Frequency manager + scanner plugin

[bailly2]

installed this for sdr#, using it with dsdplus.. its scanning the frequencies i added and i hear them at the same time as my scanner, , and every transmissions is garbled. why does sdr# work when i click on a active frequency in the graph, but not when i enter a number in this plugin? ..no its not simulcast distortion, yes i have the frequency correction set propertly. thanks for your help.

 

[bailly2]

seems like it has to be paused on one freuqency to get some info thats sent at the beginning of the transmission maybe

 

[bailly2]

it does not matter if i set dsd to only decode just p25 or nxdn, still garbled

 

[bailly2]

412 views. no helpful answers

 

[KK4JUG]

I don't think most folks here do SDR. We're old fashioned and don't know the answer to your problem.

413

 

[natedawg1604]

Have you tried FMP24 along with DSD+? FMP24 has a pretty good scanner feature.

 

[bailly2]

do you have a link for where to download fmp24? i tried the fmpa version 2.7 on the dsdplus website, just lets you select one frequency. no scanner

 

[natedawg1604]

do you have a link for where to download fmp24? i tried the fmpa version 2.7 on the dsdplus website, just lets you select one frequency. no scanner

You need to purchase DSD+ fastlane (it's very cheap), the fastlane package comes with the latest version of DSD+ and FMP24, they work together via a TCP link.

 

[bailly2]

paying for a version of dsd will not change why sdr# is acting funny ..... i might pay for an android version of dsd

 

[dave3825]

do you have a link for where to download fmp24? i tried the fmpa version 2.7 on the dsdplus website, just lets you select one frequency. no scanner

Did you add your freqs of interest to the scanlist file?


I did and it does scan the freqs entered there. I just can't figure out how come it just scans and does not stop on the active digital comm. Just keeps scanning the freqs listed in the scanlist regardless if there is activity or not.

I have the latest DSDPlus fastlane

 

[bailly2]

dave3825, yes, is the squelch too high, is the minimum signal strength in the frequency manager plugin too high? thats all i can think of ..

i was going to read the frequency manager suite manual , but suddenly got it working, its scanning, and can hear transmissions clearly. zoomed in on the display so there is only 5 numbers clicked on the column of the number 2nd to the right. doing it with a sdr is much clearer sounding than plugging a cable from the discriminator cable to the soundcard. this is the first time ive danced since the clevelander in miami beach

 

[slicerwizard]

I did and it does scan the freqs entered there. I just can't figure out how come it just scans and does not stop on the active digital comm. Just keeps scanning the freqs listed in the scanlist regardless if there is activity or not.

- DSD+ path not specified properly in FMP24.cfg?

- channel type (analog / digital / specific digital mode) not specified properly in FMP24.Scanlist?

- inappropriate bandwidth specified in FMP24.Scanlist?

- scanning analog channels and monitoring mode 1 not selected in DSD+? (seems like you are monitoring digital voice, so probably not applicable)


"active digital comm" is too vague - can't provide more targeted ideas...

 

[dave3825]

- DSD+ path not specified properly in FMP24.cfg?

Path set correctly as it would start decodes, then move on.

- inappropriate bandwidth specified in FMP24.Scanlist?

Question about this, how does one monitor different protocols when they use different bandwidth settings? P25 uses 9.5 kHz and DMR, TRBO, Cap+, and Con+ use 4KHz? Can different protocals be used in the same scanlist?

- scanning analog channels and monitoring mode 1 not selected in DSD+? (seems like you are monitoring digital voice, so probably not applicable)

Are you saying that conventional analog freqs can be mixed with P25 freqs? What is monitoring mode 1?

"active digital comm" is too vague - can't provide more targeted ideas...

Redid the scanlist to conform to 8 entry format, like this

; TXfreq, RXfreq, Licensee, Location, Latitude, Longitude, first emission mode, second emission mode

172.1500, 172.1500, TSA, Town of ISLIP, 40.7163, -73.6241, "20K0F3E", ""

It was like this,
; frequency mode description

 172.1500, P25, T S A,

Either way, it seems to be working now.

Thank you Mr Wizard..

 

[slicerwizard]

Isn't all of this covered in the change log?

BTW, I see two examples of scan list entries. Yours (old and new) don't look like them.


DSD+ 2.18 New Features
----------------------

FMP24 v2.11

Support for AM demodulation has been added.

Use the D key to switch between AM and FM demodulation modes.

Squelch logic has been added.

Use -q1 on the command line to enable squelch.

Press Q to enable/disable squelch.

Squelch sensitivity levels are fixed:

Manual tuning: uses loose squelch / will unmute on weak noisy signals

Scanning: uses tighter squelch / will not unmute on weak signals

New FMP24.ScanList file options:

"AM" or "FM" can be used as the "protocol type" for analog channels.

"BW=<num>" can be used to select a specific RF bandwidth filter. Units are kHz.

"DELAY=<num>" can be used to specify a "wait for a reply" delay period. Units are seconds.

Examples:

118.3 AM BW=12.5 DELAY=2 Miami Tower

145.17 DMR DELAY=1.5 N2GKG

When scanning analog or digital channels, squelch logic is automatically enabled

When scanning analog channels, noise filter #1 is automatically selected

When scanning digital channels, noise filtering is disabled

When scanning only analog channels, DSD+ is not required; audio output can be routed
directly to your speakers or to a streaming application via a software-based audio cable.
If FMP24's audio output is routed to DSD+, select raw source audio monitoring mode #1
(monitor/unmute if a signal is present but no sync detected) in DSD+.

When scanning only digital voice channels, FMP24 should be TCP linked to DSD+.

When scanning a mix of analog and digital voice channels, FMP24 should be TCP linked to DSD+
and raw source audio monitoring mode #1 should be selected in DSD+.


DSD+ 1.114 New Features
-----------------------

DSD+: Added raw source audio monitoring modes

The -m<num> command line option and the M/m active keys select one of the five
available monitoring modes:

0: never monitor

disables raw source audio monitoring

1: monitor if no sync and a signal is present (**)

enables monitoring if DSD+ is not detecting known sync patterns
AND noise content is low enough to indicate the presence of a signal

2: monitor if no sync

enables monitoring if DSD+ is not detecting known sync patterns

3: monitor if no voice

enables monitoring if DSD+ is not processing voice frames

4: always monitor

enables full time raw source audio monitoring

** Mode 1 requires a true flat audio source.
If the signal is filtered, mode 1 will always unmute the raw audio.
Narrow RF bandpass filters will also not work well with mode 1.
Use 9 to 12 kHz bandpass filtering for best mode 1 operation.

Mode 1 has been tested with the newest versions of FMP, FMP24 and FMPA.

Mode 1 should also work with other SDR programs and with discriminator taps,
but no testing has been performed with these sources.

 

[dave3825]

Isn't all of this covered in the change log?

BTW, I see two examples of scan list entries. Yours (old and new) don't look like them.

I got those from the fmp.txt file,shown below starting with scanning, not DSD+ 2.18 New Features. I must have missed that. I have not played with the scanner feature in a while.
This is where I got the 2 formats.

scanning

FMP can (slowly) scan frequencies

a frequency list, one frequency per line, should be placed in a file
named FMP.ScanList . he format of each line is: frequency mode description
example:

450.1250 TIII Acme Radio



And this, and even tho it's for the csv file, I used the format in the FMP24.ScanList file and it scans, stays on freq when there is activity, and resumes scanning when the transmission is over.

FMP Frequency Lists


Every time FMP is retuned, FMP will search the CSV files specified in FMP.cfg
for matching in-range frequency records. The CSV files can be created from
government data sources or Internet sites.

Each line in the files holds one TX frequency record or a record for
a TX/RX frequency pair. Each line contains eight fields. Text fields must
use enclosing quote characters. Fields must be separated by a comma and
a space.

Example data:

; TXfreq, RXfreq, Licensee, Location, Latitude, Longitude, first emission mode, second emission mode

461.1625, 466.1625, "example licensee", "example location", 35.1028, -80.9420, "16K0F3E", ""


So what you posted from the change log I will read later and try that out. I definitely missed that. But what's meant for a FMP.ScanList.csv seems to work in the FMP24.ScanList file. My csv file is empty and it is definitely scanning the 20 P25 freqs I added to FMP24.scanlist.

 

[slicerwizard]

a frequency list, one frequency per line, should be placed in a file
named FMP.ScanList . he format of each line is: frequency mode description

You had frequency(comma) mode(comma) description(comma)

When I try that, FMP24 seems to treat every channel as an analog entry and just uses squelch logic, so it gets hung up on digital channels that are carrying data. I also suspect that it's applying noise filters when it shouldn't be. It definitely doesn't apply the correct bandwidth filters.

And this, and even tho it's for the csv file, I used the format in the FMP24.ScanList file and it scans, stays on freq when there is activity, and resumes scanning when the transmission is over.

I would guess that it's doing the same as above. Try adding an active P25 control channel to your scan list; if FMP24 gets hung up, it doesn't know it's dealing with a digital channel.