Getting into practical RF after EE degree — HackRF good starting point?
Hi everyone,
Not sure if this is exactly the right place, but I’ll give it a try 🙂
I graduated in September with a master's degree in electrical engineering. My program was fairly broad, but I specialized in my thesis on free-space optical communications (atmospheric turbulence, laser propagation, fiber injection, adaptive optics, etc.).
My job isn’t technical at all and honestly bores the hell out of me. I really want to dive back into telecommunications because it interests me and I don’t want to forget what I know. During my studies, I focused a lot on theory and not much on practical work, so I’m looking to fix that now.
What would you recommend as a starting point for getting into practical RF work? There’s so much different equipment and so many different SDRs out there that I don’t know where to begin...
I can invest some money to get started. Let’s say max €300–400 to start with, unless you tell me I’m missing out on something amazing that’s only slightly more expensive.
Thanks in advance for your help!! ☺️ I’m all ears for your advice and feedback!
EDIT:
As for my interests, they’re pretty broad:
I’d really like to explore atmospheric (and ionospheric) effects, for example by analyzing GNSS signals. I’m not entirely sure how feasible that is with relatively inexpensive SDR equipment though — my thesis was mostly simulation-heavy and quite theoretical.
On a more hands-on side, my roommate (who’s an RF engineer) and I would love to start building RF hardware (antennas, RF PCBs, maybe amateur radio gear). We’ve got the theoretical background, but we’re clearly lacking practical experience.
We’re also considering getting our ham radio license.