Need Help With SDR Setup Please

[mtindor]

Well i tried to set it up so that i dont have to hear the cc but when i change it to line 1 it decodes nothing.
I make my changes then stop and start both dongles.

Screenshot by Lightshot no sync no audio, cc is good.

Screenshot by Lightshot works here but i can hear a slight hashyness to the dead air between transmits.

Screenshot by Lightshot I was trying to do just what you said to do to kill the cc audio. I cant seem to get it to work with any other configuration.

I cant receive anything on the cc unless i use auto gain. Makes no difference on the vc though. Seems to be decoding the digital audio and passing it.

I may not be hearing the cc after all, it might be some rf bleed through from my massive amount of networking gear that's nearby.

Ok on AutoGain. If AutoGain works for you, leave it enabled

As far as the second screenshot (where you have settings that work, other than hearing some hash between transmissions) -- is there any particular reason why you have a checkmark next to "Listen to this Device" in your Line 2 properties? Other than for testing [and you want to hear the actual raw audio], you don't want to have that checkmarked.

mike

 

[DXJR]

Thank you all for your help! Its much appreciated.

 

[DXJR]

Ok on AutoGain. If AutoGain works for you, leave it enabled

As far as the second screenshot (where you have settings that work, other than hearing some hash between transmissions) -- is there any particular reason why you have a checkmark next to "Listen to this Device" in your Line 2 properties? Other than for testing [and you want to hear the actual raw audio], you don't want to have that checkmarked.

mike

Ahhh Haaaaaa. Mike your my hero.

I have determined that i am still off freq a bit. The closer stations come through fine, the ones farther away get a bit distorted.It also drops the decode once and a while on the garbled stations.

I will shut down later on and find out how far off i am. Cant be but a few ppm off. Don't worry though, ill do it with warmed chips to get the best stability.

Thanks again
Shane

 

[mtindor]

Ahhh Haaaaaa. Mike your my hero.

I have determined that i am still off freq a bit. The closer stations come through fine, the ones farther away get a bit distorted.It also drops the decode once and a while on the garbled stations.

I will shut down later on and find out how far off i am. Cant be but a few ppm off. Don't worry though, ill do it with warmed chips to get the best stability.

Thanks again
Shane

Shane,

Glad you got it going. The issue of being off frequency can be a pain. In some cases it may not even be possible to get absolutely "on" frequency. Rick (Unitrunker) has already mentioned the proper way to ensure you are on frequency -- by using SDRSharp first to get things set up.

Open SDR# up and attach to a dongle [of curse UT will have to be closed when you do this]. Start the DSP. Let it sit for maybe five minutes.

Then go to a couple known active frequencies (like control channels). Type in the frequency in the VFO. You'll then see the signal nearby the line drawn by the VFO, but probably not absolutely accurate. Keep the VFO on the control channel frequency and then use the Frequency Correction section in SDR# to set the PPM to a value that makes the center of the signal line up with the line drawn by the vfo setting.

Do that for both dongles. Remember the figures, especially if they are different for each dongle. [probably a good time to use a sharpy to make a note on a dongle as to what its particular ppm correction is]. You'll use those same exact correction values in UT.

With SDR# you have the eye candy to allow you to see where your signal is versus where the VFO is tuned to, and to watch it change as you increase/decrease PPM. So that's the most sensible way to do it. That should allow you to be as accurate as you can possibly be with regard to the PPM correction.

Mike

 

[DXJR]

Mike,

That's the same way i had to adjust my nano before. Damn thing would get so hot it would drift way off.

I got a plan for these dongles and it includes 24/7 usage streaming to a website of mine. I did a brief into to SDR# on my site and would like to add this to it in a tutorial.

With such heavy usage i plan on oil cooling these dongles to keep them stable.

Looks like i am getting a RR premium account after all.

Shane

 

[mtindor]

Mike,

That's the same way i had to adjust my nano before. Damn thing would get so hot it would drift way off.

I got a plan for these dongles and it includes 24/7 usage streaming to a website of mine. I did a brief into to SDR# on my site and would like to add this to it in a tutorial.

With such heavy usage i plan on oil cooling these dongles to keep them stable.

Looks like i am getting a RR premium account after all.

Shane

Shane,

Funny you should bring that up about those Nanos. Those do get hotter than hades. It's even worse if you plug them into a powered USB hub. i was worried they would melt or be a fire hazard if left alone overnight. Not quite as bad just plugged into a regular computer USB port, but still way hotter than any device I've ever plugged in.

And yeah, the drift is crazy when that happens. It's not a matter of just waiting for it to heat up, if you power it off of a USB hub its impossible to regular correction because the heat isn't regulated.

I'll be interested to know how the oil-cooling turns out.

Mike

 

[W5BFF]

Funny you should bring that up about those Nanos. Those do get hotter than hades...

If I'd known that about them, I would've ordered one of the "bigger" thumb drives. Mine came in the mail yesterday, and I plugged it in. About an hour later, I reached for my mouse, and WOW! The heat coming off that thing was a little bit of a shocker!

I had planned on 24/7 use for mine, as well, but now I'm a little nervous about it...

...of course, the P25 decode with DSD+ isn't working as easily as I thought it would. I still have some more heat that needs to come out of this thing (mostly trying to figure out audio routing with the virtual cables and such)

 

[RonnieUSA]

If I'd known that about them, I would've ordered one of the "bigger" thumb drives. Mine came in the mail yesterday, and I plugged it in. About an hour later, I reached for my mouse, and WOW! The heat coming off that thing was a little bit of a shocker!

I had planned on 24/7 use for mine, as well, but now I'm a little nervous about it...

...of course, the P25 decode with DSD+ isn't working as easily as I thought it would. I still have some more heat that needs to come out of this thing (mostly trying to figure out audio routing with the virtual cables and such)

I use a Air King 6" fan blowing across my dongle, and it is very cool to touch, plus the laptop is also running cooler, also it dropped my PPM by 6 points from 24 to 18, and now I have no drift. This has not changed for 3 weeks now, and it runs 24/7.

 

[DXJR]

The bigger dongles that im using have no cases on them. I toyed with the idea of heat sinks on the chips. I'm not sure if i will go that route or the oil cooling.

I didn't however get my ppm set right now. Its about as on as it can be. cc is 5ppm vc is 10ppm

Audio quality is pretty top notch now. I'm thoroughly impresses with this setup. Now i just need a few more dongles to trunk other systems at the same time.

Why do i have to be such an rf addict

 

[chekoz77]

Glad you got it going! I was hoping people alot smarter than me would chime in.

I also found out I have been doing it wrong all along. So, great thread!

 

[W5BFF]

I would also recommend VB-Virtual Audio cables instead of VAC - links here VB-Audio Virtual Apps and (after donation) here VB-Audio Virtual Cables.

Why the recommendation? Is it easier to configure, or does it perform better??

I know my redneck internet service isn't the best, but the download for the VB-VAC keeps timing out on me.... and I don't think it's entirely on my end.

I'm not trunking, I'm just trying to decode P25 on a conventional VHF frequency...

 

[DXJR]

In case anyone is interested in how it turned out, here it is.
https://streamup.com/SDR_Streaming

This is the temporary page for my streaming project with SDR.

 

[RonnieUSA]

Sounds Good.
Glad You got it going.

 

[W5BFF]

I would also recommend VB-Virtual Audio cables instead of VAC - links here VB-Audio Virtual Apps and (after donation) here VB-Audio Virtual Cables.

Why the recommendation? Is it easier to configure, or does it perform better??

I know my redneck internet service isn't the best, but the download for the VB-VAC keeps timing out on me.... and I don't think it's entirely on my end.

I'm not trunking, I'm just trying to decode P25 on a conventional VHF frequency...

*** UPDATE ***

ERMAHGERD!!!! I finally got the files downloaded and installed, and WOW! What a difference!

So, I'm following most of the steps from google site link I posted earlier. The exceptions are I'm not running UniTracker, as I'm not tracking a trunking system, AND, I replaced the VAC package they recommended with the VB Virtual Audio packages as linked here.

I'm successfully monitoring and decoding P25 packets, now!

I still have a bit to do before I'd consider this "production quality" for streaming to Broadcastify... I don't know if it's the PC, soundcard, or what, but the best audio sample rates I could get is 0.25 sbps (?)., and that seems to cause some confusion for SDS+ on the intial packets received. I just may have to put it on a beefier system? It seems it's gonna be easy to route the audio output from SDS to the ScannerCast software package once I get it all cleaned up.

But for now, I'm gonna have a drink and be tickled to no end that I just accomplished with a $20 USB dongle what others are spending hundreds on a fancy digital scanner!

 

[N7CTF]

I noticed one thing.. you have the "Correct IQ" box unmarked.
Here's a screenshot and might be big because I've got two monitor.:
http://www.sunlitedreams.com/FilesStuff/ScreenshotA.jpg

Notice how my Unitrunker screens are different. I got this info from :
trunking police scannerTylerwatt12.com | Tylerwatt12.com and I watched the video that's on that page. Difficult job watching that vid and making changes..etc. Wow!

He also makes some changes in the config file for sample rate.

Scott

 

[DaveNF2G]

If you are using Unitrunker version above 30, then you don't need SDRSharp at all. UT can handle the SDR signal receiver directly.

 

[N7CTF]

Thanks Dave.

Now if I could figure out how to scan the control chans to hit more than this one that I've been listening to.

Scott

 

[reconrider8]

*** UPDATE ***

ERMAHGERD!!!! I finally got the files downloaded and installed, and WOW! What a difference!

So, I'm following most of the steps from google site link I posted earlier. The exceptions are I'm not running UniTracker, as I'm not tracking a trunking system, AND, I replaced the VAC package they recommended with the VB Virtual Audio packages as linked here.

I'm successfully monitoring and decoding P25 packets, now!

I still have a bit to do before I'd consider this "production quality" for streaming to Broadcastify... I don't know if it's the PC, soundcard, or what, but the best audio sample rates I could get is 0.25 sbps (?)., and that seems to cause some confusion for SDS+ on the intial packets received. I just may have to put it on a beefier system? It seems it's gonna be easy to route the audio output from SDS to the ScannerCast software package once I get it all cleaned up.

But for now, I'm gonna have a drink and be tickled to no end that I just accomplished with a $20 USB dongle what others are spending hundreds on a fancy digital scanner!

i run mine through a program called radiofeed then into shoutcast. but as far as that is the only trouble i have is the audio will be very low at first then it will get louder and louder. im not sure exactly what this is quite yet tho but other then that and the short TX in which dsd doesnt have time to decode its a beast setup

 

[mtindor]

Thanks Dave.

Now if I could figure out how to scan the control chans to hit more than this one that I've been listening to.

Scott

You don't want to "scan" control channels in UT, as that would likely end up corrupting data that UT stores. But if you want to monitor a different trunked system using the same setup, just change your parked frequency on the control receiver to that of another trunked system [assuming it's a trunked system that UT supports].

Mike