Installing drivers and support for the SDRplay RSP1A, HackRF One and RTL-SDR on a Raspberry Pi

On a newly installed Raspberry Pi OS 32 bit bullseye operating system.

There seems to be little Linux support for SDRplay devices outside of the convenient images from SDRplay with preinstalled software. That software was limited and out of date as of this writing. I have spent quite a bit of time getting an up to date system on which to install the latest Linux SDR software. In addition, many of the packages supplied by Raspberry Pi are not current. Here is what I did to get mine to work. I hope this helps you. These procedures may work for other SDR hardware except for the drivers and device specific items.

Note: I have included support for the SDRplay RSP1A, HackRF One and RTL-SDR. You will only need to install support for the device(s) that you have.

Install Raspberry Pi OS

Download the latest 32 bit Raspberry Pi OS bullseye image here: https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/operating-systems/#raspberry-pi-os-legacy
This procedure is developed for version 2021-10-30-raspios-bullseye-armhf.img. This procedure may work for the next major version.
Install the image on a 32 GB or larger SD card. Use your favorite image program. Use Raspberry Pi Imager or balenaEtcher on Windows. For more help extracting and flashing the image, look on the image help page.
Boot the image in your Raspberry Pi. Allow it to go through the setup procedure, choosing localization settings, WiFi network, etc.
I basically included prerequisites that were not found on my system. However, there may be a few packages listed that are already installed. This is OK.
Reboot
Run Start menu / Preferences / Raspberry Pi Configuration
- Click the Display tab.
  - Click Disable to the right of Screen Blanking, as it will halt your SDR reception.
- Click the Performance tab.
  - Ensure that GPU memory is at least 76. You may need to try 128.
- Click OK.

The default "VC4" hardware acceleration driver is known to cause audio and WiFi problems.

The open source driver works better. It can be implemented with the procedure below.

sudo mousepad /boot/config.txt

Under:
# Enable DRM VC4 V3D driver

If necessary, delete the "#" from #max_framebuffers= and change it to max_framebuffers=2

Comment out the line: dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d by inserting a "#" at the beginning of the line.
Add these two lines below it:
dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d
hdmi_enable_4kp60=1

Save the file and reboot.

Before you begin

Upgrade your packages each day before begining installations. Sometimes the packages that you need have been upgraded and the old ones were removed from the repository. This may result in a 404 Not Found error.
```
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
```

Install:

Qt 5 5.15.2 should be installed. You can check it by typing apt list -a libqt5core5a

Install these packages

sudo apt install libdouble-conversion-dev
sudo apt install libxi-dev libxcb*
sudo apt install libxkbcommon-x11-0 libxkbcommon-x11-dev

Qt Creator 4.14.1
- ```
sudo apt install qtcreator
```
- reboot

Install additional packages.

sudo apt install pyqt5-dev python3-sip python3-pyqt5.sip python3-pyqt5 python3-venv python3-pip
sudo apt install man git g++ build-essential ntfs-3g apt-utils libudev-dev at-spi2-core

# Additional Qt5 packages
sudo apt install qt5-qmake qt5-qmake-bin qtbase5-dev qtmultimedia5-dev libqt5multimediawidgets5 libqt5multimedia5-plugins qtgstreamer-plugins-qt5 qtcreator libqt5svg5-dev libqt5serialport5-dev qttools5-dev libqwt-qt5-6 libqwt-qt5-dev
sudo apt install libqt5websockets5-dev libqt5charts5-dev qml-module-qtlocation qml-module-qtpositioning qml-module-qtquick-dialogs qml-module-qtquick-controls qml-module-qtquick-controls2 qtdeclarative5-dev qtpositioning5-dev qtlocation5-dev libqt5texttospeech5-dev

cmake

Prerequisite
```
sudo apt install libssl-dev
```
Install cmake.
```
sudo apt-get install cmake
```

Before compiling software, set these compiler optimization flags. This must be repeated after a reboot or if you use a different terminal window. Note that with this optimization, this image may not boot on other Raspberry Pi hardware.
```
# For most operating systems:
export CXXFLAGS='-O3 -march=native -mtune=native'
export CFLAGS='-O3 -march=native -mtune=native'
```
SDRplay API Installation. The Linux installer contains the ARM32 version of the API.
If you upgrade to API 3.15 from an earlier version, it will break your system.
- Prerequisites
```
sudo apt install libusb-1.0-0 libusb-1.0-0-dev usbutils libfftw3-dev file
sudo service udev restart
```
- Download API 3.15.2 or later for Linux (3.15) from https://www.sdrplay.com/downloads/.
```
cd ~/Downloads # or wherever you downloaded the file
chmod 755 SDRplay_RSP_API-Linux-3.15.2.run
sudo ./SDRplay_RSP_API-Linux-3.15.2.run
sudo ldconfig
```
- To stop and start the API service, use the following commands...
```
sudo systemctl stop sdrplay
sudo systemctl start sdrplay
```
- Type lsusb. Bus 001 Device 003: ID 1df7:3000 or similar should be displayed.
- If you have SDRplay driver crashes, try this: msi2500 driver conflicts
HackRF One installation
- Prerequisites
  If you did not install these for SDRplay:
```
sudo apt install libusb-1.0-0-dev usbutils libfftw3-3 libfftw3-dev
```
- Install
```
cd ~/
git clone https://github.com/greatscottgadgets/hackrf
cd hackrf/host
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make -j 4
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig
```
- Reboot
- You need to update the HackRF firmware if it does not match the version of the driver. As of this writing, the latest firmware/driver version was 2022.09.1
  Many HackRF devices have firmware version 2018.01.1 or earlier. Use hackrf_info to see if the firmware version matches the driver that you installed.
```
hackrf_info
```
  If you see "Firmware Version: 2022.09.1 (API:1.06)", then it is up to date and you do not need to do the firmware update shown below.
  Note: the latest release is 2023.01.1. A firmware update will be required. I will update this page after I test it.
```
# Transfer rate test:
hackrf_transfer -r /dev/null -s 20000000

# Connect an antenna and test sending data:
hackrf_transfer -t /dev/zero
```
- Firmware updating instructions are based on this:
  https://hackrf.readthedocs.io/en/latest/updating_firmware.html#updating-the-spi-flash-firmware
  Note that the zip and tar.xz archives have the firmware files. The git clone procedure does not.
  
  Download hackrf-2022.09.1.zip
  Extract only the firmware-bin directory into the ~/hackrf directory
```
cd ~/hackrf/firmware-bin

# To update the firmware on a working HackRF One, use the hackrf_spiflash program:
hackrf_spiflash -w hackrf_one_usb.bin

# Press the reset button on the HackRF.
hackrf_info

# The new firmware version should now displayed.
```
Install the rtl-sdr driver
Based on a NESDR SMArt SDR. Others should be similar.
- Connect your rtl-sdr to your Raspbery Pi computer. In a terminal window, type lsusb. If it is working, you should see something similar to: Bus 001 Device 008: ID 0bda:2838 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL2838 DVB-T
- We need to "blacklist" the default drivers. This is done by editing blacklist-dvb.conf:
```
sudo mousepad /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-dvb.conf
```
- Add this line to the file:
  blacklist dvb_usb_rtl28xxu
  Save and close the file.
- ```
sudo apt-get install rtl-sdr librtlsdr-dev
```
- reboot
- Connect an antenna. In a terminal window, type rtl_test.
  This tool will continuously read from the device, and report if samples get lost. If you observe no further output, everything is fine.
  Press CTRL-C to stop the test.

GNU Radio 3.8.2
This will install GNU Radio from packages supplied with Debian. It saves a few hours of installation time. If you want to install a newer version from source, follow the procedures on Installing drivers and support for the SDRplay RSP1A and QRadioLink on a Raspberry Pi with Raspberry Pi OS, except use git checkout to select the latest version.

Prerequisites

Install these packages. (some may already be installed).

sudo apt install g++ libcodec2-dev libvolk2-bin libvolk2-dev libvolk2.4
sudo apt install libboost-all-dev libgmp-dev swig python3-requests python3-ruamel.yaml python3-setuptools python3-numpy python3-mako python3-sphinx python3-lxml doxygen libsdl1.2-dev libgsl-dev libzmq3-dev python3-yaml python3-click python3-click-plugins python3-zmq python3-scipy python3-docutils liborc-0.4-0 liborc-0.4-dev python3-gi-cairo python3-waitress liblog4cpp5-dev liblog4cpp5v5
sudo apt install osspd osspd-pulseaudio sudo osspd-alsa libcppunit-dev

Install UHD and GNU Radio 3.8.2

Installing UHD will automatically install GNU Radio.

sudo apt install libuhd3.15.0 libuhd-dev

# Show version
gnuradio-config-info -v

mousepad ~/.profile
#add this export command to the end of the file or to any existing PYTHONPATH line. Save changes to make the variables permanent.
export PYTHONPATH=/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages:/usr/lib/python3.9/dist-packages:/usr/local/lib/python3.9/dist-packages:/usr/local/lib/python3/dist-packages:$PYTHONPATH

Create a file named /etc/ld.so.conf.d/gnuradio.conf containing: /usr/local/lib

sudo mousepad /etc/ld.so.conf.d/gnuradio.conf
# insert the line: /usr/lib
# Save the file

sudo ldconfig

Run VOLK profiler for optimal performance
```
volk_profile
```
reboot

Build SoapySDR

cd ~/
git clone https://github.com/pothosware/SoapySDR.git
cd SoapySDR
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make -j4
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig

Install the Soapy SDR module for SDRPlay

cd ~/
git clone https://github.com/pothosware/SoapySDRPlay3.git
cd SoapySDRPlay3
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make -j4
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig

# Type these commands. If your SDR is listed, the hardest work is done!
SoapySDRUtil --info
SoapySDRUtil --probe="driver=sdrplay"

Install the Soapy SDR module for HackRF

cd ~/
git clone https://github.com/pothosware/SoapyHackRF.git
cd SoapyHackRF
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make -j4
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig

# Type this command. Check that your SDR is listed and the details are correct.
SoapySDRUtil --probe="driver=hackrf"

Soapy SDR plugin for RTL-SDR

cd ~/
git clone https://github.com/pothosware/SoapyRTLSDR.git
cd SoapyRTLSDR
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make -j4
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig

# Type this command. Check that your SDR is listed and the details are correct.
SoapySDRUtil --probe="driver=rtlsdr"

Alternate gr-osmosdr module for SDRplay API 3.x - supports RSPduo (all modes) and RSPdx
The latest version of fventuri/gr-osmosdr does not compile with gnuradio 3.8. Download gr-osmosdr.GR3.8.zip from before the changes. Extract it to ~/gr-osmosdr (the directory inside of the archive) using xarchiver.
Please note that this code is still experimental. The installer does find SDRplay, Soapy and HackRF. OsmoSDR does appear in GNU Radio Companion, no reference to SDRplay or Soapy.
```
cd ~/
# Do not use the git command if you have GNU Radio 3.8 and have extracted gr-osmosdr.GR3.8.zip
# git clone https://github.com/fventuri/gr-osmosdr.git
cd gr-osmosdr/
mkdir build
cd build
cmake .. -DENABLE_NONFREE=TRUE
```
Under Gnuradio enabled components in the terminal text, check that SDRplay RSP (NONFREE), SoapySDR and HackRF support are listed.
```
make -j4
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig
```
Run GNU Radio Companion and check that OsmoSDR is present in the tree on the right side of the window.

Install the Pulse Audio Volume Control
If you don't hear any audio, output may be on the incorrect audio device.

sudo apt-get install pavucontrol paprefs

# Alternate for systems with Qt5 installed from the package system
sudo apt-get install pavucontrol-qt paprefs

If you find that the operating system only has mono audio:
```
sudo mousepad /usr/share/pulseaudio/alsa-mixer/profile-sets/default.conf
```
- Comment out each line in the [Mapping analog-mono] section with a ";" at the beginning of the line.
- Save the file and reboot.

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