sdr hack rf one

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home121

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I bought a sdr hack rf one 1 mhz - 6 ghz software defined radio platform development board, rtl sdr demo board kit dongle receiver ham radio. Can i run this out of the box ? If not what do i need to get up and running ? I have a sdr rsp1a using sdruno . Been a ham for 20 yrs. extra class, It beats any ham radio i have every had. tnk's joseph
 

dlwtrunked

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I bought a sdr hack rf one 1 mhz - 6 ghz software defined radio platform development board, rtl sdr demo board kit dongle receiver ham radio. Can i run this out of the box ? If not what do i need to get up and running ? I have a sdr rsp1a using sdruno . Been a ham for 20 yrs. extra class, It beats any ham radio i have every had. tnk's joseph

I have several HackRF1, various AirSpys, various RSP, etc. The HackRF1 will not be your receiver of choice for casual mojitoring-but for analyzing signals, spectrum analysis, or looking 2 GHz, it will be. So if you are not into analyzing signals, spectrum analyis, or looking above 2GHz, you are likely to be disappointed--otherwise, once you figure out what is is useful for in the analysing signals or looking at signals above 2 GHz (where you are not likely to decode anything but some of us find very interesting,, you will find it indispensable. Yes, it will easily work. Software to have to do these things include HackRF sweep SA and Universal Radio Hacker. And of course it will work with some other programs like SDR#. Make sure you do not pay above about $150 or so for one--the non-US ones on eBay are fine and in a side-by-side comparison again one made in the US costing twice as much, the non-US made one won (sad to say). Be sure not to transmit near one or you risk blowing out the front end.
 

home121

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I have several HackRF1, various AirSpys, various RSP, etc. The HackRF1 will not be your receiver of choice for casual mojitoring-but for analyzing signals, spectrum analysis, or looking 2 GHz, it will be. So if you are not into analyzing signals, spectrum analyis, or looking above 2GHz, you are likely to be disappointed--otherwise, once you figure out what is is useful for in the analysing signals or looking at signals above 2 GHz (where you are not likely to decode anything but some of us find very interesting,, you will find it indispensable. Yes, it will easily work. Software to have to do these things include HackRF sweep SA and Universal Radio Hacker. And of course it will work with some other programs like SDR#. Make sure you do not pay above about $150 or so for one--the non-US ones on eBay are fine and in a side-by-side comparison again one made in the US costing twice as much, the non-US made one won (sad to say). Be sure not to transmit near one or you risk blowing out the front end.
Thank You for your input, I appreciate it. I do have interests in analyzing signals, and spec. analysis thru-out the spectrum. I did'nt pay above 150. doll. I have the RSP1A running SDRuno software, and GRE 800 scanner which I bought when they first came out, have not updated to Whistler software yet. Probably not needed now w/ rsp1a and soon to receive hackrf1, sold most of my Ham Radios but kept my first one, Kenwood TS 430 Ive done all the Mods to it, mostly using it now for receiving S.W. signals. Tnks again.
 

dlwtrunked

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Thank You for your input, I appreciate it. I do have interests in analyzing signals, and spec. analysis thru-out the spectrum. I did'nt pay above 150. doll. I have the RSP1A running SDRuno software, and GRE 800 scanner which I bought when they first came out, have not updated to Whistler software yet. Probably not needed now w/ rsp1a and soon to receive hackrf1, sold most of my Ham Radios but kept my first one, Kenwood TS 430 Ive done all the Mods to it, mostly using it now for receiving S.W. signals. Tnks again.

Note the transmit capability does not really add extra cost. Get the HackRF sweep SA program. And the URH (universal Radio Hacker) program. But note this second programs is slow and buggy but there are many things you can do with it once one figures out how that you cannot with anything else freely available. As noted, be careful not to transmit near the antenna (I did with 40 W within a foot and had to have the HackRF repaired). For listening to stations (audio), one can use plugins for SDRSharp and HDSDR. But for regular listening (VHF/UHF), I prefer to use an AirSpy (AirSpy Discovery for HF--the HackRF would not be my choice for doing that). Send me a message later if you have questions.
 

home121

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Note the transmit capability does not really add extra cost. Get the HackRF sweep SA program. And the URH (universal Radio Hacker) program. But note this second programs is slow and buggy but there are many things you can do with it once one figures out how that you cannot with anything else freely available. As noted, be careful not to transmit near the antenna (I did with 40 W within a foot and had to have the HackRF repaired). For listening to stations (audio), one can use plugins for SDRSharp and HDSDR. But for regular listening (VHF/UHF), I prefer to use an AirSpy (AirSpy Discovery for HF--the HackRF would not be my choice for doing that). Send me a message later if you have questions.
Sorry to hear you blew the front end of rf1, [ I will Remember not to do that ] As far as the URH program being slow and buggy, thats ok im slow and buggy too. I am positive I will need help w/ this sdr and software, Tnk's for offering your help. Is there a good software program, inexpensive if possible that will let me get the full use out of it ? You mentioned to get audio out of rf1, do I need these plugins to get audio, or is it just your preference for better audio ? For the most part Im not going to use rf1 for audio mostly signal analysis. Tnk's again
 

dlwtrunked

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Sorry to hear you blew the front end of rf1, [ I will Remember not to do that ] As far as the URH program being slow and buggy, thats ok im slow and buggy too. I am positive I will need help w/ this sdr and software, Tnk's for offering your help. Is there a good software program, inexpensive if possible that will let me get the full use out of it ? You mentioned to get audio out of rf1, do I need these plugins to get audio, or is it just your preference for better audio ? For the most part Im not going to use rf1 for audio mostly signal analysis. Tnk's again

All the programs I use/mentioned are free. SDRSharp and HDSDR either come with the ability to use a HackRF or there are free .dll to use it. HackRF Sweep SA was made for it so nothing is needed for it. URH is designed to work with it and other SDRs--I think originally it was designed for the HackRF.
So for different uses"
HDSDR or SDRSharp for listening to audio (but other SDRs can do better in my opinion but the HackRF stands out for the 2 uses below)
HackRF Sweep SA for a good spectrum analyzer program
Universal Radio Hacker for detailed analyzing signals (in using it, one thing to do is note the bugs as mentioned and how to get around them)

It took me a while to understand all of URH possibilitie, uses, and bugs.
 

home121

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I have the HDSDR just never had a chance to use it, good to know I can use it w/ rf1. Im going to get the HackRF Sweep SA, seeing it was made for it. I have not received rf1 yet so I have time to go over the software, im sure I will need time to wrap my mind around it. Tnk's for the heads up.
 

spongella

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I've found that the HackRF (original, not knockoff) works well on HF (3 - 30 MHz) and all the way down to the bottom of the AM Band. On longwave forget it. Antenna makes all the difference; I use a 30' ground mounted vertical but other types of antennas will vary in reception.
 

home121

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I've found that the HackRF (original, not knockoff) works well on HF (3 - 30 MHz) and all the way down to the bottom of the AM Band. On longwave forget it. Antenna makes all the difference; I use a 30' ground mounted vertical but other types of antennas will vary in reception.
Tnk's for response, Question how do you tell the knock off from original ? I know a little about antenna's, and your right antenna makes a big difference. I have modified my Kenwood Ts- 430 to tx / rx down below 1 mhz. even below 100 hz. you need a very long antenna to tx / or rx that low, never tried to tx down there. I used to monitor ships at sea coming to America around 4 mhz or so, the captain would call reports in and co-ordinates I would map them on a world map and follow them. Boy that sounds really geeky, and so it is. That was my first ham radio, the only one I kept. Tnk's for heads up on hackrf knock off's.
 

spongella

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home121, I bought mine from GreatScottGadgets.com, the original seller for the HackRFOne. The true HacRFOnes are more expensive, the packaging is different too. Nooelec.com also sells the original HackRFOne. I stuck with the genuine HackRFOne since I did not trust the knockoffs plus if I wanted to sell it I'd get a better return for my money.

Never tried the knockoffs so I can't comment on how they compare to the true, original HackRFOne.
 

home121

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Well I bought a cheaper one from Walmart.com on line. We will see if its any good, kind of wish I did'nt, Im having problems tracking it one minute U.S.P.S. says its on its way, next they say its a invalid number ?
 

wgbecks

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I had the same problem with a recent delivery via USPS. I found that if you have an account and that you login to your account that the tracking seems work with some degree of consistency.
 

dlwtrunked

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home121, I bought mine from GreatScottGadgets.com, the original seller for the HackRFOne. The true HacRFOnes are more expensive, the packaging is different too. Nooelec.com also sells the original HackRFOne. I stuck with the genuine HackRFOne since I did not trust the knockoffs plus if I wanted to sell it I'd get a better return for my money.

Never tried the knockoffs so I can't comment on how they compare to the true, original HackRFOne.

Note the design is open source so there is no "knock off". I have experience with both the the Great Scott and eBay Chinese ones on a project. The Great Scott had spurious unsatisfactory receptions and was much more expensive. The Chinese did not have those problems and would have been acceptible for the project but the project could not use non-US source. And the Chinese certainly had better packaging. I personally bought several of the eBay ones and regularly use and believe buying the Great Scott at its listed price is insane. Attacking the Chinese like above reminds me of attacks years ago that Japan did not make good cars--silly. Attack the Chinese for things they are guilty of (and there is plenty of that).
 

adcockfred

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Yeah, i agree. My hack rf just got off the boat, man what a waite, but well worth it
Can not wait to take it out on the plains around flag day.
 

home121

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Note the design is open source so there is no "knock off". I have experience with both the the Great Scott and eBay Chinese ones on a project. The Great Scott had spurious unsatisfactory receptions and was much more expensive. The Chinese did not have those problems and would have been acceptible for the project but the project could not use non-US source. And the Chinese certainly had better packaging. I personally bought several of the eBay ones and regularly use and believe buying the Great Scott at its listed price is insane. Attacking the Chinese like above reminds me of attacks years ago that Japan did not make good cars--silly. Attack the Chinese for things they are guilty of (and there is plenty of that).
finally received HRF1 today, do i need to run it on ubuntu os, or window 10 ok ? when i run command prompt to get / as in $ sudo apt-get install hackrf - it doesnt recognise the command ? Trying to download libraries and such things needed to operate hrf1 ? any ideas on what im doing wrong
 

adcockfred

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Yeah, I found a sdr# friendly on mint, but I really wanted to run my hack on gqrx.
so i ran back to win 10, and i found hack to be better on the front end.
so i am on hold as far as gqrx and hack right now but can not wait
you probably will have to run the dd command for your app on linux to be able to see
 

adcockfred

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oh I am not the guy to guide you in Linux as most of my experance is in windows
boatbod or there is one more Linux guy on this forum
the one that looks like an old radio
but first your number of os makes a difference
so that is why I bumped on up to mint and got away from ubuntu
but I will get gqrx and hack working one day
all my drivers really say gqrx is good
hard to belive something better than sdr#
 

home121

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Tnk's for reply ; Ive put HRF1 on hold last couple days, but wondering If I can run SDRskyspy I think that's the name, or another SDR software on HRF1 that's not so complicated ? Do you think it will limit the freq. range on HRF1 ? Im sure it limits a lot of its potential, but I will get hrf1 up and running properly later. Im running SDRuno on SDR rsp1a I got a few weeks ago, very cool. Im a old school extra class amateur radio operator back when you needed to copy 20 wpm c.w, and had 5 diff. classes of operators. Modifying and working on radios I know, making antennas I know. But I thought I knew something abt computers and software, Obviously I do not. There's Always something more to learn, no matter how old you get.
 
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