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I have the same question. Kraken's main product is a 400$ "software defined radio for applications such as radio direction finding and passive radar" [0]. At t

I have the same question. Kraken's main product is a 400$ "software defined radio for applications such as radio direction finding and passive radar" [0]. At that price point they'd have to sell quite a few of these to make a living. So who's buying these, and what for? [0]: https://www.krakenrf.com/product-page/krakensdr https://www.krakenrf.com/product-page/krakensdr

wl 4y ago
I bought one to play around with. I've located radio transmitters by driving around and used the passive radar to track cars on a highway and airplanes at an airport.
thakoppno 4y ago
There’s a decent group of amateur radio enthusiasts who buy these things to track illegal operators.
- fortran77 4y ago
  It’s more done for sport. A low power beacon is purposely hidden somewhere and teams try to find it first.
  - thakoppno 4y ago
    My local club does foxhunting activities but also has been trying to identify a set of transmissions meant to disrupt the repeater’s operation. At least three members bought krakens at least in part to find the perpetrator. To me it’s a pretty interesting cat and mouse game. It seems like the illegal transmissions are mobile which has prevented success at stopping them.
    - fortran77 4y ago
      Another user case is non-malicious interference. Sometimes something is radiating a strong harmonic because of a corroded connector, etc, and the source can be identified with doppler direction finding equipment. Finding a culprit in a repeater war is a more difficult thing to do, because what do you do with the person once he's identified?
      - wl 4y ago
        > because what do you do with the person once he's identified? Hand the evidence over to the FCC. The FCC isn't going to proactively go after someone, but they're more than willing to take cases and issue fines if someone has already done most of the legwork. Example: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-19-989A1.pdf https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-19-989A1.pdf
rasz 4y ago
They would do great in Ukraine right now for direction finding shitty Baofeng UHF radios ru have to use after their general embezzled funds for development of Azart system https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1184964805565792257 https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1184964805565792257 >Interfax reports that the Deputy Chief of the General Staff and the most senior communications officer in the Russian military, Colonel General Khalil Arslanov, has been arrested for fraud in relation to the purchase of special equipment. >The investigation isn't limited to 2.2 B RUB worth of theft, but also to fraud related to contracts for the Azart comm system built by NPO Angstrem JSC and Yaroslavl Radio Plant. Of 18 B RUB spent on the radios, 6.5 B RUB might have been stolen due to artificially high prices.
- livueta 4y ago
  Yep, I have a Kraken and can confirm it is fantastic for DFing shitty Baofengs, especially when they're being used as HAMMER-style acoustic modems for something chatty. Practically the best possible scenario for easy DF. Perhaps logically, even though chirp spread spectrum isn't actually FHSS, it struggles a lot more with LoRA transmissions.
kortex 4y ago
$lastco (defense contractor) used something like that for localizing various EMF (cell phones, drone controls, RC remotes, and other potential IED triggers) as part of one of those "smart soldier" DARPA programs. There's definitely demand in the defense-adjacent space.

wl 4y ago

I bought one to play around with. I've located radio transmitters by driving around and used the passive radar to track cars on a highway and airplanes at an airport.

thakoppno 4y ago

There’s a decent group of amateur radio enthusiasts who buy these things to track illegal operators.

fortran77 4y ago
It’s more done for sport. A low power beacon is purposely hidden somewhere and teams try to find it first.
- thakoppno 4y ago
  My local club does foxhunting activities but also has been trying to identify a set of transmissions meant to disrupt the repeater’s operation. At least three members bought krakens at least in part to find the perpetrator. To me it’s a pretty interesting cat and mouse game. It seems like the illegal transmissions are mobile which has prevented success at stopping them.
  - fortran77 4y ago
    Another user case is non-malicious interference. Sometimes something is radiating a strong harmonic because of a corroded connector, etc, and the source can be identified with doppler direction finding equipment. Finding a culprit in a repeater war is a more difficult thing to do, because what do you do with the person once he's identified?
    - wl 4y ago
      > because what do you do with the person once he's identified? Hand the evidence over to the FCC. The FCC isn't going to proactively go after someone, but they're more than willing to take cases and issue fines if someone has already done most of the legwork. Example: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-19-989A1.pdf https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-19-989A1.pdf

rasz 4y ago

They would do great in Ukraine right now for direction finding shitty Baofeng UHF radios ru have to use after their general embezzled funds for development of Azart system https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1184964805565792257 https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1184964805565792257 >Interfax reports that the Deputy Chief of the General Staff and the most senior communications officer in the Russian military, Colonel General Khalil Arslanov, has been arrested for fraud in relation to the purchase of special equipment. >The investigation isn't limited to 2.2 B RUB worth of theft, but also to fraud related to contracts for the Azart comm system built by NPO Angstrem JSC and Yaroslavl Radio Plant. Of 18 B RUB spent on the radios, 6.5 B RUB might have been stolen due to artificially high prices.

livueta 4y ago
Yep, I have a Kraken and can confirm it is fantastic for DFing shitty Baofengs, especially when they're being used as HAMMER-style acoustic modems for something chatty. Practically the best possible scenario for easy DF. Perhaps logically, even though chirp spread spectrum isn't actually FHSS, it struggles a lot more with LoRA transmissions.

kortex 4y ago

$lastco (defense contractor) used something like that for localizing various EMF (cell phones, drone controls, RC remotes, and other potential IED triggers) as part of one of those "smart soldier" DARPA programs. There's definitely demand in the defense-adjacent space.