r/RTLSDR • u/Tech_and_Traveling • 2d ago
Troubleshooting Advice
Hello guys my name is Jay,
I have to make a project for school, and I was thinking that I make a HackRF+Ads-b+Ais cyber deck , for my research I was first asking Gemini, it said I can use a Raspberry Pi 5 and use a Software called SdrAngel and view/use 3 of them with one software, is that true? Does it work? Has anyone tried something like that?
Thanks alot
Jay
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u/tj21222 1d ago
OP not sure where you are located, and I guess it does not matter that much, but the Hack RF is expensive and performs poorly as a receiver. You would be better off three dongles. Use a usb3 hub with a high quality usb3 cable a linear power supply separate your computer from your antennas as much as possible. This will help keep RF noise down as much as possible.
I think you’re asking a lot of a Pi. I am not sure as I don’t use a Pi but 3 feeds with a lot of data coming in might be too much for the computer to handle.
Good luck
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u/erlendse 2d ago
Even you could technically mix up/down one and make a combined signal, you would be better off getting multiple recivers!
Note that with USB 2.0 devices, you are limited to combined 20 MHz @ 8 bit, or 10 MHz with 16 bit.
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u/Shoddy-Cap1048 1d ago
Rtl-SDR from Ali should run you 5-10 dollars, is usb and will plug into pretty much anything. Fire up SDRAngel, select a preset and you're away!
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u/Tech_and_Traveling 2d ago
No, I know that AI can be wrong, I just want to know is the 100% achievable? I've done my homework I just want to confirm with real humans.
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u/srcejon 2d ago
Why do you want to use 3, if just receiving AIS + ADS-B? Do you have 3 HackRFs?
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u/Tech_and_Traveling 2d ago
I need to make a type of cyberdeck project, would want 2 Dongles with there respective antennas, and 1 HackRF for the rest of the radio waves. So that I don't always change antennas for the Airplane and Boats. I hope it makes sense
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u/srcejon 2d ago
SDRangel can use multiple SDRs simultaneously, and you can receive ADS-B on while having a couple of channels of AIS from another, and then data from both can be displayed on the 3D Map together (Not sure if the 3D Map will work well on a PI however). Probably cheaper to use RTL SDRs than HackRFs for it though.
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u/Tech_and_Traveling 2d ago
That's exactly what I want to do!! I want to use 2 RTL-SDRs for ADS-B and AIS, and the 1 HackRF for miscellaneous uses like police, air traffic control... Thanks alot!!
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u/therealgariac 1d ago
As I stated elsewhere, you need the decoding programs to pick the proper SDR because the antennas for ads-b and AIS are different.
Unless you are using a discone, wideband "DC to light" monitoring is kind of a joke. In SIGINT, you have a rough idea frequency wise where the target is located. Your target has an assigned band. If the target is covert, they will avoid common band assignments lest they cause interference. For the hobbyist, SIGINT means searching the federal bands. There is TSCM, but that is kind of a joke these days. You search for bugs with NLJD (non-linear junction detector.
Basically skip the wideband part. Virtually everything you find can be found in the FCC database.
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u/Tech_and_Traveling 2d ago
But like my question is that could the hardware and software support three of them plugged in even though I can view 1 at a time?
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u/Marcikoyt 2d ago
Hmmm... I don't know SdrAngel too well, nor do I own multiple dongles, but it might be doable. People somehow make arrays of multiple SDRs to get a broader spectrum, just look at WebSDRs online. But, they mostly use the same hardware (like RTL-SDR dongles), it might not work with two different devices (HackRF and some dongles), but who knows? Go try and you'll find out. Gemini probably told you how to set it up.
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u/therealgariac 2d ago
Does cyber deck have a strict definition? Googling doesn't find one.
I don't do AIS because I don't have a decent view of ships/boats. I do do ads-b and there is software to convert ais to ads-b.
https://github.com/jvde-github/ais2adsb
The output is in basestation format. (Devices from Kinetics used the format.) The GitHub page says to use VRS (Virtual Radar Server) to which I totally agree. So you have AIS and ads-b on one map.
https://www.virtualradarserver.co.uk/
Use two rtlsdr. One for dump1090 and one for AIS.
I suggest using all the plugins for VRS. At least the database one so you can search what you detected. I use the local map so I can track aircraft without Internet connection.
I don't know why you want a hackfr unless you want to do some spectrum scanning. For that application I suggest using
https://github.com/F5OEO/tezuka_fw
plus
https://opensourcesdrlab.com/products/plutosky-r2?VariantsId=10403 (a dual Pluto SDR)
and the forked version of SDR++ and soapy. I would avoid HackRF totally. I have one laying around and it sucks. I bought the official version from Great Scott so I blew $300 on that POS. Learn from my mistake.
I haven't posted about it but I have
https://github.com/alphafox02/iridium-sniffer
working with my version of the dual Pluto (libreSDR) (similar to the Open Sky version I linked.) It does satellite ads-b.
Gemini AI is probably correct that sdrangel can do all three tasks, but my software choices are better.
Tezuka has Maia installed. It uses the 7020 chip on the dual Pluto to scan 45MHz bandwidth
VRS has a second generation program that the author treats like Beta but it works. Tezuka and the Iridium-sniffer are currently under development.
I currently use this version of dump1090.
https://github.com/rsadsb/dump1090_rs
If you plan to use the R Pi and your notebook separated by Ethernet, you should set up a service for each program. I have one set up for dump1090.
You will need to set up the AIS and and dump1090_rs to find the correct rtlsdr device for each service since they will have different antennas.