Blog on setting up DSDPlus

hagensieker · Nov 17, 2018

One of the things I usually do when I figure something out that took me some effort (and DSDPlus Trunking was a challenge) is to make a blog so I can recreate things at a later date if I need to.

After my debacle the last couple days trying to set it up I set up a tutorial that I hope will help others. Bear in mind I ain't a pro. The pros are here on this forum who walked me though this. All I did was record what I did to make it work for posterity.

https://www.hagensieker.com/wordpress/2018/11/18/dsd-trunking-tutorial/

slicerwizard · Nov 18, 2018

The blog refers to files FMP-CC.bat and FMP-VC.bat (and to the files in the 2.145 update); but I assume that in some earlier FL update you also received FMP24-CC.bat, FMP24-VC.bat, FMP24.cfg and probably some others, like Survey.exe, Survey.cfg. Might be others.

Ok, I see you renamed FMP.cfg to FMP24.cfg; looks like you took your last FL update (2.145) and added it to a folder full of 1.101 files; the proper course is to start with a 1.101 folder and then add in the FL files from each FL update as you receive them. The FL notes really don't explain this and we've been down this road with a few other FL users in the past. FL updates only include changed files, and since the FMP24.cfg, FMP24-CC.bat and FMP24-VC.bat files haven't changed in a long time, they're not in the 2.145 update.

I assume you got those files in an earlier update but in the course of troubleshooting, you started fresh with 1.101 and added in 2.145, which leaves you short some files. Now if 2.145 was your first FL update, I hope they also sent you some sort of catch-up update with the files that aren't in 2.145 but have been updated since 1.101? Don't know exactly how that works.

Re Airspy serial number: Just running FMPA with an Airspy plugged in should show you its serial number. I see that tidbit is buried in the Notes.txt file under DSD+ 2.5 / FMPA 2.1, which is when serial number handling was added to FMPA: "to determine an Airspy's 16 digit serial number, plug it in and run FMPA"

A few minor corrections:

-rc is "role is control/rest channel receiver/decoder"

-rv is "role is voice receiver/decoder"

"Then open FMPA-VC which is the Voice Channel receiver"

One of the biggest issues with using/understanding FL is that the only real instructions are what's in the change log. It's not a case of "Here's the latest and greatest DSD+ version X and here's how it all works and here's how you use it"; instead, it's more like "I hope you can keep up..."

hagensieker · Nov 18, 2018

slicerwizard said:
The blog refers to files FMP-CC.bat and FMP-VC.bat (and to the files in the 2.145 update); but I assume that in some earlier FL update you also received FMP24-CC.bat, FMP24-VC.bat, FMP24.cfg and probably some others, like Survey.exe, Survey.cfg. Might be others.

Ok, I see you renamed FMP.cfg to FMP24.cfg; looks like you took your last FL update (2.145) and added it to a folder full of 1.101 files; the proper course is to start with a 1.101 folder and then add in the FL files from each FL update as you receive them. The FL notes really don't explain this and we've been down this road with a few other FL users in the past. FL updates only include changed files, and since the FMP24.cfg, FMP24-CC.bat and FMP24-VC.bat files haven't changed in a long time, they're not in the 2.145 update.

I assume you got those files in an earlier update but in the course of troubleshooting, you started fresh with 1.101 and added in 2.145, which leaves you short some files. Now if 2.145 was your first FL update, I hope they also sent you some sort of catch-up update with the files that aren't in 2.145 but have been updated since 1.101? Don't know exactly how that works.

Re Airspy serial number: Just running FMPA with an Airspy plugged in should show you its serial number. I see that tidbit is buried in the Notes.txt file under DSD+ 2.5 / FMPA 2.1, which is when serial number handling was added to FMPA: "to determine an Airspy's 16 digit serial number, plug it in and run FMPA"

A few minor corrections:

-rc is "role is control/rest channel receiver/decoder"

-rv is "role is voice receiver/decoder"

"Then open FMPA-VC which is the Voice Channel receiver"

One of the biggest issues with using/understanding FL is that the only real instructions are what's in the change log. It's not a case of "Here's the latest and greatest DSD+ version X and here's how it all works and here's how you use it"; instead, it's more like "I hope you can keep up..."

Thanks for all that. I'll try to clarify some of that stuff later when I get a chance on the blog. Mine was indeed a fresh install of 1.101 with 2.145 over the top. I bought Fastlane for the first time about just over a year ago because I had to renew my subscription to get the latest.

I'll go back and look through the previous Fastlane version (that I have) and see if I can find those files.

That being said my blog is kind of geared towards someone just trying to reconstruct this.

I would then have to totally agree with your "I hope you can keep up statement......" Not sure why the developer doesn't just create a release with all the latest files. That does make it difficult.

Thanks for all the great info. I appreciate it!

hagensieker · Nov 18, 2018

Hmmmm just looked through my Fastlane releases. My earliest is 2p71. None of those contain FMP24.cfg. I do have Survey.exe though. I guess if you are late to the show you would be missing the odd file or two.

hagensieker · Nov 18, 2018

There are the directions in the notes file. It would indeed exclude an FMP24.cfg file done this way.

Setup
-----

NOTE! YOU SHOULD ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR CURRENT DSD+ FOLDER BEFORE APPLYING A FAST LANE UPDATE!

YOU SHOULD ALSO PERIODICALLY BACK UP YOUR DSD+ DATA FILES

The DSD+ 2.145 files should be copied to an existing DSD+ 1.101 or higher folder.

If you do not have a DSD+ folder set up yet, go to DSDPlus.com and download
the most recent public version of DSD+ (currently 1.101) and unzip all of the
files to a folder on your PC. We recommend using C:\DSDPlus.

Note: If you download DSD+ 1.101, you should also download the DSD+ DLL package
from DSDPlus.com

If you are a new Fast Lane member, you should also download this file:

ftp://ftp.fftw.org/pub/fftw/fftw-3.3.5-dll32.zip

Extract the libfftw3f-3.dll file from the zipfile (it is the largest file in the zipfile)
and copy it to your DSD+ folder.

slicerwizard · Nov 18, 2018

hagensieker said:
Hmmmm just looked through my Fastlane releases. My earliest is 2p71. None of those contain FMP24.cfg. I do have Survey.exe though. I guess if you are late to the show you would be missing the odd file or two.

Seems like we would hear from more folks with missing files if that was the case. If you use Gmail, they seem to keep emails forever - have you tried going to gmail.com and finding all emails from DSD+?

M105 · Nov 18, 2018

You write well hagensieker. I am an old programmer and enjoyed writing code a lot more than maintaining the doc files for my stuff. I think that is true for a lot of programmers. I have long thought that DSD+ would be well served by a rewrite of the manual to reflect all of the changes in the last couple of years. Right now it is sort of like Slicerwizard said; "try to keep up". As you get more familiar with the program and have some spare time you might consider rewriting the manual for the whole package of programs with some good examples of ways to do different things with it. I'll bet the authors would appreciate it and might even endorse the work.

hagensieker · Nov 18, 2018

slicerwizard said:
Seems like we would hear from more folks with missing files if that was the case. If you use Gmail, they seem to keep emails forever - have you tried going to gmail.com and finding all emails from DSD+?

I had only bought Fastlane just over a year ago for the first time. So I only have like 4 versions which seems about right for a year and I probably lapsed and missed one too.

Even still the notes I cut and pasted from the 2.145 earlier just say to put 1.101 and all the DLL's and put Fastlane over the top with that other libf something or other file.

I don't doubt you are 100% correct about the earlier versions though. It's kind of an unusual setup to be sure. And seems odd the program writer wouldn't just include a Fastlane that was all inclusive every time with all the files although having said that I'm sure the smaller the email size the better for him.. Maybe there should just be.a link to a server where it can be downloaded from?

rrbum · Nov 19, 2018

I've been fastlane supporter since day one. I have searched through all twenty releases, and nowhere do I find FMP24-CC.bat or FMP24-VC.bat. FMP24.cfg does exist. FMP24 first appeared in DSDPlus1p114.
Don't know if the program creates these files itself as I have never really messed with the whole TCP thing.

M105 · Nov 19, 2018

The use of batch files is discussed in the trunking.txt file but I don't recall any pre-made ones coming with the program. If you are using FMP24 or FMPA you should try the TCP linking especially on P25-P2 where it is almost required to get satisfactory results.

dave3825 · Nov 19, 2018

I save all downloads and looked at DSDPlus2p18 and that's where I see fmp24 for the first time. I tried to download the download 2.18.zap and gmail blocks it saying its a virus. I also seem to remember renaming the fmp bat file to fmp24. But eithway I cant download the past updates.

Anyone able to download past updates from DSDPlus using Gmail?

slicerwizard · Nov 19, 2018

Ah, there's the gotcha. Older FL updates didn't use password protected zipfiles and now that Gmail blocks unpassworded zipfiles that contain executables, those files are unobtainium.

LimaZulu · Nov 20, 2018

Maybe putting a list with all the switches will be a valuable information aswell.
Other than that - good job!

Blog on setting up DSDPlus

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