[Scan-DC] SDR and signal amplification / quality

[Thomas P. Clouse]

I have been fooling around with SDR, and strength of the dongle to pull in
signal is not strong compared with an actual radio.

I am not all that technically inclined when it comes to radio signal and
signal amplification.

To pull in the same signal on an SDR dongle versus radio, do you need a
larger antenna, a pre-amp between the antenna and the dongle, or something
else?