The belated January 2025 recipient for the Great Scott Gadgets Free Stuff Program is Tobias Trauth on behalf of H.O.M.E. makerspace, which is part of Ravensburg-Weingarten University of Applied Sciences. Tobias has informed us that members of H.O.M.E. are interested in amateur radio (called Amateurfunk in Germany) and have access to older equipment, but are looking to upgrade to more modern gear.

The folks at H.O.M.E. will be creating a portable setup that can communicate over QO-100, a well-known geostationary satellite, consisting of HackRF One, a 5W PA, and a 200Ah LiFePo4 Battery in a custom housing that will contain potential laptop and antenna mounts. In addition, they currently have a parabolic 2.4GHz dish for uplink and are looking into downlink options. Tobias says that the HackRF One will also be their tool to show people that there are more ways of communication that can be accessed digitally and are independent of the internet and mobile phones.

H.O.M.E. hosts all kinds of events that encourage people to bring their project ideas to life. One of their main focuses is to educate people so they are able to become technologically self-sufficient. Tobias also tells us that an important part of their work is the attempt to keep their costs close to zero, so members can explore and create without worrying about their wallet. H.O.M.E. plans on eventually attending schools and universities and bringing amateur radio to the people in their community, rather than luring them into their “dusty shack.”

We are delighted to be able to provide a HackRF One to H.O.M.E. Makerspace so their community can offer workshops and educational experiences for members of their community. We wish them the best of luck and hope they have fun!

The belated December 2024 recipient for the Great Scott Gadgets Free Stuff Program is Adrian Lam from Victoria, Australia! Adrian is a high school STEM teacher at a small, independent school and wants to create a Wireless Exploration Lab for his students, aimed at teaching the fundamentals of wireless communication systems.

The Wireless Exploration Lab will introduce students aged 14-18 to concepts such as radio wave propagation, spectrum analysis, and digital modulation, linking these concepts to the science/technology curriculum and real-world applications like IoT, mobile networks, and satellite communications. Once the lab is ready, students will lead a project of designing and deploying a school-wide weather data station network using low-power wireless sensors. They will use HackRF One to visualize and analyze the wireless signals sent by these sensors, gaining hands-on experience with software-defined radio. The station will record weather metrics (temperature, humidity, and pressure), transmitting data via RF signals for display on a central dashboard. The program is designed to encourage awareness and an appreciation of sustainability practices in addition to STEM teaching, and include students from other local schools, as well as members from the community.

Adrian says that his students are already familiar with how to use a Raspberry Pi for data collection, and they have developed the initial framework for their weather station network, including the construction of basic sensor modules and a prototype dashboard for displaying data. HackRF One is ideal for the Wireless Exploration Lab because of its versatility, ease of use, and compatibility with educational software like GNU Radio. Its wide frequency range (1 MHz to 6 GHz) will allow students to explore a broad spectrum of signals, from the sensors’ low-power transmissions to real-world signals like Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. As a half-duplex transceiver, it can not only receive signals for analysis but also transmit, enabling students to simulate wireless protocols and test their designs. HackRF One’s programmability will allow them to introduce advanced topics such as modulation techniques and spectrum efficiency, fostering a deeper understanding of SDR technology.

We will be sending Adrian a HackRF One to support his students in their ongoing development of the Wireless Exploration Lab and weather monitoring project. Thank you Adrian for introducing your students to the wonderful world of open source hardware and wireless communication! We are looking forward to seeing what you all accomplish together.

The belated November 2024 recipients for the Great Scott Gadgets Free Stuff Program are the folks at iMagineLab makerspace in Antwerp, Belgium! iMagineLab is home to a community of students and tech enthusiasts alike that gather weekly to collaborate on and share knowledge for open source projects.

Thomas Janssen from iMagineLab has informed us of the makerspace’s upcoming project to build a digital radio receiver for receiving and decoding NOAA weather signals using open source software. Their goal is to then visualize NOAA weather images and collect and display data to create a weather monitoring station based on RF signals!

Thomas has also mentioned that iMagineLab hosts and participates in workshops and hackathons, covering a variety of topics such as software-defined radio (SDR), IoT, and embedded systems. He says that the availability of HackRF devices would significantly enhance their group’s ability to offer hands-on learning experiences in these areas. Additionally, having HackRF devices at the makerspace will allow members to conduct practical experiments and contribute to open source SDR projects, such as GNU Radio.

This application for the Free Stuff program stood out to the team here at Great Scott Gadgets because of its focus on community impact and education. The HackRF One will not only be used to develop a weather monitoring station, but find life after the project’s completion and be used in upcoming educational curriculum and open source contributions. We are excited to see what the iMagineLab team accomplishes with their new HackRF One!

The belated October 2024 recipient for the Great Scott Gadgets Free Stuff Program is Dustin Chambliss, who teaches at Pearl River Community College in Mississippi! Dustin currently teaches a 2 year electronics program and aims to revive an older and outdated communication course to focus on more modern technology. By obtaining a HackRF One, Dustin will be able to teach students about wireless communication including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and cellular, and provide hardware for the updated curriculum. We are excited to be providing Dustin and his students with a HackRF One to continue their educational journeys and stay up to date with the ins and outs of modern wireless communication!

The United States Trade Representative invited comments from the public this past month to assist them in making recommendations about how to address so-called “unfair trade practices by other countries” and “non-reciprocal trade relationships”. This is the public comment I left today on the USTR docket. I have also submitted similar comments to my senators and representative in Congress.

“I am deeply alarmed by the Trump administration’s decision last week to impose tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods, as well as further increase tariffs on imports from China. As the CEO of Great Scott Gadgets, a small Colorado-based business that designs, manufactures, and distributes open-source computer hardware to domestic and international resellers, I am directly impacted by these policies. The total tariff on the goods we import from China has now skyrocketed to 45%, placing an unsustainable burden on our company.

Our business relies on a stable global supply chain, free trade, and strong relationships with resellers and suppliers worldwide—relationships that have taken over a decade to build. The imposition of these tariffs jeopardizes our company as well as countless other US businesses that depend on international trade. Tariffs will not only damage the U.S. economy but have already deeply strained our relationships with our closest allies and trading partners.

The reality is that technology companies like ours depend on China’s well-established supply chain, advanced manufacturing infrastructure, and specialized technical expertise, resources that are in critically short supply in the U.S. The Section 301 tariffs imposed in 2018 have already harmed our business, yet they did nothing to create viable alternatives. Raising these tariffs further will not miraculously generate the resources needed to shift manufacturing away from China; it will only worsen the damage.

The administration attempts to justify more tariffs on Chinese goods by pointing out the U.S.-China trade deficit, but this deficit is not China’s fault—it is the result of decades of inadequate U.S. investment in technical education, supply chain infrastructure, and domestic manufacturing capacity. If the U.S. wants to compete, we are going to have to commit to long-term, strategic investments in these areas, as China’s government has been doing for a generation. The CHIPS Act was a step in the right direction, but its benefits will take many more years to materialize. In the meantime, businesses like ours are being pushed to the brink.”

We’ve recently published the second video in our Cynthion training series, so if you want to go deeper into exploring and experimenting with USB, this is for you. In this video, Martin explains the basics and evolution of Facedancer and demonstrates how to use Cynthion and Facedancer to emulate a PS5 controller. If you haven’t already, check out the first video- Sniffing PS5 Controller Packets with Cynthion.

The belated September 2024 recipient for the Great Scott Gadgets Free Stuff Program is Allen Paschel of Orlando, Florida in the United States. Allen is the president of The Maker Effect Foundation which exists to inspire everyone to create! The Maker Effect Foundation is a non-profit organization that runs a maker space and teaches classes at schools, libraries, and events. The maker space has CNC machines, laser etcher/cutters, 3D Printers, vacuum forming equipment, welding tools, electronic tools, and other arts tools. Soon they will be able to add software-defined radio to that list of tools as we are sending them a HackRF One! Once received, The Maker Effect Foundation will use their HackRF One to develop interest in software-defined radio in their community.

The belated August 2024 recipient for the Great Scott Gadgets Free Stuff Program is Murat Sever! Murat teaches a Communication Systems Laboratory course at TOBB ETU University, Ankara, Turkey. In his labs, Murat uses two HackRFs to transmit signals of interest, which students receive via RTL-SDRs. Murat has requested an Opera Cake so his students can study Pseudo Doppler direction finding and to teach students about antenna switching and spectrum monitoring. For more information about Murat’s course, his and his students’ research projects, and their outreach programs, please check out their website (https://ele361l.github.io/).

This application for the Free Stuff program stood out to the team here at Great Scott Gadgets because Murat demonstrated his knowledge of RF and digital signal processing in his application. We know that he’ll be able to make excellent use of the hardware that we send him. We look forward to getting updates from Murat soon!

The belated July 2024 recipient for the Great Scott Gadgets Free Stuff Program is Scott Carter from Ontario, Canada! Scott operates a SETI station that uses a radio telescope he built using software defined radio. He says the radio telescope has been in operation for six and a half years, and it needs a receiver upgrade to allow scanning of frequencies above 2 GHz. We are sending Scott a HackRF One so he can make his radio telescope upgrade! Scott’s long-term goal is to make his SETI station accessible remotely for educational purposes so more folks can learn about radio astronomy.

One story Scott shares with us about his SETI station is that he helped two young astronomy students in the Philippines do drift scans of the sun using his system, which he had configured for 1420 MHz. At the time, the telescope was remotely accessible via a web page and command line tools, which worked pretty well, although it was limited to changes in elevation only. Since that experience, Scott has begun modifications for azimuth control, and he will be upgrading to a 10-foot dish. We are also happy to see that the software he uses for digital signal processing is being rewritten and will be available as open source.

This application for the Free Stuff program stood out to the team here at Great Scott Gadgets because it focuses on radio astronomy, which we’d like to see HackRF One be used for more often. We also really appreciate the work Scott is doing to support astronomy fans from all over the world. Free Stuff applications like this that describe specific projects in detail really stand out. We look forward to getting updates from Scott soon!

The belated June 2024 recipient for the Great Scott Gadgets Free Stuff Program is Evan Metzinger. Evan is the president of the Cybersecurity club at Mt. San Antonio college in Walnut, California in the US. We will be sending Evan a HackRF One so he and his club can get some hands on experience with signals processing and participate in wireless capture the flag competitions.