# SDR/USRP devices **URL:** \ **Category:** GNU Radio\ **Created:** [August 17, 2015, 8:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/sdr-usrp-devices/243041 "2015-08-17T20:22:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sadaf\_N](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/858c86/32.png) [@Sadaf\_N](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Sadaf_N)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2015, 8:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/sdr-usrp-devices/243041/1 "2015-08-17T20:22:03Z")
Hello, I’ve been searching a lot about SDR and USRP devices to purchase. All I need is a board with a receiver port (transmitter is not important for now) and it’s necessary to be compatible with Gnuradio. There are some options, but I don’t have experiency or enough knowledge to choose one of them (I don’t know the brands, if they are reliable, etc). I found RTL2838U/R820T2. Is it good? What are the other boards that you know? Sorry about the questions, but I’m kind of new here. ---
**Author:** ![pgpab](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@pgpab](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pgpab)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2015, 8:28pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/sdr-usrp-devices/243041/2 "2015-08-17T20:28:29Z")
Hi Pedro, You will, as for any device, need to figure out what you need, specification-wise. I’m obviously a bit biased, but no one else might even be able to help you unless you wrote some numbers: frequencies you’re interested in, bandwidth you want to sample at once, stability, available interfaces, cost range etc. Best regards, Marcus Am 17. August 2015 20:13:38 MESZ, schrieb Pedro Gabriel A. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid): ---
**Author:** ![pgpab](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@pgpab](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pgpab)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2015, 8:43pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/sdr-usrp-devices/243041/3 "2015-08-17T20:43:40Z")
Marcus, Below $120 is okay for me. Actually, the features are not important for me now, because I just want to simulate a Cognitive Radio without a lot of details. I just wanna see it working to study and learn about this process. Like I said, it’s important to have a receiver port and be compatible with Gnuradio. I saw that Antony asked about this on Ruby Forum (it seems he has the same interests, but no one could help him, so I came here to the mailing list). Thanks for any help. Cheers, Pedro Gabriel A. 2015-08-17 15:27 GMT-03:00 Marcus Müller [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid): ---
**Author:** ![pgpab](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@pgpab](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pgpab)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2015, 11:12pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/sdr-usrp-devices/243041/4 "2015-08-17T23:12:38Z")
> the features are not important for me now > Then you can literally buy a rock. It has pretty bad reception, and all > receivers built with rocks have a 50% bit error rate. (just kidding) SDR peripherals are technical equipment. There has to be _some_ specification of what you need. Like Bandwidth. Make yourself acquinted with the parameters I listed in my last email, and what they mean. Then you will surely come to some conclusion of what you need. > I just want to simulate a Cognitive Radio without a lot of details > CR doesn’t specify what you actually want to do at all, technically. > For simulation you’d not need any hardware at all - so maybe you’d want > to specify more closely what you want to do! > Antony asked about this on Ruby Forum > For people finding this later on via Google: This is NOT ruby forum. > Ruby forum is nothing but a _bad_ interface to the GNU Radio mailing > list archives, which you can find at [lists.gnu.org](http://lists.gnu.org), and an even worse > implementation of a mailing list client. You’re doing it right by using > email to communicate with us! > Also, there’s a lot of Mails going through this mailing list, so I don’t > know which Antony or which email you are referring to. Best regards, Marcus ---
**Author:** ![pgpab](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@pgpab](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pgpab)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2015, 10:07pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/sdr-usrp-devices/243041/5 "2015-08-17T22:07:47Z")
Marcus, So everyone is thinking it: Show a little discuss-gnuradio love and set up an educational one time group buy. I have had SDR envy for some time; stuck with RTL/Hermes/Funcube, when what I really need is some new Ettus hardware. It NEVER shows up on Ebay it seems. Think how many less “I can’t get gnuradio to work with ; can’t you guys do this for me on this discussion list” responses you would have to create. Greg ``` From: Marcus Müller ``` To: Pedro Gabriel A. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid); removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid Sent: Monday, August 17, 2015 2:27 PM Subject: Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] SDR/USRP devices Hi Pedro, You will, as for any device, need to figure out what you need, specification-wise. I’m obviously a bit biased, but no one else might even be able to help you unless you wrote some numbers: frequencies you’re interested in, bandwidth you want to sample at once, stability, available interfaces, cost range etc. Best regards, Marcus Am 17. August 2015 20:13:38 MESZ, schrieb Pedro Gabriel A. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid): Hello, I’ve been searching a lot about SDR and USRP devices to purchase. All I need is a board with a receiver port (transmitter is not important for now) and it’s necessary to be compatible with Gnuradio. There are some options, but I don’t have experiency or enough knowledge to choose one of them (I don’t know the brands, if they are reliable, etc). I found RTL2838U/R820T2. Is it good? What are the other boards that you know? Sorry about the questions, but I’m kind of new here. ---
**Author:** ![pgpab](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@pgpab](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pgpab)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2015, 2:08pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/sdr-usrp-devices/243041/6 "2015-08-18T14:08:09Z")
Hi Pedro, Buy a RTL dongle, since they’re almost free. If it doesn’t do what you want, then you’ll know more about what you want. Jeff