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Software Drivers

Rational Waves supports 5 RF spectrum analyzers — RF Explorer, RTLSDR, Pluto SDR, Signal Hound and HackRF. Each device requires its own software drivers. The setup program for Rational Waves attempts to make installation of these drivers as easy as possible. Below is a brief description and summary:

RF Explorer
There are a variety different RF Explorer models and they all use the same software driver. When you run the Rational Waves setup program and choose the option to install the driver software for RF Explorer then it will complete the installation. If you run into any difficulties or if Rational Waves doesn’t detect your RF Explorer device, then you may find this link from the RF Explorer team helpful: Troubleshooting USB Drivers in Windows

RTLSDR
The Rational Waves setup program uses the Zadig utility (http://zadig.akeo.ie/) to install drivers for RTLSDR analyzers. RTLSDR devices are different than other USB devices — before drivers can be installed the device must first be attached to your PC’s USB port. Once the RTLSDR device is attached and the Zadig utility has been launched then select ‘Bulk-In, Interface (Interface 0)‘ or ‘RTL 2832U‘ from the drop-down list of available devices.

Pluto SDR
When you run the Rational Waves setup program and choose the option to install the driver software for Pluto SDR then it will load and run two utility programs — the Libiio Setup Wizard and the PlutoSDR Setup Wizard.

Signal Hound — SA Models
When you run the Rational Waves setup program and choose the option to install the driver software for ‘Signal Hound SA Models’ then it will load and run the FTDI CDM Driver Setup Wizard.

Signal Hound — BB60C
The software drivers required by the model BB60C are downloaded and installed along with Signal Hound’s Spike application software. Here is a link:
Spike

HackRF
Similar to RTLSDR, the Rational Waves setup program uses the Zadig utility (http:\//zadig.akeo.ie/) to install drivers for HackRF. HackRF is different than other USB devices in that before drivers can be installed the device must first be attached to your PC’s USB port. Once the HackRF device is attached and the Zadig utility has been launched then select ‘HackRF One‘ from the drop-down list of available devices.