RTLSDR4Everyone: The best RTL-SDR setup for $60

Over on his blog RTLSDR4Everyone author Akos has uploaded a new post showing what he believes is the best possible RTL-SDR set up that you can get for under $60. Akos writes that the best combination of components is one of our RTL-SDR Blog dongles (back in stock in a couple of weeks!) with bias tee combined with an LNA4ALL low noise amplifier. The LNA4ALL is a ~$30 USD LNA based on the Minicrcuits PSA4-5043+ component and is sold by Adam 9A4QV who also sells other products such as RF filters.

Akos reminds us that the LNA4ALL can actually be bought from Adam with the bias tee enabled already which saves you from the difficulty of needing to source the required inductor and perform surface mount soldering. The post also explains why  you might want to use an LNA in the first place and how to enable the bias tee on our RTL-SDR.com dongles.

RTL-SDR.com dongle + an LNA4ALL
RTL-SDR.com dongle + an LNA4ALL powered with the bias tee
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Mario

Good post Akos, and while I have not used the RTL-SDR.com dongle with an LNA, using just a discone at 22 feet brings in superb results; this is the best dongle on the market in my opinion, it is dead on as far as accuracy and shows no drift whatsoever. From Western NJ I can pick up police calls from NYC in the 470 MHz band. Outstanding!