RTL-SDR Blog Multipurpose Dipole Antenna Kit

This is actually my second purchase so I can keep one of these at home and one at the office for my SDR's. Works perfectly well for airband and military frequencies. The combination of light weight and suction mount is really useful allowing me to put it outside on the window when I want to use, or on the roof of the car when out and about. Its certainly not weather proof, so I wouldn't leave outside in the rain. Build quality is OK, though at the end of the day, the elements are telescopic, so inherently fragile. Aside from that, all good!

I have been using it for receiving NOAA APT and its great, very cost effective. It has a wide range of frequencies you can tune it for, with great performance. And the design is easy to use.

Only 4/5 as the cable stripped a little at the antenna end, but still works. Just poor quality for the price. However, with the included longer antennas I set this up horizontal on the outside of my house on a window with a Ham It Up, to my suprise I picked up stations in France, Germany, Russia (including the famous buzzer), and even China. As far as amateur radio, I managed to pick up a few, but they were barely strong enough to understand the conversation. I noticed it works better when there's no cloud coverage, like the SW stations coming through showed going up and down in signal strength with breaking clouds. It's not going to be for enthusiasts, but for someone testing the waters with the SDR hobby, it's ideal.

i should of checked the smaller telescopic size for 70cm band, these are too short so for anyone thinking to use for your dual band handheld do not use it on 70cm its 3cm too short on each leg if i recall,for me this is not what i needed it for anyway but as of cost i might of paid more than i needed too for the job. the window cup works find just lick your finger wipe the rubber pad and stick, im using it for an sdr radio that only kicks out about 10w on 2m band, i must say that one of the longer elements wabble in its holder it has not been crimped very well maybe i have a tool to pinch it a bit. i have check the swr i have got it down to 1.4 at the moment so the coax wire is all good, i am not sure if its over priced i can take it anywhere so that's a plus. is it cheap,, a coffee can cost you 3.50p add a cake x by 2 trips im sure it will out last the coffee and the cakes

Seems to work ok with my SDR kit. Can't expect too much at this price. At least you can hang it out of the window for better coverage. I wasn't sure why you would need an inductance loop on the line when you are trying to pick up very high frequency ranges, I took mine off.

Good Dipton Antenna for the ££££

I bought this to try out with an RTL-SDR v4 dongle. Even inside picking signals 20 miles away. Great for someone getting started with SDR.

I like that it was robust, easy to set up and portable. OK it was more expensive than making an antenna from scratch, but the convenience, adjustability and portability made it worth while.

Este kit de antenas é muito pratico para usar.

I won't beat around the bush: this is not a long-lasting product. The antenna tubes get loose, the legs on the flexible tripod break, the suction cup loses its grip, the arm holders on the dipole base get floppy - all of it. But after getting my first one with my first RTL-SDR, getting annoyed with its cheapness, and spending a few years trying to find something better, I'm back again to buy three more of these things. Ultimately, I think their short lifespan is just an acceptable drawback when compared to how much else they have going for them. If you want a sturdy antenna, you're going to be paying quite a bit more, and if you want an adjustable, lightweight antenna than can be adapted to as many different frequencies as this and easily carried around in a backpack and deployed literally anywhere, well.... I'm not sure there's any other game in town, at any price. If you're getting started with SDR stuff and don't have a particular band of interest yet, this is your antenna. There's not much more to say. There's not really anything else that will be as flexible or easy to use as this, and while its fragility is a pain, it will at least give you some time to figure out what you want in a more substantial antenna. Happy DXing! (P.S. - you might have some luck using an RG-58 crimping tool to make the attachment points between the antenna tubes and their threaded bases a bit tighter. It works better with some tools than others, and you have to make sure to pull the smaller tubes out first so they don't get caught in the crimp, but it can help a lot.)

nice antenna I use mainly for DAB+ and a little Hamradio listening.

The quality of the antennas and the other items in this set are good, I am getting a good reception with the kit

As described. Second purchase. Works as described.