DSDplus Fastlane with V4 RTL-SDR issues.

[psycoborg]

NOTE: I will be working on getting this figured out on Monday.

However, I rediscovered SDRTrunk and love it... but have noticed that there seems to be an issue I have discovered. It's not picking up all the signals. not sure why. My V3 dongles were super active on Fastlane. but once I upgraded to the V4 Dongles, it got pretty quiet and once and a while it picks stuff up. but I know I'm missing a lot of activity.

By question is has anyone combined the V3 and V4 dongles on this APP or in DSDplus Fastlane? as I now have 4 dongles and 2 not being used now makes me want to try this. but wonder if this will cause issues or conflicts. I will be experimenting on this on Monday.

Things I found with the V4 dongle on DSDplus Fastlane is, when you first start it up. It runs great. then slows the amount of broadcast traffic, then stops broadcasting, Or it will run fine, then suddenly run like I have the Squelch off. and have to dump files and reload everything to get it to stop. I have it Set to monitor VC traffic only and it still does this. been deinking with the settings to try and fix it. but it's still going on. so, I'm not sure how to solve this issue. While SDRTrunk does not have this issue with the squelch. The broadcast has the same affect. when I first start it. It is super active, but after 5 minutes of run time, it goes quiet and might broadcast once every 5 to 10 minutes. even though I see a lot of activity on the waterfall. I close and restart the app and it works again. I am thinking of mixing the V4 and V3 Dongles to see if the V3 picks up all the traffic, while the V4 does the same thing it's been doing.

Lastly, could the Dongle be defective? or a software issue? on Monday I will try and find out.

 

[PDXh0b0]

V4 need more gain

 

[slicerwizard]

Not having any issues with my v4 dongles here. For VHF/UHF/7/8/900, I don't find them to be anything special. Still prefer the orange FlightAware offering.

You could make a long raw source audio recording that covers the initial good reception plus the problematic phase. Upload that to some file sharing site and share the link here.

A video of the same might also provide some clues. YouTube is good for that.

 

[psycoborg]

ok, I tested the EXACT same Settings on the V3 and V4 Dongles. The V3 dongles Pick everything up. and is super active. BUT the V4 no matter what i Do in the settings. seem to only pick up Some Random signals. And Barely broadcast anything. While V4 works. I feel the V3 is better with both dSDpus fast lane and SDRTrunk. My son wants to play with the V4 to see how it looks with the Waterfall effects with AM / FM since my RTL-SDR V3 dongles work better at what i need. I will give him the V 4 Dongles to play with.

 

[sunwave]

ok, I tested the EXACT same Settings on the V3 and V4 Dongles. The V3 dongles Pick everything up. and is super active. BUT the V4 no matter what i Do in the settings. seem to only pick up Some Random signals. And Barely broadcast anything. While V4 works. I feel the V3 is better with both dSDpus fast lane and SDRTrunk. My son wants to play with the V4 to see how it looks with the Waterfall effects with AM / FM since my RTL-SDR V3 dongles work better at what i need. I will give him the V 4 Dongles to play with.

No. This makes no sense. V3 and V4 should receive the same on VHF/UHF. You might have a faulty V4. Mine isn't like that.

 

[rivardj]

If you do not update or replace the drivers, then the V4 will simply not function correctly. Either you will get no signals, or signals may appear at the wrong frequency, or appear corrupted in some way.

Quick Start Guide

This page is a guide aimed at helping anyone set up a cheap radio scanner based on the RTL-SDR software defined radio as fast as possible on a Windows system. If you have any trouble during the installation, please see the troubleshooting guide further down the page. We also have brief instructions for getting started on Linux and OSX at the end of this page.
Please note that the RTL-SDR is not a plug and play device. You will need to have sufficient skills to perform basic PC operations such as unzipping files, installing software, moving and copying files and have the motivation to learn new software.

******* RTL-SDR Blog V3/V4 Users *******

New RTL-SDR Blog V4 USERS: Please remember that you need to install our custom drivers in order to make the V4 work. The quickstart guides below show how to install them on common software. For other software we have generic instructions here rtl-sdr.com/V4.
We suggest the following reading order:

1. Quickstart Guide: rtl-sdr.com/QSG - Current page. Helps you install the software and set up your dongle.
2. V3 Features Guide: rtl-sdr.com/V3 - Learn how to use special V3 features like the direct sampling HF mode and bias tee.
   V4 Features Guide: rtl-sdr.com/V4 - Learn how to use special V4 features and how to install the required drivers for V4 models.
3. SDR# Users Guide: rtl-sdr.com/SDRSHARP - Learn about the setting in SDR#.
4. Dipole Antenna Guide: rtl-sdr.com/DIPOLE - Learn how to use your RTL-SDR Blog multipurpose dipole antenna (if purchased in set)

Link: Quick Start Guide

 

[slicerwizard]

Well, the OP stated that when he starts DSD+, everything works fine, lots of signals being picked up; that wouldn't happen if he was running with the wrong USB driver or a non v4-compatible rtlsdr.dll file. Sounds more like a heating problem / reference oscillator drift / failing component.

 

[rivardj]

Well, the OP stated that when he starts DSD+, everything works fine, lots of signals being picked up; that wouldn't happen if he was running with the wrong USB driver or a non v4-compatible rtlsdr.dll file. Sounds more like a heating problem / reference oscillator drift / failing component.

My bet is he didn't load the new drivers.

 

[slicerwizard]

Then it never would have worked fine.

 

[rivardj]

Then it never would have worked fine.

I did not make up the following paragraph, it is a direct copy paste from the RTL-SDR.com website:

"If you do not update or replace the drivers, then the V4 will simply not function correctly. Either you will get no signals, or signals may appear at the wrong frequency, or appear corrupted in some way."


That paragraph says to me that it might work but not properly. The OP says it starts out ok and then performance degrades until the app is closed and restarted.

I am not saying it isn't a heat issue but, the OP did not specifically mention that the new driver was installed on the system, so maybe that is his issue. Sometimes directions are not followed properly or at all. I try not to assume anything when trouble shooting and I verify to the best of my ability what I am told is actually true.

Not here to argue or get into an extended debate. I will be interested in what is done to resolve this issue.

 

[sunwave]

Just for sanity, psycoborg

Have DSDPlus Fastlane download base files.
Extract all the dll files in the dll folder into your DSDPlus Fastlane folder. Allow it to overwrite.
Try it out.

rtlsdr.dll (in case you replaced it) and rtlsdr_V4.dll are the needed files from the base files zip file.

If you replaced rtlsdr.dll:
Don't use RTL-SDR Blog's releases.zip because it might fail DSDPlus Fastlane's start-up checks. Only use files from the base files DSDPlus Fastlane downloads.

 

[rivardj]

And I would check that the rtlsdr_V4.dll file is present in your main DSDPlus Fastlane folder along side the other ddl files.