Change rtl sdr dongle serial numbers for (novice user)

[humblegeo]

Is there an easy and simple way to change rtl sdr dongle serial numbers, for a novice user (70 years old) of SDRTrunk? I have 3 dongles with slightly different antennas for different frequency ranges and would like to know which dongle in the SDRTrunk tuner section is using which antenna. I don't believe I have the RTL Tools program installed, if that's how you do it. Not sure where to safely get it or use it for that matter. Appreciate any help for this beginner.

I'm using Windows 10 with the 64 bit operating system. ntel(R) Core(TM) i7-7700T CPU @ 2.90GHz 2.90 GHz 12 gb ram

Larry G

 

[a417]

Is there an easy and simple way to change rtl sdr dongle serial numbers, for a novice user (70 years old) of SDRTrunk? I have 3 dongles with slightly different antennas for different frequency ranges and would like to know which dongle in the SDRTrunk tuner section is using which antenna. I don't believe I have the RTL Tools program installed, if that's how you do it. Not sure where to safely get it or use it for that matter. Appreciate any help for this beginner.

I'm using Windows 10 with the 64 bit operating system. ntel(R) Core(TM) i7-7700T CPU @ 2.90GHz 2.90 GHz 12 gb ram

Larry G

Here is the deeplink to the RTL-SDR binaries on Osmocom's website. (There is someone else here who surrounds all links with fake french brackets and writes CLICK HERE or some other nonsense, but the HTML standard has had colorized linking of URLs since like...ever, so that's superflous...I think you can figure it out)

Download the zip, extract it to it's own folder, and then you will have a program in there called rtl_eeprom which will easily change the serial number of the hardware. It has been extensively discussed on here. The RTLTool appeared to be the new hotness, but isn't easily obtainable now. This comes right from Osmocom, and just works.

 

[humblegeo]

Here is the deeplink to the RTL-SDR binaries on Osmocom's website. (There is someone else here who surrounds all links with fake french brackets and writes CLICK HERE or some other nonsense, but the HTML standard has had colorized linking of URLs since like...ever, so that's superflous...I think you can figure it out)

Download the zip, extract it to it's own folder, and then you will have a program in there called rtl_eeprom which will easily change the serial number of the hardware. It has been extensively discussed on here. The RTLTool appeared to be the new hotness, but isn't easily obtainable now. This comes right from Osmocom, and just works.

Appreciate the info. I tried that but when I double click on the app rtl_eeprom, it will open in command prompt for a few seconds and then immediately disappear from the screen. And then when I try to run it in command prompt is says rtl_eeprom is not recognized as an internal or external command. Must have something to do with the way I extracted it or where the program extracted to. I've got to get the path right or it won't open with command prompt.

 

[dave3825]

Pretty sure you need to open a command prompt window and navigate to the directory and run it that way.

I hate dos windows and a while back found something called RrlTool that, from the authors point of view replaces rtl_eeprom.exe and rtl_test.exe as seen below.


===============================
RtlTool.exe is a tool to replace both rtl_test.exe and rtl_eeprom.exe from
the canonical rtlsdr.dll distribution. It discovers and lists dongles either
standalone or using the shared memory database in RtlSdr Catalog. It indicates
missing dongles with a "-" in front of the name and busy dongles with a "B" in
front of the names. Or at least, that is the plan. At the moment there is no
indication for missing dongles and busy dongles have an asterisk in front of
the name. It's on the list....


It is in something called RtlSdr++ Distribution and is a simple just click the exe, and you get this.



It was a bit of a pita to set up and I did it just to have it.

 

[a417]

Pretty sure you need to open a command prompt window and navigate to the directory and run it that way.

Dave would be correct, it is textual based. Double clicking it runs it, and it immediately closes.

 

[Dirk_SDR]

Is there an easy and simple way to change rtl sdr dongle serial numbers, for a novice user (70 years old) of SDRTrunk? I have 3 dongles with slightly different antennas for different frequency ranges and would like to know which dongle in the SDRTrunk tuner section is using which antenna. I don't believe I have the RTL Tools program installed, if that's how you do it. Not sure where to safely get it or use it for that matter. Appreciate any help for this beginner.

I'm using Windows 10 with the 64 bit operating system. ntel(R) Core(TM) i7-7700T CPU @ 2.90GHz 2.90 GHz 12 gb ram

Larry G

Changing the serial numbers of RTL-SDR receivers with EEPROM is quite easy with SDR Console V3.x:
1. Start receiving
2. Choose Home - Radio Configuration
3. In the Radio Configuration window choose EEPROM
4. Tap on Load to see the actual EEPROM content
5. Change the Serial as you like, but keep the 8 number format and don't use 000000xx,- instead sth. like 000001xx for your receiver no. xx (xx >= 01)
6. Tap on Save
Done.

 

[PDXh0b0]

Using rtl_eeprom

Here is the tool dave3825 spoke of

RTLTool Distribution 20210507.zip

drive.google.com

 

[humblegeo]

Success. Appreciate all the help. Used the SDR Console V3 and I guess the eeprom program loaded OK after all because it worked in SDR Console definition part. 00000101, 00000102, 00000103

 

[ToddWilkinson]

Using rtl_eeprom

Here is the tool dave3825 spoke of

RTLTool Distribution 20210507.zip

drive.google.com

Using device 0: Generic RTL2832U OEM
usb_open error -3
Please fix the device permissions, e.g. by installing the udev rules file rtl-sdr.rules
Failed to open rtlsdr device #0.

 

[PDXh0b0]

Using device 0: Generic RTL2832U OEM
usb_open error -3
Please fix the device permissions, e.g. by installing the udev rules file rtl-sdr.rules
Failed to open rtlsdr device #0.

That error usually indicates that the dongle is being used by something, close sdr# or any other sdr software you have running

 

[ToddWilkinson]

Cant run sdr while

That error usually indicates that the dongle is being used by something, close sdr# or any other sdr software you have running

Yep thats what i did lol

 

[ToddWilkinson]

Changed the serial but I still can't start the dongles for digital, goddamn knockoff products

 

[PDXh0b0]

Unitrunker? Radio tab , click each listed dongle & click the red X, repeat till non are listed, than click the refresh ♻️ button

 

[davejl2001]

Changing the serial numbers of RTL-SDR receivers with EEPROM is quite easy with SDR Console V3.x:
1. Start receiving
2. Choose Home - Radio Configuration
3. In the Radio Configuration window choose EEPROM
4. Tap on Load to see the actual EEPROM content
5. Change the Serial as you like, but keep the 8 number format and don't use 000000xx,- instead sth. like 000001xx for your receiver no. xx (xx >= 01)
6. Tap on Save
Done.

Why is it recommended to use 101,102,103 format instead of 1,2,3 format?

 

[Dirk_SDR]

Why is it recommended to use 101,102,103 format instead of 1,2,3 format?

Working with Windows that should be no problem, but with Linux RTL-SDR serial numbers like 00000001 could be messed up with device index numbers. So the recommendation was made to be safe on any OS platform.

 

[ToddWilkinson]

Fakes omg don't even have the heat tape on it, no screw on the housing, the housing moves like crazy, anyone got a link for real ones, now I'm sketched out.

 

[PDXh0b0]

Fakes omg don't even have the heat tape on it, no screw on the housing, the housing moves like crazy, anyone got a link for real ones, now I'm sketched out.

RTL-SDR Blog V3 R860 RTL2832U 1PPM TCXO SMA Software Defined Radio (Dongle Only) (Black) https://a.co/d/91Hcl2y

Nooelec RTL-SDR v5 SDR - NESDR Smart HF/VHF/UHF (100kHz-1.75GHz) Software Defined Radio. Premium RTLSDR w/ 0.5PPM TCXO, SMA Input & Aluminum Enclosure. RTL2832U & R820T2 (R860)-Based Radio https://a.co/d/d3pWzwB

 

[PDXh0b0]

Those clones, although lesser quality, if you can't get a refund, hang on to them, there are some old mods/projects they can be used for if you are into that. You could get thermal pads for them, or just run them out of the enclosure
m.2 Thermal pad， 70x20x1.5mm for Pcie M.2 2280 SSD NVMe Heatsinks (2PCS Pack)… https://a.co/d/6LcgxR0

 

[Dirk_SDR]

RTL-SDR Blog V3 R860 RTL2832U 1PPM TCXO SMA Software Defined Radio (Dongle Only) (Black) https://a.co/d/91Hcl2y

Nooelec RTL-SDR v5 SDR - NESDR Smart HF/VHF/UHF (100kHz-1.75GHz) Software Defined Radio. Premium RTLSDR w/ 0.5PPM TCXO, SMA Input & Aluminum Enclosure. RTL2832U & R820T2 (R860)-Based Radio https://a.co/d/d3pWzwB

These 2 RTL-SDR dongles are indead the best you can buy actually!

 

[dave3825]

The nooelec are nice because they have a small footprint, letting them plug in side by side on many usb hubs.