You are probably correct. The "average ham" is probably not the target of this post, nor is he a reader of my blog, probably. This dongle requires some technical finesse to get working correctly for different kinds of modulations, something your average "appliance operator" will not take the trouble to do. Our hobby loses much because of it.
There are more and more-capable experimenters in the "Maker" and "DIY" communities than in ham radio, and that is sad. I have always been an experimenter, and I have had my ham ticket 33 years now.
That being said, this dongle is capable of serious SIGINT and monitoring of public radio activity, which is needed these days because of the thugs we have in government these days, who think nothing of violating out Constitutional rights.
No, it is not a $4000 ham radio that does everything but make you toast. At $15, it cannot possibly be anything close to that. But for those who are willing to learn, these little Chinese SDR dongles have much to teach. Too bad most American ham radio operators won't take the time to learn.
I think you'd be surprised. I've been in this "hobby" for 6 years now (Yes, I'm a "no-coder") and have found so much that piques my interest that I have trouble settling on one or two things to do a deep-dive into. I've been intrigued by these little dongles for awhile now and have read up a bit on them -- your description (and your blog) is one of the more well written, easy to understand sources of information that I've found to date.
What turns alot of us "new guys" off are the old-timers who sit out there on the air and do nothing but bitch about us not having to learn morse code. If that's the mark of a "good ham" knowing morse code then I guess I'm just a lid.
Funny thing though, some of these guys who may do 35-40wpm CW don't know spit about modeling and building antenna's -- one of the area's that I'm particularly interested in. (I happen to be modeling a delta-loop quad array for Field Day. Think of it like a two element parasitic delta loop array "on steroids.") So I guess turn-about's fair play and anyone who doesn't know spit about modeling and building antenna's isn't a good ham. Oh the hoot's and howls I hear when I throw that out there.
BTW: Not saying you're one of "those hams" ... based on your writing I think you're one of those guys who takes complex subjects and makes them simpler to understand. That's the kinda thing that'll attract more folks to the hobby. YOU'RE the kinda guy we need more of in amateur radio.
I bookmarked it. It looks like a great blog.