DSD+ NXDN Hardware Requirements & Compatiblity

[kd4e]

I'd like to monitor and stream this system: Evans County, Georgia (GA) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

From what I read only DSD+ in a MS version of windows can decode it.

It's somewhat difficult to find specs but I'm thinking I may need something like this for hardware:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09G5TDLNL/
Is that correct?

Should either windows version 10 or 11 be OK?

Anything else I should know, please?

Thanks.

 

[mtindor]

I'd like to monitor and stream this system: Evans County, Georgia (GA) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

From what I read only DSD+ in a MS version of windows can decode it.

It's somewhat difficult to find specs but I'm thinking I may need something like this for hardware:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09G5TDLNL/
Is that correct?

Should either windows version 10 or 11 be OK?

Anything else I should know, please?

Thanks.

i'm not going to talk about any version of DSD except DSDPlus. DSDplus will monitor an NXDN48 / IDAS system.

FCC Callsign WRKC742 (Evans, County of)

FCC Callsign WRKC742 (Evans, County of)

www.radioreference.com

All those FB8 freqs on that license would likely be part of the system. Depending upon whether its NXDN48 Type C or D, there may or may not be a 24/7 control channel. But DSDPlus would monitor this very simply and with a minimal spec computer, as long as its Windows.

You'd have to figure the channel IDs for each of the active channels on the system and configure the DSDPlus.Networks, DSDPlus.Sites, DSDPlus.frequencies file properly to trunk it, but it's definitely doable. Assuming it's online AND assuming its NOT encrypted.

 

[kd4e]

Cool, thanks!

It's not encrypted.

OK re. "minimal spec computer" - that requirement seems to grow with every new MS release.

Does DSD+/Plus have a minimum version of MS windows that it requires? e.g. 7, 10, 11, etc?

Someone else had DSD+/Plus running on it a while back but lost his host site, and someone else had set it up for him - so he couldn't answer my questions.

 

[RaleighGuy]

OK re. "minimal spec computer" - that requirement seems to grow with every new MS release.

Does DSD+/Plus have a minimum version of MS windows that it requires? e.g. 7, 10, 11, etc?

While DSD+ Fast Lane (proper name for what software you would need) may run on Win 7 I would recommend Win 10.

 

[kd4e]

While DSD+ Fast Lane (proper name for what software you would need) may run on Win 7 I would recommend Win 10.

Cool, thanks!

So, this should be fine?

Lenovo ThinkCentre M900 Tiny Desktop, Intel Core i5-6500T, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, Intel HD 530 Graphics, Windows 10 Pro​

 

[RaleighGuy]

Cool, thanks!

So, this should be fine?

Lenovo ThinkCentre M900 Tiny Desktop, Intel Core i5-6500T, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, Intel HD 530 Graphics, Windows 10 Pro​

Yes

 

[kd4e]

What about this? Amazon.com

Bmax B1 Pro Mini PC Fanless Intel N4000(up to 2.6GHz) 8GB LPDDR4 RAM/128GB eMMC Mini Desktop Computer WiFi5 HDMI/VGA Port 4K HD 2.4GHz/5GHz Dual WiFi BT4.2 Micro Pc Mini Computer​

 

[mtindor]

What about this? Amazon.com

Bmax B1 Pro Mini PC Fanless Intel N4000(up to 2.6GHz) 8GB LPDDR4 RAM/128GB eMMC Mini Desktop Computer WiFi5 HDMI/VGA Port 4K HD 2.4GHz/5GHz Dual WiFi BT4.2 Micro Pc Mini Computer​

That's a 2-core celery (Celeron) CPU. It's pretty weak. Should do better than the RPI4 but by no means would I anticipate stellar performance if you were going to use it for anything other than DSDplus. If you want to try one or more large trunked systems with SDRTrunk, or something like that it could potentially become CPU starved, especially if you are using something more than just standard RTL dongles with it.

I'm sure there are many who run a lot on a lot less. But my take is that it's pretty weak sauce. I'd be interested in hearing what others say/think. Don't just go by my word.

 

[dave3825]

One thing to think about, are you only going to use DSDPlus FastLane? Or do you see yourself trying other things like Unitrunker or SdrTrunk down the road? If so, get something that offers more than the minimum DSDPlus requires.

 

[cg]

And to point out what I hope is the obvious, you need a SDR and antenna to receive the radio signals. Depending on how good a signal you have where you are putting the computer, you may or may not need an antenna beyond the typical extension antennas that come with some SDRs.

chris

 

[kd4e]

That's a 2-core celery (Celeron) CPU. It's pretty weak. Should do better than the RPI4 but by no means would I anticipate stellar performance if you were going to use it for anything other than DSDplus. If you want to try one or more large trunked systems with SDRTrunk, or something like that it could potentially become CPU starved, especially if you are using something more than just standard RTL dongles with it.

I'm sure there are many who run a lot on a lot less. But my take is that it's pretty weak sauce. I'd be interested in hearing what others say/think. Don't just go by my word.

Thanks! That's what I needed to know.

 

[kd4e]

The plan would be to dedicate it to a single oddball local system. (Most others are P25 Phase II here.) Thanks.

 

[kd4e]

And to point out what I hope is the obvious, you need a SDR and antenna to receive the radio signals. Depending on how good a signal you have where you are putting the computer, you may or may not need an antenna beyond the typical extension antennas that come with some SDRs.

chris

I feed multiple services our multi-county systems (Broadcastify, OpenMHz, ScannerXtreme, and others), but that's a P25 Phase II system. Another oddball is DMR, for which I have to use SDRTrunk - it will be a third free-standing system.

 

[kd4e]

Is this the correct place to download DSDPlus? Download – DSDPlus

 

[mtindor]

Is this the correct place to download DSDPlus? Download – DSDPlus

It is. But it's the ancient "free" version. If you think you may at all get serious about DSDPlus, you should purchase it -- which you can read about on the site. The free version will work to start out. There is a learning curve so be prepared.

 

[kd4e]

It is. But it's the ancient "free" version. If you think you may at all get serious about DSDPlus, you should purchase it -- which you can read about on the site. The free version will work to start out. There is a learning curve so be prepared.

Is this the site? DSDPlus – Digital Decoder

It's dated 2018.

I looked at FastLane and always try to make a donation to support developers of apps I use - but this is a single purpose single site application of DSDplus. Do I 'need' or even want FastLane - and risk disruptions? I'm good with starting with it then blocking auto updates - if that's more stable. Thanks.

 

[mtindor]

Is this the site? DSDPlus – Digital Decoder

It's dated 2018.

I looked at FastLane and always try to make a donation to support developers of apps I use - but this is a single purpose single site application of DSDplus. Do I 'need' or even want FastLane - and risk disruptions? I'm good with starting with it then blocking auto updates - if that's more stable. Thanks.

You don't have to purchase Fast Lane. You can go with the original. You don't have to worry about blocking updates because the free version has no mechanism for auto-updating anyway. DSDPlus and DSDPlus Fast Lane are from the same author, the only difference is that DSDPlus is free and available for download on the website you mentioned and Fast Lane is obtained by sending coin to the author's Paypal address.

 

[kd4e]

You don't have to purchase Fast Lane. You can go with the original. You don't have to worry about blocking updates because the free version has no mechanism for auto-updating anyway. DSDPlus and DSDPlus Fast Lane are from the same author, the only difference is that DSDPlus is free and available for download on the website you mentioned and Fast Lane is obtained by sending coin to the author's Paypal address.

OK. When I send "coin" to the author's Paypal address he then sends a link to the most current code? (Much newer than 2015 or 2018?) Is it more efficient? More stable? Again, I intend to donate, whichever way we go.

 

[kd4e]

Funds have been posted.

QUESTION: Will Win7 work or only 10 or 11?

 

[mtindor]

Funds have been posted.

QUESTION: Will Win7 work or only 10 or 11?

To answer your question from the previous post, just as stable and efficient (in fact, very efficient), but with more features and more robust support for existing protocols that were in the free version.

It's a Win32 application. I believe it would work on anything from WinXP up. I'm not a programmer, so don't quote me. But certainly there are scads of people on these forums who for whatever reason haven't given up XP or Win7 yet, and I'm pretty sure DSDPlus will run on them. DSDPlus doesn't require anything fancy like .NET libraries or anything like that.