SDR# SDR# Plug-in: Frequency Scanner updated

[morfis]

Detect value 45 is default for many milair listeners because they want to scan the complete UHF airband as fast as possible. Setting Detect to 45 on an R2 scans the full band is about 1,2 secs. On VHF a higher value can be used because that 's only a small range to scan.

I find that 'many milair monitors' blindly follow what someone else has told them. There's a lot of profit on snake oil in the airband hobby. Of all the milair monitors I've encountered over the past 40 years there only a handful who I'd actually trust to know what they were talking about.

Setting it based on the time to do a scan is not going to help you catch. You will miss signals if the system doesn't have enough time to settle accurately on a frequency. In practice when running two R2s , fed from the same antenna system, with the same search ranges I found a setting below 70 didn't allow me to see any more traffic. I'm sure it's possible to fine tune for each piece of hardware but I've not done the same experiment with other devices. In practice I leave it at 100 as that works well enough and still works well if happen to use a cherap rtl device like the nooelec for a session.
You have to have a balance to allow the signal to settle exactly as you had to do in the old days with Probe and a hardware receiver. I remember people having scan speeds that looked amazing ...but when you saw their logs they were missing half the things that should have been in there.

 

[Magpie]

I'll give 100 a try tomorrow. Biggest speed improvement tmho is to skip the most busy freqs via the frequency manager. That prevents the radio from missing freqs because other freqs is busy all the time. And gives the biggest chance to find new ones.

 

[morfis]

I am not suggest 100 is a magic figure. What is important is for you to spend some time experimenting with your specific system until you get the setup that best suits you. Don't accept what I say is 'the best' as also the 'the best for you'.
(not that I am actually saying what is 'the best'!)

Often you see people asking for lists of frequencies on bulletin boards like Fuchtard Control and then someone will give them a bearcarp file full of stuff...the more freqs the better. The problem then is that if you give me your list it would be mostly useless for me as I'd end up with a scanner full of Dutchmil stuff I won't hear and probably 'banks' set up in a way that isn't intuitive to me. The same seems to happen with settings for specific things. Slaps on the back for the person who shared/told us the 'best settings' and they become an airband expert (and I know you have come across plenty of those in ther many years you have been monitoring).

Again, bear in mind that adding 400 freqs to NOT include in the search will slow the search speed as each has to be recognised to be 'passed'...not as much as stopping on each IF there is a transmission of course.

More difficult to achieve but the best way to improve things is to improve the signal to noise ratio

...and my appologies to those people who weren't expecting a slghtly more personal dialogue within a post about an updated plugin

 

[thewraith2008]

This is a update v1.3.2.0 to the great Frequency Scanner plug-in for SDR#.

This plug-in version adds/changes and fixes some items:

1.3.2.0

Changed: Stored settings entries have been prefixed (fScanner.) to help group them in SDR# '.Config' file.
- This means that you will need to reconfigure the plug-in for this release.

Added: Channel analyser button to quick toggle the zoom type (Z1/Z2)
- Button is located to the right of the 'Remove lockout' button.
- Z1 = Centred zoom.
  Z2 = Cursor position zoom.
- This is the same as using 'Disable focus zoom on active frequency' option in 'Configure'

Changed: Mouse cursor frequency label position.
- Vertical position is now variable depending on mouse position in channel analyser.

Changes: To various channel analyser code
- Moved some parts of the code into relevent sections.
- Trigger and Hysteresis line changed to a dash line.
- Mouse cursor vertical line changed to a dotted line.
- Side scale was not offset correctly.

Fixed: The last defined frequency range if selected (in plug-in side panel) was not restored to been
        selected on SDR# start.

Fixed: Auto audio mute did not mute when manually pause on active frequency then lock it out then play again.

Updated: PDF Documentation
- Please read it

NOTE: The core of the scanning logic has not been changed.

Documentation has been created to help with it's installation and usage, please read it.
NOTE: Support is not guaranteed. Especially if the answers are contained in the documentation or on this forum.

I have tried to be as thorough as possible with the documentation to explain usage and features.
I believe any questions can be answered by reading this documentation.
This documentation most likely is not complete and may contain errors and is not laid out as good as it could be.

Testing has mainly been done with SDR# 1700.
Limited testing has been done with SDR# 1732.



Please note the changes to the way plug-in settings are saved that you will need to reconfigure the plug-in for this release.

Download
NOTE: Use 7zip or WinRAR to extract files from the .7z file and read the .PDF file for installation and usage of files with SDR#.

HASH: d9097d9ddf90ff604d83d00c1a12596b

 

[Wackyracer]

If I park on a frequency it receive just fine, but using frequency scanner 1.3.2.0 and sdr# it misses most of memorized frequencies or even new ones. Any tips to improve the rate of hits?

 

[causeway74]

If I park on a frequency it receive just fine, but using frequency scanner 1.3.2.0 and sdr# it misses most of memorized frequencies or even new ones. Any tips to improve the rate of hits?

What is the detect value set to? What about the red trigger line? I use Detect 100. Lower the red line incase it is set too high and cannot 'catch' signals.

 

[Wackyracer]

What is the detect value set to? What about the red trigger line? I use Detect 100. Lower the red line incase it is set too high and cannot 'catch' signals.

FYI: I'm fairly new to the sdr thing but not scanners, Detect is at 100, Yellow line at 10db, Red at 20db and I just lowered the red line to 15db.
Just got to thinking, I am assuming memory items is what it had detected.. is that correct?

 

[causeway74]

FYI: I'm fairly new to the sdr thing but not scanners, Detect is at 100, Yellow line at 10db, Red at 20db and I just lowered the red line to 15db.
Just got to thinking, I am assuming memory items is what it had detected.. is that correct?

What scan mode are you using "scan all with save new" or something else?

 

[Wackyracer]

What scan mode are you using "scan all with save new" or something else?

I am using "scan only memorized-exclude new" Where is the list of memorized at?

For now what I did is use frequency manager and manually plug in some frequencies.

 

[thewraith2008]

I am using "scan only memorized-exclude new" Where is the list of memorized at?

For now what I did is use frequency manager and manually plug in some frequencies.

The Frequency Scanner uses the entries in the Frequency Manager when the scan mode is "Scan only memorized – exclude new".

If you do not have any frequencies stored/memorized in the Frequency Manager with in the range of frequencies to be scanned, then the scanner will never stop on anything.
NOTE: These entries must align with the scanning step size been using or else they won't be stopped on.

 

[firebal]

New to using Frequency Scanner and loving it! (Used it before but was unable to get it to work) Any recommended setup of frequency's ranges with bandwidths and step sizes?

 

[ewijkamp]

@thewraith2008
Thank you for a new start of this nice piece of software, I appreciate it very much.
I use the plugin FrequencyScanner op top of the screen (up) and there exists a problem.
Most plugins I have put on stand-by with <!-- and --> so only the ones I need are left over now.
Still the screen has some problems with showing the plugin.
Enclosed I have some screen dumps.

Used software: SDR# 1732, W10-64 Home version 1909-18363-815.
Plugins as in this list:
<add key="Zoom FFT" value="SDRSharp.ZoomFFT.ZoomFFTPlugin,SDRSharp.ZoomFFT" />
<add key="Frequency Manager" value="SDRSharp.FreqMan.FreqManPlugin,SDRSharp.FreqMan" />
<add key="Band Plan" value="SDRSharp.BandPlan.BandPlanPlugin,SDRSharp.BandPlan" />
<add key="Extended FFT" value="SDRSharp.ExtendedFFT.ExtendedFftPlugin,SDRSharp.ExtendedFFT" />
<add key="Audio Recorder" value="SDRSharp.AudioRecorder.AudioRecorderPlugin,SDRSharp.AudioRecorder" />
<add key="Audio Processor" value="SDRSharp.DigitalAudioProcessor.DigitalAudioProcessorPlugin,SDRSharp.DigitalAudioProcessor" />
<add key="Frequency Scanner" value="SDRSharp.FrequencyScanner.FrequencyScannerPlugin,SDRSharp.FrequencyScanner" />
<add key="Accessibility Control" value="SDRSharp.AccessibilityPlugin.AccessibilityPlugin,SDRSharp.AccessibilityPlugin" />
<add key="8.33 Channel Selector" value="SDRSharp.JarodCalc.JarodCalcPlugin,SDRSharp.JarodCalc" />
<add key="CTCSS Decoder" value="SDRSharp.CTCSSDecoder.CTCSSDecoderPlugin,SDRSharp.CTCSSDecoder" />
<add key="SW Info" value="SDRSharp.ShortWaveInfo.ShortWaveInfoPlugin, SDRSharp.ShortWaveInfo" />

How can I solve this?

 

[thewraith2008]

This is a problem with SDR# between versions 1717-1732 (and maybe higher if not fixed) and not the plug-in.

*1 A bug in SDR# v1717-1732 (at time of writing – March 2020)
Setting 'Top' causes the rendering of the channel analyser to be squashed.
Using 'Top' with pre-SDR# v1717 is OK.

How can I solve this?

1. You can't until SDR# is fixed.
2. Use a version of SDR# 1716 and lower.



Latest version (v1.3.2.0) can be found here: Release post

 

[thewraith2008]

Plugins as in this list:
...
<add key="Frequency Scanner" value="SDRSharp.FrequencyScanner.FrequencyScannerPlugin,SDRSharp.FrequencyScanner" />
...
<add key="8.33 Channel Selector" value="SDRSharp.JarodCalc.JarodCalcPlugin,SDRSharp.JarodCalc" />
...

The plug-in 8.33 Channel Selector should not be used with this updated version of Frequency Scanner as it already contains the same (improved) code, just enable it in 'General' options.



Latest version (v1.3.2.0) can be found here: Release post

 

[Mr_Xxx]

@thewraith2008 first of all, THkx for all the updates !! do you know if its possible to get some kind of ''log file'' of all the hits i get with frequency scanner?

i know there is an fms activity logger but that doesnt log anything with freq scanner. maybe possible to get that working together?

im looking for only text file , something like : Time - Frequency - Name Freq - Number of hits on that freq -

 

[radiostationx]

@thewraith2008 Many Thanks for the update on the scanner.
Perhaps you or fellow readers can help with an issue I had with the old and new versions of Fast Scanner pluggin.

I want to monitor the civil airband with 8.33khz channel spacing.

I have tried a few different options in "edit scan range" table but when I start and then stop the scan it should in theory stop on an 8.33 spaced channel
frequency as listed here
8.33kHz channels & frequencies


but this does not happen.

I am getting very close indeed with the following settings but I still do not land on a correct 8.33 frequency if I stop a scan.

Start hz : 118,000,000
End hz : 136,991,600
Bandwidth : 7,000
Step Size : 8,340

I have tried 8,330 8,340,8,300 and 8,400 .

I see you mention the 8.33 channel selector in post #114 but I am unclear where the "general options" are and what this does.

Edit : Oh I see this now in the new scanner PDF manual , I must change step size in sdr sharp step size options, not in fast scanner table..fine !

PS : The fast scanner works okay with start: 118,000,000 end : 137,000,000 BW : 7,000 Step : 5,000 but I just wondered about the 8.33 values to get it exact..perhaps just me wanting to do something that isnt possible.

Many Thanks once again @thewraith2008 for your work.

 

[Mr_Xxx]

@radiostationx

Are you using Freq Scanner Latest version (v1.3.2.0)? Just go to Configure select ''general'' Tab and be sure to select ''use 8.33 KHz selector''

(press configure next to scan (where you start the freq scanner) open configure and you see 3 tabs (on the top) press ''general''

turn off any other 8.33 selector on the sdrsharp if you have it selected


Edit scan ranges : Civ band AM bandwidth 8000 Step Size 5000
Mil band AM bandwidth 8000 Step Size 25000

 

[radiostationx]

Hi @Mr_Xxx , Yes v1.3.2.0 here.
Thanks for that, I missed the "general" tab where that 8.33 box was lurking, All is well now scanning away.
Many Thanks Again for taking the trouble to reply.

 

[thewraith2008]

@thewraith2008 first of all, THkx for all the updates !! do you know if its possible to get some kind of ''log file'' of all the hits i get with frequency scanner?

i know there is an fms activity logger but that doesnt log anything with freq scanner. maybe possible to get that working together?

im looking for only text file , something like : Time - Frequency - Name Freq - Number of hits on that freq -

I did start to add this but lost interest as it's not something I always use.
If I get back into it I'll see what I can do.

@thewraith2008
I have tried 8,330 8,340,8,300 and 8,400 .

For the scanning, you should be using the step size of 8333 (as defined in Edit scan ranges)
The exact value of 8333 is required to setup the channel list when scanning starts.
Using 5000, will not scan the following (red) frequencies

xxx.0000
xxx.0083
xxx.0166
xxx.0250
xxx.0333
xxx.0416
xxx.0500
xxx.0583
xxx.0666
xxx.0750
xxx.0833
xxx.0916
xxx.1000
etc....

Edit scan ranges window
.
.
.

When scanning the Airband that uses 8.33KHz allocation
Special code is used to calculate the correct frequencies when the 8.33 Khz step size is used.
This will perform the necessary rounding of the start frequency and of the range frequencies.
You must set the start frequency range to a non 8.33Khz frequency e.g.:

• xxx000000
• xxx025000
• xxx075000
• xxx100000

If a 8.33Khz frequency (e.g. 118133300) is used, then it will be rounded down to one of the above.

• e.g. 118125000

When you define a frequency range, you must use '8333' as 'step size'

Latest version (v1.3.2.0) can be found here: Release post

 

[Mr_Xxx]

I did start to add this but lost interest as it's not something I always use.
If I get back into it I'll see what I can do.

Hi @thewraith2008 , any chance that you did got back into it?

if not, no problem , just wondering if.... ( activity logger )

again thks for all the updates you did and do !!