Category: Airspy

YouTube Airspy Review and Comparison

Over on YouTube user ranickel (aka W9RAN) has uploaded a video showing his review of the Airpsy software defined radio. Although the Airspy is not yet shipping, several independent reviewers received a unit early.

In the video W9RAN compares the Airspy against seven traditional analogue hardware radios and the RTL-SDR using a amateur radio beacon at 28 MHz. He also demonstrates the software decimation feature of the Airspy drivers and shows how it can increase the sensitivity and signal to noise ratio.

Airspy Review and Comparison by W9RAN

Airspy Now Available for Pre-Order (Shipping Mid November)

The long awaited Airspy software defined radio is now available for preorder and will ship during mid November for those orders placed before November 7. It is priced at $199 USD.

The Airspy is an RX only SDR with a tuning range of 24 MHz to 1.7 GHz, up to 10 MHz of instantaneous bandwidth and a 12-bit ADC. The full list of features is shown below. If you are looking for an upgrade to the RTL-SDR and do not need TX capabilities, this is probably the SDR that will provide the best performance for price.

  • Continuous 24 – 1750 MHz RX range with no gaps
  • 3.5 dB NF between 42 and 1002 MHz
  • Tracking RF filters
  • 35dBm IIP3 RF front end
  • 12bit ADC @ 20 MSPS (80dB Dynamic Range, 64dB SNR, 10.4 ENOB) – Yeah, size does matter.
  • Up to 80 MSPS for custom applications
  • Cortex M4F @ up to 204MHz with Multi Core support (dual M0)
  • 1.5 ppm high precision, low phase noise clock
  • 1 RTC clock (for packet time-stamping)
  • External clock input (10 MHz to 100 MHz via MCX connector) – Ideal for phase coherent radios
  • 10 MHz panoramic spectrum view with 9MHz alias/image free
  • IQ or Real, 16bit fixed or 32bit float output streams
  • No IQ imbalance, DC offset or 1/F noise at the center of the spectrum that plagues all the other SDRs
  • Extension ports: 16 x SGPIO
  • 1 x RF Input (SMA)
  • 1 x RF Output (Loopthrough, U-FL)
  • 2 x High Speed ADC inputs (up to 80 MSPS, U-FL)
  • 4.5v software switched Bias-Tee to power LNA’s and up/down-converters

See our big comparison list of other SDRs here.

Airspy Software Defined Radio
Airspy Software Defined Radio