NooElec RF EMI Shield & Board-Level Kit for HackRF One

I don't write many reviews but after using the hackrf before and after I felt you need to know this. I spent days testing the hackrf on all sorts of signals, and it's very sensitive, but it's also unshielded in that plastic case. This thing is hard to install if you don't have a lot of experience in soldering small components. But the reward is worth it in less received noise pickup. Being an engineering type, I'm estimating a minimum of 10 db improvement in signal to noise ratio. It's probably better than that. Simply testing it with an outdoor antenna and looking at the FM broadcast band, the improvement was remarkable. That being said, I live 30 plus miles from the closest transmitter, and if you live nearer, you may not get that much improvement. Why? Because the hackrf has virtually no filtering to select bands or frequencies, but at my distance, Nashville is 90 miles away, I was able to easily select stations right next to each other and receive them quite well. Before the shield install, it was tough to get weaker stations at all. But with the shield blocking much of the internal noise the weak signals came to life. I'm thinking that with the shield in place, it performs as well as my rtl-sdr dongle. And I tested both on HF frequencies as low as 7 mhz ssb, FM broadcast band, wwv, vhf police/ems, and the results were almost the same. Still the rtl-sdr is a better receiver for some of those bands mentioned because it does have some filtering to select bands. But as a cheap research tool, this shield is a must have with the hackrf. And if you need portability, get the portapack to go along with them, the extra shielding from it's metal case is a plus.Bottom line: If you can solder surface mount components, you need this shield. If you can't, find someone who can because it is easy to damage your hackrf if you don't. Installation requires skill in this case, don't take this for granted. Good luck. :)Oh one last thing, if you do install this yourself, pre-solder each of the little tabs on the shield wall (on the bottom), on both sides so that you leave just a tiny amount of solder on the shield metal. This will be a big aid in soldering it to the board. And DON'T pre-solder the board .... if you do, you will likely not be able to get the shield flat on the board without bending it or damaging it...

Worked great!

The NooElec RF EMI Shield & Board-Level Kit for HackRF One is like giving your HackRF One a suit of armor. If you’ve ever been frustrated by unwanted noise or interference, this kit is your new best friend. Slap on these shields, and suddenly, your HackRF is operating in stealth mode, cutting down on EMI like a ninja in the night. It’s perfect for those who demand clean, reliable signals without the headaches of interference. Plus, the installation is straightforward, so you don’t need to be an RF wizard to get it all set up. If you’re serious about your SDR work, this kit is an essential upgrade—because who doesn’t want to gear up their HackRF One like a boss?

Works great for noise reduction on adc and dac chips. Took me a while to get up the courage to solder extremely close to a few surface mount components, but the results were worth the risk. I get much better signal clarity now and my hackrf still works! Yay.

Was a little nervous doing this to my board, but after a bit of practice soldering to shake the rust off, it wasn't that bad. Cover came a bit bent and was difficult to put on. Otherwise, no issues. Moderate results, but I'm sure when teamed up with other ways to reduce noise, the difference is worth the cost. At the very least, it was a fun project.Can be applied to HRF's with portapak.

THANK YOU! EVEN IF MEANS IN THE MEAN WHILE?!.

I got this with the additional shield kit. I didn't test before installing shield, but after.I setup a laptop with GNU Radio. I have used the same setup with RTL dongles before and the HackRF gets a MUCH better signal. I was receiving signal I had never seen or heard before. Also seems to handle more data at a much faster rate than the RTL dongles I have used before. I am looking forward to testing the transmit functions also. Can't wait!!!

Tedious installation, hard to get to a few solder points, but it definitely helped with the noise floor a bit, especially when accompanied with a metal enclosure.