Unable to get HackRF One working properly on MacOS

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KevinHowJones

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Mar 20, 2020
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MacOS 10.13

Just received new HackRF One, and am new to SDR. I have installed gnuradio and Gqrx. Both installations went successfully AFAICT.

Following Michael Ossmann's tutorial[1] I constructed a flow graph in gnuradio-companion, with the exception of using QT GUI components (WX components did not appear in the menus. From what I read[2] WX components are deprecated anyway.)

When running my gnuradio-companion flow graph or running Gqrx, I get similar results. The observations below apply to both gnuradio companion and Gqrx. I have tried all experiments on both applications:

FFT plot appears, however when my center frequency is set to a known FM station, I am unable to get audio. I do however get white noise on all settings in companion, and all settings except at the hardware frequency in Gqrx (see Gqrx exception below.)

I observe also, when setting my center frequency to 2.412 GHz (2.4 GHz wifi channel 1 center frequency) with a wireless access point nearby set to channel 1, I notice nothing telling in the FFT plot. Moving the radio farther or closer to the HackRF One has no effect on the amplitude of the plot.

I also observe that I ALWAYS have a spike in the plot at the hardware center frequency. It was misleading at first as I thought there was a signal there, but after experimentation I realized the spike only has to do with where I set the hardware center frequency.

The slight difference I observe with Gqrx is that when setting the mode to WFM and tuning to the hardware center frequency (where the spike is) the white noise is squelched out.

I have experimented with several different settings in Gqrx and several different graphs in companion, but cannot get it to work.

I read on a forum that someone had a problem with the supplied ANT500 antenna, so I tried another antenna, but it made no difference.

Some guidance would be much appreciated.

[1]Software Defined Radio with HackRF, Lesson 1 - Great Scott Gadgets
[2]https://github.com/gnuradio/gnuradio/issues/1742
 

KevinHowJones

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Joined
Mar 20, 2020
Messages
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Here is a screen shot of my Gqrx config, and my companion flow graph:

Gqrx: (the tall peak at the center is at the hardware freq, and there is always one at the hardware freq, regardless of where it gets set at.)


gqrx_screen_2.png

gnuradio-companion:

81984
 
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