[Hackrf-dev] Hey, everybody

[Chuck McManis]

Hi Jonathan,

Be aware that the 8 bit resolution of the DAC on the HackRF means that you
get quite a bit of quantization noise in the output. You can build a filter
bank to reduce those spurs but the end result is that the HackRF's use as a
signal generator is not as high as you might like. I ended up getting one
of the EraSynth ones off CrowdSupply when they ran their first campaign and
it has much lower phase noise and (in my case) a wider range. I have used
it as an LO with a mini-circuits mixer to tune the entire amateur band for
the HackRF (it also extended the range of my HackRF to the 10Ghz bands as I
can downconvert 10Ghz to 1Ghz that the HackRF can handle nicely. While the
Minicircuits mixer is good to at least 10dBm I have not tried trancieving
with it yet.  I also picked up a Morpheus (cheap at $125) which has the
mixer built in, but it doesn't have the range that the Erasynth does.

73,
--Chuck
(AI6ZR)




On Sat, Jan 12, 2019 at 8:38 AM 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
>
> _______________________________________________
> HackRF-dev mailing list
> HackRF-dev at greatscottgadgets.com
> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/hackrf-dev
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://pairlist9.pair.net/pipermail/hackrf-dev/attachments/20190112/658d2468/attachment.html>