Best Software For Scanning P25/FM on RTL-SDR

[Chibson]

Hey everyone!

So I recently got back into my SDR and radio hobby and was looking for a good way to scan my local PD/Fire without the need for a dedicated scanner. I had my old RTL-SDR lying around and started researching for ways to scan P25 conventional and NFM using the same software. Some of my local towns use P25 while others use NFM which has made searching for software that can do this very difficult to find. While looking around I came across DSD+ (Fastlane) which I have used in the past and didn't know it had a scanning function. I tried using it but it's really slow compared to what my XTS5000 could do (my unit is UHF only I need to scan VHF). There are lots of other trunking software from what I've seen as well that don't allow me to scan P25 and FM together in the same scan group unfortunately (to my knowledge). I was wondering if anybody here knows of some good software that could do it and have it scan relatively fast so I don't miss any traffic.

Thanks

 

[dave3825]

I use DSDPlus FastLane with the scanner feature and it seems pretty fast. I use it for AM FM and P25 conventional. What are your delay settings and how many freqs do you have in the scan list?

 

[AB9NN]

Hey everyone!

So I recently got back into my SDR and radio hobby and was looking for a good way to scan my local PD/Fire without the need for a dedicated scanner. I had my old RTL-SDR lying around and started researching for ways to scan P25 conventional and NFM using the same software. Some of my local towns use P25 while others use NFM which has made searching for software that can do this very difficult to find. While looking around I came across DSD+ (Fastlane) which I have used in the past and didn't know it had a scanning function. I tried using it but it's really slow compared to what my XTS5000 could do (my unit is UHF only I need to scan VHF). There are lots of other trunking software from what I've seen as well that don't allow me to scan P25 and FM together in the same scan group unfortunately (to my knowledge). I was wondering if anybody here knows of some good software that could do it and have it scan relatively fast so I don't miss any traffic.

Thanks

I just run multiple instances of DSD+ Faslane. One for P25 and two for scan lists. Why 2 scan lists? Twice as fast!

 

[rdmcvicar]

trunk-recorder plus rdio-scanner is pretty awesome. This combination does a great job of not missing any traffic. Some computer power may be necessary (but do-able with used equipment running Linux) to cover a lot of conventional channels using t-r, and more dongles could be needed. What system(s) do you want to monitor (DM if you prefer)? I've got boxes running VHF (both analog and P25 conventional, plus P25 trunked here in Wisconsin), a bit of UHF DMR, as well as 800 and 700 P25 trunked (and some 800 MHz analog conventional) and may be able to show you something close to what you're after.

 

[Chibson]

I use DSDPlus FastLane with the scanner feature and it seems pretty fast. I use it for AM FM and P25 conventional. What are your delay settings and how many freqs do you have in the scan list?

Where can I find the delay settings? Also, I am monitoring about ~20 frequencies with different modulation types (P25 & FM). Southern New Hampshire is where I am scanning from as well.

 

[Chibson]

trunk-recorder plus rdio-scanner is pretty awesome. This combination does a great job of not missing any traffic. Some computer power may be necessary (but do-able with used equipment running Linux) to cover a lot of conventional channels using t-r, and more dongles could be needed. What system(s) do you want to monitor (DM if you prefer)? I've got boxes running VHF (both analog and P25 conventional, plus P25 trunked here in Wisconsin), a bit of UHF DMR, as well as 800 and 700 P25 trunked (and some 800 MHz analog conventional) and may be able to show you something close to what you're after.

Yeah, I took a look and attempted to setup rdio-scanner but never got it to work with Fastlane. Some thorough documentation would be handy for setting it up as it looks like a really clean interface! Computer power isn't an issue at all as I'm going to install whatever software I need on my home server. I wish the systems in my area were trunked as setting that up in Fastlane is a piece of cake! Is it also possible for you to link some instructions on how you set your scanner up, that would be super useful.

 

[dave3825]

Where can I find the delay settings? Also, I am monitoring about ~20 frequencies with different modulation types (P25 & FM). Southern New Hampshire is where I am scanning from as well.

I’m on the road at the moment and not in front of my PC but in the top of the FMP24 scan list file it should give some examples. It should show the delay example in there. It may be listed in the notes.txt also, just open that and use the search feature and search scanlist. If you can’t find it, let me know and I’ll post mine when I get home.

 

[dave3825]

Where can I find the delay settings?

top of the FMP24 scan list file it should give some examples. It should show the delay example in there.

; FMP24 Scan List
; ---------------
;
; Entries in this file are scanned when the 'S' key is pressed in FMP24
;
; Press Esc in FMP24 to exit scanner mode
;
; Lines with leading semicolons are ignored.
; Use a leading semicolon to "lock out" an entry.
; Use a leading semicolon to add comments/documentation.
;
; File processing stops if a line containing "<EOF>" is found.
; Entries after the <EOF> line are not processed.
;
;
; Line format:
;
; frequency options description
;
;
; Frequency is specified in MHz
;
;
; Options:
;
; Modulation Specifier
;
; 4 kHz bandwidth digital protocol specifiers:
;
; iDAS
; NX48
; NXDN48
; NEXEDGE48
;
; 7.6 kHz bandwidth digital protocol specifiers:
;
; Dstar
; D-Star
; DMR
; TRBO
; Cap+
; Con+
; TIII
; XPT
;
; 9.5 kHz bandwidth digital protocol specifiers:
;
; Fusion
; NX96
; NXDN96
; NEXEDGE96
; P25
;
; 12.5 kHz bandwidth digital protocol specifiers:
;
; PV
; ProVoice
;
; Analog modulation specifiers:
;
; AM (AM demodulation for airband)
;
; Anything else, such as "FM" or "Analog" or nothing
; is assumed to be FM modulated analog and defaults to 12.5 kHz bandwidth
;
;
; Bandwidth Specifier
;
; Overrides default bandwidth
;
; Format: BW=<kHz>
;
; Valid bandwidth values are 4, 7.6, 9.5, 12.5 and 22
;
;
; Delay Specifier
;
; Keeps FMP24 on a channel / delays resumption of scanning
; for the specified amount of time after a valid signal ends
;
; Format: DELAY=<seconds>
;
;
; Description
;
; User-supplied channel name/description
;
;
; Sample scan list:
; any entries after <EOF> line are not scanned

118.3 AM BW=12.5 DELAY=2.5 Miami Tower

145.17 DMR DELAY=1.5 N2GKG

162.4 FM WX

454.35 NX48 Acme Inc.

163.8125 P25 BW=12.5 DELAY=5 Feds

<EOF>