This document introduces software defined radios (SDR) and radio hacking. It discusses that SDRs allow all radio processing to be done in software rather than dedicated hardware. This makes SDRs more flexible and able to implement different standards compared to traditional radios. It then provides an overview of several SDR hardware options and their capabilities. It also introduces GNU Radio as a free and open-source software that can be used with SDRs to implement signal processing and software-defined radio systems. The document signals that a demonstration of GNU Radio capabilities will follow.