R820T2 SDR Radio Receiver

 R820T2 SDR Radio Receiver

My current direction of travel, with amateur radio and other
things in my life, is to downsize so I can continue with my radio hobby in
smaller accommodation when the time comes. I am therefore a convert to Software Defined Radios
(SDR). These are tiny radio receivers, typically the size of a memory-stick
dongle, and controlled by software on a computer. This means the equipment size
is minimal and the cost/performance ratio of an SDR radio can be very high.

I recently bought a R820T2 SDR from Nooelec on Amazon. I had
previously owned a R820 SDR (see earlier post) but the performance was very disappointing
and I recycled it. I needed another receiver because I wanted to monitor marine
AIS signals without tying up one of my other SDRs or my main transceiver. I had
heard that the performance of the R820T2 was much better than previous R820
radios and at less than £25 I decided to give it a go

The package arrived and contained, as advertised, the
R820T2, a small (300mm) telescopic whip antenna. Before using the R820T2 as a
radio receiver, rather than as a Digital TV, it is necessary to change the
Windows driver using a little utility called ZADIG. This is very
straightforward and there are plenty of instructions on line how to do this so
I won’t repeat them here. Do not
load any TV software that might come with the SDR and of course set a ‘Restore’
point before changing drivers so you can back out in the unlikely event of
something going wrong.

That done, plug the SDR into a USB port on your computer and
plug your antenna into the MCX female connector on the SDR. If you do not want
to use the supplied whip antenna adapters from MCX to SMA, BNC etc. are
available from electronics suppliers and these make it easy to connect other antennas.

Next, start your SDR software. I use SDR Console and SDR#
(SDR Sharp) which are free downloads. Select RTL Dongle or RTL USB from the ‘radio’
menu, set the frequency you want and the mode and then ‘Start’ and you should
be in business.

So what does the R820T2 + software do?

• ·        
  It tunes from about 25 MHz to around 1.8GHz so
  it covers the VHF and UHF amateur radio and commercial bands
• ·        
  It also does the 10m amateur band with limited
  performance.
• ·        
  It does not care what mode you want to receive –
  SSB, AM, CW, FM, Digital etc. as this is taken care of in software on your computer.
• ·        
  In addition to amateur radio, you can receive
  broadcast station, marine voice and AIS signals, aircraft voice and ADSB
  broadcasts and much more provided this is legal where you live.
• ·        
  You can receive signals from amateur radio,
  weather and some scientific satellites, including ISS.

I will say more about AIS, satellites and ADSB other posts.   

I found the 820T2 performs very well and not much worse than
the more expensive SDRs that I own. Filtering is much better than with earlier versions of the R820 SDRs. Certainly works well enough for a beginner to
enjoy or as a secondary receiver for a licenced amateur radio operator.  I use it as a second receiver when operating
VHF and UHF contests as I can see station pop up on the software waterfall
display. Although the whip antenna is small, I found it actually works
surprisingly well if it is located in a good position (high up by a window for example), but obviously ‘real’
antennas will give better performance.  

In summary the R820T2 and one of the software programmes make a very credible VHF/UHF all-mode
receiver and a fraction the cost of ‘real’ radios. It takes up almost no space
so is ideal if you live in restricted accommodation. Its performance is vastly
better than previous R820 receivers and would make a great Christmas or birthday present
for anyone interested in radio or thinking of starting out in the hobby.

Please share your experiences with R820 SDR Radios by commenting here.