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Tim K.
Tim K.
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I was surprised to see that it does not decode D-STAR. Granted, it's an older version of AMBE, but still surprising because I would have expected that newer versions would be downward compatible or, at the very least, would be similar enough to the older version to allow for it to work with some tweaking.
Especially irritating because D-STAR is supposed to be "Open"
I'd be curious as to what other systems use what sub-varieties of AMBE.
As for hams adopting something else, I would not hold my breath on that. D-star has gotten a reasonable base of users now and part of the attraction is that it's already out there. A great mode does you no good of nobody else uses it. Also, Icom makes some descent equipment that has D-star implemented off the shelf.
Is there any hope of cracking D-star or is the flavor of AMBE used just too far from what is supported to be worth working on?
CrazyCalifornian
Member
Take a look here:
dstar_development : D-Star Development
Check out the file section in the folder G4KLX...
After lots of tinkering, I've finally got DSD working on a TRBO system. Seems pretty much everyone around me is using privacy but tonight I tried it on the local public works guys (who just switched to TRBO) and I'm decoding them very well using an old IBM thinkpad laptop (P4 1.8ghz I believe) running PCLinuxOS. Keep up the great work!
No, DSD does not show that info.... however DMRDecode does.
As far as audio from Capacity Plus systems... yes.... but it can be difficult to follow the conversation on a busy system. Just like the old days of trying to scan a trunked system with a conventional scanner.
LesWurk
Member
[
As far as audio from Capacity Plus systems... yes.... but it can be difficult to follow the conversation on a busy system. Just like the old days of trying to scan a trunked system with a conventional scanner.[/QUOTE]
If you have 3 or 4 TRBO channels can you scan a still decode audio with DSD or does it have to sit on a channel to sync?
As far as audio from Capacity Plus systems... yes.... but it can be difficult to follow the conversation on a busy system. Just like the old days of trying to scan a trunked system with a conventional scanner.[/QUOTE]
If you have 3 or 4 TRBO channels can you scan a still decode audio with DSD or does it have to sit on a channel to sync?
I am so close to getting DSD 1.3 to recognize recorded files from my PSR800.
I suppose I should update to 1.4, but I haven't used the program in ages. Having this scanner with, supposedly, a discriminator tap built-in, drove me to give it a shot again.
I haven't done any "live" monitoring yet. I recorded a bunch of what I thought was MotoTRBO signals last night, on the presumption that playback through the scanner with the "IF output" function enabled would make things behave exactly like they would "live". So far, that's proven to not be the case. I can't get the program to recognize input from the scanner at all - as if the scanner is not outputting to the earphone jack during playback. What I did get to work was exporting the recorded .AU files to my PC, then playing them into my Linux netbook (with DSD on it) using a patch cord. Volume on the playback machine is about 33% and input volume on the Linux netbook is 100% (no boost).
I'm going to post one of the .AU files - the one that gave me the best response so far - and would like to know if anyone else can get anything out of it. I can "almost" hear the conversation going on, as if it's SSB or badly distorted. I guess what I'm looking for is confirmation on whether or not this (and by extension all other files the PSR800 writes) is a "discriminator tap quality" recording, and thus I just have to tweak my audio settings somehow, or if this is not tap quality audio (and thus the PSR800 does not record in that format)?
Here's what I think I can hear from the audio:
"Okay, turning it on"
"It's trying to move, but it's struggling. I'll switch it off again. Do you have another overload?"
"Did you turn it off?"
"Yeah, it's off"
"Did you turn it off right?"
"Yes I turned it off. Did you want me to turn it on again and try again?"
"Yes, try again. (garbled) in less than two seconds switch it off again. (garbled) couple seconds or three or four seconds, maybe not more. Maybe five."
"Ok, turning it on."
I just remembered the option to write to a wav file in DSD - I'll make one of those and attach it as well.
The files are too big for attachments (~500kb each).
TRBO as recorded on the PSR800: http://jay911.org/radio/20110317-225829.zip
What DSD came up with: http://jay911.org/radio/trbo.wav
I suppose I should update to 1.4, but I haven't used the program in ages. Having this scanner with, supposedly, a discriminator tap built-in, drove me to give it a shot again.
I haven't done any "live" monitoring yet. I recorded a bunch of what I thought was MotoTRBO signals last night, on the presumption that playback through the scanner with the "IF output" function enabled would make things behave exactly like they would "live". So far, that's proven to not be the case. I can't get the program to recognize input from the scanner at all - as if the scanner is not outputting to the earphone jack during playback. What I did get to work was exporting the recorded .AU files to my PC, then playing them into my Linux netbook (with DSD on it) using a patch cord. Volume on the playback machine is about 33% and input volume on the Linux netbook is 100% (no boost).
I'm going to post one of the .AU files - the one that gave me the best response so far - and would like to know if anyone else can get anything out of it. I can "almost" hear the conversation going on, as if it's SSB or badly distorted. I guess what I'm looking for is confirmation on whether or not this (and by extension all other files the PSR800 writes) is a "discriminator tap quality" recording, and thus I just have to tweak my audio settings somehow, or if this is not tap quality audio (and thus the PSR800 does not record in that format)?
Here's what I think I can hear from the audio:
"Okay, turning it on"
"It's trying to move, but it's struggling. I'll switch it off again. Do you have another overload?"
"Did you turn it off?"
"Yeah, it's off"
"Did you turn it off right?"
"Yes I turned it off. Did you want me to turn it on again and try again?"
"Yes, try again. (garbled) in less than two seconds switch it off again. (garbled) couple seconds or three or four seconds, maybe not more. Maybe five."
"Ok, turning it on."
I just remembered the option to write to a wav file in DSD - I'll make one of those and attach it as well.
The files are too big for attachments (~500kb each).
TRBO as recorded on the PSR800: http://jay911.org/radio/20110317-225829.zip
What DSD came up with: http://jay911.org/radio/trbo.wav
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Ok, I installed 1.4.1 and mbelib 1.2.3, and turned my sound down so that it was giving 40-50% inlvl instead of 99%, and got a dramatic improvement on the decode of the above recorded file for TRBO. It's still somewhat difficult to understand, but I think a lot of that has to do with the fact it's digital.
I even got it to do P25 audio from my XTS3K handheld to a GRE PSR-800's earphone output. The audio sounded best in that regard with inlvl around 33% (IF volume set at 11 on the scanner), but it wasn't crystal-clear and did drop syllables as I was talking.
The PSR-800 is confusing me. It seems that if you record a signal, when you play it back, the IF (discriminator) output isn't piped thru the headphone jack. If you put a "live" signal thru the headphone jack, it sends IF, but it doesn't record the signal internally. I talked for about 15 seconds in P25 mode on my radio, and the scanner recorded the audio when I had the cable not connected to the headphone jack - but when I did have it plugged in, all it recorded was "open mic" air (no audio) for a second or two.
And if I play back the files as recorded on the memory card, using a computer (having transferred them there from the PSR-800), they play well in DSD (using a patch cable from the playing computer to the DSD computer).
I even got it to do P25 audio from my XTS3K handheld to a GRE PSR-800's earphone output. The audio sounded best in that regard with inlvl around 33% (IF volume set at 11 on the scanner), but it wasn't crystal-clear and did drop syllables as I was talking.
The PSR-800 is confusing me. It seems that if you record a signal, when you play it back, the IF (discriminator) output isn't piped thru the headphone jack. If you put a "live" signal thru the headphone jack, it sends IF, but it doesn't record the signal internally. I talked for about 15 seconds in P25 mode on my radio, and the scanner recorded the audio when I had the cable not connected to the headphone jack - but when I did have it plugged in, all it recorded was "open mic" air (no audio) for a second or two.
And if I play back the files as recorded on the memory card, using a computer (having transferred them there from the PSR-800), they play well in DSD (using a patch cable from the playing computer to the DSD computer).
I very much suspect that the 800's recording function is done AFTER the processed audio preamplifier output (either from a separate dedicated preamplifier or using a second output from the earphone or speaker preamplifier). The raw discriminator output is likely NOT recorded because most people want the nice demodulated audio recorded for normal usage. It would be nice if GRE could have added the ability to record raw discriminator output with a selectable option (either via front panel or via software) though. For it to do both at the same time would have required double capacity for recorded files and I doubt they did that by default. So, even if you turned off the "auto" demodulation option or forced it to use standard FM in the presence of a known P25 signal what you get recorded using the built-in recording function is still after the audio frequency processed and filtered (deemphasized, limited, etc.) audio preamplifier so is not raw discriminator audio. Therefor, it wouldn't work any better for any other type of digital modulation using the built-in recording feature.
-Mike
D
DaveNF2G
Guest
Like the Home Patrol, the PSR-800 is geared toward people who would not likely know what a discriminator tap is.
It has the advantage of being factory calibrated with a user control of the amplitude as well, which is an enormous advantage to anyone using disc tap dependent software.
mike_s104
Member
Loudoun TDMA Decode - Somewhat
Setup:
Dell GX270 with 2GB RAM and on-board sound
Ubuntu v9.1
Radio Shack PRO-2006
Wilson Electronics 301111 800 Mhz Yagi Antenna mounted about 3' above peek of house
I am receive a good signal on the CC and am able to receive and decode the FDMA traffic on all of my digital scanners. Using DSD I can decode any FDMA (+P25p1) traffic pretty well with a little distortion at times but not bad at all. Worked better after moving the disc. from lin-in to mic in on the PC. When it attempts to decode TDMA traffic, it sounds really bad. Is there anything I can do to help the audio?
To compare, I tried the WVIRP (all FDMA) and it sound great all the time.
I have attached a screen shot of the data stream from DSD and an audio sample.
Not impacting the above issue, but I I ran the audio out from the DSD PC to an audio in on my ProScan PC. Started another ProScan instance and can stream (without data, obviously) to any ProScan client. Should be up again later today after I redo a few things.
Setup:
Dell GX270 with 2GB RAM and on-board sound
Ubuntu v9.1
Radio Shack PRO-2006
Wilson Electronics 301111 800 Mhz Yagi Antenna mounted about 3' above peek of house
I am receive a good signal on the CC and am able to receive and decode the FDMA traffic on all of my digital scanners. Using DSD I can decode any FDMA (+P25p1) traffic pretty well with a little distortion at times but not bad at all. Worked better after moving the disc. from lin-in to mic in on the PC. When it attempts to decode TDMA traffic, it sounds really bad. Is there anything I can do to help the audio?
To compare, I tried the WVIRP (all FDMA) and it sound great all the time.
I have attached a screen shot of the data stream from DSD and an audio sample.
Not impacting the above issue, but I I ran the audio out from the DSD PC to an audio in on my ProScan PC. Started another ProScan instance and can stream (without data, obviously) to any ProScan client. Should be up again later today after I redo a few things.
mike_s104
Member
I went back and checked how I had modded the PRO-2006 (modded it over 10 years ago). I did have a resistor (didn't read the value) so I added a capacitor. I didn't have a 2.2nF but I found a 1.0nF. I adjusted the input levels, now FDMA is a lot clearer but the TDMA is just as bad (but clearer though).
Any ideas?
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smason
Member
I'm new to DSD, not sure why I'm just finding out about it now....
I'm no stranger to Linux, but mostly server stuff, so not used to dealing with sound, which under Linux, can be a big PITA.
Trying Centos 5.5 right now with discriminator output from a Pro-2006 and not having much luck.
Any plans on supporting com port input from a data slicer? Might make life a bit easier for those of us who have 'em.
I'm no stranger to Linux, but mostly server stuff, so not used to dealing with sound, which under Linux, can be a big PITA.
Trying Centos 5.5 right now with discriminator output from a Pro-2006 and not having much luck.
Any plans on supporting com port input from a data slicer? Might make life a bit easier for those of us who have 'em.
It would only work with ProVoice. The other waveforms aren't compatible with a slicer (2 or 4 level).
I'm not aware if any Linux apps supporting a slicer.
smason
Member
Thanks. I've been out of the game for a bit. Last time I used my slicer was for Pocsag.
Has any thought been given to using DSD as a basis for hams and other experimenters to build their own P25 repeaters?
It already decodes C4FM, and error corrects, so if it was possible to take this a pipe it back out a sound card (without passing it to mbelib) to a transmitter in theory you could build a P25 repeater using a computer a a couple sound cards.
I'd love to see this.
It already decodes C4FM, and error corrects, so if it was possible to take this a pipe it back out a sound card (without passing it to mbelib) to a transmitter in theory you could build a P25 repeater using a computer a a couple sound cards.
I'd love to see this.
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