Happy New Year, all!First, to Robert, KB7AQD: I have no idea who proposed the 160-190 kHz license-free band, but ChatGPT says there was no single person, and that the band grew out of post-WW2 spectrum allotments in the late 1940's.
OK to my point here. Some time ago on this board I stated that, as a ham with no computer in the shack other than my iPhone, I was holding out to hear audible LOWFER signals in the aforementioned 160-190 kHz band. Some very wise board participants here very gently advised that I'd have an awfully long wait without QRSS and visual SDR waterfall plot capabilities. Time and again now I see these beautiful displays both here (Gedas's recent ones as example) and in LOWDOWN and I've finally come to the realization that I'm missing out on considerable fun. If I can't hear diddly on 185.3 kHz with TAG only 110 miles away, I don't know what else I can expect.
So, tonight I'm soliciting advice on what folks here consider the best outboard SDR receivers. My ham rig is a (non-waterfall) Kenwood TS-590SG and I don't plan to replace it with one with a waterfall, so I need an outboard SDR receiver and a computer. Some internet searching (confession: mainly ChatGPT) identified the following outboard SDR receivers as plug-and-play into Mac computers, prioritized as follows (with estimated prices):
1. SDRplay RSPduo Dual‑Tuner SDR Receiver ($231; don't need 2 Rx freqs so would skip this one)
2. SDRplay RSP1B SDR Receiver ($140 - this seems like the best reasonably-priced choice)
3. SDRplay RSPdx Wide Coverage SDR ($237)
4. Airspy HF+ Discovery SDR RX ($273)
5. KiwiSDR KIWISDR2 ($520)
I would appreciate feedback on any of the above, if folks here have experience with them. And/or any other recommendations or thoughts are very welcome. Whatever I get I'd be driving a Mac laptop. Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated.
73, GL LW DX, es HNY.
Bruce WA1HGJ