The best antenna for HackRF Portapack (and Flipper Zero, Meshtastic, Quansheng, RTLSDR, etc.)

[@TalkingSasquach]

Love everything about this video. Keep it up!!!!!

[@rgould85]

This video has tons of antenna information packed into it with no ads. Should be shown at all Ham radio classes.

[@SkruxLabs-vq4ho]

I’m a radio professional that has worked in the industry for 15 years and am an extra class ham radio operator, have my GROL and a CET Master and this is an excellent primer for young players. Good job, sn0ren!

[@derbemobile]

Thanks for the video. I’m into ham and antennas are my favorite part at the moment. I got a NanoVNA and it’s amazing to see that little device in action. Just started getting into Meshtastic and I’m amazed at the range of them. I saw an SDR at DefCon over a decade ago and it was mind blowing. We truly live in an amazing time

[@joshuawinne]

Recently got my HAM license, passed the test. This video taught me a ton of information I’m sure I should have known already. Thank you.

[@s1nister688]

Dude, rename the video title to "Masterclass on RF antennas"! You just taught me so much from this single 15 minute-long video.

[@sn0ren]

Thanks a lot 🙏

[@Slartibartfas042]

Well, in fact this is just a very good but "short" video scratching the surface of antenna and RF theories. If you are interested in that stuff, you can buy a lot of books dealing with details of one or few antenna types or some aspects of antennas, and there is a whole engineering branch of study, just dealing with antennas and RF. I would recommend books (or even sets of books) like the "ARRL Antenna Book for Radio Communications" or alike (depending on your preferred language). It is a very interesting and fascinating subject, that was much more interesting (and understandable) when radios were just analog devices with coils, capacitors and a few transistors, as you easily and directly could *hear* and *see* the direct resulting differences inbetween different solutions. Computerization of radio receivers and it's complexity did make that whole stuff a lot more "black-box"-like and unfortunately makes it much harder to understand what is going on. So for the start I would recommend you to first go for radio stations on AM bands (long wave, up to short wave radio stations) or FM Radio stations, as there you get direct feedback on how good your antenna is working. Absoluteley not like with digital signal types like DVB, DAB, phones (GSM and later), WiFi and so on, where your usual receiver in best case will have some sort of very rough signal quality indicator. A good accesory for a HackRF also might be the Portapack case/display, that will give you the tool of "waterfall diagrams" showing the signal strength (as opposed to the "signal quality" which only shows some informations about the signal-to-noise ratio).

[@bmt626]

Completely agree I have been on the struggle bus tying to figure out so many antenna related topics and this video make a lot of things clearer and it all clicked.

[@xxMTxxDEWxx]

Perfect explanation of the need for the proper antenna. I eventually found this out the hard way through a lot of trial and error and research online. Makes our radio hobby all the more exciting. Very good video. Thank you!

[@mr.s1961]

Yes. Many people today don't have the life skills of how to formulate what's in their head into written language and search engine-optimized query. Many don't know what they even want lol

[@AllFouRoux]

Sn0ren deserves so many more subscribers. The quality of these videos are through the roof and the information is amazing. Also I love my NanoVNA, and I probably only use about 10% of its features.

[@sn0ren]

Thanks a lot 🙏

[@mohammadjuanda7882]

I'm not a telecommunications practitioner, but your explanation is very easy to understand, thank you and i appreciate

[@LarryKapp1]

One of the best antenna tutorials for beginners I have seen. I will be recommending this to aspiring ham radio operators.

[@sn0ren]

Thanks! 🙏

[@arac4nia]

This was the best video I have ever seen on this subject

[@Androsynth75]

This might be the best ‘antennas for newbs’ video I’ve run across. You explain a lot very concisely. Nice job.

[@joaomanoellima5947]

This is probably the best video I've seen on this topic. The storytelling, videomaking and information is top notch, congrats I'd just like to give my 2c on the topic of powering stuff without antennas. Sure, it is not ideal, but most modern systems will have some kind of protection to the backfeed or won't have enough power to cause significant damage, but I'd say it is a pretty hot debatable topic. Hope to see more from you!

[@BlackAperture100]

Amazing video! More of this, please! You had great quality information and the production quality was phenomenal. I would love to hear your clear explanations and use cases of all the other antennas you mentioned!

[@JoshuaBBull]

This is a truly excellent video! It explains a lot of theory with RF communication that is often overlooked or assumed but is rarely explicitly taught! Thank you for such an informative video! :)

[@borisvokladski5844]

A little life hack for antennas that need a metal surface: I use cheap fan grills for PC cabinets. They also give some stability to the antenna, if you place them near a open window or outside. To begin with in my early SDR journey, I did not knew, that these antennas need a metal surface for ground plane. I was very happy when I found out, that a metal surface helped improving the signal just by using a left over fan grill.

[@Martock1017]

Even if you do have a fair understanding of antenna and transmission line theory, your video still makes interesting viewing. I think you have made a very straightforward description of basic antenna types for anyone new to the subject.

[@sn0ren]

Thanks! 🙏

[@xtwisted007x]

Another excellent video! That lesson was not only concise and informative, it was well produced and interesting to boot! Love and appreciate all your content. Looking forward to more! Thanks!!

[@fotografm]

This is an excellent explanation about practical antennas which can be applied in many areas. Respect !

[@TouchToDream]

You are doing a great RF content! I watch every video with my pleasure. Keep it going :)

[@L0rdK0nda]

I recognize a nanovna even blurred XD Great video as always

[@vpdrumsmusicstore9907]

Subscribed! Thanks ! I learned more from this singe video, than google about antenna for weeks, very good explanation! Keep up good work!

[@Mr.Nemo-]

I appreciate the knowledge the time you take to make these videos, Thank you.

[@lillebrornmb]

Helt perfekt video for mig som er ny i denne RF leg. Mange tak for denne og alle dine andre videoer.

[@rocheuro]

i knew nothing about rf and antennas now I know quite a bit! great explanation very well constructed video. thank you! now I will know which antenna to use with my UV K5(8)'s !

[@rocheuro]

btw another great quality informative video! its a pleasure to watch.

[@Jeremiah.o.A.T]

Hey Sn0ren, great job. Love this!

[@sergebash2305]

Спасибо! Хорошая подача материала. Очень познавательно.

[@khaledgamal9575]

Thank you for these informative Videos , please keep up and do more videos on anteana and hackrf

[@MattRobertsons]

Another great video! Thank you so much for making these and doing them so well. Thank you!

[@Swede_4_DragonBeliever]

Greetings from Sweden! You,Sir, just got yourself a new subscriber 🎉 Awesome video!

[@effwitt]

Very nicely produced video! Liked and subscribed.

[@hillbilly4christ638]

Very good! You could have mentioned rf chokes. There are ways to reduce stray transmissions inside your cave. Seems difficult at times to get good resonance, but the rewards are great. 73

[@ccc3]

Superbly summerised! How come radio devices don't come with some kind of protection circuit to prevent frying the amp?

[@sn0ren]

Some do and will throttle down the output if they detect a bad SWR. Some are just built more robustly and can take even a high amount of reflected power. But a lot aren't. It's all down to cost and most hobby radios expect you to know to check your SWR before transmitting 50-100 watts into an antenna. You get to buy the radio for a little less money or get other features instead.

[@ccc3]

​@@sn0renThanks for the fast reply! Today I became a little more intrigued by radio thanks to you

[@maverick3644]

Sn0ren you always make the best videoes 🙂 Quick question, i use the Harris AN/PRC 152 in the Danish army, the same antenna is used from 30-512MHz, how is that possible?

[@sn0ren]

There are many ways to make an antenna multi band. One way is to have more than one antenna in one, compacting several dipoles together. Another way is to have "traps" along the antenna, small passive filter circuits that cut off the antenna for signals of certain frequencies. Another way is to use bands that are multiples of each other, the ham radio bands are like this 2m, 4m, 6m, 10m, 20m, 40m - this way one antenna can be resonant on multiple bands. Another way, which is mostly common on the HF bands below 30 MHz, is to use an antenna matching circuit or antenna tuner. On HF there is more leeway to use non resonant antennas, as long as they are long antennas, but their impedance still needs to be matched to the radio. An antenna is like a load (think resistor) to the radio, and that load needs to be 50 ohms. If you have an end fed long wire or whip antenna, the impedance will be very high. A matching circuit such as a balun/unun, can bring down the impedance closer to the required 50 ohms. However even if you match the impedance with a tuner, it doesn't necessarily make the antenna good radiator - but it might be good enough. An antenna tuner can also do this, or work together with a matching circuit. Many radios for HF have built in antenna tuners. Also military radios are typically built to withstand high impedance mismatches, and can survive high SWR - unlike hobby radios. For every point I make in this video, there is a longer "well, actually.." answer ;)

[@mhdamasha]

Excellent video, keep up the good work.

[@no32no74]

Great video and very important topic! Thanks!

[@BunnyMcHusky-cg1tj]

Fantastic antenna info. 🤯

[@cherrymountains72]

Just what I needed as I recently started dabbling with amateur radio!

[@roguesecurity]

Amazing video as always. Thanks for sharing. Couple of questions: 1. How useful is to get a nanovna if I just want to receive. I was thinking to get one and design my own antenna for different frequencies reception 2. For receiving, can I just use a dipole (with lengths adjusted) for any frequency?

[@sn0ren]

For receiving you can get away with eyeballing a dipole or ground plane in some approximate area of a frequency. If you want to build more complicated antennas like a yagi, it’s beneficial to have the NanoVNA even just for receiving to check that your design is working out correctly.

[@MrXRes]

Спасибо! Лучшее видео про антенны для новичков, что я встречал Успехов вам в развитии канала

[@Bailey-k2j]

Wish you would have covered external boosters too.

[@MyTube4Utoo]

Very good, accurate information. Thank you.

[@fordi_steve]

Thank you so much for making this video, I’m new to SDR and found this incredibly informative. I will be ordering a HackRF portable soon and will be scanning 1.4ghz to 1.8ghz. Can you recommend an Antenna that i can research please, i would be very grateful.

[@javierpallalorden]

Thank you for the excellent video!

[@mikelitoris7288]

You pick up the people where most of them are :-) Very good explained! (Just 2ct from a Dipl.-Ing.)

[@Xdigitalboss]

I’m not sure how I got here, but I’m interested in learning about this

[@bashkillszombies]

Try as I might I cannot find a listing of what the frequency range is for the shipped antennas anywhere. I came here looking for that. Disappointed you didn't run through them.

[@sn0ren]

What shipped antennas? It depends on what the seller decided to include and it should say so in the listing.

[@bashkillszombies]

@@sn0ren The authentic ones come with a set of antennas. Even the knock off clones come with almost identical ones. It's okay I found a guy who tested the knock off ones (watch?v=QZSs7vfO5cg) I don't have a VNA so I can't test mine but I can at least know what general area the antennas are in, I'm a noob so knowing which one to put on for what was kinda what I was after, yet sadly HackRF content is either for the painfully new beginner or the pro, there's nothing in the middle for the little finnicky things. :D Thank you for the reply though, I appreciate it!

[@sn0ren]

There is no such thing as a set of authentic antennas. Every seller has their own idea of what antennas to include and the listing says what frequencies they are suitable for - but as I said in the video they are, at best, only for listening in these frequency areas. For transmitting always use a known resonant antenna.

[@LeonardSamuels75]

Sooo... anything to do about blowing the amp on my hackrf? Or is it useless now?

[@sn0ren]

If you’ve blown the amp on your HackRF you can just turn it off. Everything else still works. You can also use an external LNA.

[@Atmatan]

You can also desolder the amp and fix the circuit yourself if you know how to solder. The internet says it's easy and self explanatory.

[@liaammalka8551]

Thank You.

[@smegheadGOAT]

I am waiting for a delivery of a hackrf one would it be a good idea to turn the amplifier off before starting my beginners journey.

[@sn0ren]

Always a good idea to have the amp turned until you actually are in a situation where you need it. I haven't had a situation where I would need the transmit amp yet.

[@smegheadGOAT]

@@sn0ren WOW! sn0ren thanks for the reply.

[@aelsi1337]

Do you also have to tune antennas for receiving?

[@sn0ren]

They will work better if you do but it doesn’t have to be as precise

[@TheSolo38]

only had my flipper and this for a 2 weeks think I'm going to sell them find it hard getting any info on how to get the software even on mayhem site etc I know how to extract files all that but its a bit to much for me even with getting the dev board working on flipper 😢

[@franscartoons]

I see some antennas have different frequency ranges for tx and rx. Does a nanovna show you ideal tx and rx frequencies for an antenna or just rx? Is it same to tx on any frequency registering below a 3 on the vna?

[@sn0ren]

If they have a different rx range it’s usually just a guesstimated range that extends a bit beyond the tx range. NanoVNA shows you where you can tx with the antenna. You can also rx in the same range and beyond. It’s best to have an swr below 1.5 for tx.

[@franscartoons]

@@sn0ren wow I wasn’t expecting a reply from you. Thanks. I do have a bit of a silly question in addition to my last one though. The numbers on the right hand side of the graph (like the 1.5 you mention) don’t seem to be shown in official documentation. Are they only available in certain firmware, and if not, do you know where the option to make the visible is? Thanks again.

[@phant0m739]

0:33 I hate to be pedantic, but Iron actually makes for a poor antenna, especially at high frequencies, due to the conductor skin effect. Great video though!

[@sn0ren]

Thanks!🙏 There are plenty of options for being pedantic as I’ve had to cut out a lot of details to not make the video too long for the beginners. I’m happy to have lots of great input as yours in the comments though 🙌

[@GHIDRAuto]

Great video man!

[@VeniceInventors]

Great all around explanation of the subject of antennas. Such a fascinating subject. 1/4 length antennas seem to be the most common, but wouldn't a full length antenna be the best option (at least for reception)? I'll have to look into the 5/8th approach to understand why it actually "flattens/strengthens the donut" rather than just degrade the transmission power from reflections. Now I want to make a measuring tape for my portapak telescopic antenna which shows the frequencies (instead of cm/inches) as that would be handy :-)

[@sn0ren]

For some reason a full wave antenna is a really poor radiator when used for transmitting. I'm not sure of it's receiving capabilities. The mysterious theory of antennas crosses into physics which is a weird place.

[@VeniceInventors]

@@sn0ren That's why I find it so fascinating, we think we have it all figured out and then the universe says "not so fast, I've got some more puzzles for you!"

[@joseetcheverry1344]

Thank you so much !!!

[@sn0ren]

You're welcome!

[@burning4902]

Great video thank you!

[@iyeetsecurity922]

Greetings! Can the HackRF be used as a police scanner?

[@sn0ren]

Yes, provided the police still use analog radio in your area.

[@iyeetsecurity922]

​@@sn0renNot anymore unfortunately. I just bought one of these because I'm interested in learning more, and there's a lot to learn here. I thought that SDR was able to receive digital broadcasts such as that.

[@DumbledoreMcCracken]

When there is SWR, there is the need to consider feedline length.

[@MoefoeAhole-gy9vd]

Please 🙏🏻 make a step by step tutorial for the rabbit labs hack rf , I received mine a week ago I am a beginner please do a step by step out of the box tutorial for the rabbit lab hackrf 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@davidlee50]

Thank you

[@djdoubleu2020]

Why is your PortaPack so thick? It appears to be thicker than others ive seen online.

[@sn0ren]

It’s a thicker alu Portapack body that is sold by OpenSourceSDRLab

[@notafbihoneypot8487]

Based

[@joecizin9357]

👍👍

[@adriancamposteixeira5483]

Wow!!

[@kursadzeybek356]

very very INFORMATIVE video bro BUT i wanna learn KeyFob PLEASE teach us... (i wanna open my neubours car:p hihhi)

[@laory1808]

Ty snoren

[@bowlsallbroken]

If you want to transmit with any kind of equipment with a wide range of bands, do yourself a favor and invest in a nanoVNA for antenna matching.

[@KillDaRoy]

shipping and taxes = 40€ 🤣

[@WEEDFROGS]

Being this early feels like a crime! Thanks @sn0ren for another great vid!

[@sn0ren]

Thanks and congrats 🎉