3 ms·

>> or somewhat expensive and complex SDR I don’t think that’s as accurate today as it used to be. On the hardware side there are tons of options very cheaply

>> or somewhat expensive and complex SDR I don’t think that’s as accurate today as it used to be. On the hardware side there are tons of options very cheaply available - iirc the flipper uses the c1100 (or a number like that) it’s a popular cheap chip and it’s well documented and interfaces easily with arduino. More accessibly, lime mini SDRs are cheap but there’s quite a few alternatives too. On the software side GNU Radio is free with decent tutorials - we’re not talking anything like blender levels of difficulty to adopt even if it is a complex domain. Although on the more accessible side, urh is incredibly powerful given how easy to use it is https://github.com/jopohl/urh https://github.com/jopohl/urh I used the latter to tap into a 2 channel wireless bbq thermometer via a $10 rtl sdr and that was a breeze, an absolute walk in the park compared to when I reverse engineered the flysky telemetry system.

ale42 3y ago
GNU radio is free, but what about the hardware you need if you want to transmit an actual signal?
- tiagod 3y ago
  An HackRF clone is quite a bit cheaper than a Flipper, and it's a full-blown SDR with TX capability
TeMPOraL 3y ago
It's not the TX hardware part that will be expensive - but rather bespoke encoding and crypto. Not prohibitively expensive, just annoyingly expensive in money and/or time - enough to prevent anyone except criminals from tampering with those devices. Or worse, vendors will use it as an excuse to make their products cloud-dependent, with strong cryptographic auth and actual processing done on the other side of the world. (And with that enabling the rent seekers their recurring revenue, we arrive at the reality foretold by IIRC Philip K. Dick, where you have to subscribe to your own apartment doors.) (EDIT: the more IoT embraces actual security, the more I feel that US gov had a point in classifying cryptography as munition. Perhaps there ought to be legal limits on using crypto against other people.)
tkems 3y ago
As someone with a HackRF PortaPack knockoff I got from ebay, I would agree that SDRs are better and cheaper than ever before. However, I think the average person will struggle with using a HackRF for more complex projects. I've used URH before, and while useful, it can be intimidating for beginners. Also, while I like the RTL-SDR (and the price tag!), you can't transmit with it. While this isn't a deal breaker to everyone, if you'd like to clone a garage door remote, for example, you need to be able to transmit. While you could use something like a raspberry pi and rpix [0], but I think it is more work than it's worth for many. Also, multiple RTL-SDRs are required for higher bandwidth applications like ASTC TV or trunked radios. With the flipper, I think the main draw for most is the point-click-done nature. Include the Android/iOS app and it makes it easy to configure on the go without a computer. The expandability is one of the main feature that will increase adoption over time compared to the HackRF+PortaPack which, from what I saw in the past, lacked longer-term support and regular updates and new features. [0] https://github.com/F5OEO/rpitx https://github.com/F5OEO/rpitx

ale42 3y ago

GNU radio is free, but what about the hardware you need if you want to transmit an actual signal?

tiagod 3y ago
An HackRF clone is quite a bit cheaper than a Flipper, and it's a full-blown SDR with TX capability

TeMPOraL 3y ago

It's not the TX hardware part that will be expensive - but rather bespoke encoding and crypto. Not prohibitively expensive, just annoyingly expensive in money and/or time - enough to prevent anyone except criminals from tampering with those devices. Or worse, vendors will use it as an excuse to make their products cloud-dependent, with strong cryptographic auth and actual processing done on the other side of the world. (And with that enabling the rent seekers their recurring revenue, we arrive at the reality foretold by IIRC Philip K. Dick, where you have to subscribe to your own apartment doors.) (EDIT: the more IoT embraces actual security, the more I feel that US gov had a point in classifying cryptography as munition. Perhaps there ought to be legal limits on using crypto against other people.)

tkems 3y ago

As someone with a HackRF PortaPack knockoff I got from ebay, I would agree that SDRs are better and cheaper than ever before. However, I think the average person will struggle with using a HackRF for more complex projects. I've used URH before, and while useful, it can be intimidating for beginners. Also, while I like the RTL-SDR (and the price tag!), you can't transmit with it. While this isn't a deal breaker to everyone, if you'd like to clone a garage door remote, for example, you need to be able to transmit. While you could use something like a raspberry pi and rpix [0], but I think it is more work than it's worth for many. Also, multiple RTL-SDRs are required for higher bandwidth applications like ASTC TV or trunked radios. With the flipper, I think the main draw for most is the point-click-done nature. Include the Android/iOS app and it makes it easy to configure on the go without a computer. The expandability is one of the main feature that will increase adoption over time compared to the HackRF+PortaPack which, from what I saw in the past, lacked longer-term support and regular updates and new features. [0] https://github.com/F5OEO/rpitx https://github.com/F5OEO/rpitx