Upconverter Comparison: Nooelec Ham it Up vs SDR Up 100
A few weeks ago Akos from the SDR for Mariners blog did a review of the SDR Up 100 Upconverter, and he promised to compare it with the Nooelec Ham-it-up Upconverter when it arrived. He has now done the comparison, and written about it on his blog.
For each test he used a gain of 0dB and the same 20 foot random wire antenna. Interestingly, his results show that the SDR Up 100 significantly outperforms the Ham-it-up upconverter. We believe that this may be as the SDR Up 100 has an LNA built into it whereas the Ham it up does not.
Update: Akos has now included comparisons with various RTL gain settings.
Not a very good comparison and very vague. If you used a proper LNA with the ham it up or adjusted gain settings to match, there would be no contest.
1. Did you put them in shielded boxes? Is the RTL in a shielded box?
2. Get a real antenna. 20 foot random wire? Really? Is it matched to 50 ohms?
3. The comparison images are terrible. They show nothing but noise.
4. Bypass switch?
I’ll wait for a real scientific comparison.
Agree, but you should comment this on SDR for Mariners blog
Hi mars,
Thanks for your comments, 1) do them on my blog next time 2) I’ll answer your questions in an update.
By the way, please try for yourself the shielded box myth with your rtl dongle, or read my noise suppression post.
Akos