For Sale: HackRF One & PortaPack H1 combo

HackRF One and PortPack H1 combo

First up is my HackRF One and Portapack H1 field-portable receiver and spectrum sampling package.

I purchased these new at the 2016 Dayton Hamvention–the HackRF One was purchased at the TAPR booth and the PortaPack H1 at the Sharebrained Technology booth. The Portapack H1 was installed on the HackRF One by its designer Jarod (see below).

While I’m sure a number of readers are familiar with the HackRF One SDR, I doubt many will be familiar with the PortaPack H1, which I found to be one of the more exciting innovations showcased at the 2016 Hamvention.

In essence, the PortaPack H1 is a shield that attaches to the HackRF and adds a touchscreen LCD, navigation controls, headphone jack, real-time clock, micro SD card slot, and custom aluminum case. When you add power via the USB port (or using a USB battery pack) you can utilize many HackRF features without needing a computer or tablet. The PortaPack firmware runs on the fast ARM processors in the HackRF. The only time an external computer is necessary is to reprogram the firmware.

Here’s a short video:

I fell in love with the PortPack H1 and purchased it on the spot at the Hamvention.

Why? Well, among many other things, you can do spectrum recordings natively and save them to a MicroSD card. The PortPack writes the recording as a basic IQ file. I suspect it’ll require a little tinkering to open and playback the file in another SDR application.

Why am I selling?

I had planned to use the PortPack as a means to do field SDR recordings and do a full review. After all, it must be the most compact, all-in-one solution for doing field spectrum recordings.

Tuned to Radio Australia this morning.

Truth is, though, I haven’t had time to tinker with the PortaPack at all as I’ve been so busy with family life, travels and doing other reviews.

Also, I rarely do field spectrum recordings because I’m lucky enough to live at a site that has little to no radio interference. It would be very difficult for me to find an outdoor location and deploy an antenna that would outperform my home setup. I could see myself using the PortPack while doing proper globe-trotting across the planet, but I have no plans to do this in the near future.

To be clear: though the PortPack H1 works as-is, it is developed with the hacker and experimenter in mind. You would need to figure out which app could import the spectrum files and what format to use.

I’d like to sell this to someone who could use it and would enjoy experimenting. (And possibly writing up something for the SWLing Post? (Hint hint!)

I bet I haven’t used the HackRF/PortaPack combo more than one hour on the air. It’s essentially like new and comes with the PortaPack metal case, the original HackRF One box, HackRF One plastic enclosure/case and cord.

Price

Originally, this package cost me over $500.

I’m selling this HackRF One and PortaPack H1 one shipped and fully insured via the USPS (within the US) for $400.

If you’re seriously interested, but live outside the US, please contact me. I would need to determine shipping costs based on the destination. Note that I’m no expert at doing international shipments, though, so can’t comment regarding import duties and customs clearance or tracking.

I would like to receive funds via PayPal or perhaps Google Wallet. I can do USPS money orders, etc. but they will need to clear prior to shipping (this adds a few days to the turn-around time).

I know very little in terms of operating the PortPack H1, so I would encourage you to check out both the HackRF One and Sharebrained Technology websites to learn more prior to purchasing.

Again, your purchase will essentially help me fund the SWLing Post! Contact me if interested–first come, first serve. Thanks!

PantronX Titus II update

17 Replies

Many thanks to Mike at PantronX who has provided the following update on the Titus II portable SDR:

As you can imagine the response to Titus has almost been overwhelming! Pre-orders far exceeded our imagination and excitement from broadcasters has been very loud. DRM and digital broadcasting seems to be reinvigorated with Titus in 2017. I think we really broke the price barrier that most everyone has been dreaming of and provided the flexibility
that has held back the cause.

As posted on http://hfcc.org/delivery/receivers.phtml

‘Update on availability received from PantronX: “We have been overwhelmed with the response to Titus with orders and request – coupled with an early Chinese New Year that the pre-production date has slipped a bit. Please be patient as we work with our suppliers and add more functions.” ‘

We are doing all we can to push – Chinese New Year is a crazy time – the factories are shut down for 3 to 4 weeks and as you can imagine the stress prior to and the performance after.

Hopefully in the next couple of weeks our http://titusradio.com/ website will undergo a much needed update. So much to do – but we are making good headway.

Thank you, Mike! I’ve had a number of readers asking about progress on the Titus II, so I appreciate the update!

Arecibo: Legendary radio telescope hangs in the balance

2 Replies

The Arecibo Radio Telescope, at Arecibo, Puerto Rico. At 1000 feet (305 m) across, it is the second largest dish antenna in the world. (Source: Wikipedia)

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Richard Langley, who shares the following story from Nature:

“Some of the observatories targeted in the review have found potential partners: New Mexico State University in Las Cruces is leading an effort to take over the Dunn Solar Telescope in Sunspot, New Mexico. Others remain in limbo, including the 100-metre radio telescope in Green Bank, West [Virgina], where university partners have offered limited help.”

Click here to read the full article on Nature’s website.

From the Isle of Music, week of January 16-22

Tecsun PL-880: Richard shares winter DXing notes

1 Reply

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Richard Langley, who lives in New Brunswick, Canada, and sent the following update earlier this month:

I often go outdoors to escape the RFI generated in and around the house, which can be even worse during the holidays with all the LED Christmas displays.

Trouble is, the snow is getting a bit deep for the trek to the back of the cleared part of my yard.

The attached photos show my setup on New Year’s Day to record Stephen Cooper’s DigiDX program over WRMI.

One thing about DXing and SWLing outside in the winter is that the knobs on the Tecsun PL-880 can become stiff to turn if it’s too cold and the battery doesn’t last as long as when it’s warm outside. Best approach is to go out with a fully charged battery, tune to a particular frequency and record the audio for later playback.

[…]I’ve also noted on a couple of occasions that the Tecsun will shut itself off after a few hours in really cold weather (around -20°C). And it’s not that the battery power is exhausted. I can turn it back on manually and it shows plenty of battery capacity remaining.

Thanks for sharing your notes, Richard! It certainly looks like a winter wonderland at your home. I like how you’ve made such a lightweight, portable station that protects the PL-880 from moisture.

Paul Walker also uses the PL-880 extensively in Galena, Alaska–in some very cold temps as well. Perhaps we can compare notes.

Post readers: What radios do you use outdoors in winter conditions? Please feel free to share your experiences!

By the way: I should offer my sincere apologies for sharing beautiful winter wonderland scenes while many of our dear readers in Australia are coping with a sweltering heatwave! Perhaps we should also be sharing notes about high temp outdoor DXing!?

Oops…Dutch regulator removes FM broadcaster’s antenna

5 Replies

(Source: Southgate ARC via Mike Terry)

Dutch regulator removes broadcaster’s antenna

It is reported the Dutch Radiocommunications Agency dismantled the antenna of a legally operating broadcast station

It appears they thought Vechtdal NL in Ommen on 105.6 MHz was a pirate but the station, an associate of Vechtdal FM, was correctly licenced. The Agency says that something went wrong with the checking of licences.

The antenna was on the watchtower of the State Forestry Besthmenerberg Ommen near Nieuwleusen. It is unclear if the Radiocommunications Agency will pay compensation for the damage.

Radio.NL article
http://radio.nl/812498/legaal-radiostation-vechtdal-nl-door-at-uit-de-lucht-gehaald

Video: Ivan surveys Cuban TV from a cruise ship

2 Replies

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ivan Cholakov, who shares the following:

[W]hile on a cruise ship 30 miles off the coast of Cuba (January 2017) I pointed a small active antenna towards the island and scanned for old fashioned analog TV.

The results show analog TV is alive and well in Cuba! Multiple programs on multiple channels.

From what I understand Cuba has selected the Chinese digital TV standard but using their own channel spacing so I am not aware of any receivers that can pick up Cuba’s digital TV transmissions.

I posted the YouTube video of my channel scan here: