--- title: Not Every Project Works, And That’s Okay | daily.dev description: A hobbyist SDR experiment using rtlamr to decode smart meter data that ultimately failed — the Itron AMI-4 meter was found to be configured in Zigbee mode... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/not-every-project-works-and-that-s-okay-bdgxl60xg twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Not Every Project Works, And That’s Okay | daily.dev og:description: A hobbyist SDR experiment using rtlamr to decode smart meter data that ultimately failed — the Itron AMI-4 meter was found to be configured in Zigbee mode... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/not-every-project-works-and-that-s-okay-bdgxl60xg og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/bDGxl60Xg.png og:image:alt: Not Every Project Works, And That’s Okay og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Not Every Project Works, And That’s Okay **[apalrd's adventures](https://daily.dev/sources/apalrd)** · 3 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A hobbyist SDR experiment using rtlamr to decode smart meter data that ultimately failed — the Itron AMI-4 meter was found to be configured in Zigbee mode rather than the 900MHz protocol rtlamr supports. Despite no usable data being captured, the author reflects positively on the learning experience and encourages accepting failed experiments as a normal part of tinkering. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Why is rtlamr not receiving any packets from my Itron AMI-4 meter? The Itron AMI-4 supports multiple protocols including 900MHz and Zigbee, but rtlamr only decodes 900MHz-based protocols. If your utility has configured the meter in Zigbee mode — which some do — rtlamr will receive nothing regardless of decoder settings or frequency tuning. The meter being listed as 'compatible' only means it is capable of the supported protocol, not that it is configured that way. _SDR hobbyists troubleshooting smart meter reception find the latest community findings on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Putting a Dumb Weather Station on the Internet](https://daily.dev/posts/putting-a-dumb-weather-station-on-the-internet-nw36rfig1) · Hacker News · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [FCC ISM Rules May Shatter Lora Mesh Communities](https://daily.dev/posts/fcc-ism-rules-may-shatter-lora-mesh-communities-vc9kavdbt) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [A Thoroughly Modern Minimalist Transceiver](https://daily.dev/posts/a-thoroughly-modern-minimalist-transceiver-1xvvauydq) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/not-every-project-works-and-that-s-okay-bdgxl60xg) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Not Every Project Works, And That’s Okay","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/not-every-project-works-and-that-s-okay-bdgxl60xg","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/not-every-project-works-and-that-s-okay-bdgxl60xg"},"datePublished":"2026-08-11T08:56:30.909Z","dateModified":"2026-08-11T09:32:08.859Z","description":"A hobbyist SDR experiment using rtlamr to decode smart meter data that ultimately failed — the Itron AMI-4 meter was found to be configured in Zigbee mode...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--1KxV4ohY--/f_auto/v1722860400/public/Placeholder%2007","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--1KxV4ohY--/f_auto/v1722860400/public/Placeholder%2007","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"apalrd's adventures","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"apalrd's adventures","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--4zkx8dRj--/f_auto,q_auto/v1786438309/logos/apalrd?_a=BAMAMicg0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/apalrd"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/not-every-project-works-and-that-s-okay-bdgxl60xg","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"","timeRequired":"PT3M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"apalrd's adventures","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/apalrd"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Not Every Project Works, And That’s Okay"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/not-every-project-works-and-that-s-okay-bdgxl60xg#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Why is rtlamr not receiving any packets from my Itron AMI-4 meter?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The Itron AMI-4 supports multiple protocols including 900MHz and Zigbee, but rtlamr only decodes 900MHz-based protocols. If your utility has configured the meter in Zigbee mode — which some do — rtlamr will receive nothing regardless of decoder settings or frequency tuning. The meter being listed as 'compatible' only means it is capable of the supported protocol, not that it is configured that way. SDR hobbyists troubleshooting smart meter reception find the latest community findings on daily.dev."}}]} ```