Noob help

[rfortin]

Hello to you all,

I have recently started into SDR. I have a new Dell computer that I am using with 2 Rtl sdr dongles, and I have a discone antenna with a splitter. My question is: Is there a walk though on how to set it up properly. I want to monitor trucked EDACS systems.

 

[78turbo]

I think your best bet may be to use UniTrunker. I have done well with it for monitoring several different trunked systems. It is not really hard to set up. I will try to help the best I can if you would like.

 

[reconrider8]

i second unitrunker. awesome ++ piece of software

 

[br0adband]

With RTL sticks there really is no other way to monitor trunked EDACS systems except Unitrunker that I know of - I don't think SDRTrunk can handle EDACS so Unitrunker is the only game in town.

There are tons of threads here about how to set up Unitrunker to monitor trunked systems - the actual format used for the system (Motorola, EDACS, APCO-P25, etc) may have some very slight differences between them but in general if it's a trunked system then the instructions for getting them working will be roughly the same. Personally I have no experience monitoring EDACS, ever, not even with scanners when I owned them many years ago so I suppose I'm pretty fortunate that every place I've ever lived has used the good old Motorola Type II trunking standards.

I do know that EDACS will require a bit more effort because of the LCN aspects (as I recall reading mention of it with Unitrunker) so I'm sure this will be a learning experience for sure.

One tip: if it doesn't work the first, second, or even the third time don't give up - just keep at it and sooner or later it'll all fall into place and before you know it you'll be monitoring pretty easily.

 

[pinkfish457]

EDACS Setup

I have an EDACS96 system here in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana. Attached are three screen shots, INFO, VCO1 & VCO2. Including the DSD+ batch file. You may have an EDACS48 system. Keep the X checked for both just in case.

I use SDR# to find the control channel. Go to RR database and check your system control channels. They should be in red, (primary) or blue (secondary). Plug them into SDR# and see which one gives you a solid stream, not broken.

When you find the working control channel, close SDR#, and plug that frequency into Unitrunker VCO1 PARK line. Run Unitrunker, you should see your system appear with an error message, "looking for frequencies". Click the wagon wheel at the top, log onto RR database. It should download the frequencies for you.

Click on VCO2 and copy the info I have, it may not be correct, but it will get you started. I use the default VA cable so DSD+ can run in default mode.

Click on the start button and you should see the screen popup with call history stream.

Start DSD+ and you should begin decoding. You may need to tweek the settings, but this will get you started.

Here is the DSD+ EDACS settings I use:

dsdplus.exe -fp -O NUL -dr0 -dh0 ---

Good Luck--pinkfish457

 

[cg]

Probably should be noted that DSDPlus is needed only when ProVoice digital voice is used on the EDACS system. If it is all analog, you need only UniTrunker.

chris