Free Stuff - November 2025 - Great Scott Gadgets

Great Scott Gadgets

Free Stuff - November 2025


The belated November 2025 recipient for the Great Scott Gadgets Free Stuff Program is Srajan Sonkesriya from India! Srajan is currently working on an open source project where he is turning an Android device (Realme 5 Pro, RMX1971) into a portable RF experimentation and learning platform. His goal is to show that a smartphone, when paired with a properly customized kernel and open-source tools, can function as a compact RF workstation for students and beginners who cannot afford other common equipment. He says that so far, he has successfully built a custom kernel for Android 16 and added multiple patches to support external Wi-Fi adapters, improved USB peripherals, enhanced debugging options, and prepared the system for integration with SDR devices. He is now working on additional wireless-related patches, including research into frame injection support and improving compatibility across various external radios. Once the kernel environment is stable and fully documented, his next project is to build a small, phone-controlled system for satellite signal tracking and visualization. He aims to create Android-friendly scripts, tutorials, and tooling that allow users to receive, demodulate, and interpret low-Earth-orbit satellite signals directly from a mobile device. This will be released publicly so anyone with limited hardware can experiment and learn. Srajan’s ultimate purpose is education-focused and is to create a low-cost, open-source RF learning platform powered by an Android phone, so that more students—especially those without access to laptops—can explore wireless and SDR topics. We have sent Srajan a HackRF One to assist him in his development and are happy to help someone who is focused on education and community impact!