I've not noticed if mine gets hot. But if it overheats and dies, heck, I'll just cough up another 20 bucks and buy a new one. Its a fun gadget to play with.
In my earlier post, I recommended using it with Skywave Linux in a virtual machine. A great idea in theory. But for me, try as I might, I could not get this particular USB gadget to be recognized in Virtualbox. This made Skywave Linux useless for me and I'm sorry I recommended it for use in a virtual machine. And I'm not about to go from dual boot to triple boot, just for that.
But there's a workaround. I can't help Windows people. But at least in Linux Mint, all you really need is GQRX. Its effortless to install and use. Also, DSD (Digital Speech Decoder) is a must for decoding unencrypted digital voice transmissions. Let's say, installing it is a bit more involved. But once you hear that first decoded voice, you'll be dancing for joy!
I remember 20-25 years ago, a golden age when virtually everything in the radio spectrum was in the clear. With so many digital transmissions now, DSD is a critical companion and aid that you'll want to have installed when you're using SDR.
Linux apps:
GQRX install -
Install Gqrx SDR on Ubuntu Linux – Gqrx SDR
DSD compile/install guide -
https://www.george-smart.co.uk/scrap...peech_decoder/
DSD is a rather involved install. During the process, you may discover that there's several required libraries you need to have installed first. You'll probably want to install those libraries correctly the first time, and not just guess. I've gotten DSD compiled, installed, tested, and working perfectly. So if anyone trying to install it runs into a roadblock, I'm happy to offer assistance.
Once you get all that installed correctly, a terminal command line you'll want to use to output GQRX > DSD > your speakers in real time, as its transmitted:
Code:
socat stdout udp-listen:7355 | padsp dsd -i - -o /dev/dsp
Good luck and have fun.