SDR# with trunking has been updated

[ewegryn]

Yeah, tried that too. Am a programmer and have VS2012 so I should be able to figure this out. Just trying to figure out how all of the parts fit. A program normally doesn't load DLL's you put in its folder. Do you know how UniTrunker knows to load it? Does it just look for that name specifically? Do I need to update a config file to tell it to look? Filemon is next. Thanks for your effort on the plugin and the help here.

 

[zefie]

Yeah, tried that too. Am a programmer and have VS2012 so I should be able to figure this out. Just trying to figure out how all of the parts fit. A program normally doesn't load DLL's you put in its folder. Do you know how UniTrunker knows to load it? Does it just look for that name specifically? Do I need to update a config file to tell it to look? Filemon is next. Thanks for your effort on the plugin and the help here.

I'm not sure how Unitrunker loads it. I know the author is on these forums as Unitrunker, but I don't know if he'll pop into this thread. Have you tried running as administrator, just out of curiosity, that maybe it is trying to write sdrsharptrunking.log to a folder that it doesn't have permission to, for whatever reason? Or maybe my remote.dll requires the preview version of Unitrunker? I'm using v10.0.26.16. I'm not sure if that matters or not.

 

[devicenull]

Yeah, tried that too. Am a programmer and have VS2012 so I should be able to figure this out. Just trying to figure out how all of the parts fit. A program normally doesn't load DLL's you put in its folder. Do you know how UniTrunker knows to load it? Does it just look for that name specifically? Do I need to update a config file to tell it to look? Filemon is next. Thanks for your effort on the plugin and the help here.

When you set the audio receiver to Debug, it knows to load the Remote.dll. Probably through LoadLibrary

 

[ewegryn]

I'll try to watch with ProcMon tonight and see where it looks. Admin idea is good too. Thanks.

 

[enoreios]

Thanks so much for your work on this! It's working beautifully with my two tuner setup. I'm intrigued by the greyed-out option to mute EDACS Tones. Is this still something you're considering? I'd love to see it implemented... Those tones are starting to grate on me a bit! Regardless, thanks for your work on the plugin!

 

[sphipps]

I've got the trunking plugin up and running and Unitrunker is controlling SDR#... but I cannot get delay retune via signal level to work. I've downloaded the most recent plugin version and set FFT Display Resolution to 32768 and lower as mentioned above, but it just stays on the control channel. Any ideas?

 

[DaveNF2G]

Are you talking about using the SDR as the signal receiver or as the voice following receiver?

For voice following, you need two SDRs (same as needing two scanners, for the same reasons).

Unitrunker does not "control" the signal receiver. That will stay on the CC because that is its function.

 

[sphipps]

Are you talking about using the SDR as the signal receiver or as the voice following receiver?

For voice following, you need two SDRs (same as needing two scanners, for the same reasons).

I've got a one dongle setup that works great with the older version of SDR# that has the original trunking mod. It parks on the control channel and switches between control and voice just fine. Delay retune works fine going this route.

The newest version of SDR# with the new trunking plugin also parks and switches via one dongle... but I can't get it to delay retune via signal strength. Turn off delay retune and it switches back and forth between control and voice about every second.

I've got a second dongle I need to hook up and see if running both fixes the delay retune issue with the new trunking plugin.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2

 

[johnnyelectron]

Newbie starting from scratch needs help

I'm a newbie to all of this SDR.
I have a digital trunking system here, CQPSK, mulitcast/simulcast on 12 towers and PRO96 chokes, even with Yagi antenna.
Is there a 'basics' somewhere that tells me where/what SDR dongle I need to buy to monitor 700/800MHz APCO 25 systems, if I need one or two dongles and what software/hardware I need?
Thanks for the kick-off start help.
73
Johnny

 

[robnj74]

Surprised no one has answered this yet, you can find basic setup instructions here SDRSharp UniTrunker Support however it should be noted that you do not need the version in the article in fact download the latest sdr# from here Downloads | SDR#.

To do any kind of trunking you will require 2 dongles. And to decode X2-TDMA you will need digital speech decoder and that can be found here Index of /dsd

That should be what you need in a nutshell..

Rob
K2RJJ

 

[AZScanner]

Be ready also to do a bunch of tweaking to both DSD's command line options and SDR#'s filter and audio setttings. It is certainly not a "plug it in and it works instantly" sort of endeavour but once it's up and running right you'll consider it the best $20 to $40 you've ever spent.

-AZ

 

[johnnyelectron]

Rob, thanks a million for the links. One last question: what chunk of hardware do you recommend? Will any SDR off of eBay do the trick?
73
John

 

[zefie]

I've got a one dongle setup that works great with the older version of SDR# that has the original trunking mod. It parks on the control channel and switches between control and voice just fine. Delay retune works fine going this route.

The newest version of SDR# with the new trunking plugin also parks and switches via one dongle... but I can't get it to delay retune via signal strength. Turn off delay retune and it switches back and forth between control and voice about every second.

I've got a second dongle I need to hook up and see if running both fixes the delay retune issue with the new trunking plugin.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2

Delay retune by signal is based on the FFT and only calculates correctly for some reason if you set the FFT size to 32768 or lower.

 

[sphipps]

Delay retune by signal is based on the FFT and only calculates correctly for some reason if you set the FFT size to 32768 or lower.

But that's what has me confused. I have set FFT resolution to 32768 and lower... and I still can't get delay retune to function.

Delay retune works for me just fine with the older "forced trunking hack" version of SDR#... but I just can't get it operational with the newer trunking plugin installed with newer versions of SDR#.

 

[sphipps]

To do any kind of trunking you will require 2 dongles

Digital systems can be trunked and followed with just one dongle. I've been trunking our local P25 system for weeks now using just one dongle. There is a delay of several seconds as the software switches the dongle back to the control channel to resume CC decoding by Unitrunker... but the delay is really not long enough to cause major monitoring issues.

A two dongle setup is ideal and that's what I use now as I've progressed along the learning curve... but one dongle will certainly get you going to monitor a digital system when you're just getting started.

 

[robnj74]

Rob, thanks a million for the links. One last question: what chunk of hardware do you recommend? Will any SDR off of eBay do the trick?
73
John

I hae had my best luck with NooElec on Amazon, however I venture a guess they are all pretty much the same.. Just be sure it lists the chip set as RTL2832U & R820T.


73
Rob
K2RJJ

 

[zefie]

But that's what has me confused. I have set FFT resolution to 32768 and lower... and I still can't get delay retune to function.

Delay retune works for me just fine with the older "forced trunking hack" version of SDR#... but I just can't get it operational with the newer trunking plugin installed with newer versions of SDR#.

Make sure you are putting a negative value. Like -39 and not 39.

 

[kscott]

I have also been having the same issues. Running 64bit Win 8. With single dongle, unitrunker stays on the control channel until I remove the check box entry for delay retune. If I check the box while a talkgroup is active it acts like the behavior is opposite of what you would expect.

 

[DarrelH]

Like sphipps, I also have trouble figuring out how to get this to work. I'm running SDR# 1.0.0.1135 and the Trunker plugin, and using Signal or Squelch modes of Delay Re-Tune, I can't get it to work. Using two dongles.

Example: I turn it on with method Signal, Current dB Level -48.9dB (noise, no calls tuned at the moment). With the minimum signal set to either -13 or -80, I still get no results. I figured one of those should cause it to do something (in case I misunderstand how to set the Minimum, anyways). But it won't tune anything at all when turned on.

FFT set to Blackman-Harris, Res=512, Spectrum only, time marker=off. Spectrum offset=0, Range= about 85%.

Not sure the exact version# of the plugin I installed a while back, or where to find the version#...

Thanks
Darrel

 

[zefie]

Like sphipps, I also have trouble figuring out how to get this to work. I'm running SDR# 1.0.0.1135 and the Trunker plugin, and using Signal or Squelch modes of Delay Re-Tune, I can't get it to work. Using two dongles.

Example: I turn it on with method Signal, Current dB Level -48.9dB (noise, no calls tuned at the moment). With the minimum signal set to either -13 or -80, I still get no results. I figured one of those should cause it to do something (in case I misunderstand how to set the Minimum, anyways). But it won't tune anything at all when turned on.

FFT set to Blackman-Harris, Res=512, Spectrum only, time marker=off. Spectrum offset=0, Range= about 85%.

Not sure the exact version# of the plugin I installed a while back, or where to find the version#...

Thanks
Darrel

Version number should show up when you first start SDRSharp. If not, I believe I set that plugin up to use Windows Versioning, so just right click it in Explorer and go to Properties.

That said, delay retune based on signal was a beta thing that someone requested. When I was making the plugin with my single-dongle setup I found the squelch method to be far more desirable. As for the signal though, I know it had something to do with the FFT resolution. I prefer a higher one so I believe 32768 was as low as I was willing to go. If playing with the FFT doesn't work, I'm not sure it will at all. I may revisit the plugin in the future, but my exact location doesn't offer all that much trunk activity.