Just proved a concept I wanted to try a long time ago - a mobile setup that is comparable to a high-end radio scanner, but which costs much less.
Hardware:
ASUS T100 tablet (runs Windows 10, has quad-core x86 Intel CPU and 2GB RAM)
SDRPlay RSP 1
900 MHz rubber ducky antenna
Software:
DSDplus (not Fast Lane yet)
SDRUno
Virtual Cable
It took me maybe half an hour or less to set up all the software and try it. It works great, decoding DMR no problem (haven't tried other digital modes yet but can't imagine what can go wrong). System load was around 45%
SDRUno is running in 2 MHz bandwidth mode, NFM 15 kHz, deemphasis is obviously turned off (it would affect decoding).
The hardest part is to click the frequency you want to use. I think the most convenient way to use this setup would be to store all the interesting frequencies in a list in the SDRUno and then just click them in the list. I haven't tried this yet, hopefully it can use CSV format from this site.
The total cost of this setup for me was around $250 (I've bought a tablet from Craigslist, there are many used windows tablets there which are reasonably priced). This setup probably can decode more than the most expensive handheld scanner (and is easier to update).
I'm pretty sure RTL-SDR with SDR# would work as well, but as I know this setup would be less power efficient and would use more CPU so I'm not even sure it would work smoothly.
Before this setup I've tried to use ASUS Tinker Board with a RTL-SDR V3 dongle, rtl_fm and DSD, spent a lot of time on it and even though it worked, there was a bunch of problems and it was inconvenient to use.
Please share what worked and what didn't work for you!
Hardware:
ASUS T100 tablet (runs Windows 10, has quad-core x86 Intel CPU and 2GB RAM)
SDRPlay RSP 1
900 MHz rubber ducky antenna
Software:
DSDplus (not Fast Lane yet)
SDRUno
Virtual Cable
It took me maybe half an hour or less to set up all the software and try it. It works great, decoding DMR no problem (haven't tried other digital modes yet but can't imagine what can go wrong). System load was around 45%
SDRUno is running in 2 MHz bandwidth mode, NFM 15 kHz, deemphasis is obviously turned off (it would affect decoding).
The hardest part is to click the frequency you want to use. I think the most convenient way to use this setup would be to store all the interesting frequencies in a list in the SDRUno and then just click them in the list. I haven't tried this yet, hopefully it can use CSV format from this site.
The total cost of this setup for me was around $250 (I've bought a tablet from Craigslist, there are many used windows tablets there which are reasonably priced). This setup probably can decode more than the most expensive handheld scanner (and is easier to update).
I'm pretty sure RTL-SDR with SDR# would work as well, but as I know this setup would be less power efficient and would use more CPU so I'm not even sure it would work smoothly.
Before this setup I've tried to use ASUS Tinker Board with a RTL-SDR V3 dongle, rtl_fm and DSD, spent a lot of time on it and even though it worked, there was a bunch of problems and it was inconvenient to use.
Please share what worked and what didn't work for you!
