Tagged: hackrf

HackRF Now Available for Preorder

The HackRF One, a TX/RX capable software defined radio for 10 MHz – 6 GHz is now available for preorder at certain resellers for $299USD . Micheal, the man behind the HackRF expects the Kickstarter HackRF rewards to be shipped in June. Then after shipping the HackRF reward units, the resellers will receive their units.

HackRF One from Great Scott Gadgets is a Software Defined Radio peripheral capable of transmission or reception of radio signals from 10 MHz to 6 GHz. Designed to enable test and development of modern and next generation radio technologies, HackRF One is an open source hardware platform that can be used as a USB peripheral or programmed for stand-alone operation.

  • 10 MHz to 6 GHz operating frequency
  • half-duplex transceiver
  • up to 20 million samples per second
  • 8-bit quadrature samples (8-bit I and 8-bit Q)
  • compatible with GNU Radio, SDR#, and more
  • software-configurable RX and TX gain and baseband filter
  • software-controlled antenna port power (50 mA at 3.3 V)
  • SMA female antenna connector
  • SMA female clock input and output for synchronization
  • convenient buttons for programming
  • internal pin headers for expansion
  • Hi-Speed USB 2.0
  • USB-powered
  • open source hardware

HackRF One has an injection molded plastic enclosure and ships with a micro USB cable. An antenna is not included. ANT500 is recommended as a starter antenna for HackRF One.

 

HackRF One
HackRF One

Transmitting DAB with the HackRF

A RTL-SDR.com reader has written in to let us know about his project involving transmitting Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) using GNU Radio and the HackRF. DAB is a digital radio technology that is used to broadcast radio stations. He uses the CRC-DABMUX and CRC-DABMOD software to modulate an audio file into DAB and then uses a GNU Radio python script to write the modulated signal to the HackRF for transmitting.

Controlling a Remote Control Car with the HackRF

On YouTube user 王康 has been working with his HackRF One to create a computer keyboard controlled interface for his remote control car. The HackRF is a ~$300 software defined radio similar to the RTL-SDR, but with transmit capabilities.

To control the car he wrote a GNU Radio program to generate a control signal that is transmitted by the HackRF and a GUI to listen to keyboard presses on the PC.

HackRF One with gr-remotecar

HackRF vs. BladeRF vs. USRP

To help you decide which of the recently released software defined radios is right for you, blogger Taylor Killian has written an article discussing and comparing the HackRF, BladeRF and new USRP models.

The HackRF, BladeRF and USRP are all high end SDRs which range in cost from $300 (HackRF) to $1100 USD (USRP B210). They differ from the RTL-SDR in that each is specifically designed for the purpose of software defined radio, and they all have large bandwidths and transmit capabilities.

HackRF Jawbreaker Board with EnclosureBladeRFUSRP

HackRF Receiving HRPT Weather Satellite Images

On Twitter user @uhf_satcom has been using a HackRF software defined radio together with GNU Radio, a tracking L-Band antenna and this HRPT decoding software to receive and decode HRPT weather satellite images. He used GNU Radio to output to a .RAW16 file, which the HRPT decoding software was then able to use to produce an image.

 

 

HRPT is a picture transmission protocol which stands for High Resolution Picture Transmission. There are multiple satellites which broadcast weather images in this format including the NOAA, GOES, Metop-A and Feng Yun satellites. These satellites transmit HRPT at about 1.7 GHz.

@uhf_satcom also tried to receive these images with the RTL-SDR, but was unsuccessful. But you can still receive the lower resolution APT weather satellite images using the RTL-SDR.

Below are some examples of the images he was able to receive.

hrpt_hackrf1_thumb hrptdata_noaa19a_thumb

Update: This is an image of the L-band antenna he used.

HackRF Now for Sale

HackRF is now for sale on Kickstarter, and it has already reached it’s $80,000 USD goal in less than half a day. If you didn’t already know, HackRF is an open source Software Defined Radio that can receive and transmit between 30 MHz and 6 GHz. HackRF has a 20 MHz bandwidth which when compared to the RTL-SDRs 3.2 MHz maximum is a lot.

There have already been 500 HackRF beta units sent out so the hardware should be fairly stable by now.

The basic package which includes a fully assembled HackRF board and enclosure is selling for $275. For $315 you can get a HackRF, enclosure and a Ham-It-Up upconverter as well, which is commonly also used with the RTL-SDR and will allow you to receive the HF bands between 0 – 30 MHz.

HackRF Jawbreaker Board with Enclosure

If you are interested in some videos, here is a video showing the HackRF transmitting wideband FM using GNURadio.

Here, showing 20 MHz of the GSM band

HackRF smoke testing: GSM tower

Here, 20 MHz of the broadcast FM band

HackRF smoke testing: Full FM broadcast band

HackRF Decoding PICO High Altitude Balloons (HAB)

Blogger g0hww shows us how he used his HackRF to decode Pico high altitude balloon (HAB) transmissions using gqrx and dl-fldigi. Pico balloons are small party sized high altitude balloons, typically launched by hobbyists. They have enough lift to carry a small sized ~60g payload. Since they are so small, they are usually exempt from requiring permission from the authorities, unlike full sized weather balloons.

The cheaper RTL-SDR could also be used to track these balloons.

PICO High Altitude Ballo0n Recevied with HackRF