HackRF Pro and PortaPack H4M Pro

Dear all,

The HackRF Pro and PortaPack H4M Pro are coming soon. Feel free to share your thoughts on these two devices.

Thanks!

[OpenSourceSDR]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgMoJkrfke0

[greaterthanstar]

Glad I saw this message today! I was just about to buy the Clifford H4M from you guys. In fact my payment failed. But this looks pretty cool. Can I wait till July for it to ship? Hopefully.

I guess my question is: Does the HackRF Pro have all the enhancements that the Clifford version of the HackRF has?

[OpenSourceSDR]

Yes!

About the RF protection function, the HackRF Pro updated features includes 'Enhanced RF port protection'. After analyzing the hardware schematic, it was found that there is RF Port protection function.

[greaterthanstar]

Great! I put in my preorder already. If anyone is debating it, remember inflation is so bad, it could cost a lot more in another month or so! Buy today.

[jedahan]

Will you sell the portapack pro without the hackrf board if we already have a hackrf pro?

[OpenSourceSDR]

Dear friend, sorry for late reply here. Yes, we will sell the portapack H4M pro without the hackrf board.

[greaterthanstar]

I got my new Portapack today but I am having trouble with the apps. Most are greyed out and say "This ppma file is too old" or something similar. What is the proper way to run the latest firmware and have all the latest apps?

I had to resort to using the v2.4.0 official firmware + apps to be able to use the latest ones but I would rather use your custom 2.4.0.1 firmware if possible.

If you use Pro_v2.4.0 version (The default firmware version for our first shipment), please download the corresponding SD card content (COPY_TO_SDCARD_hpro_mayhem_v2.4.0.zip) and copy it to the SD card.
https://github.com/OpenSourceSDRLab/mayhem-firmware/releases/tag/v2.4.0
About the user manual about the sd card, please see this link:
https://hackrfstuff.github.io/docs/microsdcardsetup.html

[QuirkyCodex]

I received my PortaPack H4M Pro two days ago. One of the screws was notably loose, which was causing signal interference. I am concerned this may have resulted in a short circuit on the board. Additionally, I have observed that adjusting the internal LNA to settings of 8, 24, and 40 does not produce any discernible increase in performance. This issue persists across all firmware versions I have tested, including the base Pro firmware (after correct file installation on the SD card) and the nightly build. I would also appreciate clarification on whether the Nooelec EMI shield is compatible with the Pro model, as the noise floor on my HackRF One PortaPack H4M, equipped with the EMI shield, is lower than that of my Pro. Other than those two issues I am in love with this device.

Dear friend, thank you for your feedback!

1. About the screw, please do not worry, You can tighten the screw a little more, it won't affect the signal reception. What exactly do you mean by signal interference? I hope you can provide a detailed description. This will help us to understand.
2. Regarding the gain adjustment you mentioned, this is a firmware issue that we have also discovered. As the RF chip of HackRF Pro has been replaced with a new chip and uses FPGA compared to HackRF One, there is still some work to be done to optimize the firmware. Our company's engineers are currently actively working with Mayhem firmware developers to continuously optimize the firmware. Please pay attention to the firmware release information in the near future.

[QuirkyCodex]

Thank you for your response regarding the FPGA. Pertaining to the interference, during my observation in the lookingglass, I noted a significant elevation and sporadic birdies in the noise floor. Upon identifying and securing a loose screw, the noise floor subsequently returned to its normal level.

[hfjohn]

Hi there Admin, I noticed that my H4M has an I and Q baseband output frequency of 760kHz when I probe the baseband outputs (P9) in receive mode. I am using a signal input of 150MHz, 1000uV and using NBFM 8kHz "Receive" mode. Does this seem correct, that I am finding a low IF and not a zero IF that is applied to the 8 bit ADC? The I and Q outputs appear to be in quadrature. Or are my measurements incorrect?
Thank you for the help in my understanding of the hardware! John