diff --git a/pyModeS/extra/rtlreader.py b/pyModeS/extra/rtlreader.py
index d14f270..a077a7e 100644
--- a/pyModeS/extra/rtlreader.py
+++ b/pyModeS/extra/rtlreader.py
@@ -1,8 +1,14 @@
+import time
 import traceback
 import numpy as np
 import pyModeS as pms
-from rtlsdr import RtlSdr
-import time
+
+try:
+    import rtlsdr
+except:
+    print("------------------------------------------------------------------------")
+    print("! Warining: pyrtlsdr not installed (required for using RTL-SDR devices) ")
+    print("------------------------------------------------------------------------")
 
 sampling_rate = 2e6
 smaples_per_microsec = 2
@@ -21,7 +27,7 @@ class RtlReader(object):
     def __init__(self, **kwargs):
         super(RtlReader, self).__init__()
         self.signal_buffer = []  # amplitude of the sample only
-        self.sdr = RtlSdr()
+        self.sdr = rtlsdr.RtlSdr()
         self.sdr.sample_rate = sampling_rate
         self.sdr.center_freq = modes_frequency
         self.sdr.gain = "auto"
diff --git a/pyModeS/extra/tcpclient.py b/pyModeS/extra/tcpclient.py
index b9e1ca4..ee66ea0 100644
--- a/pyModeS/extra/tcpclient.py
+++ b/pyModeS/extra/tcpclient.py
@@ -7,11 +7,6 @@ import pyModeS as pms
 import traceback
 import zmq
 
-if sys.version_info > (3, 0):
-    PY_VERSION = 3
-else:
-    PY_VERSION = 2
-
 
 class TcpClient(object):
     def __init__(self, host, port, datatype):
@@ -265,9 +260,6 @@ class TcpClient(object):
             try:
                 received = [i for i in self.socket.recv(4096)]
 
-                if PY_VERSION == 2:
-                    received = [ord(i) for i in received]
-
                 self.buffer.extend(received)
                 # print(''.join(x.encode('hex') for x in self.buffer))
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index fb41c83..2279735 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ details = dict(
     ],
     keywords="Mode-S ADS-B EHS ELS Comm-B",
     packages=find_packages(exclude=["contrib", "docs", "tests"]),
-    install_requires=["numpy", "pyzmq", "pyrtlsdr"],
+    install_requires=["numpy", "pyzmq"],
     package_data={"pyModeS": ["*.pyx", "*.pxd"]},
     scripts=["pyModeS/streamer/modeslive"],
 )