GQRX of Raspberry Pi 3 B+ Airspy HF+ Not Recognized

[Craig Coley]

I am not new to SDR as I operate digital modes with an RS-HFIQ transceiver with HDSDR and have an AirSpy HF+ on Spyserver, all on Win 10. I recently purchased an RPi3-B+ with a fresh install of Raspbian Jessie and GQRX 2.11 that all works well with an RTL-SDR. I cannot seem to be able to get GQRX on the RPi3 to recognize the Airspy HF+.

I see rules files for the Airspy HF in the GQRX configuration files but am at a loss on why GQRX doesn't recognize it. Any help or links would be greatly appreciated.

Craig J. Coley, WB5KUO

[Alexandru Csete]

Did you copy the rule file to /etc/udev/rules.d/ as written in the readme?

Also, please post the terminal output so we can see some specific messages.

Alex

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[Craig Coley]

I know quite a bit more than yesterday:

1. I can absolutely confirm that all of the rules files were copied to /etc/udev/rules.d/ as required.

2. The initial prerequisite libusb install didn't initially work but I downloaded the file and it now builds correctly.

3. Once libusb installed correctly, the rest of the Airspy install completed without error.

4. Using the lsusb command in Terminal shows a Realtech device for the RTL-SDR that works in GQRX.

5. Even after the above success with libusb and subsequent install, lsusb command shows no device with the Airspy HF+

6. Am certain the problem is the Airspy HF+ device driver but not sure where I went wrong.

Thanks in advance.

Craig

[Alexandru Csete]

Craig,

lsusb should show the device without any driver installed. Perhaps you
don't have sufficient power from the RPI.

Having said that, I am very confused about what you are building and
installing manually?

http://gqrx.dk/download/gqrx-sdr-for-the-raspberry-pi
All you need to do on a fresh Raspbian Jessie system is to download
the gqrx binary package, unpack it, install some dependencies, copy
the udev rules to /etc/udev/rules.d/ and then run the gqrx binary, see
the included readme.

If you start building stuff from left and right, you will just end up
with a bunch of conflicting packages.

Alex

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[Craig Coley]

I apologize, Alex. My first install was just gqrx and running the binary. After gqrx and lsusb showed

no receiver, I thought (erroneously) that the Airspy HF+ needed a driver for Raspbian. The

“build” i was having difficulty with was the driver installation at https://github.com/airspy/airspyhf that

did not seem to change anything. 

And you are correct about power, I did get some low voltage warnings early but have not since 

I moved the adapter from the display to the Pi 3. I am going to explore more on this today since 

the Airspy HF+ may be more sensitive to voltage than the Pi 3. I have a dual USB charger to try.

Since the only thing installed is gqrx and (Airspy HF driver), I may need to wipe the Pi 3 and 

start with a fresh OS install.

Craig

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[Alexandru Csete]

Hi Craig,

If you only installed the airspyhf driver library, then you are
probably OK and no need to wipe.
Does the orange LED turn on when you attach the airspyhf? If you type
dmesg in a terminal you should see something like:

[207723.785980] usb 6-1.3: new high-speed USB device number 9 using xhci_hcd
[207723.890384] usb 6-1.3: New USB device found, idVendor=03eb, idProduct=800c
[207723.890389] usb 6-1.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2,
SerialNumber=3
[207723.890393] usb 6-1.3: Product: AIRSPY HF+[207723.890396] usb
6-1.3: Manufacturer: www.airspy.com
[207723.890398] usb 6-1.3: SerialNumber: AIRSPYHF SN:3B52E880D1DC3887

Alex

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[Craig Coley]

Thank you so much Alex, all seems to be working now. The orange light had always
been illuminated but when dmesg showed no trace of the Airspy HF, I replaced the USB
cable and everything started working, including gqrx.

(EE101)- One shall ALWAYS test assumptions on what is believed to be functional.


Craig

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