Beginner's Guide To The HackRF & Portapak With Mayhem

In this beginners guide to the HackRF and Portapak I show you how to update the Mayhem firmware and cover some of the receive and transmit features of the Portapak.

Purchase here:
(This one has a nice case and antennas)

The HackRF & Portapack combo from the above AliExpress link I have not personally tested but the seller ensures me that it can be user updated with official firmware.

Mayhem Firmware Online Manual

00:00 Introduction
01:00 Information regarding clones
01:17 What's in the box
02:20 Hardware Overview
03:39 Inside the portapak
04:23 Checking installed firmware version
05:00 Firmware update procedure
08:10 Portapak App(s) Demo
15:54 Conclusion and Outtro

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#TechMinds #SDR #HamRadio

[aquahoodjd]

Im recovering from "combat related injuries" / Severe Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Your content and playing with SDRs and being a novice "maker" is my health defense mechanism which helps me through the recovery process which is challenging to put it lightly. Thanks 🙏!

[Un_Pour_Tous]

Pre-amp will die so just use a cheap LNA if needing that because the hackRF only does 250mw might be more on some models, Also if usb issue happens where it will not read in windows or gives unknown device" There is a small IC that when i removed it made the usb work however it will back feed usb power from the hackrf so make sure you have a usb port that can discard back feed. I hope this helped anyone with these issue i have experienced.

[alphaadhito]

Very nice! When I bought HackRF Portapack a while ago, I was literally messing around with it because there's not much documentation about the menu at that time. Mine was the touch screen version, so far, I love it and boy oh boy the bandwidth is so huge compared with RTL SDR lol. My pet peeve is that I wish they give a physical button to turn on/off the device, mine came with an acrylic cap for the knob so you don't accidentally turn on the device. Looking forward with this series in the future!

[angrygamingdad]

1.9.0 just released right after you posted this. :)

[iTsMike]

Great video. If you have time, please make some more showing the features.

[catalinalb]

I bricked my original hackrf with the portapack H2 a few years ago. For this price the combo kit seems great!

[nobodynoone]

You should explain what it is and it's use first. If you already know, you don't need this beginner guide, if you don't, this guide will be a bit confusing.
My biggest issue with the device is the prominent selector knob that prevents it from fitting in most pockets. I fabricated a cap to cover it but the bulk is annoying. The lack of battery display sucks too. Your biggest omission are the features of the hackrf independent of the portapack.

[OniKingFukai]

The latest version 1.9.0 is now available. Many apps are now stored on the SD card so updating the SD card files is necessary to have all applications available.

[zviratko]

Also, it would be good to warn people NOT to enable AMPs (RX nor TX) until they know a bit more what they're doing, and to avoid turning those amps on near strong RF (even on a hill next to any kind of transmitter, or when keying up a radio). It _WILL_ burn.

[David-kmin]

Hi Matt,
Thanks for the video content over the year. Some very interesting products. Although I find the computer programming a little difficult to understand.
Happy Christmas David M0DUU

[rjy]

I've been looking for a portable radio that will do the usual FM, amateur / broadcast SW stuff AND have DAB. I did notice a DAB item listed, so may be worth a closer look :) Thanks, Matt.

[TerryGwrs]

Great video Matt all the best for the new year

[goldcattom]

Thank you very match for this very instrucive video

[yjaspal]

Is there any big difference between the Chinese copy u bought and the actual hack rf?

[PureAwareness]

🎉 Lovely, thank you.

This one, or the Malahit DSP-2? 😊

[troybird]

Can you ensure your frequency is not traced or tracked when receiving or sending?

[Atticus]

Kind of curious can yoy pick up any frequency to listen to like any frequency from air, ham, cb, fire, police, ambulance, shortwave, and any other two way radios just to listen to i dont want to broadcast or jam anything i just want to be able to just listen into anything. Any answer back would be appreciated. Thank you.

[TheElectronicDilettante]

I hope you’re enduring all the apocalyptic style weather England has been hit with recently.
I have a portapack question. Are the headers on the PCB set up in such a way as to allow it to be used with the OperaCake?? Seems like the antenna switch would be invaluable when changing between the different functionality of the portapack

[michaeldurant]

Can you make video explaining the use of each antennas

[homerj]

hi i got a hack rf. and it came with version 1.9.1. is this the latest. and how do i get maps on it please. this is probably 1 of a million question . so please be gental.... tks