Noise from speaker

[rogellis]

That link is NOT the Stratux low power V2. Ask me how I know 🤔
The correct version has a black PCB and no IR Detector, I have one.

I got the link from the Stratux page.  The 5th advert down.  It says:

Stratux RTL-SDR dongles are designed for use in ADS-B reception on small aircraft, but they can also be used by anyone requiring lower power usage. For example on solar powered Raspberry Pi units. Note that these units have no enclosure, and do not have a TCXO. When installing in Zadig these show up as "Low Power V2"

But I must admit it does not look like yours.


https://www.rtl-sdr.com/buy-rtl-sdr-dvb-t-dongles

R

[rogellis]

The Stratus Low Power V2 has a white insulator in the USB plug and the PCB is reversed compared with the others. PCB is also black or dark blue.

Regards the Stratux V2.  The engineer from NooElec says of the Stratux V2....:

Power consumption (of the Stratux LV2) should be about 60-80mA less, but it comes at the cost of all kinds of stray EMI being emanated from the device, as it utilizes switching power supplies instead of analog supplies to reduce power consumption.  In other words, the primary ICs have the same power consumption as other SDRs.  We are not comfortable offering such a product which is sometimes used in sensitive environments like cockpits, which is why we did not implement such a solution in our devices.

But this statement is the opposite of this graph, which shows the analogue powered NooElec Nano-2 being more noisy than the digital powered Stratux V2.

So who is the more correct here....?


Rog

[exfirepro]

Hi Rog,

I have been keeping an eye on the rtl-sdr.com site for a while now, waiting for the Stratux dongles coming back in stock (I have now ordered from the China link). In the meantime the Amazon links generally led to the Amazon.com US site, which showed the older style dongles. I got caught out by this myself and after comparing the Amazon US and UK sites, ordered a Stratux ‘matched pair’ from the Amazon UK site, but when they arrived they were the ‘old type’ so I sent them back. Interestingly, the Canadian Amazon site shows the Low-Power version, but they won’t deliver to the UK!

Re the NooElec comments on the Stratux Low Power dongles, yes they are probably correct that the switch-mode power regulator Stratux use WILL generate additional RFI over a linear analogue regulator, but remember that NooElec design their dongles for use across the band as SDR ‘Radios’, whereas the Stratux ones are designed specifically for use on 1090MHz and 978MHz and have been designed to minimise RFI at these specific frequencies. To my mind, reducing power draw and excess heat is more relevant to us than a low noise floor across the full dongle frequency range. Ian’s tests in this respect are looking very positive.

Best Regards

Peter

[rogellis]

I have been losing confidence in the NooElec.  Every time I swap over from one to the other, the Stratux has more contacts than the NooElec.  Unfortunately, I no longer have two units to compare at the same time.

I have reordered the V2 Stratux dongles direct from the RTL-SDR site.  Not too sure about the naked pcb, as there is a lot of wiring in my repackaging that could apply pressure on the pcb and break it. 

Cheers,
Rog

[Ian Melville]

Rog, I have a spare case I can post you if you are not happy being naked 

[Seanhump]

I have been losing confidence in the NooElec.  Every time I swap over from one to the other, the Stratux has more contacts than the NooElec.  Unfortunately, I no longer have two units to compare at the same time.

I have reordered the V2 Stratux dongles direct from the RTL-SDR site.  Not too sure about the naked pcb, as there is a lot of wiring in my repackaging that could apply pressure on the pcb and break it. 

Cheers,
Rog

I kind of know what you mean - during testing I always seem to get more contacts with the stock ADSB dongle - the NooElec one always seems to show less .... which is a shame as its really well built.

I don't yet have two Pi's to try them side by side, but should have shortly

[rogellis]

Rog, I have a spare case I can post you if you are not happy being naked 

Did not know you could get them. 
Are they specific to this size dongle?  On Amazon?

Cheers,
R

[Ian Melville]

No, you cannot get them online. It's one I removed from a dongle.