[Hackrf-dev] HackRF-dev Digest, Vol 60, Issue 10

[Simon Kennedy]

Hi David,

an honest answer is that for receive only the HackRF is not the best tool
for the job. Other receive only sdr devices are the available which will
perform much better than the HackRF. AirSpy (+ Spyverter for HF reception)
and SDRPlay come to mind, no doubt others are available. The new Airspy HF+
that is very close to launch is supposed to be excellent on HF receive.

Depending on your choice of operating system you can use sdr# (Windows) or
gqrx (Linux) as the receive software (but check compatibility with the
device you buy - both work with HackRF and both will work with the Airspy
devices). With my HackRF, gqrx and some software to decode the weather fax
image (fldigi on Linux) it is actually easy to receive weather fax (given a
good enough antenna).

With all devices you should be careful with close by transmitting antennas
and transmitters (I blew my HackRF RF amp by transmitting 50W of HF in the
same room and at the same time as the HackRF was switched on with the RF
amp switched on).

To receive weather fax on HF on a yacht (ship, boat?) you will probably
need a smaller antenna that a 7.5m wire (although this depends on the size
of your yacht!) and a magnetic loop antenna might fit the bill here, link
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loop_antenna> You'd probably be better
asking on a boating forum about  best HF antennas for receive on a boat.

Hope this helps.

Simon.

On 29 September 2017 at 08:56, <david at cahuelmo.com> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> My name is David, I am new here and very new to SDR. I am looking at
> HackRF with an application in mind and would like to ask if you know if
> this could be implemented and how difficult it would be. The application in
> mind is a marine SSB receiver. I am particularly interested in receiving
> weatherFax or sailMail, but also audio broadcasts.
>
> Besides the general question if it is possible:
>
> how difficult it would be to tune HackRF to actually receive something
> useful?
>
> How likely i would be able to receive something if really out in the ocean
> (in terms of sensitivity)
>
> what kind of antenna i would need (I am guessing the same as an SSB
> radion, which is really huge..about 7.5m.. kind of hoping it could be done
> with a smaller one?)
>
> And would i have to use the hardware gain stage? And if so how likely
> would it be to blow if i use my VHF or AIS transponder on the same boat?
>
> I hope somebody can shed some light. I would be really interested to try
> this if it seems doable.
>
> Greetings to everyone,
>
> David
>
>
>
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