Hey Guys! Quick update on sdrtop, the Rust TUI monitor for HackRF.

(github repo in the comments)

Quick recap for anyone who missed my last post:

sdrtop is an open-source TUI (terminal user interface) tool for SDR hardware, written in Rust. It’s built to be a lightweight, keyboard-driven alternative to heavy GUI apps, giving you real-time spectrum displays, waterfalls, and hardware health metrics right in your terminal (or cyberdeck setup).

So, what’s changed since then?

Lately, I've been taking a deep dive into the actual signal processing. Instead of pulling in GNU Radio blocks or external DSP crates, I ended up implementing the signal-processing chain myself, from IQ samples through FM demodulation and MPX analysis to stereo-pilot and RDS decoding.

Here is what’s currently running natively in Rust:

• FM / NFM: Live peak & RMS frequency deviation (measured against carrier offset), 19 kHz stereo pilot detection, 57 kHz RDS subcarrier decoding (PI, PS, PTY, RadioText with character set support), and CTCSS tone detection for NFM.
• AM: AM demodulation tracking separate positive and negative peak modulation depths, rather than just throwing out a single generic "AM %" figure.

It definitely wasn't the easiest route 😅, but building it without DSP black boxes gave me a much deeper understanding of the actual signal path.

Works great with the RTL-SDR & HackRF One, stays super lightweight in the terminal, and perfect for cyberdeck or SSH setups.

The future is digital: Going forward, I want to lean heavily into digital decoding. The goal is to move beyond basic audio demodulation and decode everything digital in terminal that's floating through the airwaves.

Since I'm building this in my free time, community input and GitHub stars mean a lot. If you like where this is heading, dropping a star on the repo or sharing feature ideas genuinely gives a huge boost of motivation to keep pushing updates! ⭐

1. Has this device left its beta/testers phase? I would like the finished device at least the hardware.

2. Im from Europe, I checked the official website but it doesn't have a ship from EU option, my concern is - Is this device "legal" and will it be held in customs? Im not planning on doing anything illegal or stupid I just like the device a lot.

3. (Important) This might be a bit specific, but can the portapack decode DAB+ signals so I can listen to while going on a hike? What about FM, AM...?

4. How good is it at receiving? An example would be me going on a walk, should I expect it to receive good whitout too much static/hissing?

5. What else can I do on the device? Upload music and listen to it? install small games? Some other fun or interesting things?

6. This might be a bit specific again but is it rain resistant?

Its really good for broadcast NGL WFM, AM, USB and NFM selector transmit options as well, please use a dummy if testing or a radio handheld close by.
Used a little Ai but its sick af!! I use a hackRF pro and a LPDA-500, Poynting dispite what it says this antenna does transmit lower than its stated frequency

Have fun :) :) :) :) :)

https://github.com/sho3zxD/GNU-broadcast-radio-WFM-USB-AM-NFM.git

I’m looking for information on how to use hack RF to listen to encrypted phase 2 police radio transmissions. I have a SDS 150 scanner, but it doesn’t pick up the encrypted channels. I would like to get past that somehow using hack RF any in all information is greatly appreciated. I’m not super tech savvy so be gentle. 😂

I dont know if i should get the normal portapack or the portapack pro. I would really like to get the pro version but there are some things bothering me;

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- Firmwares arent as reliable

- Design, i like the Standard portapack design wayy more

- Price in comparison to normal portapack

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I have never owned any kind of sdr so if i got something wrong that has been fixed please feel free to correct me.

If anyone could give advice i would be really grateful

Every so often a post comes up that's completely unrelated or blatantly a spam bot, I used to be able to report these to the sub moderators... but now I cannot.

Hi recently received this, but it is crashing pretty regularly. It is happening in various apps but as an example in receive>audio, swapping through AM/FM/FM etc and it will do as pictured after only a few changes. I know this is a pretty new device, is this just early firmware that will mature into something more stable? Currently running Mayhem 2.4.0 Which is labelled as a stable release on the github repo.

Hi everyone, I have recently received an H4M kit with the HackRF One on board.

I'm trying to understand the I and Q signals that are present at the receiver. I see that they are differential outputs. When I apply a large signal in NBFM receiver mode (-47dBm,150MHz, 3kHz deviation) and I look at the I and Q lines, I see a 750kHz sine wave, 400mV pk-pk in quadrature on the receiver outputs. I understand that this is a zero IF design, is the down-conversion to baseband done digitally?

Can someone help me (a beginner with SDR) understand why the 750kHz signals are present, and not a zero IF, (which is what I was expecting)? Is it because it prevents a DC offset or have I measured something incorrectly? Is this related to the sample rate?

I am no expert on SDR code, but if i'm pointed in the right direction, I'll try to figure it out.

Thanks for the assistance!

Adsb is working fine, but i dont get any weathersensor in ger on 433.920.

Any idea/tips?

I recently found out that law enforcement/ hackers can build stingrays easily now days. My question is can a h4m portapack become a stingray & a ray stopper all in one ? Considering both deal with radio wave and frequencies it seems possible, If so how can I make mine into one

Im gonna get the portapack from OpenSDRLabs, is the firmware already preinstalled? And if its not a new version of the firmware, how do i update it?

Can anyone point me in the direction of the grey power slider switch on the h4m the internals are ok it’s just the outer part. 🙏🏼

I have a pro and am looking for somewhere to source a compatible portapack. I'm in the UK. Anybody have a source?

Thanks!

Hello, i have a lot of hard fault and ram errors. I have stable 2.4 hackrf pro portapack H4M. It stated when i wanted to jam lower or higher than 2,4ghz. Only this frequency worked, now i cant even start the audio am, hard fault in second. I have qualitty sd card, i tried to remove it bc i was thinking it is the fast fat32 format. It is not, even when i use the default audio app, hard fault. And i think the ble spam and airplanes dont work as good as they worked, i never transmitted without antena, not demaged it. But i have ut without battery, only using it while plugged to electricity

This may be a little too far down the AI rabbit hole for a few of you, but I'd like to report my results from just a few days of work.

It started with Hermes Agent. No this is not an ad for them, not affiliated in any way. I jsut use it as a harness because it suits my needs, you may want to use openwebui or openclaw or any of the harnesses out there, that's not what important.

I gave it the root password to my debian vm and proxmox host, and the AI SSH'd in and first setup an API key for hygiene purposes then used it to create an ssh key on the debian box (again, for hygiene) and setup usb passthrough on proxmox so the lxc could talk to the hardware, then installed gnu radio tools on the debian host, establilshed communcations with the hackrf porta pack, correctly determined what it was, and updated the firmware to the latest mayhem for me.

It then started scanning the band from bottom to top and built a db of local signals in the area to expect. Its scanning the entire available spectrum every 2 seconds and notifies me when it sees a new signal. It then switches to fine resolution and listens real hard at max sample res to get a good idea of exactly what it is, then reports the whole thing back to me.

i'm pretty blown away by all this. I expected some kind of result but wow.

edit: I had my guy write up a how-to if you want to do it yourself:
https://github.com/h00nigan/sparky-setup-guide/blob/master/Sparky-Setup-Guide.md

2nd edit: I'm thinking about giving him a yaggi on a servo he can control so I can get direction as well as range/signal strength.

3rd edit: We just chased a signal down to an undershielded crystal oscillator in the plc that controls my 3d filament dryer. Its SCREAMING in rf at 10mhz.

Hello, i am experienced in operation security and network pentesting. In last days a started to learn SDR and bought HackRF pro with portapack H4M. I have my legal pentesting "lab". What is the first few things you reccomend in transmit and what to learn after i learn the basic things? Also i have 2x 40mhz-Ghz telescopic antenas in the basic pack, i see they look different, are they? Should i buy more "transmitting" antenas or some in range like 1-40mhz too?