft66RTL3 comes from an engineer who is no stranger to the world of SDRS. Kazunori Miura (JA7TDO) has been designing and selling many models of SDRS over the internet and shipping them direct from Japan for about 7 years. The Soft66RTL3 is his latest of model hot off his bench. This SDR is a dual input RTL-SDR with a built in 50 MHz upconverter along with 4 user selectable band pass filters that greatly increase your signal to noise ratio in the HF bands.<\/p>\n

\"Soft66RTL3-board-001\"<\/a> \"Soft66RTL3-Board<\/a> \"Soft66RTL3-board\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The frequency range of the RTL3 is from DC to Daylight (0.4 kHz to 1.7 GHz). Miura also addressed a heat issue with the previous version (RTL2) by adding a thermal pad and heatsink. RTL dongles are notoriously unstable due to overheating. In theory, the thermal pad should add frequency stability and keep drift to a minimal.<\/p>\n

\"RTL3-TrimmerPot\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The last feature of the RTL3 is the input gain trimmer pot (see image above). The trimmer pot is for the HF side of the SDR and is already set before it\u2019s shipped from Japan. If you would like to reduce or increase it the trimmer pot is easily accessible. I would suggest leaving it as is.<\/p>\n

The RTL3 is broken down into two sections: the HF input side and the VHF\/UHF input side.<\/p>\n

\"Soft66RTL3-encoder\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The HF side of the SDR (above) has a red rotary encoder and trimmer pot port. The VHF\/UHF side (below) has the USB Mini-B connection.<\/p>\n

\"Soft66RTL3-back\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Both sides of the RTL3 terminate to a SMA-Male connection and Power comes from a single USB Mini-B cable.<\/p>\n

\"Soft66RTL3-BandPassFilter\"<\/a>

Band pass filter selection<\/p><\/div>\n

If you look at the rotary encoder (red cap cover) you will see a small notch window. The 12 o\u2019clock position is #5 on the encoder dial. One click clockwise will take you to switch position #6 and one click counterclockwise will take you to #4. You should pull the red cap cover off to have a look and get your bearings.<\/p>\n

The band pass filter selection is as follows:<\/p>\n