DSDPlus 2.186 FL Channel Activity Help

[DMSSIOWA]

I'm using two dongles and have one system working just fine. I have the same set up for another system with the addition of a gain and bandwidth setting as far as I can tell.

Can anybody see a reason why my channel activity windows (both CC and VC) would not be getting populated at all when calls come through? My groups file also has no WACN where the working system does. I'm not really concerned about the WACN but thought I'd throw that in there in case it's indicative of...something.

Green outline is working, red outline is not working, blue is a complete mystery to me but showed up when running red outline batch file.

 

[slicerwizard]

You've not shown the console, event and raw audio windows, which likely have useful data. Same for the FMP24 spectrum displays.

 

[DMSSIOWA]

I'm not sure what each window is called but here are the rest that are open with the one that's not working correctly. I get some things loud and clear and some are garbled beyond recognition so I probably have an antenna issue, too. Let me know if there are other things you need to see!

I got the one while it was quiet and while there was activity. I also found that the CC Channel Activity window did pop up the active channel when there was somebody talking, but it disappeared as soon as the voice ended and didn't build a list like my 'working' one does. And I'm not entirely sure they always pop up on there, which doesn't make sense but I just watched holding beeps not show up - maybe those weren't long enough to register or something. Absolutely no activity on the VC Channel window ever for anything.

Thanks for looking!

 

[slicerwizard]

You're tuning to a traffic (voice/data) channel, not the control channel.

P25 control channels are constant carriers and when you tune to one, the CC DSD+ channel pane immediately populates with the CC and SCC entries. When it doesn't, it's a dead giveaway that your setup isn't decoding or you're not on a CC.

 

[DMSSIOWA]

Huh. I was wondering about that but that's the frequency in the database and I am picking up different agencies. How am I getting multiple channels without having the control channel right? (Very new and trying to learn how this all works.)

What's the best way to find the correct CC if what I have isn't correct?

 

[slicerwizard]

You weren't getting multiple channels. You were only getting the channel you tuned to (770.04375)

Control channels are easy to find since they're constant signals and make nice spikes in the spectrum display. Just click on any steady spikes in the 769-775 MHz range. If you hit a control channel, CC DSD+ will respond accordingly.

 

[DMSSIOWA]

I've tried several possibilities, but can't seem to pinpoint it. I even went to SDR# and found some strong signals there, but when I put them into DSD+, I get nothing very strong and no sound coming through.

I'm tired and this is making me grumpy, so I'll try again tomorrow. Thanks for helping me! I'm determined to figure this out.

 

[GTR8000]

Looks like you're trying to monitor the Polk County Simulcast of the SARA Network.

Although 770.04375 is flagged as the primary control channel, you need to check the other three frequencies that have been identified as control channel capable, specifically 769.29375, 772.44375, and 773.16875. You'll know as soon as you hit upon it when all of the other frequencies and calls start popping up in DSD+.

Control channels can and sometimes do change on certain systems. Since you're getting voice traffic on 770.04375, that means it's not being used as the active control channel, and so one of those other frequencies is serving as the active control channel.

 

[DMSSIOWA]

I've got the control channel, which was not even marked as a secondary CC in the database but was on the list. Problem now is I can only catch about every 15th word as sounding remotely like English. Lots of garbled noises with some real words sprinkled around. More tweaking/better antenna is probably going to come into play. But I did get to the right CC finally!

Thanks for looking at this and for all the help!

 

[slicerwizard]

I would increase the RF gain.

 

[DMSSIOWA]

I would increase the RF gain.

Ooh! I bumped it up to 30 and I can hear a lot more discernable words! Thank you! Is it possible to go too high, or should I increase it even more? Still some garbled stuff coming through, but it seems to be in the minority now.

 

[EarHoles]

Just mess around with it until it sounds good going into your earholes.

 

[slicerwizard]

Aim for maximum difference between the RF signal and the noise floor.