Uni-SDR Link v1.0.0.0

dafunk60 · Jul 18, 2015

This applications sole purpose is to allow Universal Trunker (aka Unitrunker) to control the tuning frequency of multiple individual VFO's in SDR Console v2. This is achieved by translating Unitrunker Receiver Control commands into a format accepted by SDR Console. Communication occurs over virtual com / serial ports.

Uni-SDR Link has been tested on Windows 7 & Windows 8 and requires .NET Framework version 4.0 or greater.

The source code, windows executable, and help file are located at https://github.com/ms-dev-1/uni-sdr-link/releases

Just download & launch. No installation required.

The Uni-SDR-Link.chm file contains help for the application should be placed in the same directory as the Uni-SDR-Link.exe.

Why?
I was looking for a way to make the best use of my HackRF for decoding trunked radio systems, ideally monitoring of several calls at once and routing analog & digital to the appropriate outputs. I found few options such as Unilinker but none that would allow control of multiple SDR Console VFO's. I was also looking for an excuse to create an application using Microsoft Visual Studio so this little project seemed like a good fit.

blantonl · Jul 19, 2015

very very nice!

galaxie67w · Jul 20, 2015

Sweet. I actually made something like this in VB about a year ago... but yours is much nicer. Kudos!

-Kyle KJ4SPG

dafunk60 · Jul 20, 2015

blantonl said:
very very nice!

galaxie67w said:
Sweet. I actually made something like this in VB about a year ago... but yours is much nicer. Kudos!

-Kyle KJ4SPG

Thanks for the kind words. I hope people will find it useful.

DaveNF2G · Jul 20, 2015

What is SDR-Console? I searched it and got directed to SDR-Radio, but their current beta is expired.

dafunk60 · Jul 20, 2015

DaveNF2G said:
What is SDR-Console? I searched it and got directed to SDR-Radio, but their current beta is expired.

SDR Console is one of the applications developed by the people at SDR Radio.

A license valued through July of 2016 can be found on their website. Here's a version 2 Licence

dafunk60 · Jul 20, 2015

As a new member my posts require moderation. Sorry for any delays in replying.

vince48 · Jul 20, 2015

Thank you my Friend, this is what have been looking for. My B200 needs a good work out.

vince48

vince48 · Jul 20, 2015

dafunk60 said:
This applications sole purpose is to allow Universal Trunker (aka Unitrunker) to control the tuning frequency of multiple individual VFO's in SDR Console v2. This is achieved by translating Unitrunker Receiver Control commands into a format accepted by SDR Console. Communication occurs over virtual com / serial ports.

Uni-SDR Link has been tested on Windows 7 & Windows 8 and requires .NET Framework version 4.0 or greater.

The source code, windows executable, and help file are located at https://github.com/ms-dev-1/uni-sdr-link/releases

Just download & launch. No installation required.

The Uni-SDR-Link.chm file contains help for the application should be placed in the same directory as the Uni-SDR-Link.exe.

Why?
I was looking for a way to make the best use of my HackRF for decoding trunked radio systems, ideally monitoring of several calls at once and routing analog & digital to the appropriate outputs. I found few options such as Unilinker but none that would allow control of multiple SDR Console VFO's. I was also looking for an excuse to create an application using Microsoft Visual Studio so this little project seemed like a good fit.

With V3 of SDR Console coming very soon and will have the capability of 60+ VFO's, will this app be able to support all of those VFO's?
How is the control channel to Unitrunker work? Do I have to use one SDR or two?

vnce48

dafunk60 · Jul 20, 2015

vince48 said:
With V3 of SDR Console coming very soon and will have the capability of 60+ VFO's, will this app be able to support all of those VFO's?
How is the control channel to Unitrunker work? Do I have to use one SDR or two?

vnce48

I would encourage you to take a look at the help, file https://github.com/ms-dev-1/uni-sdr-link/releases/download/v1.0.0.0/Uni-SDR-Link.chm for a detailed explanation of how I have things setup.

I use one SDR, a HackRF. I send the trunked radio control channel from SDR Console to Unitrunker using a virtual audio cable. This app only supports 6 VFO's, the max for SDR Console V2. I would consider adding more if there is someone who needs it.

Running 60 VFO's will take some serious cpu power, and 61 virtual com ports. At that scale, I suspect Unitrunker support for SDR Console would be a much better way of accomplishing that, i.e. having a Unitrunker control receiver option with the type of "SDR Console" where multiple active VFO's would be selected. This would eliminate the need for so many virtual com ports.

vince48 · Jul 20, 2015

vince48 said:
With V3 of SDR Console coming very soon and will have the capability of 60+ VFO's, will this app be able to support all of those VFO's?
How is the control channel to Unitrunker work? Do I have to use one SDR or two?

vnce48

read the help file in regard to the control channel and UT. But will your app handle more than 6 VFO's?

dafunk60 · Jul 20, 2015

vince48 said:
read the help file in regard to the control channel and UT. But will your app handle more than 6 VFO's?

Currently 6 VFO's is the maximum. Once SDR Console V3 comes out, and if there are people who want to control more VFO's I would be open to adding such capability. Out of curiosity, what are you looking to monitor that would have 60 simultaneous calls? If not 60, what would be the maximum number of VFO's you think you would need?

DaveNF2G · Jul 21, 2015

60 seems like a lot, unless one is doing multi-channel archival recording rather than direct monitoring.

vince48 · Jul 21, 2015

dafunk60 said:
Currently 6 VFO's is the maximum. Once SDR Console V3 comes out, and if there are people who want to control more VFO's I would be open to adding such capability. Out of curiosity, what are you looking to monitor that would have 60 simultaneous calls? If not 60, what would be the maximum number of VFO's you think you would need?

dafunk60
no I wouldn't use all 60+ VFO's but a few systems I monitor have 13 and 22 frequencies respectively. A small system might have 6 channels or frequencies. Also DMR, LTR most have more than 6 channels.
But V3 certainly gives the user a lot of options to use a lot of VFO's.

vince48

krokus · Jul 21, 2015

DaveNF2G said:
60 seems like a lot, unless one is doing multi-channel archival recording rather than direct monitoring.

I could see wanting 20-ish, for tracking a larger trunking site. Coding the extra capacity should not be a huge challenge, as long as the computer can handle to data load.

Sent via Tapatalk

dafunk60 · Jul 21, 2015

vince48 said:
dafunk60
no I wouldn't use all 60+ VFO's but a few systems I monitor have 13 and 22 frequencies respectively. A small system might have 6 channels or frequencies. Also DMR, LTR most have more than 6 channels.
But V3 certainly gives the user a lot of options to use a lot of VFO's.

krokus said:
I could see wanting 20-ish, for tracking a larger trunking site. Coding the extra capacity should not be a huge challenge, as long as the computer can handle to data load.

Thank you for the info. I agree that more VFO's will be a nice addition to SDR Console. It will give me a good excuse to upgrade my computer hardware.

It won't be difficult to update Uni-SDR Link to support more VFO's but I'll wait for SDR Console to provide the option before I do.

You may already be aware of this but you do not require a SDR Console VFO for each frequency used by a system, only enough VFO's to cover the total amount of simultaneous calls at any given time. That number is likely less than the total channels used. As an example, there is a New Jersey State Police simulcast I used for testing as it was one of the busier systems I could receive. This system has 22 channels, however even during their busiest of periods I very rarely saw more than 5 simultaneous calls.

vince48 · Jul 21, 2015

dafunk60
but how and what frequencies do you choose?

dafunk60 · Jul 21, 2015

vince48 said:
dafunk60
but how and what frequencies do you choose?

Use 1 SDR Console VFO for the control channel, I like to use VFO F. Set this frequency to the trunked radio control channel frequency. Send the data to Unitrunker over a virtual audio cable.

Unitrunker "Control Receivers" (not to be confused with the trunked radio control channel) will tune the SDR Console VFO's to the appropriate frequencies when calls are made. The Uni-SDR Link application provides the link between Unitrunker Control Receivers & the SDR Console VFO's which allows that to happen.

vince48 · Jul 21, 2015

Ok I see,
one last question, What receiver type in Unitrunker should the Signal (control channel) VCO be? I use ETTUS B200 or Airspy

dafunk60 · Jul 21, 2015

vince48 said:
Ok I see,
one last question, What receiver type in Unitrunker should the Signal (control channel) VCO be? I use ETTUS B200 or Airspy

The Type should be Signal. As Unitrunker is receiving the control channel data a audio it does not matter what device you are using. Take a look at the Sample Setup > Unitrunker Setup portion of the help file for greater detail.

PS - It looks like Unitrunker has built in support for the AirSpy which would mean you wouldn't need to use this app or SDR Console at all if you want to use the AirSpy instead of the B200.

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