Three antennas with magnetic mount and coax for $16:
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Review and observations are based on over half a year's use, summary: order from manufacturer, Amazon USA, or eBay right away. Rattlesnake kit is the best value aftermarket antenna package I ever came across. Period.
Direct competitor on price ($15 on Amazon) is rtl-sdr.com's antenna kit, separate review here.
Heavy, feels good when opening the envelope:
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M5: Screw standard referring to outside diameter of screw, yepp, same standard used with dotcom antenna kit on paper, but antennas are not cross compatible.
Holds fast on car even on a highway, in fact, the strongest magnetic base I came across in the RTL-SDR universe, small (supplied with basic dongles) or medium size (e.g. in the SMArt bag, also with advanced Plus models from Nooelec) are much less powerful.
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Supplied cable is 2 meters / 6.5 ft of 3C-2V, 75 Ohm coax, not RG-58 as promised on product page:
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Feels the same as SMArt's RG-58 in hand, terminating in an SMA Male connector, screws right onto any receiver / preamp / upconverter with SMA female: for example, all four of the SMArt family, rtl-sdr.com V3, Pro Sticks, SDRplays, AirSpy range.
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Handheld scanners e.g. Icoms also use SMA female, mag mount screwed right onto an IC-R5. Uniden users, or those with a Baofeng can also utilise the pack, but you'll need appropriate SMA Male-Male barrel connectors - one piece costs less than $2 on eBay.
Adjust telescopic antenna supplied to frequency of desire (1/4 of wavelength with mount on a metal surface, or whatever you fancy, here's a handy calculator) and off you go - check local laws and/or get a licence before messing up the airwaves, you can be heard a serious distance with 5W output power on a Baofeng.
22.3 cm collapsed, 118.7 cm extended, angled joint:
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Quarter-wave between 63 MHz and 336 MHz, not that it won't work lower or upper - the $150 Tecsun PL-680 shortwave / broadcast FM / airband receiver has a shorter 88cm built-in antenna.
Most action happens in the range telescopic covers perfectly: broadcast FM, airband, AIS, local utilities, and don't forget shortwave, fully extended with new Ham It Up Plus, mount on windowsill, plethora of SW programming, even hams fisting away came in.
Officially for digital terrestrial television (DVB-T/T2) and GSM, capabilities I'm less interested in than politics, antenna indoors received local programming:
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Where's my jaw? Thick part diameter 15.05 mm, total length 96.91 mm, also worked quite well in the 400 Mhz range.
Officially, antenna can "receive a wide range of VHF/UHF signals with ease", same can be said of my body, a wire coathanger or a nine inch nail, so a bit more information would be appreciated from Nooelec. Moaning aside, 74.92 mm total length, close to ideal 1/4 wave (68.8 mm) on ADS-B.
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Versus a pro Jetvision antenna: 31,503 Totals, Nooelec 23,995, 31.2% more with pro antenna, so folks who don't check daily take first thing in the morning will be more than happy with performance. I simply screwed on the black Rattlesnake during a recent outing and could see aircraft over 100 nautical miles away.
No official SWR plots from Nooelec, coax cable is 75 Ohm, not 50 Ohm standard used with transmitters and pro gear, when all other components are prosumer level. SMArt family bundles come with proper 50 Ohm coax, but not compatible with this kit due to different antenna screw standard.
And, as a sideline suggestion, would it be so hard to process all those orders by making the antennas and base SMA connector standard?
Antenna kits supplied with legacy Nooelec receivers, or chinese $8 dongles will not let you hear as much as with the Rattlesnake bundle, other Nooelec telescopic antennas are smaller, black thin ones with basic kits are excellent to scratch top part of back below neck, almost utterly useless for radio signal reception.
Nooelec's own SMArt family bundles (SMArt, SMArtee, SMArt XTR, SMArt XTRtee) already come with the same length of coax, which is better RG-58, but the mount is smaller with less holding power, and telescopic antenna is shorter.
Rattlesnakes or rtl-sdr.com antenna kit? Love both, having three kits each on the on the table, I'd rather pay same money for a Rattlesnake, as they feel more quality and dependable. Rtl-sdr.com antenna kit is great for experimenting, and to get max SNR due to telescopic dipole config for a specific frequency, but Nooelec gear is just easy, go anywhere, throw mag mount with antenna on roof, forget it's there, no hassle nor doubts weeks later. Dotcom kit is primarily for indoor apartment / city dwellers, probably designed for a certain customer base. It works fantastic in that role, mine is attached to living room window and functions well.
Buy both. I simultaneously enjoy advantages of each kit, dotcom's cables work with Rattlesnakes, SMA connectors mate with little effort, dotcom cable is thinner so less whoosh thru window with snake mount on roof, dotcom suction cup attaches to window easily and holds firm, two telescopics enable me to fine-tune a signal I've seen with the Nooelec telescopic.
Anyone with a radio receiver or transceiver. $100 and up 12-bit receivers such as AirSpy and SDRPlay range do not ship with an antenna, same can be said of many experimental boards. Any Baofeng will function with the stock antenna, but there's a massive range increase if antenna is tuned to the operating frequency, which is possible with a telescopic.
Sixteen dollars plus shipping on Amazon USA. 13 euros. 21 Canadian. 914 rubles. For 2 meters of coax with connector and magnetic mount, go cheap on eBay and try to find a mag mount for less than $8 dollars, then search for three antennas. Good luck.
Magnetic mount and large telescopic antenna is worth the money alone, two stubbies are bonus.
Keep plastic bag, cable and antennas fit into it, throw in a an RTL-SDR dongle and an OTG cable, ready for exploring the airwaves with a smartphone or tablet. Note to Nooelec: make it a bigger bag, so a Ham It Up in a metal case, or an SDRPlay would fit in as well.
Absolutely.
Review and observations are based on over half a year's use, summary: order from manufacturer, Amazon USA, or eBay right away. Rattlesnake kit is the best value aftermarket antenna package I ever came across. Period.
Direct competitor on price ($15 on Amazon) is rtl-sdr.com's antenna kit, separate review here.
First impressions
Heavy, feels good when opening the envelope:
M5: Screw standard referring to outside diameter of screw, yepp, same standard used with dotcom antenna kit on paper, but antennas are not cross compatible.
Magnetic mount
Holds fast on car even on a highway, in fact, the strongest magnetic base I came across in the RTL-SDR universe, small (supplied with basic dongles) or medium size (e.g. in the SMArt bag, also with advanced Plus models from Nooelec) are much less powerful.
Supplied cable is 2 meters / 6.5 ft of 3C-2V, 75 Ohm coax, not RG-58 as promised on product page:
Feels the same as SMArt's RG-58 in hand, terminating in an SMA Male connector, screws right onto any receiver / preamp / upconverter with SMA female: for example, all four of the SMArt family, rtl-sdr.com V3, Pro Sticks, SDRplays, AirSpy range.
Handheld scanners e.g. Icoms also use SMA female, mag mount screwed right onto an IC-R5. Uniden users, or those with a Baofeng can also utilise the pack, but you'll need appropriate SMA Male-Male barrel connectors - one piece costs less than $2 on eBay.
Adjust telescopic antenna supplied to frequency of desire (1/4 of wavelength with mount on a metal surface, or whatever you fancy, here's a handy calculator) and off you go - check local laws and/or get a licence before messing up the airwaves, you can be heard a serious distance with 5W output power on a Baofeng.
Telescopic antenna
22.3 cm collapsed, 118.7 cm extended, angled joint:
Quarter-wave between 63 MHz and 336 MHz, not that it won't work lower or upper - the $150 Tecsun PL-680 shortwave / broadcast FM / airband receiver has a shorter 88cm built-in antenna.
Most action happens in the range telescopic covers perfectly: broadcast FM, airband, AIS, local utilities, and don't forget shortwave, fully extended with new Ham It Up Plus, mount on windowsill, plethora of SW programming, even hams fisting away came in.
Stubby with blue bands
Officially for digital terrestrial television (DVB-T/T2) and GSM, capabilities I'm less interested in than politics, antenna indoors received local programming:
Where's my jaw? Thick part diameter 15.05 mm, total length 96.91 mm, also worked quite well in the 400 Mhz range.
Stubby without blue bands - the black one
Officially, antenna can "receive a wide range of VHF/UHF signals with ease", same can be said of my body, a wire coathanger or a nine inch nail, so a bit more information would be appreciated from Nooelec. Moaning aside, 74.92 mm total length, close to ideal 1/4 wave (68.8 mm) on ADS-B.
Versus a pro Jetvision antenna: 31,503 Totals, Nooelec 23,995, 31.2% more with pro antenna, so folks who don't check daily take first thing in the morning will be more than happy with performance. I simply screwed on the black Rattlesnake during a recent outing and could see aircraft over 100 nautical miles away.
What I don't like
No official SWR plots from Nooelec, coax cable is 75 Ohm, not 50 Ohm standard used with transmitters and pro gear, when all other components are prosumer level. SMArt family bundles come with proper 50 Ohm coax, but not compatible with this kit due to different antenna screw standard.
And, as a sideline suggestion, would it be so hard to process all those orders by making the antennas and base SMA connector standard?
Competitors
Antenna kits supplied with legacy Nooelec receivers, or chinese $8 dongles will not let you hear as much as with the Rattlesnake bundle, other Nooelec telescopic antennas are smaller, black thin ones with basic kits are excellent to scratch top part of back below neck, almost utterly useless for radio signal reception.
Nooelec's own SMArt family bundles (SMArt, SMArtee, SMArt XTR, SMArt XTRtee) already come with the same length of coax, which is better RG-58, but the mount is smaller with less holding power, and telescopic antenna is shorter.
Rattlesnakes or rtl-sdr.com antenna kit? Love both, having three kits each on the on the table, I'd rather pay same money for a Rattlesnake, as they feel more quality and dependable. Rtl-sdr.com antenna kit is great for experimenting, and to get max SNR due to telescopic dipole config for a specific frequency, but Nooelec gear is just easy, go anywhere, throw mag mount with antenna on roof, forget it's there, no hassle nor doubts weeks later. Dotcom kit is primarily for indoor apartment / city dwellers, probably designed for a certain customer base. It works fantastic in that role, mine is attached to living room window and functions well.
Buy both. I simultaneously enjoy advantages of each kit, dotcom's cables work with Rattlesnakes, SMA connectors mate with little effort, dotcom cable is thinner so less whoosh thru window with snake mount on roof, dotcom suction cup attaches to window easily and holds firm, two telescopics enable me to fine-tune a signal I've seen with the Nooelec telescopic.
Who is this antenna kit for?
Anyone with a radio receiver or transceiver. $100 and up 12-bit receivers such as AirSpy and SDRPlay range do not ship with an antenna, same can be said of many experimental boards. Any Baofeng will function with the stock antenna, but there's a massive range increase if antenna is tuned to the operating frequency, which is possible with a telescopic.
Sixteen dollars plus shipping on Amazon USA. 13 euros. 21 Canadian. 914 rubles. For 2 meters of coax with connector and magnetic mount, go cheap on eBay and try to find a mag mount for less than $8 dollars, then search for three antennas. Good luck.
Magnetic mount and large telescopic antenna is worth the money alone, two stubbies are bonus.
How I use it
Keep plastic bag, cable and antennas fit into it, throw in a an RTL-SDR dongle and an OTG cable, ready for exploring the airwaves with a smartphone or tablet. Note to Nooelec: make it a bigger bag, so a Ham It Up in a metal case, or an SDRPlay would fit in as well.
Would I buy one?
Absolutely.