5W/10W SDR covering HF through 70cm with a built-in sound card, GPS, Wi-Fi, and D-STAR, packaged in a rig you can toss in a go-bag.

I’ve hauled the IC-705 to parks, summits, and field days all year, and it continues to feel like an IC-7300 that shrank into a shoulder bag. The direct-sampling SDR delivers a clean waterfall and IF DSP that makes weak-signal CW or FT8 possible even with a 10W cap. I pair the radio with the LC-192 backpack and a compact end-fed half wave; setup takes minutes thanks to the built-in GPS (for APRS and time sync), Wi-Fi hotspot, and a USB-C battery bank feeding 13.8V. The internal sound card and CI-V control mean WSJT-X, Vara HF, or Winlink sessions are one cable away on my Surface Go. Battery life with the BP-272 hovers around 3 hours at 5W SSB mixed use, but an external Bioenno pack lets me run 10W all afternoon. The chassis runs a little warm during long digital sessions, so I keep a small stand in the kit, and of course the price is steep. Still, for an all-mode shack-in-a-box that handles HF, 6m, 2m, 70cm, D-STAR, GPS logging, and network control, nothing else on the market touches it.

Icom IC-705 All-Mode Portable SDR Transceiver with GPS

Icom IC-705 All-Mode Portable Transceiver

USB software‑defined radio (SDR) receiver covering a wide frequency range for exploring and decoding radio signals.

The RTL-SDR Blog V3 is still the easiest way to fall down the RF rabbit hole. For under $50 you get HF coverage via the direct sampling mode, native bias-tee power for active antennas, and a rugged aluminum shell that rejects interference better than the cheap dongles. Over the last year I’ve used it with SDR# on Windows, CubicSDR on macOS, and a Raspberry Pi running rtl_tcp to monitor ADS-B, decode NOAA APT weather images, listen to trunked P25, and pull APRS packets. The included dipole kit works for VHF/UHF experiments, and clipping on a random wire unlocks HF listening down to 500 kHz. You’ll need to mind USB noise (a ferrite choke helps) and it’s receive-only, but for exploring the RF spectrum, protocol reverse-engineering, or building spectrum dashboards, the V3 remains a fantastic toolkit staple.

USB software-defined radio covering 500 kHz to 1.7 GHz. Perfect for exploring RF spectrum, decoding signals, and monitoring ADS-B and weather satellites.

RTL-SDR Blog V3 USB Software-Defined Radio Receiver

RTL-SDR Blog V3 USB Radio

Discover the best software defined radio products and tools we actually use. Each item tested in real-world scenarios with honest, detailed reviews.

Software Defined Radio Products

Icom IC-705 All-Mode Portable Transceiver

RTL-SDR Blog V3 USB Radio