I have not measured numerically the sensitivity of these tyoe devices, but have comapred them. In actual use the seinsitivity of the HackRF and the RTL dongles are similar, using both SDR$ and Gnuradio.
Both devices are limited by a too-low number of digitized bits. It is extremely important that the gains be set correctly. You have to have the HackRF's multiple gains split correctly or it can limit even in an early stage, resulting in all sorts of image problems, etc. Try experimenting with widely varying signal levels and gain settings. I find that for signals well prefiltered performance is extremely similar, but if not, the HackRF is vastly (no exaggeration) inferior. Note that "well" implies really great rejection of unwanted signals from 0.3 to 10,000 Mhz. I have no idea what is happening above the max frequency spec of either, but for HackRF I suspect the worst in terms of intermodulation problems. Computers with the current rage RF networking running can seriously overload these gizmos. So use prefilters and be SURE that they are rejecting all the microwave stuff you are actually using. Test them. If you are working below a GHz, your filter may not be killing enough up in the upper reaches. Doug McDonald _______________________________________________ HackRF-dev mailing list [email protected] https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/hackrf-dev
