Unsupported output format

[nodemand]

Hi!
I'm on macOS Ventura 13.6 and I'm trying to record and playback a 433.92 MHz signal using SoapySDR and a HackRF One. I recorded raw data from an ELRO AB440S remote with rx_sdr like this:

rx_sdr -f 433920000 elro.cu8

Output:

[INFO] Opening HackRF One #0 88869dc35716f1b... Using device HackRF One: clock source=internal part id=a000cb3c006f474b serial=0000000000000000088869dc35716f1b version=2023.01.1 Found 1 channel(s) : Channel 0 : Found 1 antenna(s): TX/RX Found 3 gain(s): LNA AMP VGA Found 1 frequencies: RF Found 20 sample rates: 1000000 2000000 3000000 4000000 5000000 6000000 7000000 8000000 9000000 10000000 11000000 12000000 13000000 14000000 15000000 16000000 17000000 18000000 19000000 20000000 Found 16 bandwidths: 1750000 2500000 3500000 5000000 5500000 6000000 7000000 8000000 9000000 10000000 12000000 14000000 15000000 20000000 24000000 28000000 Using output format: CU8 (input format CS16, 4 bytes per element) Sampling at 2048000 S/s. Tuned to 433920000 Hz. Reading samples in sync mode... ^CSignal caught, exiting!

and after that I tried to replay it using tx_sdr like this:

tx_sdr -f 433920000 elro.cu8

Output:

tx_sdr -- an I/Q player for SDR devices. Available backends: SoapySDR SoapySDRDevice_enumerateStrArgs() found 1 devices 0 : device=HackRF One, driver=hackrf, label=HackRF One #0 88869dc35716f1b, part_id=a000cb3c006f474b, serial=0000000000000000088869dc35716f1b, version=2023.01.1 SoapySDRDevice_make_list()... [INFO] Opening HackRF One #0 88869dc35716f1b... 0 : HackRF : HackRF One : clock source=internal, part id=a000cb3c006f474b, serial=0000000000000000088869dc35716f1b, version=2023.01.1 Supported formats: CS8 CS16 CF32 CF64 Using input format: CU8 (output format CS8) Tuned to 3000000000 Hz. Sampling at 2048000 S/s. Waiting for TX to settle... SoapySDRDevice_hasHardwareTime: 0 SoapySDRDevice_getHardwareTime: 0 Tuned to 433920000 Hz. Tuner gain set to 0.00 dB. Writing samples in sync mode... Stream MTU: 131072 Unsupported output format: CS8 (input format: CU8) Input end 0 samples written Tuner gain set to 0.00 dB. Tuned to 3000000000 Hz. Waiting for TX to settle... SoapySDRDevice_unmake()...

But no matter what format I choose tx_sdr always says: "Unsupported output format" and "0 samples written"...
Or am I doing something wrong here? I'd love to hear any suggestions if so!

[zuckschwerdt]

HackRF doesn't support CU8. See https://github.com/pothosware/SoapyHackRF/blob/6c0c33f0aa44c3080674e6bca0273184d3e9eb44/HackRF_Streaming.cpp#L95-L98
You need to convert your file to CS8, CS16, CF32, or CF64.

[nodemand]

Hi @zuckschwerdt,
Thank you for your reply. It doesn't matter what output format I choose with rx_sdr and then with tx_sdr. It always returns that same error. See the following:

rx_sdr -f 433920000 -F CS8 elro.dat

Output:

[INFO] Opening HackRF One #0 88869dc35716f1b...
Using device HackRF One: clock source=internal part id=a000cb3c006f474b serial=0000000000000000088869dc35716f1b version=2023.01.1 
Found 1 channel(s) :
Channel 0 :
  Found 1 antenna(s): TX/RX 
  Found 3 gain(s): LNA AMP VGA 
  Found 1 frequencies: RF 
  Found 20 sample rates: 1000000 2000000 3000000 4000000 5000000 6000000 7000000 8000000 9000000 10000000 11000000 12000000 13000000 14000000 15000000 16000000 17000000 18000000 19000000 20000000 
  Found 16 bandwidths: 1750000 2500000 3500000 5000000 5500000 6000000 7000000 8000000 9000000 10000000 12000000 14000000 15000000 20000000 24000000 28000000 
Using output format: CS8 (input format CS16, 4 bytes per element)
Sampling at 2048000 S/s.
Tuned to 433920000 Hz.
Reading samples in sync mode...
^CSignal caught, exiting!
WARNING: sync read failed. -1

User cancel, exiting...

and then using tx_sdr with CS8 option on that file:

tx_sdr -f 433920000 -F CS8 elro.dat

Output:

tx_sdr -- an I/Q player for SDR devices.
Available backends: SoapySDR
SoapySDRDevice_enumerateStrArgs()
found 1 devices
0 : device=HackRF One, driver=hackrf, label=HackRF One #0 88869dc35716f1b, part_id=a000cb3c006f474b, serial=0000000000000000088869dc35716f1b, version=2023.01.1
SoapySDRDevice_make_list()...
[INFO] Opening HackRF One #0 88869dc35716f1b...
0 : HackRF : HackRF One : clock source=internal, part id=a000cb3c006f474b, serial=0000000000000000088869dc35716f1b, version=2023.01.1
Supported formats: CS8 CS16 CF32 CF64
Using input format: CS8 (output format CS8)
Tuned to 3000000000 Hz.
Sampling at 2048000 S/s.
Waiting for TX to settle...
SoapySDRDevice_hasHardwareTime: 0
SoapySDRDevice_getHardwareTime: 0
Tuned to 433920000 Hz.
Tuner gain set to 0.00 dB.
Writing samples in sync mode...
Stream MTU: 131072
Unsupported output format: CS8 (input format: CS8)
Input end
0 samples written
Tuner gain set to 0.00 dB.
Tuned to 3000000000 Hz.
Waiting for TX to settle...
SoapySDRDevice_unmake()...

[zuckschwerdt]

Oh sorry, CS8 is not properly supported, my bad. Good rule of thumb is to always try CS16 first, it's something of a common default in all SoapySDR.

[nodemand]

Hi @zuckschwerdt!
Thanx again, but I'm not there yet I'm afraid. Even if I specify CS16 I'm getting the same error.

rx_sdr -f 433920000 -F CS16 elro.dat

Output:

`[INFO] Opening HackRF One #0 88869dc35716f1b...
Using device HackRF One: clock source=internal part id=a000cb3c006f474b serial=0000000000000000088869dc35716f1b version=2023.01.1
Found 1 channel(s) :
Channel 0 :
Found 1 antenna(s): TX/RX
Found 3 gain(s): LNA AMP VGA
Found 1 frequencies: RF
Found 20 sample rates: 1000000 2000000 3000000 4000000 5000000 6000000 7000000 8000000 9000000 10000000 11000000 12000000 13000000 14000000 15000000 16000000 17000000 18000000 19000000 20000000
Found 16 bandwidths: 1750000 2500000 3500000 5000000 5500000 6000000 7000000 8000000 9000000 10000000 12000000 14000000 15000000 20000000 24000000 28000000
Using output format: CS16 (input format CS16, 4 bytes per element)
Sampling at 2048000 S/s.
Tuned to 433920000 Hz.
Reading samples in sync mode...
^CSignal caught, exiting!
WARNING: sync read failed. -1

User cancel, exiting...`

And tx_sdr:

tx_sdr -f 433920000 -F CS16 elro.dat

Output:

tx_sdr -- an I/Q player for SDR devices. Available backends: SoapySDR SoapySDRDevice_enumerateStrArgs() found 1 devices 0 : device=HackRF One, driver=hackrf, label=HackRF One #0 88869dc35716f1b, part_id=a000cb3c006f474b, serial=0000000000000000088869dc35716f1b, version=2023.01.1 SoapySDRDevice_make_list()... [INFO] Opening HackRF One #0 88869dc35716f1b... 0 : HackRF : HackRF One : clock source=internal, part id=a000cb3c006f474b, serial=0000000000000000088869dc35716f1b, version=2023.01.1 Supported formats: CS8 CS16 CF32 CF64 Using input format: CS16 (output format CS8) Tuned to 3000000000 Hz. Sampling at 2048000 S/s. Waiting for TX to settle... SoapySDRDevice_hasHardwareTime: 0 SoapySDRDevice_getHardwareTime: 0 Tuned to 433920000 Hz. Tuner gain set to 0.00 dB. Writing samples in sync mode... Stream MTU: 131072 Unsupported output format: CS8 (input format: CS16) Input end 0 samples written Tuner gain set to 0.00 dB. Tuned to 3000000000 Hz. Waiting for TX to settle... SoapySDRDevice_unmake()...

After that I tried one of the listed sample rates: 2000000, but that does not change anything either... It seems like it's always using CS8 as the output format even though I specify otherwise.

[zuckschwerdt]

Oh what a mess, the native format is CS8, tx_sdr want's to always use that but can't. The only format that will override the native format is CF32. That one should really work now.

[nodemand]

hahaha nope! This is what I'm getting now:

tx_sdr -f 433920000 -F CF32 elro.dat

Output:

tx_sdr -- an I/Q player for SDR devices. Available backends: SoapySDR SoapySDRDevice_enumerateStrArgs() found 1 devices 0 : device=HackRF One, driver=hackrf, label=HackRF One #0 88869dc35716f1b, part_id=a000cb3c006f474b, serial=0000000000000000088869dc35716f1b, version=2023.01.1 SoapySDRDevice_make_list()... [INFO] Opening HackRF One #0 88869dc35716f1b... 0 : HackRF : HackRF One : clock source=internal, part id=a000cb3c006f474b, serial=0000000000000000088869dc35716f1b, version=2023.01.1 Supported formats: CS8 CS16 CF32 CF64 Using input format: CF32 (output format CF32) Tuned to 3000000000 Hz. Sampling at 2048000 S/s. Waiting for TX to settle... SoapySDRDevice_hasHardwareTime: 0 SoapySDRDevice_getHardwareTime: 0 Tuned to 433920000 Hz. Tuner gain set to 0.00 dB. Writing samples in sync mode... Stream MTU: 131072 Unsupported output format: CF32 (input format: CF32) Input end 0 samples written Tuner gain set to 0.00 dB. Tuned to 3000000000 Hz. Waiting for TX to settle... SoapySDRDevice_unmake()...

[zuckschwerdt]

What a mess. Sorry this code is old and I never got to implement some features lacking the hardware to test.
You can change https://github.com/triq-org/tx_tools/blob/master/src/sdr/sdr_soapy.c#L458 to
if (is_format_equal(tx->input_format, SOAPY_SDR_CS16)) {
that will override the native format to force CS16 if the input is CS16. That would be the only option then, use CS16 input, force to output to also be CS16.

[nodemand]

ok, that did something, but a new error arose...

tx_sdr -f 433920000 -F CS16 elro.dat

output:

`tx_sdr -- an I/Q player for SDR devices.
Available backends: SoapySDR
SoapySDRDevice_enumerateStrArgs()
found 1 devices
0 : device=HackRF One, driver=hackrf, label=HackRF One #0 88869dc35716f1b, part_id=a000cb3c006f474b, serial=0000000000000000088869dc35716f1b, version=2023.01.1
SoapySDRDevice_make_list()...
[INFO] Opening HackRF One #0 88869dc35716f1b...
0 : HackRF : HackRF One : clock source=internal, part id=a000cb3c006f474b, serial=0000000000000000088869dc35716f1b, version=2023.01.1
Supported formats: CS8 CS16 CF32 CF64
Using input format: CS16 (output format CS16)
Tuned to 3000000000 Hz.
Sampling at 2048000 S/s.
Waiting for TX to settle...
SoapySDRDevice_hasHardwareTime: 0
SoapySDRDevice_getHardwareTime: 0
Tuned to 433920000 Hz.
Tuner gain set to 0.00 dB.
Writing samples in sync mode...
Stream MTU: 131072
UreadStreamStatus UNDERFLOW (-7), channel=0 flags=0, timeNs=0
Input end
9568256 samples written
Tuner gain set to 0.00 dB.
Tuned to 3000000000 Hz.
Waiting for TX to settle...

Library error -1, exiting...
SoapySDRDevice_unmake()...`

Also, the ELRO power switch did not respond to my replayed data. I don't mind testing the code if you don't have access to a HackRF...

[zuckschwerdt]

Not sure about that error, was the input file about 40 MB (9568256 samples CS16 should be a 38273024 byte file)?
Then it's just then end of stream that wasn't handled well.

Just replaying data might not always work well, depending on how noisy and at what levels the input was. Did you check that the output gain (0.0 dB) is the correct setting? Do you have a second hardware (maybe a check RTL-SDR) to check what's going over the air?

[nodemand]

The file size is correct! 38.273.024 bytes. What do you mean by "is the correct setting"? The setting of what? I do have a second SDR, but I'd have to see if I can get it to work...

[nodemand]

I checked https://hackrf.readthedocs.io/en/latest/faq.html and it says for this frequency the max gain is about 10-15 dBm. Is that what I should use then? I tried this both on rx_sdr and tx_sdr to no avail... Nothing turns on/off when I replay.

[zuckschwerdt]

AFAICS the gains for the HackRF can go to 47 for TX VGA and 14 for AMP, so a -g 61 on tx_sdr would be the maximum, but you should perhaps try somewhat lower. Although I seem to remember HackRF is known for low output power anyway?

[nodemand]

I checked. It's 30mW tops. But the HackRF is only one meter away from the power switch. That should work right? Sorry for the noob questions. I am pretty new at this. I checked with my RF Explorer and the original remote shows a clear signal, but nothing on the HackRF :-(

[zuckschwerdt]

Are you using the sample sample rate you recorded at? There is no conversion.
Try also the loop option (e.g. -l 20) to get a longer transmission on then check if something comes through.

[nodemand]

I'm using the default sample rate 2048000 S/s. I just tried with hackrf_transfer to do the same and that works! :-). With TX VGA (IF) gain set to 30. But when I record with rx_sdr and playback with tx_sdr no output at all is seen on my RF Explorer. At least I know now that my HackRF works!