RX-only I-gate with Fun Cube Dongle Pro + SDR#

I set up an RX only I-gate for APRS with software defined radio.
Overall the SDR I-gate runs quite stably.
The biggest advantage of this software-based I-gate is that you do not need any real radio and TNC.
All you need is a USB dongle. All other processing is done with software (which is basically free thanks to the authors).

Below are a list of software that I used.

USB dongle http://www.funcubedongle.com/
SDR# http://airspy.com/
Virtual Audio Cable http://vb-audio.pagesperso-orange.fr/Cable/
AGWPE (Software TNC) http://www.sv2agw.com/downloads/
UI-View32 http://www.ui-view.net/

Cheap alternatives to Fun Cube Dongle pro are RTL SDR dongles sold as TV broadcast receiver.  Information can be found in http://www.rtl-sdr.com/.
rtl-sdr blog site sells their own designed dongle, too.
http://www.rtl-sdr.com/buy-rtl-sdr-dvb-t-dongles/
You can also search "SDR" on ebay and aliexpress to find many similar dongles specifically made  to be used as SDR receivers.

After connecting physical USB dongle and antenna, the remaining work is installation and configuration of software.

SDR# (sharp) is actively developed software and has modern interface.
On the other hand, AGWPE and UI-View 32 are not as easy as using iPhone.
For me, it took some days to learn about them by searching with google.
(I would like to write the details of software installation in the future some day.)

Below is how packets are decoded and uploaded to the server.
USB dongle and SDR# makes a virtual radio receiver.
In Japan, we use 144.66MHz national APRS frequency for 1200 bps.
SDR# tunes in to 144.66MHz and demodulates the radio.
The demodulated sound is passed on to the speaker output of Virtual Audio Cable.
AGWPE (Software TNC) listens to the microphone input of Virtual Audio Cable,
and decodes the APRS packet.
UI-View 32 processes the decoded APRS packet and uploads the data to APRS server.

In the past, I had an I-gate based on radio and hardware decoder (old Yaesu mobile radio and Byonics TinyTrack 4).
It was ok but the radio, TNC, power supply, and wires connecting between them take up a lot of space in my small house, so I eventually stop using the hardware-based I-gate.

This software-based I-gate is very small.  The real hardware is only a very small USB dongle and an antenna connected thereto.
In addition, the cost is very low. All you need to buy is a USB dongle and an antenna.

If you have multiple I-gates at multiple locations, this method may be preferable.
You can make as many I-gates as you want.

One disadvantage of this configuration may be that this is an RX-only I-gate.
Since I am not a skillful user, I only use APRS for position reporting.
But APRS is originally a two-way communication system, so it may be better to set up a TX/RX I-gate to enable exchanging messages.
At the present moment, cheap SDR radio dongles are all receivers.
Transceiver SDRs are available from several manufacturers but they are still very expensive.

For the time being, I would like to operate RX-only I-gates to help upload position reporting packets around my house and my winter, summer houses, so as to serve as fill-in I-gates.
(Digipeating may be one option, but some people do not like increasing radio traffic.  RX I-gate may be less controversial)