Radio Hacking 101: Raspberry Pi SDR with a CaribouLite

SDR lets you peek into the invisible world of RF, or radiofrequency!

The Raspberry Pi is a great tool for SDR, and in this video I finally tested it with the CaribouLite I bought a couple years ago.

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Contents:

00:00 - A peek behind the curtains
01:14 - Setting up CaribouLite with a Pi
02:13 - Driver and software installation
03:32 - GQRX SDR intro
09:29 - Testing CaribouLite SDR, decoding signals
10:53 - Is a Pi 4 enough?
12:18 - Mini Rack and PoE SDR setup
15:06 - Remote SDR and a WiFi issue
17:40 - It's like magic

[Joshx]

I just dove into radio and SDRs a couple months ago, and to say antennas are a dark art is an understatement!

[TheSwordOfLionsPride]

As someone whose job involves working with the RF spectrum (albeit on a larger scale and over longer distances), seeing that there’s pi hardware for it, it’s reassuring. Because it means that I can have cheaper solutions to do learning experiences with that aren’t multi thousand dollar antennas and dishes. Cheers!

[jsemichon]

SDR + RTL433 and home assistant make a perfect combination for picking up and integrating an oil tank sensor and a whole raft of other, unencrypted RF devices. That combination has been telling HA how much oil is left in the tank for several years.

[coldapollo]

I took a physics class about cell phones and we did an entire section on cellular connection and radio waves. I have new appreciation for radio and cellular communication. It is seriously some of the coolest technology i have learned about.

[metamud]

It's really quite insane how complicated radio has become, considering AM and a handful components were enough to "make it work" vs "you have to apply some patches", "this screen is really daunting", "there are lots of numbers".

[gaptastic]

As a ham (Amateur Radio), this was delightful to watch! Great beginner info into RF, which is used by everything around us.

BTW: I would use a dummy load cause it's not frequency specific, it just drains.

[kattz]

When I was a kid, our next door neighbor was an engineer. He had trained in the Canadian army's version of the Signal Corps. This was the 70s. He had huge tube radios that took up an entire room. On Sundays he talked to his friend in Japan and we came over to talk to the friend's grandson. Grandpa was teaching him English and he wanted some kids for him to talk to. I was too young to understand a lot of things but I do remember bouncing signals off the ionosphere. I wish that he could see what we have now.

[headblockhead]

The discord notification at 4:58 got me :P

[KarlMiller]

@JeffGeerling - I continue to be impressed by the way you present a topic. Well defined, organized and thorough. I never find myself asking, "what does that mean?" because you define terms and answer the "why" questions.
Excellent work.

[OnesimusX]

Same here Jeff. I purchased one of these a couple of years ago and didn't use it. I pulled it out 6mo ago and started using and quickly noticed a bit of a learning curve.

I stepped away from it due to time, but I noticed your video and I think I'm going pick it back up again to learn with you. Thank you for bringing this back up again.

[yuval_]

Hey Jeff, I'm an RF engineer and I use a lot of SDR. Overall this was a very good video, especially for explaining to beginners! Two small corrections:
1. At 4:34 you used waveform which is a term that refers to how the signal looks in the time domain and not the frequency.
2. When you look at the 2.4ghz ism bend you don't actually see an entire wifi channel. That happens since this SDR has a sample rate of 4Msps, you need at least 20Msps for wifi signal.
Again those are very small errors, it really is a good video 😀
Feel free to ask anything you want about this world

[JoshColletta]

"It's kind of a dark art choosing the right antenna for whatever purpose that you're using."
-- Jeff Geerling, putting it mildly

[v]

Jeff. My man is back at it again with another video that is perfectly up my alley. Pi's and Radios!

[jampskan]

I like that you're doing more radio stuff now.

[salmon]

Tip for people getting started into SDR, Don't be afraid to make your own antenna. With a simple bit of coax you can make an antenna to pick up 1090mhz and track planes.

[crazynordlander]

Hi Jeff, I tried to get our local school to teach amateur radio along with their computer technology classes they offer. My interest in SDR is what lured me into getting an amateur radio license. I have taken all three exams and hold the Amateur Extra license now. I am so happy that you and your dad went on this journey together. I started at age 60 and it has been a great six year run so far. My call sign is KA0KAE. I enjoy your videos. I love the Raspberry Pi computer. I have made numerous devices using RPi's. I can't wait when you dive into the APRS world and other digital modes. I hope to see that you have invented a new mode someday. I hope to make a RF contact with you or your dad someday. 73 Kevin

[MkDzL]

This is such a timely video for me! Of all things to get me back into SDR was an old hot tub I acquired recently. I noticed it has a temp sensor from the plumbing going back to its LED controller which made me curious. Turns out it was for a wireless LCD monitor that the consumer could put in their house. That monitor from 2007 is unobtainium now so after doing some research I see it runs on 433.92mhz. Not sure I'll be able to decode it since it looks like it uses its own protocol but I'm using it as an excuse to start my first spa monitoring mini rack 😄

[oliverbutterfield]

I took a Pi400 + SDR on a beach holiday to geek out picking up marine AIS VHF traffic. It was great fun.

[saveitforparts]

That's a neat Pi add-on, I hadn't seen this one before! I have an oddball little USB SDR in my Picorder, but a dedicated hat like that looks a lot more flexible. I might have to consider re-designing my setup to fit that.

[moaazsherif]

FINALLY !!, a video about SDR, YOU ARE THE BEST!!