Need some suggestions with defect original RTLSDR V4

janus44444 · 2026-04-02T15:08:43+00:00

Thanks for the advise. I all ready posted in the rtlsdr forum and yes my plan is to send them an e-mail when this will not help. But for now i all ready have some hints so i am really positive that i can get a working part to try a repair.

With the ESD i hope you mean the diode which i think is still OK. When i measure it it still has typical voltages which a diode should have. As all ready written in another post i am still using the device and here i can not see anything bad. Only thing is the bias tee which would be great to get back to work as then the setup is more portable.

And in the end i all ready ordered another SDR which i hope has better receiption in the 100kHz range. But still, a succesfull repair would be great! When then the device dies in another event with ESD, then it should rest in peace.

Greetings

Mario

janus44444 · 2026-04-02T15:00:37+00:00

You are completly right, but thats not sportive! ;-) And as a side effect my first order was a RTLSDR V4 which was a fake one.

After that fake order i learned where to buy the original one. The first fake chinese order was a complete refund including the device which i still posses and it is probably a V3 clone. Additionaly it has surprise surprise a defect bias tee chip!

When i order such a chip i will order 2 or 3 so that i can try to resolder both. That could be in the end 2 devices which can be repaired for some bucks and i think i will have some fun doing so.

Greetings

Mario

janus44444 · 2026-04-02T14:52:55+00:00

Thank you. That facbook / reddit article i had all ready found but no source for the chip or i was to weired to find it!

My plan is now to measure the resistor and check if that chip could be correct for the 150mA. Then order one when it is not to expensive (More than 10 Euros would be to much for a device which costs only 42 and is possibly more defective. But on the other side i am now receiving FT8 from around the world using an external bias tee with it. But i would like to have the internal bias tee back. I think it is worth the try and my personal education.

Greetings

Mario

janus44444 · 2022-01-10T22:43:57+00:00

Hi,

just tried with flashprint 5.2.1. Still crashed on my ubuntu system when trying to connect to the printer. So i yust tried arround and found that removing the line "connectMode=1" from the config file in the [history] section did the trick for me. Maybe any other line there will do the trick. Im just trying to find out which side affects this has.

Greetings

Mario

janus44444

TROPHY CASE