NBFM pure and constant static

[DamnP]

Hey all. Yes, I am new but I have been googling like crazy. I recently bought an RTL-SDR USB dongle. ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CD7558GT ) and I have it all set up and it is working great. I have my aliases all working and even muting ones I do not wish to hear, but small town Nebraska our Fire dept is analog(NBFM), so I have manually set up a channel for the proper frequency but all I hear is pure static. No combination of additional decoders or channel bandwidth selectable within sdrtrunk is letting me correct the contact static.

I am stuck, and I am hoping you all, with your wealth of knowledge, can direct me to a proper fix. Is it an antenna issue? If so, can I please get a recommendation?

additional info, I reside in the town I want to hear, so I am close to the tower. I am able to hear tons of farther distance digital talkgroups.

 

[Enforcer52]

What version of sdrtrunk are you running, and what is the city/state and frequency of the channel you are trying to listen to.

Have you tried adjusting the squelch in the channel settings tab?

 

[DamnP]

What version of sdrtrunk are you running, and what is the city/state and frequency of the channel you are trying to listen to.

Have you tried adjusting the squelch in the channel settings tab?

sdrtrunk v0.6.1
Cozad,NE and frequency is 154.385, protocol NBFM
the squelch threshold is default set at -78. It only allows me to adjust the second digit. -70 thru -79. It won't let me change any other digit. The Squelch Auto-Track is set on.

 

[mattwillson]

Now Playing -> Channel -> Squelch Adjustment

 

[DamnP]

Now Playing -> Channel -> Squelch Adjustment

oh my goodness, thanks, so ideally it was constant static @-54.9 and I got it to no more static at -52.9. Is that good? Maybe a hair more away from the full static line?

EDIT: I suppose I won't know for sure until tomorrow's radio test, unless I hear something before that.
EDIT #2: How do I save the new squelch setting? Each time the channel stops and restarts (like when saving) it resets back to the default.
I restarted the sdrtrunk and it is saved and working without static upon restart, now we wait.

Thanks for the amazing help, you've all been delightful.

 

[Enforcer52]

I usually set mine about 5 clicks above the full static line, but that's just my preference to cut back on tail end noise.

 

[jeepsandradios]

Also if you uncheck the auto trak you should be able to set a default level. I had to do this on my feed as each channel was different. My feed is not on UPS power yet so when the PC reboots I wanted it to start and feed and not be complete static.

 

[dave3825]

Some info in the SDRT Wiki.

How To: Setup and Use NBFM Squelch​

 

[DamnP]

I'm gonna piggyback on my post due to the same NBFM channel not recording. Am I not able to have it record as a .wav audio file like the P25 does??

 

[dave3825]

I'm gonna piggyback on my post due to the same NBFM channel not recording.

Did you set up aliases on the NBFM channels?

How To: Use Aliases With NBFM Decoder​

Am I not able to have it record as a .wav audio file like the P25 does??

What exactly are you looking to record? Calls or Baseband I/Q? If your just recording calls, you don't need Baseband on.

• Baseband I/Q (.wav) - records the raw channel sample data

If your P25 is saving as wav files, you have the option for wav/mp3 in user preferences.