HACKRF_SWEEP(1)

💖 HACKRF_SWEEP 💖

okay bestie, so this is a page from the User Commands manual, and it's all about hackrf_sweep — the little icon that controls the frequency sweep of your HackRF. yes, the sweeping. the girlies love a good sweep. let's get into it 🧹✨

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so hackrf_sweep is used like this, and I'm putting it in a code block so nothing gets lost, because every single one of these matters:

[-h] # this help

[-d serial_number] # Serial number of desired HackRF

[-a amp_enable] # RX RF amplifier 1=Enable, 0=Disable

[-f freq_min:freq_max] # minimum and maximum frequencies in MHz

[-p antenna_enable] # Antenna port power, 1=Enable, 0=Disable

[-l gain_db] # RX LNA (IF) gain, 0-40dB, 8dB steps

[-g gain_db] # RX VGA (baseband) gain, 0-62dB, 2dB steps

[-w bin_width] # FFT bin width (frequency resolution) in Hz

[-P estimate|measure|patient|exhaustive] # FFTW plan type,
default is 'measure'

[-1] # one shot mode

[-N num_sweeps] # Number of sweeps to perform

[-B] # binary output

[-I] # binary inverse FFT output

[-n] # keep the same timestamp within a sweep

-r filename # output file

let me break those down one by one, because a girl does not gatekeep 🫶

• -h — this help. it's giving "help me help you". ask and you shall receive 💅
• -d serial_number — Serial number of desired HackRF. got multiple HackRFs? pick your fave by serial, no cap 🎀
• -a amp_enable — RX RF amplifier, 1=Enable, 0=Disable. on or off, binary queen 👑
• -f freq_min:freq_max — minimum and maximum frequencies in MHz. the range, the whole vibe, your sweep's lil window 🌈
• -p antenna_enable — Antenna port power, 1=Enable, 0=Disable. feeding power to the antenna port, periodt ⚡
• -l gain_db — RX LNA (IF) gain, 0-40dB, 8dB steps. gain goes up in chunky lil eight-dB steps 🔥
• -g gain_db — RX VGA (baseband) gain, 0-62dB, 2dB steps. this one's finer, two-dB steps, so precise bestie 💜
• -w bin_width — FFT bin width (frequency resolution) in Hz. how finely you're slicing the spectrum, literally the resolution of the whole thing 🦋
• -P estimate|measure|patient|exhaustive — FFTW plan type, and the default is measure. four flavours, one plan, choose your fighter ✨
• -1 — one shot mode. one and done, main character energy, no repeats 💀
• -N num_sweeps — Number of sweeps to perform. tell it how many laps to run 🏃‍♀️
• -B — binary output. not for the faint of heart, it's giving raw bytes 🖤
• -I — binary inverse FFT output. same energy, but inverse, iykyk 🔄
• -n — keep the same timestamp within a sweep. one sweep, one timestamp, consistency slay ⏰
• -r filename — output file. write it down, save it, secure the bag 💾

📊 Output fields:

when it spits out data, the fields go like this, in this exact order:

date, time, hz_low, hz_high, hz_bin_width, num_samples, dB, dB, . . .

so: date, then time, then hz_low, hz_high, hz_bin_width, num_samples, and then a whole parade of dB values trailing off into the sunset like dB, dB, . . . — yes, as many as it takes 🌸

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🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

The primary source of documentation is the wiki on github:

https://github.com/mossmann/hackrf/wiki

bestie, that's the real one — go read the wiki, it's the primary source, I'm just here for the vibes 💖

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and that's the whole page, mwah 💋

signing off: hackrf_sweep, July 2021, and yeah it's HACKRF_SWEEP(1) all the way down. go sweep something iconic, you got this 🎀✨🫶