RTL-SDR is a family of inexpensive USB software-defined radio
receivers built around the RTL2832U chip — originally a DVB-T TV
tuner that hobbyists discovered could stream raw IQ samples.1
RTL-SDR covers most VHF/UHF scanning at low cost — receive only.
Overview
A typical RTL-SDR costs around $30, tunes roughly 24 MHz–1.7 GHz, and captures about
2.4 MHz of bandwidth. It is receive-only with modest dynamic
range, but more than enough to follow most VHF/UHF trunked systems.
Relevance to SDR
The RTL-SDR is the ideal entry point and the baseline GopherTrunk targets. For HF, add an
upconverter or use an Airspy HF+;
see the hardware guide.
Sources
RTL-SDR — Wikipedia, on the DVB-T-dongle origins and capabilities of RTL-SDR. ↩
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