DSDPlus How to use radio priorities in DSDPlus to lock out or allow individual radios.

[M105]

I am monitoring a NXDN48 trunked system. In one of the talk groups the dispatch transmits in the clear, but all mobiles are encrypted. I needed a way to allow DSDPlus to follow the dispatch radio but ignore the others in the group. I have seen other people asking for similar solutions on the forum so I thought I would write up and share my solution to the problem.

(1.) Use a 2-dongle setup. This should work in a single dongle setup but apparently there is a bug which mutes the audio. The device tunes to the transmission and follows it, but no audio is heard.
(2.) In the CC Event/Control window set the monitoring threshold to 49.
(3.) In the CC Event/Control window set Control -> Call Priorities to: Group Voice Calls Incl Radio Priority.
(4.) In the VC Event/Control window leave the VC monitoring threshold set to 100 (Default).

In DSDPlus the default priority for new groups and radios is 50. So, with the settings above all groups and radios by default will not be followed. The rules below will tell you how to enable what you want to hear.

If you want to follow an entire group: In the DSDPlus.groups file set the group's priority to 48.
If you want to follow only certain radios in a group: Leave the group priority at 50 in the DSDPlus.groups file. Open the DSDPlus.radios file and set the priority of all radios in the group that you want to hear to 48.

In a nutshell: With this setup the group priority carries the most weight. If it is set to below the monitoring threshold, all radios in the group will be followed no matter where their priorities are set. If the group priority is above the monitoring threshold, the radio priority comes into play and if it is below the monitoring threshold it will be followed. Note that new groups or radios that are found will be added to your files with a priority of 50 and not followed. You might need to occasionally check your group and radio files for new things that you may want to hear.

If the DSDPlus developer is reading this, please look into the bug which mutes the audio on a single dongle setup. When it switches to producing voice the priority needs to be ignored.

 

[M105]

I applaud the DSDPlus author(s) for adding the new priorities however the mute bug remains when using a single dongle setup.

TEST SETUP:
1. Set monitoring threshold to 49
2. Set group priority to 50
3. Set all radio priorities in that group at 50 except for the one you want to hear. Set it to 49 or less. I used 48.
4. Set control to use higher of group/radio priorities.

This works in that it follows the radio set at 48 but it still mutes the audio. I think it is still using the group priority to determine when to mute the audio. Set up as shown above, the program shouldn't mute any radio with less than the monitoring threshold regardless of the group priority setting.

 

[DaveNF2G]

I don't know why people persist in trunktracking with a single dongle. They miss a lot of what is going on.

 

[M105]

I don't know why people persist in trunktracking with a single dongle. They miss a lot of what is going on.

I am monitoring multiple systems simultaneously. I used to use one VC with 2 CC copies feeding it but there is another quirk in DSDPlus that stopped that from working reliably several versions ago (2p347). The tuned-traffic file isn't being written for whatever reason.

The single dongle setup works fine for me on the P25, NXDN, and TIII systems I monitor. I just hope the mute bug I mention gets fixed so I can get the one unencrypted dispatch radio to talk while not following the encrypted mobile units.

 

[M105]

Still hoping the single dongle muting bug will be fixed. Tried the new version 523 today but no joy.

 

[DaveNF2G]

It would work a lot better if your dongle just stayed on the control channel at all times.

 

[M105]

If you read the original post you will see that I am having to run it that way Dave. What I am trying to do is get a known bug fixed so myself and others can run single dongles if we like. I joined the forum in 2005 and have been running DSDPlus FL since its introduction. I know you are trying to be helpful but ... Thank you.

 

[cg]

I don't know why people persist in trunktracking with a single dongle. They miss a lot of what is going on.

I don't have enough antenna ports to add the 16 second SDRs that would be required to run a second one on each instance.

 

[DaveNF2G]

That's what multicouplers are for.