RTL SDR V3 PICKING UP NO SIGNAL in SDR++ with Baofeng Antenna

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mat14

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I just purchased a RTL SDR v3 upon inserting it into my PC yesterday & setting it to the dongle in the device settings it will not pick up anything what so ever. I am however using a wide range baofeng antenna which is pretty wide range (JUST TO TEST WITH). I was wondering if someone could could give me some troubleshooting guidance I have added a screen shot of my ++ screen
 

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mat14

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tried to fix this nothing is working still any other ideas
 

MELERIX

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tried to fix this nothing is working still any other ideas

try to make a video about what are you doing with your SDR step by step, that will be the more easy way to see where you are doing the wrong things xD
 

ewijkamp

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I'm guessing... one is a normal SMA and the other is reverse polarity SMA.
Then you're missing the center pin end the outer side is connected and the center has no contact.

Put a small piece of wire in one of them (in stead of that center pin) and try again.
Baofeng antenna has a reversed polarity connecter (guessing...).
 

dave3825

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I'm guessing... one is a normal SMA and the other is reverse polarity SMA.

Put a small piece of wire in one of them (in stead of that center pin) and try again.
Baofeng antenna has a reversed polarity connecter (guessing...).

Huh?



@mat14 If your intended freq was meant to be one of the NOAA weather channels, you can get by using the settings in this pic.
Change your 250 KHz to 2.4MHz.
Set Radio to NFM instead of WFM.

It also looks as if, even tho the play dongle button is selected, it appears the dongle is not starting as there is nothing on the spectrum at all.. Did you use Zadig to install the driver for the dongle?


1693491967380.png
 

rabbit108

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I just purchased a RTL SDR v3 upon inserting it into my PC yesterday & setting it to the dongle in the device settings it will not pick up anything what so ever. I am however using a wide range baofeng antenna which is pretty wide range (JUST TO TEST WITH). I was wondering if someone could could give me some troubleshooting guidance I have added a screen shot of my ++ screen
Some Baofeng antennas have a female SMA connector, and so does the SDR. How are you connecting the antenna to the SDR?
 

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rabbit108

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tried to fix this nothing is working still any other ideas
What does your SDR look like in the Device Manager?

sdrppLatestDevMgr_1.jpg

There were 2 versions available; both worked.

SDRpp Download page_2.jpg
 

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merlin

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First thing I learned was the drivers have to be installed properly. That usually takes an app called ZADIG. and follow instructions carefully.
First time running SDR# a dialog should open showing a few settings. Defaults should work if you have something of a decent antenna connected.
This will show the drivers are installed and working.
You can start with that POS antenna that came with the dongle.
Press the RUN button and enter a frequency for a local FM BC station.
Now your waterfall display should show a couple or few spikes at FM BC frequencies.
This will tell you the setup is at least working.
My Baofeng antenna takes 2 adapters to connect to the dongle and not a very good antenna.
Now toss that garbage antenna that came with the dongle and shop for a decent scanner antenna/coax, and connectors.
The rest is getting your driver configured for optimum performance.
Then setting SDR# for your desired displays and frequency settings.
This is all a hefty learning curve for a novice, but the more you play with it the easier it gets.
Cheers.
 

cg

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Did you by chance purchase it from somewhere other than the RTL-COM site? Does it say RTL.COM? Fakes are out there and they don't work
 

BucksGuyUSA

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The "Getting Started" guide on RTL-SDR Blog is, if you follow the steps EXACTLY, 100% effective in terms of software setup.
 

linanbob

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What software are you using?

Out of the box, Airspy SDR# has the RF gain at zero. Need to bring that up to midpoint or so.
 
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