Just starting to look into this. Will it do P25 II systems?
RTL-SDR
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AB5ID
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Yes, OP25 is great!
n5ims
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Just remember that to track a trunking system, you'll probably need two or more sticks, one for the control channel and a second (or more) to handle the talkgroup(s) on a typical trunking system. While a single stick may work on some systems, many spread out over more bandwidth than a single stick will handle at once. The link below explains things much better than I could ever do.
trunking
www.rtl-sdr.com
AB5ID
Member
With OP25 you'll only need one dongle to follow a P25 phase 1 or 2 trunk system. I'd recommend a dongle with a TCXO
Absolutely +1 on that the cost isn't much more and it sure beats monkeying around with trying to align the SDR to the proper frequency as it warms up.
I did purchase this device a while back but had no outside antenna. I now have an outside antenna and It has been a while I did start up on this device. I use SDR Consol 3.0.14. The program starts up properly as it does recognize my device. I just get no signal. Help me get get my device back up.
Thanks
Thanks
Start by trying to receive a local FM station. In urban/suburban areas they should be good and strong and receivable without too much effort or changes to settings. Once you confirm that you can receive those, you can move on to more challenging sources. SDR# would be a good program to start with.
I have no signals every place I go. It has to be my start up as I must forget to do something.
n5ims
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Did you adjust the RF Gain settings? They default to zero so only the strongest of the strong signals can be received. By setting this to a more reasonable value you should start getting signals. Below (the blue box) is a link to the RTL-SDR web site's Quick Start Guide. Below that is a quote from that article on adjusting the RF Gain settings.
Quick Start Guide
This page is a guide aimed at helping anyone set up a cheap radio scanner based on the RTL-SDR software defined radio as fast as possible on a Windows system. If you have any trouble during the installation, please see the troubleshooting guide further down the page. We also have brief...
www.rtl-sdr.com
Ubbe
Member
When the program are first installed you have to choose the radio reciever so click on the Home folder and Select Radio and select the RTL-SDR and a 2.048 bandwitdh and then click on Start. You have the gain setting there on the Home screen and set that to automatic to start with. Click on the Recieve folder and choose DSP so that a left pane appears where you select the receive frequency and demodulation mode and filter.
Click on BFM and 100KHz filter and select a 100.0MHz frequency. You can scroll the .1 value to step at 100KHz increment and try and find a FM broadcast signal between 88-107MHz. If you do not see any signals you probably have no antenna connection. Try a thin wire or paper clip directly in the antenna connector of the RTL-SDR.
/Ubbe
Yes I know all the settings but as I said there is no signal showing at all. I use an antenna for my other scanners and I also tried the antenna that comes with it.
Ubbe
Member
What OS do you use and do you have a standard local harddrive? Anything else we need to know that are out of the ordinary?
There' one 32bit and another 64bit version of the program.
Do you you get a flat line instead of signals in the spectrum or the signal line are not visible? Do you hear the noise from the audio?
I use a FM trap filter so values are 60dB-80dB lower than normal in the FM broadcast band but spectrum should look something like this:
Follow harveys suggestion of using SDR# as SDR Console seems to be unnessesary complicated compared to SDR#.
You copy the SDR# files to a folder and run zadig to configure the driver to your RTL-SDR dongle. You click on the cogwheel to configure the dongle and then click on the play button.
/Ubbe
There' one 32bit and another 64bit version of the program.
Do you you get a flat line instead of signals in the spectrum or the signal line are not visible? Do you hear the noise from the audio?
I use a FM trap filter so values are 60dB-80dB lower than normal in the FM broadcast band but spectrum should look something like this:
Follow harveys suggestion of using SDR# as SDR Console seems to be unnessesary complicated compared to SDR#.
You copy the SDR# files to a folder and run zadig to configure the driver to your RTL-SDR dongle. You click on the cogwheel to configure the dongle and then click on the play button.
/Ubbe
All is nice but the program says it can not find any RTL-Dongle. Now I wonder if the program is not up to date and missing that Zag or Zog not sure. Happy Holidays
Ubbe
Member
As the SDR Console has its own drivers for that dongle and SDR# creates it with Zadig, I suspect your dongle might not be in working condition?
When you insert the dongle in a USB port, do you get any kind of notification , a dong or a text that says that it is an unknown device?
What operating system are you using?
/Ubbe
When you insert the dongle in a USB port, do you get any kind of notification , a dong or a text that says that it is an unknown device?
What operating system are you using?
/Ubbe
I use Windows 10 and yes when I plug it in I don't the wizard dong. So it sounds like the device is no good. Can you give me the name of a good one that is able to cover 100 khz to 2000 mhz with a low price. under $100
Amazon.com: RTL-SDR Blog R820T2 RTL2832U 1PPM TCXO SMA Software Defined Radio (Dongle Only): Computers & Accessories
Amazon.com: RTL-SDR Blog R820T2 RTL2832U 1PPM TCXO SMA Software Defined Radio (Dongle Only): Computers & Accessories
www.amazon.com
Mine quit receiving anything. I pulled it out of the USB port and put it in a different USB port. Been working great since.
Ubbe
Member
The RTL-SDR you have are good, if it works. Try all USB ports to see if makes any difference. I got the msi.sdr as well that's twice as expensive at $50 but it seems to be a better receiver with less spuriuos and birdies and gets only lukewarm but I don't know what software that supports it, besides SDRUno.
/Ubbe
/Ubbe
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