RTLSDR4Everyone: Review of the Soft66RTL3
Over on his blog Akos has posted a review of the Soft66RTL3. The Soft66RTL3 is an RTL-SDR which is retrofitted with an upconverter, filters and HF RF amp. It is produced by Kazunori Miura (JA7TDO) who is based in Japan and it sells for $40 USD shipped, or $46 USD shipped with registered air mail. Previously we posted Mike Ladds review of the Soft66RTL3 here.
In his review Akos shows us the features of the Soft66RTL3 which include the switch for selecting between several HF filters, as well as a trimmer pot for adjusting the amount of gain on the HF RF filter. He shows that inside is a nano sized RTL-SDR dongle soldered on to an upconverter board.
Unfortunately it seems Akos discovered some flaws with the unit. He discovered odd frequency drift behavior and poor performance on VHF and UHF. HF performance on the other hand was decent, but still not as good as with an upconverter.
Actually there is a new Version Soft66Q called. I would like it have tested by you 🙂
regards
Peter
Looking at the circuit board labels. “FUKSHIMA Human Extinction”, “NO BIGBANG”, “PLASMA UNIVERS”, “IMAGINE WORLD”. I am mesmerized.