diff --git a/pkgs/applications/radio/gnuradio/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/radio/gnuradio/default.nix
index 9bc1511968be..f8fc1fa10f85 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/radio/gnuradio/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/radio/gnuradio/default.nix
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@
 , gsl
 , cppzmq
 , zeromq
+# Needed only if qt-gui is disabled, from some reason
+, icu
 # GUI related
 , gtk3
 , pango
@@ -60,7 +62,10 @@ let
         boost
         log4cpp
         mpir
-      ];
+      ]
+        # when gr-qtgui is disabled, icu needs to be included, otherwise
+        # building with boost 1.7x fails
+        ++ lib.optionals (!(hasFeature "gr-qtgui" features)) [ icu ];
       pythonNative = with python.pkgs; [
         Mako
         six
@@ -160,7 +165,9 @@ let
       cmakeEnableFlag = "GR_TRELLIS";
     };
     gr-uhd = {
-      runtime = [ uhd ];
+      runtime = [
+        uhd
+      ];
       cmakeEnableFlag = "GR_UHD";
     };
     gr-utils = {
@@ -265,6 +272,13 @@ let
       url = "https://github.com/gnuradio/gnuradio/commit/dbc8ad7e7361fddc7b1dbc267c07a776a3f9664b.diff";
       sha256 = "tQcCpcUbJv3yqAX8rSHN/pAuBq4ueEvoVo7sNzZGvf4=";
     })
+    # Needed to use boost 1.7x, see:
+    # https://github.com/gnuradio/gnuradio/issues/3720
+    # https://github.com/gnuradio/gnuradio/pull/3967
+    (fetchpatch {
+      url = "https://github.com/gnuradio/gnuradio/commit/cbcb968358fad56f3646619b258f18b0e6693a07.diff";
+      sha256 = "1ajf4797f869lqv436xw61s29qdbn7f01i0970kfxv3yahd34p9v";
+    })
   ];
 in
 
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index c5fb1cafbc1b..97da2fa1699e 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -13142,7 +13142,9 @@ in
   uefi-firmware-parser = callPackage ../development/tools/analysis/uefi-firmware-parser { };
 
   uhd3_5 = callPackage ../applications/radio/uhd/3.5.nix { };
-  uhd = callPackage ../applications/radio/uhd { };
+  uhd = callPackage ../applications/radio/uhd {
+    boost = boost17x;
+  };
 
   uisp = callPackage ../development/tools/misc/uisp { };
 
@@ -22337,6 +22339,7 @@ in
   gnuradio-unwrapped = callPackage ../applications/radio/gnuradio {
     inherit (darwin.apple_sdk.frameworks) CoreAudio;
     python = python3;
+    boost = boost17x;
   };
   # A build without gui components and other utilites not needed for end user
   # libraries