Airspy HF+ Firmware R4.0.8 and libairspyhf 1.8 support

[jj1bdx]

Compatibility tests with the new firmware R4.0.8-BB/CD of Airspy HF+ Dual Port/Discovery should be conducted.

Checklist:

• R4.0.8 firmware compatibility test with current airspy-fmradion 20240316-0 + libairspyhf version 1.6.8: successfully done on both Dual Port and Discovery on macOS and Ubuntu
• Testing R4.0.8 firmware + the latest (HEAD) libairspyhf combination with current airspy-fmradion 20240316-0, by updating the libairspyhf with the latest version: libairspyhf update successfully done on macOS, Ubuntu, and Raspberry Pi OS 64bit Lite, and airspy-fmradion worked OK with the latest libairspyhf
• Adding a document for the changes by R4.0.8 and libairspyhf 1.8

Utilizing new functionality in the latest libairspyhf from airspy-fmradion AirspyHFSource driver will be another issue.

[jj1bdx]

Updating Airspy HF+ firmware from R3.0.7 to R4.0.8 was successfully performed on the three Discovery devices and one Dual Port device at KRPEO. The flash update was done with a Windows 11 machine. R4.0.8 was fully compatible with libairspyhf 1.6.8.

[jj1bdx]

Airspy HF+ Firmware changelog: https://airspy.com/downloads/hfplus_changelog.txt

[jj1bdx]

libairspyhf 1.8 (new version) tested without issues on macOS and Ubuntu.

[jj1bdx]

Note: for macOS Apple Silicon, you need to add precedence of /usr/local/lib/pkg-config for PKG_CONFIG_PATH as:

export PKG_CONFIG_PATH="/usr/local/lib/pkgconfig:${PKG_CONFIG_PATH}"

On Raspberry Pi OS, you also need the above script to take precedence of /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig to /usr/lib/pkgconfig.

[jj1bdx]

For Raspberry Pi OS 64bit Lite, you have to modify /etc/udev/rules.d/52-airspyhf.rules as:

ATTR{idVendor}=="03eb", ATTR{idProduct}=="800c", SYMLINK+="airspyhf-%k", TAG+="uaccess", MODE="660", GROUP="plugdev"

[jj1bdx]

libairspyhf 1.8 also tested and ran OK on Raspberry Pi OS 64bit Lite, provided the modification of /etc/udev/rules.d/52-airspyhf.rules added MODE="660", GROUP="plugdev".

[jj1bdx]

So basically R4.0.8 firmware works OK without issues, for libairspyhf both version 1.6.8 or 1.8.

[jj1bdx]

For Homebrew, reinstall airspyhf with --HEAD option to use libairspyhf 1.8, as:

brew remove airspyhf
brew install airspyhf --HEAD

[jj1bdx]

See also: airspy/airspyhf#46

[jj1bdx]

On Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS, the modification of /etc/udev/rules.d/52-airspyhf.rules added MODE="660", GROUP="plugdev" was also required.

[jj1bdx]

#80 merged, so all the tasks are done.