software defined radio

CaribouLite SDR HAT for SDR on a Raspberry Pi

CaribouLite HAT mounted on Pi 4 in rackmount

A couple years ago, after I heard about the CaribouLite on CrowdSupply, I pre-ordered one.

I've dabbled in SDR with an RTL-SDR v3 for a few years, even using one with nrsc5 to listen to baseball games OTA because of silly MLB blackout restrictions.

But low-cost SDRs like the RTL-SDR v3 are receive-only, and have a limited frequency range, and lower quality RF filtering, so it can be frustrating if you're trying to work with lower-power RF... or trying to transmit at all!

A hospital stay and MLB blackouts led me to RTL-SDR radio

Last year I spent a lot of time in the hospital. Between multiple surgeries and outpatient visits and follow-ups (either intentional or through an unexpected ER visit), I probably spent at least a month or two in a hospital room. For a time, you could see the exact date ranges I was checked in by the holes in my GitHub contribution graph! Such is the life of an open source developer.

Jeff Geerling holding yay sign in hospital bed after surgery
Despite appearances, this was not a very fun recovery!