Recommended Hardware/Software for Beginners

[K5KNT]

I am beginning how limited the dongle sdr that I have is. So, now the next question would be what does the group here recommend regarding hardware and software for beginners with a fairly limited budget?  I have a mid-2011 27" iMac with 12GB RAM.  I would prefer something that is OSX native, but could also run a Windows XP or 7 virtual machine.

I'm still experimenting with my dongle and SDR# at the moment, but it is hard to tell what problems I come across is hardware or software related.

Thanks,

Kent

[nl12SDR]

Hi Ken what sort of dongle do u have now?  if its  a regular RTL dongle why not use the ham-it up-converter from Nooelec to ad HF?
this is a budget converter and working good.

[K5KNT]

I just ordered the ham-it up-converter. I have the NooElec R820T SDR & DVB-T dongle. Am I correct in assuming that I will still be limited by what software supports RTL dongles or does the up-converter solve that issue?

[nl12SDR]

what software are u using now? 

the converter from  NooElec is really nice for its money ,my mate has it also,and so i purchased mine 4 and halve weeks ago at NooElec
but somewhere its R#$@#!%! lost in the mail ,and it has to be missing 5 weeks before they can trace it. grrrrr.
anyway adding the converter wil not make it use different software ,this is a hardware addon ,that will use the software u have now
i am using sdrsharp for my dongle since its easy and well its easy and working great   

[K5KNT]

I'm using sdrsharp also right now. I have an iMac and I'm running windows 7 under Parallels8. I am hoping to find something that is OS X native.

[ChrisSmolinski]

I'm using sdrsharp also right now. I have an iMac and I'm running windows 7 under Parallels8. I am hoping to find something that is OS X native.

Your best bet for a low cost SDR may be the AFEDRI SDR. The interface is supposedly the same as the RF Space SDRs, so it should work with SdrDx and CuteSDR, which are both native Mac OS X apps.  I do not have one, but Desmoface has one on the way to him, so I am sure he will report how it works for him.

Personally I think it is good to support SDR manufacturers and software authors that natively support the Mac, rather than relying only Windows apps under Parallels or vmware. That's the only way we'll get more SDR apps (and radio apps in general) for the Mac. Obviously I'm biased, since I write Mac software.  I do write Windows apps as well, so perhaps I am not completely biased :-)

[K5KNT]

Your best bet for a low cost SDR may be the AFEDRI SDR. The interface is supposedly the same as the RF Space SDRs, so it should work with SdrDx and CuteSDR, which are both native Mac OS X apps.  I do not have one, but Desmoface has one on the way to him, so I am sure he will report how it works for him.

Personally I think it is good to support SDR manufacturers and software authors that natively support the Mac, rather than relying only Windows apps under Parallels or vmware. That's the only way we'll get more SDR apps (and radio apps in general) for the Mac. Obviously I'm biased, since I write Mac software.  I do write Windows apps as well, so perhaps I am not completely biased :-)

I agree with supporting manufacturers, both hardware and software, that natively support the Mac. I only go to Windows when I can't find an app that is native OS X.  I am intrigued by the AFEDRI and will await any reports on this unit.

Speaking of OS X native apps... Is there any app that is similar to Spectravue or is this just another SDR app? I've seen it used in several of the videos Token has posted on youtube. I've downloaded the manual to see what is is and how it works, but if there is something else I'd like to know.

[ChrisSmolinski]

Speaking of OS X native apps... Is there any app that is similar to Spectravue or is this just another SDR app? I've seen it used in several of the videos Token has posted on youtube. I've downloaded the manual to see what is is and how it works, but if there is something else I'd like to know.

Spectravue is the SDR app that comes with RF Space radios. CuteSDR is a Mac OS X native SDR app written by the same people as Spectravue. It was released open source, under the BSD/MIT license to encourage others to use it as a base for new SDR apps. SdrDx, which is also native for OSX is based on CuteSDR.

[desmoface]

Hey gang.  My Afedri is in NYC, I'll let you know how it goes as soon as I get it.   K5kNT, I'm running an 07 imac, 2 ghz processor with 2 ghz of ram.  I just updated to osx 10.6.8 and have sdr dx loaded up and ready to go.  Since I'm not very tech savy, I plan to run the afedri into the ethernet connection so that I dont have to mess with networking software and I can take advantage of the higher bandwidth.

I dont have windows on my mac, so Im hoping for plug and play.  One can dream, right? LOL.

Steve

[K5KNT]

Hey gang.  My Afedri is in NYC, I'll let you know how it goes as soon as I get it.   K5kNT, I'm running an 07 imac, 2 ghz processor with 2 ghz of ram.  I just updated to osx 10.6.8 and have sdr dx loaded up and ready to go.  Since I'm not very tech savy, I plan to run the afedri into the ethernet connection so that I dont have to mess with networking software and I can take advantage of the higher bandwidth.

I dont have windows on my mac, so Im hoping for plug and play.  One can dream, right? LOL.

Steve

Steve,

Thanks for the update.  I'm hoping for plug and play also