In the world of Software Defined Radio there have not been many new products introduced over the past year. The products that have been introduced have been a little pricey for what they do. With that being said, there is not much if anything that can beat the venerable RTL2832U dongle as a great low cost introduction to the world of SDR. The R820T variant of the RT2832u dongle has turned out to be a solid performer for entry level applications over the past couple of years. Just recently a new and improved version of the RTL2832u – R820T has become available very cleverly named the R820T2. These new dongles are being made available in the US by NooElec on Amazon for around $24.95.
NooElec NESDR Mini 2 USB RTL-SDR & ADS-B Receiver Set, RTL2832U & R820T2 Tuner, MCX Input. Low-Cost Software Defined Radio Compatible with Many SDR Software Packages. R820T2 Tuner & ESD-Safe Antenna Input, Guaranteed
The first thing you may notice about the R820T2 is that the case is now bright blue and the blue power led is much brighter. Outside of that, the cases of the R820T and the R820T2 seem to be identical in size and construction.  They both even share the same antenna connector, so you can continue to use any aftermarket adapters or antennas that you may have purchased for your older R820T dongle. Speaking of antennas, you now get a much improved magnetic whip antenna versus what was shipped with the older R820T. The older antenna was a fixed whip at around 5.5 inches where the new whip is extendable from 3.75 inches to around 12 inches. The new antenna also includes a magnetic mount as well as a tilt mount. The RTL820T also ships with the same somewhat useless remote. just incase you are interested.

20 thoughts on “RTL2832u – R820T VS RTL2832u – R820T2”
  1. espero me informen sobre este tipo de anuncio en espera de sus noticias reciban< un saludo atentamente
    manuel vigario

  2. Thanks for this review. I had seen conflicting results on the newer dongle and some saying it was just marketing hype. Going to order one to play with on my own.

    Now if only I could do SDR transmitting that cheaply…

      1. it’s what i said, but from these sellers you can never be sure; they could change product with the next stock. You can contact the support and ask; they reply in less than 24 hours

  3. Hi just got a R820T2 will this work with the same settings as the R820T I will I have to load different drivers to use RTL1090 and VRS? Thanks

  4. Is the R820T obsolete?

    @Max
    Were you satisfied with the purchase? Good to know that there are also cheaper the stick elsewhere are also expensive when they are identical.

    Items comes from Hong Kong/China 😉

  5. Is the R820T (and the E4000) obsolete?

    @Max
    Were you satisfied with the purchase? Good to know that there are also cheaper the stick elsewhere are also expensive when they are identical.

    Items comes from Hong Kong/China 😉

  6. NooElec claims it has an improved crystal as well – the freq error and drift always bugged me on the old ones. Has anyone measured the new on?

    1. The NooElec R820T2 version has a 0.5ppm TCXO crystal and well worth the money. Most stock R820T and T2 dongles can have up to 100 ppm frequency error owing to the quality of their cheaper crystals. My NooElec has less than 300 Hz error at 150 MHz which is better than most analog receivers that cost far more than $50!

      73,
      Robert

  7. hi, i have a SDR RTL2832U & R820T2 USB device, but i don’t have any antenna, what kind of antenna should I use, where can I buy?
    thank you

    1. Asking what type of antenna you need is a bit like asking what type & colour paint you should buy. It is impossible to say unless you tell us what you want to achieve – there are no antennas that will work well on all frequencies and all applications. For broadcast FM listening a bit of wet string will work, but if you want to receive APT satellite images you’ll need a specialist aerial – and the exact type depends on whether there are any ground stations in your area that will interfere (if not you would want an aerial that has horizon-horizon coverage, but if so you would get an aerial that has coverage in a vertical cone to cut out the ground stations).

      1. Good afternoon,
        what I want is to receive and broadcast in FM, already I installed the software and connected the cable to the antenna of the building, but I can not hear anything, not even a radio station broadcasting on 98.5 MHz here.
        thank you

  8. The R820T2 seems to be only a match at the end of production to keep the R820T who have 1 or 2 db better result, i think. It is not a new product and not in the catalog of Rafael.

  9. Why on the photo of the ADSB comparison in SDR# does the R820T2 say 1090.000.000 , and the R820T say 1090.090.000
    A bit of a discrepancy?
    I have just upgraded from a R820T to a T2 and it’s a worthwhile upgrade.
    Thanks

Leave a Reply to Rui Pedro Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *