The AM Forum

http://www.rtl-sdr.com/rtl-sdr-panadapter-using-hardware-radio-receiver-stages/

Sorry if this has been beaten to death previously. It's new to me.

RSWL.....................

Generally speaking, any of these USB SDR "dongles" ought to do well as a panadapter.
The things that I expect one has to look out for are: input signal level to the dongle, a way to fix the frequency of the dongle in software, and the proper place and means to "tap" off the IF of the radio.

Other than that, sure, why not?

For that matter, why stop there? You can use the "dongle" as the actual receiver that you listen to, and tune the hardware radio for the frequency as you normally would. In fact you can set it up to switch back and forth by merely turning the audio down on either one. Unfortunately there is a delay with SDR at this time, so running both at the same time with the audio up is not a good option.

                       _-_-

Ham Radio Deluxe has had this capability for quite some time.

There are a couple people actually 'kitting'  the stick,  Capacitors (cheap ones),  if amp (expensive ones),  etc.  And selling on the larger ham sites.

Cool beans,  but the rtl sticks REALLY benefit from having a real rx in front of them.   They overload more often than not,  have DC spikes and a plethora of other problems.   The if strip ahead cures or minimizes a few of the complaints.

But, for 8 to 12 bucks,  it's the funnest and best value I've gotten for rx from. KHz to almost 2 ghz (I've done a direct sampling mod on mine).

They can also be used as a TX, picking off the LO sig.   Just for CW,  but the 'maker'  guys really think they did something their,  rediscovering LO leakage...

--Shane
KD6VXI

Just about all of the popular SDR software has an "IF SHIFT" field so fixing the "FREQUENCY" display is really simple!  Quite a few people run the dongles as a pan adapter... search youtube for a handful of examples.