[Hackrf-dev] Is my HackRF One broken?

[Cinaed Simson]

On 07/19/2016 04:02 AM, Giovanni Mascellani wrote:
> Hi everybody.
> 
> I am not very experienced with SDR, but I believe that my HackRF has
> problems when receiving. Here is what I have tried so far: I would be
> very grateful if you could tell me whether this is normal or not and
> possibly other tests to understand what is going on.
> 
> First of all, I am using an up-to-date Debian sid. 

Actually, it's up to date out of date OS unless you used backports but
then it may still be out of date.

I believe sid is Debian 6 and the current version of Debian is 8.

And I have no idea how the git version relates to the released version.

I recommend you uninstall the sid version and install the latest user
libraries, firmware and cpld.

Download the software from

  https://github.com/mossmann/hackrf/releases/tag/v2015.07.2

and build the libraries and tools in the ./host directory

The build instructions for the libraries are here

  https://github.com/mossmann/hackrf/blob/master/host/README.md

To update the firmware and the cpld, use the binaries for firmware and
cpld in the

  ./firmware

directory and use these instructions to

  https://github.com/mossmann/hackrf/wiki/Updating-Firmware


-- Cinaed


The hackrf software
> is the one distributed there. The HackRF One is connected directly to
> the computer USB port and I am using the default antenna ANT500 shipped
> with it.
> 
> $ hackrf_info
> Found HackRF board 0:
> Board ID Number: 2 (HackRF One)
> Firmware Version: git-44df9d1
> Part ID Number: 0xa000cb3c 0x00674352
> Serial Number: 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x457863c8 0x2563771f
> 
> Gqrx opens it successfully and shows a plausible spectrum and waterfall
> (I see very FM distinct stations, if I move to 900 and something MHz I
> can see less distinct but still clear GSM channels; I can see DVB-T
> channels and WiFi channels). I can tune and listen to FM stations, so
> receiving works at least partly. But FM receiving is easy: the problems
> begin when I try to decode something more delicate.
> 
> For example, if I try to use kalibrate-hackrf I get inconsistent results:
> 
> $ ./kal -g 16 -l 32 -s GSM900
> kal: Scanning for GSM-900 base stations.
> GSM-900:
> 	chan:   23 (939.6MHz + 24.296kHz)	power:  166951.26
> 	chan:   24 (939.8MHz + 9.106kHz)	power:  231138.37
> 	chan:   25 (940.0MHz - 23.307kHz)	power:  169991.90
> 	chan:   26 (940.2MHz - 38.398kHz)	power:  173509.28
> 	chan:   27 (940.4MHz - 34.286kHz)	power:  169435.45
> 	chan:   51 (945.2MHz + 31.693kHz)	power:  203465.57
> 	chan:   52 (945.4MHz + 37.553kHz)	power:  199520.76
> 	chan:   53 (945.6MHz - 9.242kHz)	power:  189952.00
> 	chan:   55 (946.0MHz - 18.520kHz)	power:  219433.97
> 	chan:  101 (955.2MHz + 16.068kHz)	power:  224264.62
> 	chan:  102 (955.4MHz - 8.907kHz)	power:  231327.13
> 	chan:  103 (955.6MHz - 33.901kHz)	power:  232225.30
> 
> For reference, here is the result of kalibrate-rtl running at the same
> time on a random cheap RTL-SDR receiver:
> 
> $ ./kal -g 38 -s GSM900
> Found 1 device(s):
>   0:  Generic RTL2832U OEM
> 
> Using device 0: Generic RTL2832U OEM
> Detached kernel driver
> Found Rafael Micro R820T tuner
> Exact sample rate is: 270833.002142 Hz
> [R82XX] PLL not locked!
> Setting gain: 38.0 dB
> kal: Scanning for GSM-900 base stations.
> GSM-900:
> 	chan: 1 (935.2MHz + 35.902kHz)	power: 152588.67
> 	chan: 19 (938.8MHz + 35.669kHz)	power: 79649.74
> 	chan: 33 (941.6MHz + 35.259kHz)	power: 96929.05
> 	chan: 34 (941.8MHz + 34.809kHz)	power: 446793.20
> 	chan: 94 (953.8MHz + 33.924kHz)	power: 95281.88
> 	chan: 98 (954.6MHz + 33.869kHz)	power: 302184.33
> 	chan: 100 (955.0MHz + 33.952kHz)	power: 117813.97
> 	chan: 106 (956.2MHz + 32.767kHz)	power: 90438.32
> 
> Results for HackRF have erratic channel offsets and rather constant
> power levels, which to me means that it is just detecting random things
> that by chance pass the detection threshold. Instead results for RTL
> have consistent offsets and random powers (which is sensible, since
> channel power is adapted to what is actually needed and towers may be
> more or less far from me).
> 
> If I launch detection on a specific channel, RTL terminates in a few
> dozens seconds with a consistent result (consistent both between
> different invocations and different channels). HackRF (even when using a
> channel that works with RTL) never terminates, which I think means that
> it never finds any good reference.
> 
> What do you think about this? Do you have any suggestions?
> 
> Thanks, Giovanni.
> 
> 
> 
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