[Hackrf-dev] Hey, everybody

[Orrin Winton]

The receiver on the HackRF is not really sensitive (people say), but it is
easily damaged by nearby transmitters. Allegedly an HT at 0.5W at a
distance of 3 feet can fry the HackRF receiver.

O.



On Sat, Jan 12, 2019, 16:34 Orrin Winton <orrin.winton at gmail.com wrote:

> Jonathan, i've done a little bit on testing amateur radio "beacons" using
> the HackRF. So far i've been using 434.000 CW and FM.
>
> So far i've gone at this two ways:
>
> (0) At 434 MHz the HackRF is too drifty. Installing the plug-in TCXO made
> the freq stability acceptable.
>
> (1) Record a CW transmission using the appropriate hackrf_transfer syntax,
> and play it back using hackrf_transfer syntax.
>
> (2) Use the app SDR-Angel for xmit and receive. (I have gotten that app to
> work on Ubuntu 18, Win10 (both 64-bit of course) but it won't install under
> Linux Parrot Home 64-bit, at least not with my limited expertise.)
>
> With SDR-Angel i set it up to do a CW (FM modulated with Morse) with the
> appropriate PL tone, to set it up to key my local 440 repeater -- giving a
> heads-up to the repeater admin first of course.
>
> I make sure (with settings) that the HackRF is putting out about 0.6 to
> 1.0 mW, not more than that. Feed that into one of those $20 RF amps from
> China (1 to 950 MHz). I get 0.2 to 1.0 watts out, measured with a watt/swr
> meter. Could get 2W i'm sure. That goes to a 440 yagi in my attic pointed
> at the repeater.
>
> Haven't used a 2nd HackRF as a receiver to receive the repeater. A T/R
> switch is needed for sure, the xmit will fry the receiver.
>
> My first HackRF was $300 off Amazon, and then i bought the PortaPack from
> Hacker Warehouse.
>
> My 2nd HackRF was off Ali Express, they are $99, but i bought one with a
> case, antennas, plug-in TCXO, and DHL shipping for $165.
>
> The TCXO fits the latter HackRF. The tcxo won't fit the one with the
> PortaPack but there might be a way to do that with a ribbon cable &
> modifying the metal case.
>
> Next for me: get a 3rd HackRF + tcxo, dedicate it to being a CW or
> FM/Morse beacon on 434 or 146.52 or somewhere. Possibly use a python script
> & cron to make it go off once every ten minutes.
>
> Really need the added tcxo. The drift on mine without a tcxo is not okay
> for a beacon. ... You can tell i like beacons. I'm into wspr too. Just
> finagled my HF radio antenna tuner to tune down at 1836.6 kHz wspr, also on
> 10 and 14 MHz. ... That's another idea, a HackRF cw beacon down on HF.
> Pre-tune the antenna with a regular radio, then switch to the HackRF.
>
> Best regards
> Orrin.
>
>
>
> On Sat, Jan 12, 2019, 08:38 Jonathan Guthrie <ka8kpn at ka8kpn.org wrote:
>
>> Please allow me to introduce myself.  I'm Jonathan and I just bought a
>> HackRF One with the intention of turning it into a software-defined
>> transceiver for amateur radio use.  I figure that a power amplifier and
>> T/R switch can't be all that hard (yeah, I know, "famous last words")
>> and I'm a computer programmer at my day job so the software part is at
>> least do-able.  The upshot is that I'm hoping that for a little bit (or
>> a lot) of sweat equity, I can get an HF transceiver that is similar to
>> commercial transceivers for a fraction of the cost.  That's the plan,
>> anyway.  I'm certain it'll be educational.
>>
>> By looking over the recent archives, I see that other people have tried
>> to do similar things, which is good because it means that I don't have
>> to start from complete scratch.
>>
>> For a long time, I been using one of those TV dongles as a
>> software-defined receiver to receive FM broadcast, 2m FM, and some 2m
>> and 70cm SSB/CW signals from satellites, so I don't have to climb (much
>> of) a learning curve to work with GRC.
>>
>> So far, I've plugged my HackRF One in to my Linux laptop and have
>> listened to some FM radio, and it seems to work.
>>
>> At some point, I'm probably going to get another one so I can use it as
>> a signal generator.  Lots of useful things you can do with a signal
>> generator.
>>
>> Anyway, that's me.  If I have any questions about how to proceed, I'll
>> let you know.
>>
>> --
>> Jonathan Guthrie
>> ARS KA8KPN
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> HackRF-dev at greatscottgadgets.com
>> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/hackrf-dev
>>
>
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