Turn Any Android Smartphone Into an FM Radio - Mini SDR Review

In this video, I review a Micro USB SDR Receiver which can turn an Android smartphone or tablet into an FM radio. In addition to FM, it can access police bands, air traffic control, weather stations, HAM radio, and more.

Links to the Mini SDR dongle:

Link to Micro-USB to USB-C Adapter:

Link to MCX to coax adapter:

Link to TV Tuner Dongle Review - READ INSTRUCTIONS IN DESCRIPTION OF VIDEO:

Link to TV Tuner Dongle:

Please help support these videos through Patreon, Channel Membership, or one time PayPal contribution as YouTube partially demonetized my channel.

📺 Have reception problems? Sign up for my antenna recommendation service below:

Considering a Channel Master antenna? Use my affiliate link below:

Sign up to my e-mail list:

Like my Facebook page:

Note: this video and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I'll receive a small commission.

[AntennaMan]

Links to the Mini SDR dongle:

Link to Micro-USB to USB-C Adapter:

Link to MCX to coax adapter:

Link to TV Tuner Dongle Review - READ INSTRUCTIONS IN DESCRIPTION OF VIDEO:

Link to TV Tuner Dongle:

[jonathancollings]

If you're into RF, SDR is a great hobby. You will definitely want to go to a PC at some point because Android is just so limited. At one point I was picking up aviation data and mapping it in real time. I also managed to get two SDRs working together to pull in trunked signals as well. It's quite the rabbit hole.

[Tigerhawk]

my moms phone which is a Linux style flip phone has an FM Radio in it, just hook up headphones & boom local FM channels, wish all phone were like it

[reflex]

You wouldn't believe how long I've been waiting for you to make a video of this

[FoulOwl]

Luckily my phone already has an FM tuner built in. Works great

[youtou]

I have three RTL-SDR dongle placed in different places (Toronto, Hong Kong and Tokyo), and connected to my NAS and make into a SDR server, so I can listen to FM station from these three cities

[JoshColletta]

A few notes...

There are a couple of likely reasons why you can't pick up AM or lower-frequency shortwave stations with a dongle like this. The most likely reason is that basic, inexpensive SDR units typically do not tie the preamplifier circuitry into the sampling circuit that is capable of decoding signals on those frequencies. In fact, the popular RTL-SDR line of dongles only recently opened up quadrature sampling on those frequencies with their fourth revision model, allowing the preamp to be used. A few other more expensive brands had already done so, but the "budget" manufacturers are just now starting to catch up.

The other reason, whether your unit uses the proper circuits or not, is the type of antenna. Whip antennas are not great for shortwave, and even worse for mediumwave, especially not a whip antenna THAT small. Remember: the lower the frequency, the longer the antenna elements need to be in order to be efficient. You'll want either a longwire antenna (which is exactly what it sounds like, you can literally just take a piece of random wire and use it as an antenna) or a loop antenna, of which there are numerous options out there (or you can even make your own).

FM reception is also likely limited due to the size of the antenna. It would likely be improved with a wire dipole (the T-shaped plastic-covered type of things that usually come with bookshelf stereos or mini hi-fi systems). Or, even some loop antennas would work -- in fact, I run an SDR with an AirSpy YouLoop antenna, and I can pull in pretty much everything the tuner is capable of except for satellite signals.

If FM reception is the ONLY thing you want, and your device has a headphone jack, you most likely don't need a separate dongle, you probably already have an FM tuner built-in. Most modern wi-fi chips are capable of reaching those frequencies, and Android has a native tuner app. It may be pre-installed on your device, or you may have to download it. Again, you need to have a headphone jack, as the cable acts as the antenna, but all you have to do is plug in some headphones and fire up the app, and you're good to go. I actually used one of my tablets that way in a recent winter storm, when my entire city was cut off from power. Came in pretty handy once the local radio station got their generator fired up!

[Nicholas_Chris]

The antenna is designed for UHF band, this is the reason it only receives strong FM stations. To receive all FM channels (including weak signal ones) I recommend an FM antenna you can try a telescopic but for best results an outdoor FM antenna and you get to test how good the SDR tuner is. FM antenna must be mounted verticall to receive all channels.

The small antenna is awfull even for UHF band, let's seay if you live near the broadcast tower you can receive the TV channels on UHF band but in most cases it performs poor. An indoor antenna such as the rabbit ears performs better compared with the small antenna.

[harrkev]

If you use a USB on the go cable, you can use any rtl SDR that you want. It doesn't need to be the one with a micro USB connector.

[tpl]

My man Tyler. You will cause them to sell out several products. Watch and that would be a fun as a video.

[Poorgeniu]

If you only listen to FM radio... and you got an international version of a certain phone, (likely Android). Then there is a chance that ur phone have an FM tuner built in in which that case, just plug in an headphone/earbuds and launch the radio app.

[erniecolussy]

Many wireless motorcycle intercom units come with built in FM radio. Unfortunately most travel information stations are AM. This includes mountain pass report radio stations. Since the intercoms can also act as Bluetooth head sets this is a possible option. But how this functions would like require pulling over to access the station. At which time if a data connection is available checking the state DOT website is likely a better option.

[impossiblescissors]

The best way to get into the SDR hobby is the adapter sold by RTL-SDR blog that works with PC. I've used it to check out local FM, HD Radio and weather radio, with potential for so much more. Will have to make a long wire antenna to get shortwave and AM. I'm wondering about the tuning range of the unit you tested.

[kensejkora]

Nice video, Tyler. The program likely defaults to low gain, so it can only receive the strong stations. On the upper toolbar, drag it all the way to the left, and you should see a 'Gains' option as the third box from the right. Click on that and adjust the Gain Control upward. As for receiving AM stations between 530 and 1700 kHz, the dongle is not optimized for that. Its internal design is best from 30 MHz upward. It might be possible the dongle supports 'Direct Sampling', which *might* allow tuning below 30 MHz. This is accessible in the 'Prefs' box, and should be set to disabled for receiving above 30 MHz, and best to try Q branch for below 30 MHz.

[hetrodoxlysonov-whoo]

You can buy very small FM radios also very cheap small pay as you go phones with built in radios.

[brianwalker]

My phone actually has a built in fm tuner. A pair of headphones is my go to antenna. I can use them, the speaker or Bluetooth for audio. Oddly my plug in antenna is NOT acceptable to my phone's fm tuner app.

[MrSloika]

I have an S10e with a built in tuner. The earbud wires do double duty as the antenna. I use Next radio app and Android 10 because support for terrestrial radio in US versions of Android after 10 have been disabled.

[КГБКолДжорджКостанца]

This is perfect, I need to hear some certain stations from Cuba, Here and from Taiwan, spy radio

[thomashenden]

I would try, if a longer cord between the phone and the receiver, reduce the interference on AM radio, plus winding the cord through a ferrite core. And AM is best at night, of course, and with a much better antenna than the supplied one. A little surprised that the "Antenna Man" isn’t into AM, which is a fallback option in case of - well a situation with global crisis, war or something where actually - good knowledge of radio, AM, Ham-radio, walkietalkies is king!

[shenghe]

What about stock FM radio apps or NextRadio, which use the headphone cable as an antenna on devices that have an activated FM radio chip?
Also, the reason that you can't pick AM radio is because some RTL-SDR dongles (like yours) aren't wired for direct sampling. The only way to receive AM and shortwave radio is to use an upconverter like the Airspy SpyVerter or the NooElec Ham It Up.