Frequently asked Questions and answers
⚠️ Risks
Is playing with electricity dangerous?
Yes, it is. Please see Warning.
Should I play with electricity?
No, you should not. Please see Warning.
🔧 About the project
Where can I find documentation and source code?
- Documentation: https://remoshock.github.io
- Source Code: https://github.com/remoshock/remoshock
How do I report bugs, feature requests and patches?
Please use the GitHub issue tracker at https://github.com/remoshock/remoshock.
✔️ Requirements
Will remoshock work on Microsoft Windows?
remoshock works on Linux only. Ubuntu 2024.04 is used for testing.
Which receivers are supported?
- PAC collars (compatible with ATX and DTX remote, tested with ACX)
- Petrainer
- Patpet T150
- Wodondog "Dog Shock Collar"
Please see Receivers for details and photos.
What transmitter hardware do I need?
You need a SDR (software defined radio) device, that
- is able to transmit (most SDRs are receivers only)
- is able to operate on the required frequency (27.195 MHz for PAC)
- is supported by the software Universal Radio Hacker
According to Wikipedia both HackRF and LimeSDR fulfill those requirements. HackRF is used for testing
🔍 Troubleshooting
I am getting strange hardware error messages from my SDR transmitter
Examples for error message:
[CRITICAL::urh_cli.py::on_fatal_device_error_occurred] failed to start tx mode [ERROR::Device.py::log_retcode] HackRF-SETUP [ERROR::Device.py::log_retcode] HackRF-SETUP: HACKRF_ERROR_NOT_FOUND (-5) [ERROR::Device.py::log_retcode] HackRF-SET_SAMPLE_RATE to 2M: HACKRF_ERROR_LIBUSB (-1000)
Please avoid USB hubs and USB extension cables, but connect your SDR directly to your computer. At least USB 2 hubs are known to be too slow to sustain the bit-stream.
Please make sure that your computer is connected to the power network (i. e. don't run your notebook on battery only). A throttled CPU might be too slow to generate the bit-stream for the SDR.
If you run Linux inside of a Virtual Machine on a slow computer, you might experience the same performance problems. VirtualBox only supports USB 1.x in the default installation.
Please see https://www.eltima.com/article/virtualbox-usb-passthrough/ on how to install and enable USB Passthrough support for VirtualBox.
Access to HackRF only works as root
Access to the HackRF hardware only works as root. remoshock crashes with either a segmentation fault or the following error message:
[ERROR::Device.py::log_retcode] HackRF-SETUP: HACKRF_ERROR_NOT_FOUND (-5)
The hackrf_info
fails with the following error as a normal user:
hackrf_open() failed: Access denied (insufficient permissions) (-1000)
In order to access the hardware as normal user, a udev rule is needed. Please create the file /etc/udev/rules.d/53-hackrf.rules with the content from https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mossmann/hackrf/master/host/libhackrf/53-hackrf.rules
# grant access to user in group plugdev ATTR{idVendor}=="1d50", ATTR{idProduct}=="604b", SYMLINK+="hackrf-jawbreaker-%k", MODE="660", GROUP="plugdev" ATTR{idVendor}=="1d50", ATTR{idProduct}=="6089", SYMLINK+="hackrf-one-%k", MODE="660", GROUP="plugdev" ATTR{idVendor}=="1d50", ATTR{idProduct}=="cc15", SYMLINK+="rad1o-%k", MODE="660", GROUP="plugdev" ATTR{idVendor}=="1fc9", ATTR{idProduct}=="000c", SYMLINK+="nxp-dfu-%k", MODE="660", GROUP="plugdev"
Furthermore please make sure that the user in the group plugdev.
HackRF stops working after inactivity
The HackRF device seems to have problems with USB suspension. Please add the following lines to /etc/udev/rules.d/53-hackrf.rules
# disable USB autosuspend for HackRF ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="1d50", ATTR{idProduct}=="604b", ATTR{power/autosuspend}="-1" ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="1d50", ATTR{idProduct}=="6089", ATTR{power/autosuspend}="-1" ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="1d50", ATTR{idProduct}=="cc15", ATTR{power/autosuspend}="-1" ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="1fc9", ATTR{idProduct}=="000c", ATTR{power/autosuspend}="-1"
It is not working, why?
Please add the parameter --verbose
. It will enable debug logging.
I am in a VirtualBox VM and lsusb does not find my SDR transmitter
Please see https://www.eltima.com/article/virtualbox-usb-passthrough/ on how to install and enable USB Passthrough support for VirtualBox.
In short:
-
apt install virtualbox-ext-pack
- add yourself to the vboxuser group
- on the USB settings pages of the virutal machine select USB 3.0 controller and add a filter to allow access to the SDR device
Which setup is used for testing?
I use Ubuntu 2024.04 with a HackRF transmitter, a PAC ACX collar and a brandless Wodondog collar.