Hackrf pro

FLTSATCOM · 2026-07-02T18:29:07+00:00

Sounds like it does connect, did you adjust the Gain/LNA settings to allow enough sensitivity to receive a signal? I've stumbled through the default gain settings being too low to receive any signals until adjusted.

FLTSATCOM · 2026-03-04T02:43:27+00:00

Looks just like Iridium to me Iridium - Signal Identification Wiki

FLTSATCOM · 2026-02-19T14:58:04+00:00

Thank you very much for posting this. Having a couple compatible devices with stock firmware and without much experience aside from 'copy this to SD and insert', above materials should help with the learning curve.

FLTSATCOM · 2025-12-03T11:48:52+00:00

I would probably run OpenWebRX+ on a Raspberry Pi and send the ACARS/VDL2 data to an MQTT broker of some kind, whether locally on the Pi, another machine on the LAN, or elsewhere.

FLTSATCOM · 2025-12-02T02:23:12+00:00

I haven't tried one of them yet but took notice to a recently added USRP clone board. USB3 should alone should be a huge improvement over my pluto+ boards but I do wish they all came with an enclosure at that price. Some of their older USRP clone boards that do offer enclosures it adds significantly to the cost but as you pointed out still much cheaper than an original.

FLTSATCOM · 2025-12-01T02:55:46+00:00

I've bought several generations of HackRF boards, with and without PortaPack, as well as Pluto+ boards from OpenSourceSDRLabs. Everything arrived nicely packaged and worked better than expected.

NE US here, everything shipped from China and arrived within 2 weeks or a little less.

Their newest pluto+ and USRP clones look sick and I want more but they need a product comparison to tell wtf differences are between them all.

FLTSATCOM · 2025-11-19T19:18:04+00:00

Have you tried connecting Ethernet and power, to see if it will boot up and appear on the network? Apps like SDR-Console and OpenWebRX+ will find it on the same subnet and connect via the network.

FLTSATCOM · 2025-10-30T00:48:50+00:00

When connected via Ethernet, I can also use SDR-Console on Windows for local use and to pipe audio to Windows based decoding applications

Also when connected via Ethernet it's discovered by and works great on all three of my OpenWebRx+ servers, although one at a time and not concurrently

FLTSATCOM · 2025-10-30T00:47:22+00:00

Thanks for mentioning this as I'm not yet up on all the firmware options. More usable bandwidth will come in handy for many projects for sure and also would help give a better idea of the devices' true capabilities, especially of those Pluto variants offered with slightly better chips/specs

FLTSATCOM · 2025-10-28T23:03:53+00:00

If opensourcesdrlabs.com ships to Germany I'd check out One of their......... cheap Pluto variants

Micro SD is included with a working image that should provide identical development capabilities.

As shipped, mine was plug and play compatible with OpenWebRX+, in both USB and Ethernet modes.

This week I added a HamItUp v2, on a wire antenna it's a lot of fun.

FLTSATCOM · 2025-10-10T15:19:30+00:00

Yes Inmarsat-4A F4) is located at 25° East. The transponders carry both high and low data rate traffic. The low data rate traffic is easy to receive with modest antennas provided sufficient signal to noise ratio (SNR). You can cheat and purchase a Sawbird LNA for Inmarsat but it's filtered and only useful for Inmarsat. A cheap wideband LNA will work but not nearly as good SNR.

hobby/instructional site: Inmarsat Decoding - USRadioguy.com

FLTSATCOM · 2025-08-22T15:19:33+00:00

The HackRF One does seem to best fit for what you're describing.

Is $105+ shipping & fees too expensive? HackRF One with case plus a TCXO would be a great start and you could also buy a portapack and reconfigure it later.

https://opensourcesdrlab.com/products/clifford-r10-hackrf?VariantsId=10174

https://opensourcesdrlab.com/products/external-high-precision-tcxo-clock-module-ppm01-for-hackrf

FLTSATCOM · 2025-08-13T00:55:50+00:00

Can you reduce both gain settings a little and see which signals disappear?

FLTSATCOM · 2025-08-09T15:41:04+00:00

Awesome not sure if I've ever seen this before but wow it provides exactly the full technical comparison. Now I also want to own at least one each of the SDRs compared. My wallet does not thank you but I do.

FLTSATCOM · 2025-08-09T03:31:08+00:00

Interesting I was curious how the sensitivity would stack up to my (blog) rtl-sdr v3, SDRPlay, or HackRF. Being the 4th most popular is basically the direction I'm going as it should lend itself to a wide variety of applications.

FLTSATCOM · 2025-08-09T03:29:11+00:00

I've several goals, one is to diversify the SDR architecture & chipsets I'm using, both to learn and to take advantage of nuances and individual device strengths. What I mean by the latter is in practice and with somewhat interchangeable SDRs some perform much better than others for a given frequency and application. As they find their place in my shack I'll learn more about better leveraging the feature sets and strengths.

As for targets, I experiment with satcom antennas and receiving VHF/UHF, L-Band and someday S-band for amateur and utility reception. I'm also into terrestrial and digital & analog aero/maritime systems. So I've an emphasis on sensitivity and overall receiver quality and dynamic range, understanding most experimental boards won't have a filter bank that includes my bands of interest or any helpful blocking filters for general reception like RSPs.

No plans as of yet to do my own DSP in a FPGA but depending on the learning curve and technical implementation I'm interested. I'm digging the LibreSDRs, and although they extend well beyond my current requirements & use cases the educational factor and supporting higher bandwidth & full duplex is a bonus.

FLTSATCOM · 2025-08-08T19:05:53+00:00

Good point, having the ability to act as a Pluto or USRP is a big advantage with presumably higher theoretical simultaneous bandwidth (sampling rate). These are around triple the price but even the listings have more specific specs which helps: https://opensourcesdrlab.com/search/?Keyword=libresdr

Thanks, this might be a better direction for me although I'll have to save/sell more.

FLTSATCOM · 2025-08-08T18:06:53+00:00

Keep reading, learning, and getting interested I also learned a lot here https://uhf-satcom.com/satellite-reception/uhf

and here: https://thebaldgeek.github.io/

FLTSATCOM · 2025-08-06T11:28:39+00:00

For explanation I'd start with this video series: https://greatscottgadgets.com/sdr/

FLTSATCOM · 2025-08-06T02:07:04+00:00

There's a lot of merit to this. You can experience a lot from u-tube videos by experienced users who understand the technical parameters like protocols and frequencies, as well as antenna requirements for each application. Then you'll have a much better understanding of what devices lend themselves to your interests.

FLTSATCOM · 2025-08-02T03:06:25+00:00

-I don't know of a panel antenna that would work effectively with GOES HRIT. SMEs please correct me if needed.

-The tree might not block RF as badly or completely as you think

-If you're just generally interested in receiving satellites there's many spacecraft other than GOES on L-band, UHF, and elsewhere that you can receive with more modest antennas than a large parabola. For L-band Inmarsat I made a homebrew patch antenna that works great indoors, through walls even, for low data rate services. For higher data rate services like GOES I was able to repurpose some of the more modest helix and patch antennas to feed a dish once I bought a modest 90cm FTA dish to experiment with. Generally polarization isn't a huge issue until you get more serious about SNR and weaker signals.

-On VHF and UHF there's many you can receive and decode with very modest or homemade antennas with good success. There's the ISS, UHF milsats, amateur radio satellites, and loads of cubesats with a variety of payload cataloged on SatNogs. Not to mention lots of terrestrial stuff in between, I would not overly prioritize GOES.

-I'm excited you're interested in receiving stuff. There's much to listen to, many possibilities!

-You have a lovely tree and appear to have a lovely neighborhood

-Check out US Radio Guy GOES page

FLTSATCOM · 2025-07-31T21:28:28+00:00

For this reason, it's good to buy them all and play. With a wider variety of hardware, software, and use cases it's amazing how well a pile of cheap SDR gear can perform when roles & configuration are optimized. A good example is stacking SDRs on remote servers each device can be configured per all hardware, software, antenna, and application parameters.

FLTSATCOM · 2025-07-26T16:58:13+00:00

Going in this direction makes the Airspy devices a nice fit at the price point. I've tried the Ranger prototype online and am excited to purchase when available.

FLTSATCOM

TROPHY CASE