Trying to Monitor 160mHz railroad band - Issues with constant static/ no reception

[SpectralContent]

Just started to really get into SDR over the past couple of weeks and wanted to try to monitor local railroads to see how SDR compared to my traditional setup of a Kenwood TK-780 with a 160mhz tuned 3db gain antenna. I attached an identical antenna up to an RTL-SDR stick with the intent of using SDR# to monitor railroad voice activities. However, upon running the whole system all I receive on any 160 band signal is constant static/noise and none of the railroad traffic my traditional setup receives. All I seem to be able to receive is a NOAA channel at 161.4 mHz with very garbled audio. Is this an issue with my SDR# settings? If so, are there any general setting I should have set that anyone could recommend? Is this a hardware issue/limitation that is just simply not allowing me to get the same range as my Kenwood radio? If anyone has any recommendations on how this can be fixed/made better they would be greatly appreciated! Apologizes for this very vague/newbie question. I would be happy to provide more clarification if need be. Thanks!

 

[dlwtrunked]

Just started to really get into SDR over the past couple of weeks and wanted to try to monitor local railroads to see how SDR compared to my traditional setup of a Kenwood TK-780 with a 160mhz tuned 3db gain antenna. I attached an identical antenna up to an RTL-SDR stick with the intent of using SDR# to monitor railroad voice activities. However, upon running the whole system all I receive on any 160 band signal is constant static/noise and none of the railroad traffic my traditional setup receives. All I seem to be able to receive is a NOAA channel at 161.4 mHz with very garbled audio. Is this an issue with my SDR# settings? If so, are there any general setting I should have set that anyone could recommend? Is this a hardware issue/limitation that is just simply not allowing me to get the same range as my Kenwood radio? If anyone has any recommendations on how this can be fixed/made better they would be greatly appreciated! Apologizes for this very vague/newbie question. I would be happy to provide more clarification if need be. Thanks!

NOAA is on 162.4 not 161.4. Are you setting the software for narrow FM (NFM)? And it should not be "garbled"--You need to define what you mean by "garbled"--it could be that you PC is too slow. What happens when you tune in a FM broadcast station in the 88-108 MHz band using wide FM. What gain setting are you using? And, when not receiving FM broadcasts in the 88-108 MHz band, you really should be using an FM notch to prevent them from overloading your receiver. It is likely your settings or a problem on your end rather than a limitation of the hardware.
Finally, have you tried using HDSDR instead of SDR#?

 

[SpectralContent]

I ment 162.4. Typo. 161.4 is a railroad dispatcher channel. Initially 162.4 was very unclear audio, however upon raising the bandwidth I got it to sound decent, however, I still was not recieving any of the railroad transmissions my Kenwood was recieving. I do have it set to NFM. When I try any FM broadcast station it recieves those channels but is very choppy (repeated breaks of silence). I have not looked into HDSDR but will definitely investigate that now. Thanks dlwtrunked!

 

[ko6jw_2]

You will not get the performance of the Kenwood from an SDR stick. I have an SDRplay receiver and it is very disappointing compared to dedicated commercial receivers. I've messed with all the settings and never gotten the performance I wanted.

 

[SpectralContent]

You will not get the performance of the Kenwood from an SDR stick. I have an SDRplay receiver and it is very disappointing compared to dedicated commercial receivers. I've messed with all the settings and never gotten the performance I wanted.

Kind of figured as much. Thanks for the response.

 

[bama9999]

Have you turned the gain up in SDR#? It won’t receive anything but the very strongest signals if it isn’t turned up. I have used my SDR dongle and SDR# to listen to railroad, and while it’s not as good as a commercial grade radio, it does a pretty decent job.

Also, depending on which SDR stick you have, you may need to adjust the ppm to make sure it is centered on frequency. Although, if it’s one of the RTL-SDR V3 dongles it shouldn’t need adjusting.

 

[simpilo]

Just started to really get into SDR over the past couple of weeks and wanted to try to monitor local railroads to see how SDR compared to my traditional setup of a Kenwood TK-780 with a 160mhz tuned 3db gain antenna. I attached an identical antenna up to an RTL-SDR stick with the intent of using SDR# to monitor railroad voice activities. However, upon running the whole system all I receive on any 160 band signal is constant static/noise and none of the railroad traffic my traditional setup receives. All I seem to be able to receive is a NOAA channel at 161.4 mHz with very garbled audio. Is this an issue with my SDR# settings? If so, are there any general setting I should have set that anyone could recommend? Is this a hardware issue/limitation that is just simply not allowing me to get the same range as my Kenwood radio? If anyone has any recommendations on how this can be fixed/made better they would be greatly appreciated! Apologizes for this very vague/newbie question. I would be happy to provide more clarification if need be. Thanks!

It also helps to use a dipole antenna on RTL-SDR. TV rabbit ears are good. Both elements at 18.5 inches equally helps alot. it has to be vertical both elements vertical like a sideways "T".