Tale of two dongles

Two SDR dongles were used in the project. One was a plastic-cased dongle with a fixed-length antenna, purchased from www.banggood.com. The other was a metal-case device with two adjustable antennas purchased at www.rtl-sdr.com.

Both units were used successfully. The former was CA$15, while the latter was $40. Both units can plug directly into a Pi USB port. The physical size of the SDR-RTL unit restricted access to the remaining USB ports. The banggood unit restricted access to the USB port directly below, but not the others. In order to plug into the unused ports the USB connector must be very thin or it won’t get by the dongle.The performance of the RTL_SDR unit exceeded the banggood unit. The signal strength unit was higher and had greater stability in not drifting from the assigned frequency. The banggood unit signal strength was weaker, making it appear like it wasn’t working. After confirming the setup with the RTL-SDR unit, the dongles were swapped and the banggood unit worked.The details are not a recommendation of a products. The information is provided to assist you in understanding that there are pluses and minuses when purchasing SDR dongles.