TetraNetMonitor UI Experimentation

[thewraith2008]

Sorry for missing this feature in changelog. Is it possible to make this "F12 window " not in full screen but in a classic window? So we could place it as desired.
Otherwise, If I have more than 1 SDR# running with tuners, all the tuners are seen in only 1 TNM instance, not in others.
I mean for example if I have 1 SDR# with tuners 1&2 on TETRA network 1 and another SDR# with tuners 3&4 on TETRA network 2, I could not see tuners 3&4 on the second TNM (assuming I have a TNM in each SDR# folder).

You should only have one copy of TNM running. More than that will have unforeseen side affects. Main problem been port conflicts.

Is it designed to work like that ? Is it possible that each TNM instance only see tuners in its SDR# folder ? If I want to tune to 10 TETRA networks, the only-1-TNM instance is going to be very active

With TNM+plugins you can monitor the two separate networks (or more).
It's meant to connect different running copies of SDR# (with TNMplugins) to each other so you can monitor all the defined MCCH and see the call activity all in one place. Only one call can play at once so calls are either played on a first seen first played or by using lockouts and/or priorities to focus on calls of interest.
How you set it up depends on hardware used like dongle bandwidth and location of the (in you case) 2 networks from each other. e.g. Is one say on 390MHz and the other on 420MHz.
If you have a dongle that is 10MHz wide and both networks (or MCCH) and all their carriers can be seen in that bandwidth, then only one SDR#+plugins is needed. 2 plugins for each MCCH and 1 plugin that is used to move to any carrier within that bandwidth (of the dongle).

If you have a dongle that is say 2.4MHz wide and both networks (or MCCH) and all their carriers can NOT be seen in that bandwidth, then you will maybe need 3 running SDR# (1 dongle for each) running.
First SDR# for first MCCH
Second SDR# for second MCCH (because this is outside the bandwidth of first SDR# bandwidth)
And maybe a third SDR# which is used to tune to any carrier that any of the first and second SDR# requires that are outside their only bandwidths.
If the first and second SDR# can each see all of their related carriers, then the third SDR# is not needed.

Forget when I said to put TNM in a classic window when pressing F12, I tried after, it's OK. (checkbox unchecked).

I was thinking if it would be possible, when pressing on F12, to display in the window as many Group/User fields as there are MNC tuned ?
So it will be clearer to see which TETRA network is "talking".

The 'Call view' only shows the active call.



Latest version (v1.1.0.0) can be found here: Download

 

[pingirona]

I will add main carrier switching to to list of things to do. Not sure when I'll get it completed.

Not sure the MCCH switching you see happens at same times, but if you can capture a IQ samples of this occurring as it would be of great help to use in testing.
Ideally the IQ sample bandwidth would need to be wide enough to see both carriers as seen between light blue lines in image. Hopefully these two carriers are not to far apart (close like in image, red and green lines) so the capturing bandwidth is not to big increasing file size.

Latest version (v1.1.0.0) can be found here: Download

Hello,
I'm not sure I have knowledge to take an IQ sample, but I can assure you that carriers A, B and C are within the range of the dongle. The tuners tab indicates that the initial carrier is at 3660 and the end between 3730 and the carriers that I have to listen to, including Mcarrier, are at 3369, 3716 and 3723. Greetings.

 

[thewraith2008]

Hello,
I'm not sure I have knowledge to take an IQ sample, but I can assure you that carriers A, B and C are within the range of the dongle. The tuners tab indicates that the initial carrier is at 3660 and the end between 3730 and the carriers that I have to listen to, including Mcarrier, are at 3369, 3716 and 3723. Greetings.

OK no problems. I just thought it would help me implement quicker if I had a IQ sample to work with.

Recording a IQ sample is fairly straight forward.
In this case because your carriers are at MAX. 1.4MHz apart, you would need to capture your dongles full bandwidth. (Assuming 2.4 Msps).
You can reduce this from 2.4 to probably 1.8 for capture.
IQ sample can be done with the SDR# plug-in 'Baseband Recorder' from rtl-sdr.ru
Down side to this plug-in is the size of IQ files created (24000000 * 4 * Ts or 576Mb per minute) or (18000000 * 4 * Ts or 432Mb per minute)
If your MCCH switched at regular times you could set the schedule in 'Baseband Recorder' to record it.

There are ways to further trim the IQ file to reduce it's file size which can be done in 'Audacity'.
All you need to know is start time of recording and the MCCH switch event time to be able to trim. (from TTT logs)
As the MCCH switching event is quite small the final trimmed sample would not be that large.
Further file size reduction can be accomplished by using 7zip.



Latest version (v1.1.0.0) can be found here: Download

 

[Syrah]

Hi,

I found a way to convert an excel GSSI/ISSI/Name database to XML.
In Excel, you need to activate the developer mode, then import either "NetMonitorGroups.xml" or "NetMonitorUsers.xml" depending what you want to convert.
Now you have to map the xml group entries to the correct columns.
Then export the new .xml

It is explained in this website : https://blog.udemy.com/excel-to-xml/

Quite convenient if you have already a tens of thousands database GSSI/ISSI


ps1 : I've noticed that TetraNetMon.exe has to be closed so as the .xml files be updated.
ps 2 : @thewraith2008 --> How is calculated the MNI ? Based on MCC/MNC I can't understand the logic.

 

[thewraith2008]

Hi,

I found a way to convert an excel GSSI/ISSI/Name database to XML.
In Excel, you need to activate the developer mode, then import either "NetMonitorGroups.xml" or "NetMonitorUsers.xml" depending what you want to convert.
Now you have to map the xml group entries to the correct columns.
Then export the new .xml

It is explained in this website : https://blog.udemy.com/excel-to-xml/

Quite convenient if you have already a tens of thousands database GSSI/ISSI

Good to see you found something that suits your needs. I wonder if OpenOffice/LibreOffice have a similar method.

ps1 : I've noticed that TetraNetMon.exe has to be closed so as the .xml files be updated.
ps 2 : @thewraith2008 --> How is calculated the MNI ? Based on MCC/MNC I can't understand the logic.

TNM reads (to memory) on start and saves on exit or at 10 minute intervals.
As TNM is the only program that's expected to open/change these files, any external modification will be over written when saving with what is stored in memory.

MNI value is a 24 bit element. 10 bits for MCC and 14 bit for MNC
Example:

|          MNI          |
|  MCC   | |    MNC     |
0000001000 00000010000010  ( MNI = 131202 )
    8            130

MCC = (MNI AND 16760832) / 16384 or (MNI >> 14)
MNC = MNI AND 16383



Latest version (v1.1.0.0) can be found here: Download

 

[LU4AIB]

Anyone knows if there is a way to hold on a GSSI in TNM?

 

[MarkRegul]

I tested the latest version of a plug-in works perfectly.
thx.

 

[digiman1]

Hi, I am thinking of getting myself and RSP2 Pro, should this work OK with this? has anyone tried?

 

[thewraith2008]

Hi, I am thinking of getting myself and RSP2 Pro, should this work OK with this? has anyone tried?

No.
SDRplay provide a frontend for SDR# 1411-1500 only, and that only works with the RSP1a.
Because of SDR#'s whitelist of SDRs (of which SDRplay is not apart of), other SDRs do not have full functionality. i.e. SDR# plug-ins don't work.
You could make a frontend that works with SDR# for the newer devices, but the IQ data is not made available to the SDR# plug-ins interface.
SDRplay are planning on a plug-in interface for SDRUNO sometime in the future. Maybe I'll port (TNM) to it.



Latest version (v1.1.0.0) can be found here: Download

 

[digiman1]

How about the Airspy R2?

I would love to be able to take advantage of TNM without the need for multiple dongles, I was torn between the RSP2 Pro and the Airspy R2 but leant towards the RSP2 Pro after reading reviews.

 

[thewraith2008]

How about the Airspy R2?

I would love to be able to take advantage of TNM without the need for multiple dongles, I was torn between the RSP2 Pro and the Airspy R2 but leant towards the RSP2 Pro after reading reviews.

I'm sure Airspy R2 would work. Not sure about performance between the two.

I have a RSP1a that covers my 5 MHz band for TETRA using 6Msps.



Latest version (v1.1.0.0) can be found here: Download

 

[digiman1]

I'm sure Airspy R2 would work. Not sure about performance between the two.

I have a RSP1a that covers my 5 MHz band for TETRA using 6Msps.

Ok, Airspy R2 it is then! Slightly cheaper too

 

[hamradionl]

Ok, Airspy R2 it is then! Slightly cheaper too

I run a Airspy-mini very succesfully (the pricing is bit overdone for dongle)
And i run a adalm PlutoSDR, it nice price for whats is doing (up to 6 GHz but No shortwave)

 

[wkrgr]

Ok, Airspy R2 it is then! Slightly cheaper too

The Airspy R2 is a great tool, I’m using it to monitor 5 MCCH’s all at the same time and it works like a charm with TNM.

As a side note, do keep in mind that the high samplerate and simultanious decoding of multiple MCCH’s gets pretty heavy on the CPU.

 

[RicardoRJ]

Any predictions for a new version?

 

[thewraith2008]

Any predictions for a new version?

Nope. I have not touched TNM code or even used TNM since last release.



Latest version (v1.1.0.0) can be found here: Download

 

[digiman1]

Nope. I have not touched TNM code or even used TNM since last release.

*sharpens pitchfork... lol

 

[digiman1]

The Airspy R2 is a great tool, I’m using it to monitor 5 MCCH’s all at the same time and it works like a charm with TNM.

As a side note, do keep in mind that the high samplerate and simultanious decoding of multiple MCCH’s gets pretty heavy on the CPU.

I decided to go with the RSP2Duo in the end, I can manage with the RTL for the TNM and TTT

 

[DarkAngelT]

I tested the of this software today and I liked the operation. However in my humble opinion if its features were inserted in TTT. It would be perfect!

 

[keyhole]

i dont know if i i´m in the proper group. But TNM is working but Wireshark show me a failure
.
what do i wrong?