February 20, 2026
ARR‑guments over the airwaves
Show HN: PIrateRF – Turn a $20 Raspberry Pi Zero into a 12-mode RF transmitter
DIY radio magic or reckless chaos? Commenters go to war
TLDR: A flashy tool turns a $20 Pi Zero into a browser‑controlled mini transmitter with 12 modes, but the thread erupts over safety and originality. Fans see a fun indoor lab gadget; critics decry missing filters, legal risks, and say it’s just a repackaged rpitx with pirate polish.
A Raspberry Pi project called PIrateRF promises to turn a $20 Pi Zero into a mini radio station with 12 modes—from FM music to slow-scan TV pictures—and a built‑in Wi‑Fi hotspot you control in a browser. The demo leans into cheeky pirate vibes and even ships with a profanity‑laced default password, but the comments quickly turned into an airwaves courtroom.
The loudest camp is furious: critics say it’s basically a glossy wrapper around the older rpitx tool, complete with emojis and an AI-assisted vibe (“CLAUDE.md” in the repo became a meme). The big red flag they’re waving: no proper output filtering, which could spray unwanted signals and annoy anyone nearby with a radio. One user flatly said this “shouldn’t be on HN,” calling it irresponsible and derivative.
Others tried to keep it constructive, asking about safe filtering and why popular ham-radio modes like PSK31 weren’t included. A few folks chuckled at the pirate branding and the spicy legal notice (“I am not responsible for any of your stupid… decisions”), but even the laughs came with side‑eye.
So is it a fun lab toy for licensed tinkerers, or chaos bait? The thread is a tug‑of‑war between “cool demo for indoor experiments” and “please don’t turn the neighborhood into static”.
Key Points
- •PIrateRF turns a Raspberry Pi Zero 1 W into a portable RF signal generator with a built-in WiFi hotspot and browser-based control.
- •The platform supports 12 transmission modes, including FM with RDS, FT8, RTTY, FSK, POCSAG, CW, SSTV, and IQ sample replay.
- •A pre-built image (v2025-11-23) is available for quick setup; Raspberry Pi Imager is recommended for flashing.
- •Pi Zero 2 W is incompatible because rpitx requires the BCM2835 chip; demos were conducted indoors without an antenna (~5 m range).
- •Legal and safety notices emphasize amateur radio licensing, frequency regulations, and indoor testing; standard operating frequencies are outlined.