SDRTrunk will not recognize 2 RTL-SDR tuners as separate tuners

[bobruzzo]

I have 2 identical RTL-SDR dongles. When both connected to my PC, I am monitoring two DMR commercial systems. 2 very small systems, one on 463 mhz and the other on 471 mhz. I have no issues running ONE dongle. But with 2 connected, sdr trunk doesnt see them as 2 separate tuners. Also when running 2 dongles the R820T tuner configuration is MUTED and I cant adjust the gain. When both tuners connected and running I only get reception on ONE dongle....the other dongle is still appearing to be working but dont hear or see anything on the "now playing" screen. When I look at the startup file in CMD screen, it identifies 2 dongles but with IDENTICAL info, like it cant differentiate between the 2.....so maybe its cancelling out reception on the other dongle? Attached is the batch file that starts the program.....maybe you guys can see something in here.

 

[ChrisABQ]

You need to rename one of the dongles:

It's my experience, do not name one 00000000 and the other 00000001. Do not use zero as this will become default. Rename it with 1, 2, 3 and so on.

 

[bobruzzo]

You need to rename one of the dongles:

It's my experience, do not name one 00000000 and the other 00000001. Do not use zero as this will become default. Rename it with 1, 2, 3 and so on.

I cant try this. I used my linux machine but the commands he had on there were obscured by the youtube banneer at top of screen. Cant see the commands....the rtl_eeprom command doesnt work in my linux version. I am using MX Linux. Is there an easier way to do this?

 

[GTR8000]

RTL_EEPROM works just fine under Windows.

 

[bobruzzo]

RTL_EEPROM works just fine under Windows.

No luck......I must be doing something wrong

 

[PDXh0b0]

No luck......I must be doing something wrong

doing it in windows

 

[slicerwizard]

No luck......I must be doing something wrong

Yeah, you don't have the rtl_eeprom program in that folder that you're running commands in.

 

[Deziel0495]

doing it in windows

Thank you for this! All other videos I've watched and tried did not work, following your directions it worked first time, piece of cake.

 

[bobruzzo]

Hahaha OK watched video and got it all fixed. The FIRST video doesnt mention anything about downloading a program to do this!

 

[a417]

Hahaha OK watched video and got it all fixed. The FIRST video doesnt mention anything about downloading a program to do this!

No, the first video makes the assumption that you have already installed a/the rtl-sdr package which would provide that binary.

 

[Mootly]

Please point me to the right area if this is not the place to post this.
I have now destroyed 2 RTL2832U devices using RTL_EEPROM with the -s command. Both now appear to be showing up under "Other Devices" in the Device Manager but I have no way to access them. Does anyone have any suggestions or have I just wasted two perfectly good radios?

 

[lwvmobile]

Well, since it might already be bricked (but probably not) I think you can just write a default config to those devices. Not sure what the difference in WIndows vs Linux is, but in Linux, I would have only one plugged in at a time and use the command:

rtl_eeprom -d 0 -g realtek

Help file for relevant case usage:

Usage:    rtl_eeprom [-options]
    [-d device_index (default: 0)]
    [-m <str> set manufacturer string]
    [-p <str> set product string]
    [-M <id> set manufacturer ID (aka vendor ID) in hexadecimal]
    [-P <id> set product ID in hexadecimal]
    [-n sets manufacturer and product ID to 0x1209/0x2832]
    [    as with '-g realtek_sdr']
    [-s <str> set serial number string]
    [-i <0,1> disable/enable IR-endpoint]
    [-g <conf> generate default config and write to device]
    [   <conf> can be one of:]
    [   realtek        Realtek default (as without EEPROM)]
    [   realtek_oem        Realtek default OEM with EEPROM]
    [   noxon        Terratec NOXON DAB Stick]
    [   terratec_black    Terratec T Stick Black]
    [   terratec_plus    Terratec T Stick+ (DVB-T/DAB)]
    [   realtek_sdr        Realtek SDR - without DVB compatibility]
    [-w <filename> write dumped file to device]
    [-r <filename> dump EEPROM to file]
    [-h display this help text]

Somebody a while back wrote a garbage string to some values on their Nooelec dongle, and support told them to basically use the same command as I gave just now. You might have to try more than one of the -g options, if the basic 'realtek' option doesn't work. May also have to unplug after writing and plug back in to verify.

 

[Mootly]

Thanks for your response. The rtl-eeprom command running in a CMD window reports "No supported devices found". I was able to get one of the defective devices to show up under the USB devices in the Device Manager by changing the hardware id in the registry table, but rtl-eeprom still won't detect it.
I know Windows is terrible at enumerating USB devices so, even though I am totally incompetent in Linux but I will start working through the process of building a machine for the purpose. I hope that I will be able to get better information on the usb devices and have more control over that info.
Thanks again for getting back to me.

 

[lwvmobile]

I'm just gonna go out on a limb and guess the manufacturer and product string were written to by accident somehow and the problem is that the basic rtl_eeprom software is going to look for very specific strings in those fields. Not quite sure what to suggest on Windows, here is a link I had found a while back where a reddit user suggest they could take a look at the device in lsusb (linux) and see what garbage values were there, then compile librtlsdr with the garbage device strings so it'll recognize your borked devices and be able to flash it with rtl_eeprom. There might also be some windows compiled version that can do this as well, don't know for sure.

https://www.reddit.com/r/RTLSDR/comments/pkoqby/_/hczoibg

 

[Mootly]

Again, thanks. I'll check this out.