Best transmitter/receiver and antenna options for portable direction finding setup

1

Hi, I’m new to the SDR space and direction finding in general, but I would like to do some experiments in the mountains where I set up a transmitter and then look for it using a receiver with the right antenna and direction finding software. I’d like this to be fairly portable, ideally something that can be carried in my hands, but I can put it in a pack or on a little sled if needed.

I’ve seen that the Kraken SDR with 5-whip antenna setup can handle some direction finding, but I’m not sure if that’s the best option or if there are more effective setups out there.

Has anyone used the Kraken SDR, HackRF One SDR, or any other setup that worked well for a portable transmitter and direction finder? (I think the HackRF One is too low power to be used as a transmitter, but could be used as the receiver.)

I just want to make sure I’m going down a good path before spending money. Thanks a lot for any info you can share!

2

First, make sure you’re being legal with the transmitter. You can’t just go out and transmit at any frequency without a licence, and if you’re in the ISM band there are power limits.

The KrakenSDR will work well as a direction finder if you can mount it on a man pack, or a sled. You could also try and compare it against more standard DF techniques like using a Yagi antenna.