My grandma loves to listen to her police scanner while I'm at work in the hopes she will get to hear me on the radio. She uses an old RadioShack TrunkTracker 800. This works fine for one of my jobs where our channel is simulcast on VHF, but my other job is only broadcast on Ohio MARCS, so she can't use it because of how the MARCS system functions. Something like a Uniden HomePatrol isn't feasible for her because of the cost. Would it be possible for me to put together an SDR setup that I could just enter in the frequencies for our talkgroup, and then give to her? I'd like to put together a setup that she won't have to mess with and can just sit on her desk. I'm not very well versed in the world of SDR, even after pouring over the Wiki and RTL-SDR.
Set it and forget it setup?
- Thread starter PGMbiggun
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Reconrider
Active Member
The real issue is gettin a real rtlsdr right now. Most places they sell at are OOS.
The other thing will be a program to use. Sdr trunk is free, but is a heavy program for a computer that’s not beefed up a little.
Dsdplus fastlane is 10$ for a year of updates or 25$ for lifetime updates program is pretty lightweight and runs good on 1 sdr
The other thing will be a program to use. Sdr trunk is free, but is a heavy program for a computer that’s not beefed up a little.
Dsdplus fastlane is 10$ for a year of updates or 25$ for lifetime updates program is pretty lightweight and runs good on 1 sdr
You could use a sdr and Unitrunker as I see its a P25 phase 1. So you need a computer and sdr and software. I am running the Bell Fleetnet in Ontario and use one sdr but the tower only has 7 freqs so not much needed for bandwidth. SDRTrunk doesn't work on my system so I use it for p25 and DMR conventional. SDRTrunk does let you "stack" SDRs as you can see in the picture I have two on SDRTrunk, I have also included a screenshot I already had of Unitrunker, Unitrunker does not do conventinal at this time I have posted pictures of Task Manager for both SDRT and Uni to show the difference in resources they use first is SDRT and second is UNI. SDRT is the JDK running. I would try a RTL-SDR blog or .com if it doesn't say blog or .com its a fake and one of the programs mentioned Unitrunker V2 you have to be a member of the google group to get it as its still in beta but works great. Here is the link Unitrunker - Google Groups. Hope this helps
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I’d suggest using a Raspberry Pi + SDR Dongle + OP25 with a Bluetooth speaker paired to the Pi. The whole setup would be about $100. You can setup the system up in OP25 and then build a White or Black list for the talk group or groups you operate on at work. I would also suggest adding a simple boot script to load OP25 when the Pi boots.
It will take some study to get the OP25 setup but there’s is plenty of documentation and worth it if you put in the effort.
It will take some study to get the OP25 setup but there’s is plenty of documentation and worth it if you put in the effort.
Which county are you in and which TG are you hoping to monitor ?
Ditto; that's going to have a bearing on the solution. If you're in a metro area it could get complicated.
OP25 on Raspberry Pi would be fairly inexpensive. How-To:
OP25 For Dummies - Or how to build a police scanner for $30 (Part 1)
OP25 is a program that decodes P25 Phase 1 and Phase 2 digital radio. Some municipal areas are upgrading to P25 Phase 2 so almost gone are the days that you can track them with a police scanner since P25 is a Trunked Radio system and not just a lone frequency to monitor. The […]
www.hagensieker.com
Rasp Pi OP25 Phase 1/2 – Fuzz The Pi Guy
fuzzthepiguy.tech
States above " Ohio MARCS "...can only assume OHIO....And good luck with finding rasp. pi3 or pi4. All on back order from I've seen.
Maybe cheap older laptop. OP25 linux.
Maybe cheap older laptop. OP25 linux.
boatbod
Member
op25 does run well in a "set and forget" environment, but unless you have familiarity with Linux or plenty of patience and time on your hands it can be pretty steep learning curve to get the "set" tasks accomplished.
Ditto; that's going to have a bearing on the solution. If you're in a metro area it could get complicated.
OP25 on Raspberry Pi would be fairly inexpensive. How-To:
OP25 For Dummies - Or how to build a police scanner for $30 (Part 1)
OP25 is a program that decodes P25 Phase 1 and Phase 2 digital radio. Some municipal areas are upgrading to P25 Phase 2 so almost gone are the days that you can track them with a police scanner since P25 is a Trunked Radio system and not just a lone frequency to monitor. The […]
Rasp Pi OP25 Phase 1/2 – Fuzz The Pi Guy
Do you know of any images that are already set up most of the way? I have an SDR Dongle and a Pi4. If there is an image out there to use as a template I think this would be a great help.
Thanks,
Dave
Not that I know of, all the packages I've used required some work and patience to set up (including OP25). SDRTrunk is probably the easiest, more or less; it's a cross-platform Java app and is mostly a run-and-forget thing once you get it running. I never tried that one on an R-Pi, however.
I know there's a Raspberry Pi image out there that's pre-loaded with all sorts of software (including a bunch of general SDR stuff), but it doesn't appear that the SDR scanner apps are included.
One of the other things you have to watch out for is the total band spread of the frequencies on the site you want to monitor. Depending on your SDR dongle, you may need more than one if the frequencies cover more than about a 2.5 MHz span. My local site has frequencies running from 851 to 854 MHz, so I needed two dongles. Once I got it set up it worked like a champ.
One option I don't think anyone has mentioned and which would be relatively simple is a Radio Shack Pro-197 or GRE PSR600 (for a desktop), or Pro-106/PSR500 (handheld). These can be found on eBay for $125-$250 and would work great if you don't have a simulcast site to contend with. Would also be much, much easier for your grandma to use.
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The original poster was interested in a set and forget.
I was hoping that someone that has an instance of this running could help with their image or something along those lines.
I have the R Pi 4.
I have an SDR dongle. (Would be willing to purchase a better one or one that was needed to work in this case)
The ICORRS System IS simulcast so there's that battle.
My two control channels off of this tower are less than 1 Meg apart.
I already have an SDS100 and more scanners than I can count.
Was interested in this for possibly assisting me with a feed.
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