SDR# questions

[jtech1]

Just installed a RTL-SDR USB device on Win 10 and SDR#, and working for the most part... but a couple issues that are different than the videos I have watched on the installation, and hoping for feedback...

1) Videos show an x64 version of SDR#, but all i can find on the AirSpy web site is x86 download. Is an x64 version still available?
2) In my devices, no driver was installed when USB device plugged in. I set the Bulk (0) to the WinUSB driver with Zadig (I did not set any driver for Bulk (1). When I run SDR# and choose the Generic RTL2832U OEM (0) in settings it says not available. When I choose the Generic RTL2832U OEM (1) it all seems to work properly... is this correct?
3) SDR# does not run for more than 5 minutes or so before crashing. I have a high end HP Workstation with 64 GB memory... should not be any issue with PC. I have noticed the frequency graph on top pauses now and then also... but the waterfall continues without pause. Is this normal?

First time using an SDR and this software. I am hoping there is a setting wrong somewhere causing all this... otherwise it is surprisingly unstable.

I would appreciate any advice. Thanks!

 

[MikeTheListener]

Hello jtech1,
unfortunately I can only answer your question 1.
I also have a 64bit system and SDR# runs with me too. I had also thought that there should be two versions, but there seems to be only one that runs on both systems (32bit and 64bit).

73 Mike

 

[jtech1]

Thank, Mike. Some videos on youtube show an actual x64 windows download... but I could not find it. Always like to use x64 version if available.

To add to this, I just set up SDRTrunk and it runs forever with no crashes and works fine... so I am guessing my issues with SDR# are all related to SDR# and not the dongle or driver... I am hoping may be someone has advice on how to minimize SDR# crashes... even just running it without hitting play, it will crash after about 10 minutes. Running and playing an FM station with NO other actions it will crash in <5 min. Frustrating... any other software that lets you explore like SDR#? Even paid sw?

 

[PDXh0b0]

A list of software

The BIG List of RTL-SDR Supported Software

There are now dozens of software defined radio packages that support the ultra cheap RTL-SDR. On this page we will attempt to list, categorize and provide a brief overview of each software program. We categorize the programs into general purpose software, single purpose software, research...

www.rtl-sdr.com

I rarely use sdr# because of that an other issues, it was my favorite when I started, but no matter what machine I use it pukes .

 

[Dirk_SDR]

SDR# here running for hours without crash on W11.

 

[jtech1]

SDR++ also runs forever on my system without any crash. Oh well...

 

[PDXh0b0]

SDR# here running for hours without crash on W11.

Sitting on a frequency ? or surfing around? I can have it sitting on a single frequency no issue, but if I sit down and start moving the frequency around it stays stuck on the frequency, I have to stop/play to get it to work, stop/play comes with a 50% chance sdr# crashes. I do not experience this issue with other software, don't get me wrong, I like sdr#, and there are allot of people that have no issues, I wish I was one of them.

no PC is the same, even if we had the same make/model/specs/os , could be a windows update or other software installed that creates a conflict. I have four pc's running windows, happens on all of them, but they all have the same software I use on all of them. this one is a surface go, when i got it, the first and only software I installed was sdr#, and i still got the same results.

 

[Dirk_SDR]

Sitting on a frequency ? or surfing around? I can have it sitting on a single frequency no issue, but if I sit down and start moving the frequency around it stays stuck on the frequency, I have to stop/play to get it to work, stop/play comes with a 50% chance sdr# crashes. I do not experience this issue with other software, don't get me wrong, I like sdr#, and there are allot of people that have no issues, I wish I was one of them.

no PC is the same, even if we had the same make/model/specs/os , could be a windows update or other software installed that creates a conflict. I have four pc's running windows, happens on all of them, but they all have the same software I use on all of them. this one is a surface go, when i got it, the first and only software I installed was sdr#, and i still got the same results.

Surfing around quickly: seldom. I mostly stay longer on a frequency. But I'll test.

 

[MikeTheListener]

Today I have tested SDR# (1855). No matter if I watch only one frequency or rotate over a frequency
band (search several frequencies) SDR# runs with me without getting stuck. Windows 7 - 64bit system.
Whether it is different with Windows 10 or 11 I can not say.

73 Mike

 

[lwvmobile]

2) In my devices, no driver was installed when USB device plugged in. I set the Bulk (0) to the WinUSB driver with Zadig (I did not set any driver for Bulk (1). When I run SDR# and choose the Generic RTL2832U OEM (0) in settings it says not available. When I choose the Generic RTL2832U OEM (1) it all seems to work properly... is this correct?

No, this is not correct. While applications may work with it installed this way, others will not, and I have observed they usually have the devices indexed incorrectly, or device 0 will be unavailable. You will want to install the Zadig driver on the Composite device by opening Zadig, choosing Options, and Checking List all Devices and uncheck Ignore Hubs or Composite Parents. You'll want your devices in the Device Manager to be listed as RTL2838UHIDIR and not Bulk In Interface.

I posted on this before, you can see that post here.

RTL-SDR Windows 11

I cannot get the RTL-SDR Dongle to work on a Windows 11 machine. I've tried till I'm blue in the face on more than one system...cannot get a driver to work. Should I just spin up a Win 10 or Linux VM? Or can someone point me to something that works? I found a few YouTube vids etc. and they don't...

forums.radioreference.com

I honestly can't say this is causing your other issues though, as I don't particularly use SDR# or Windows for that matter, but have gone through this thing a few times in the past setting up VMs for software testing.