Long-term integration to detect band activity?

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HB9EVN

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Apr 28, 2020
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Hi everyone,

As I wasn't able to find anything on the topic, but think that this can't be my original idea and thus probably is implemented somewhere, I wanted to ask if anyone can give me a hint.

I'm looking for a software to work with any SDR (but ideally RTL-SDR devices) which can integrate signals over a long period of time, e.g. 24 hours. Like this, band activity should be easily detectable, and I should be able to iddentify active / busy channels. Is there anything anyone is aware of, which is doing this?

Basically goes in the same direction as the 24-hours-pictures on the Uni Twente web SDR server, but ideally reduced to a single dimension, ideally with adjustable thresholds (similar to squelch).

Any hints would are very much appreciated!
 

HB9EVN

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For future reference: I have found a piece of software that seems to be doing exactly what I was looking for: RTLSDR Scanner.
 

thewraith2008

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Nov 22, 2016
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You could look at creating heatmap images. See link below for rtl_gopow for example.

This requires a little manual labor (using the command line) but is done using the RTL Driver package (rtl_power) and rtl_gopow.

In this RTL driver package is a program called rtl_power.exe
This will scan a range of frequencies and generate a CSV file for a defined period of time.

Code:
rtl_power -f 118M:137M:2k -i 10 -e 15m logfile.csv

NOTE: You would also use ppm and gain options, not shown for clarity.
More info here about rtl_power it. (use -h for command line help)

You then generate the heatmap image using rtl_gopow using the CSV from rtl_power.

Code:
gopow -i c:\rtl\logfile.csv -o c:\rtl\heatmap.png


There was a GUI program around called "RTL_POWER_Disp" to view heatmap with the ability to indicate frequency at mouse position.
I can't find link to it. (old one dead)


Hope this is useful.
 

thewraith2008

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Here is another (and easier) alternative: GUI for rtl_power
Shows list of active frequencies + a waterfall heatmap (only partly shown in image at bottom)


ZmRxFh7.png
 

ATCTech

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This combination works extremely well, thanks for the posts!
 
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