Airspy vs HackRF One

I just got my HackRF One in today and I a bit disappointed at what I'm seeing on screen a lot more anomalies and such than on the Airspy. Also what looks like harmonics like having same FM stations strong again 8mhz away, same with NOAA weather stations. Just weird stuff basically it works but compared to Airspy I'm not getting as much crap with the Airspy. Its a very wide range receiver and only been playing with it a couple hours so will give it more time.

I got the HackRF One to use with the upcoming PortaPak so excited about that. There are more uses for the HackRF I have not touched on yet so I will keep it I think both units have their pros and cons. I do like the gain controls on the HackRF really pulls in weak signals to the usable range. Its worth having both setup and use the one that is functioning best for the current task at hand.

I viewed the HackRF as a neat tool but not a very efficient receiver for radio hobbyist use, and it seemed reasonably clear to me that its use as a wideband receiver was secondary to the manufacturer, code writer(s), etc. I think they are a lot less concerned with images, aliases, and other such spurious signals as they are not an issue for some of the hacking projects they are implementing the device for.

The Airspy was built with the intention of being a receiver by people with some RF knowledge who took such anomalies into consideration.

I owned a HackRF One and a bladeRF. Both got sold for that reason. Both received well (the bladeRF had a hotter receiver) but the artifacts discussed made both an unpleasant experience for me. The Airspy is not perfect in this regard either but as a wideband receiver that shows several MHz of spectrum at once, it is in my opinion superior to either.

I found that also with the hackrf. After putting ferret chocks on the cable at the usb end, seems to clear up. Also have a Hammond die-cast case to put it in when I get time. All little things like this should cut down your imaging. And outdoor ant.