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theRFnoob / HackRF-Test-Network

Collection test results about the HackRF and Portapack boards.
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Measure the settings necessary to produce 0dbm signal levels #1

Open theRFnoob opened 4 years ago

theRFnoob commented 4 years ago

Short description

The objective is to verify for which TX gain settings the HackRF can transmit a sinusoidal signal with 0dbm of power. The two TX gain controls are RF (0 or 14) and IF (0 to 47 dB in 1 dB steps) (source: https://github.com/mossmann/hackrf/wiki/FAQ)

Hardware required

Any of the following:

  1. Oscilloscope
  2. Spectrum Analyser
  3. Milliwatt meter
  4. others?

and, to control the HackRF, any of the following:

  1. Portapack board (H1 or H2, original or clone, it does not matter),
  2. or a computer with GNU Radio installed.

How to run the test

with a Spectrum Analyser and Portapack

  1. Connect the Portapack RF-antenna output to your spectrum analyser. Make sure to protect your spectrum analyser appropriately (each SA has different max limits), for example with some attenuators and/or DC blockers.

  2. Start the Portapack (e.g., with Mayhem latest firmware from https://github.com/eried/portapack-mayhem)

  3. Within Portapack, go to Utility->Signal Generator. Set:

  1. Check the strength of the sine wave generated by the HackRF with your Spectrum analyzer. Play with the IF and RF gain settings until you get 0dbm. If you can't get to 0dbm at all, just record the max output power you can get at that frequency (with RF=14 and IF= 47).

with an Spectrum Analyser and Computer (with Gnu Radio installed)

with an Oscilloscope and Portapack

with an Oscilloscope and Computer (with Gnu Radio installed)

with an Milliwatt meter and Portapack

with an Milliwatt meter and Computer (with Gnu Radio installed)

How to report the results:

For each frequency you have tested, report the IF and RF settings, for example:

10Mhz --> 0dBm with RF=14, IF=20 144Mhz --> 0dBm with RF = 14, IF = 30, 1.5 Ghz --> Max output is -7dBm (with RF=14 and IF=47) .....

CodingMarco commented 4 years ago

image

That's for the -10 dBm goal we discussed on reddit. The script still needs to be optimized, but I think that's already a start ;)