Trunking Recorder & VB Cable - Data Channel Noise?

[faithalone]

Hello,

I have a dual RTL dongle setup running on Windows 7 with Unitrunker and DSD+ - I have installed Trunking Recorder but am having some trouble getting the streaming to work. I thought I saw a setup post once but I could not find it again :/ - right now for some reason it is recording what i think is the data channel.

I have Unitrunker V1 setup with 2 Receivers,1 Data and 1 Voice. On the data VCO I have Audio and Digital Output set to "unspecified" and then on the 2nd Receiver (voice) the outputs are Audio: Speakers Digital:VB Cable Input. So in Trunking Recorder config I have just a single VCO setup (the voice receiver).

Whenever it received a call and it plays back all i hear is the noise which I assume is the data channel.

It was working at one time but it was not picking up the audio from DSD+ it was picking up the audio from the mic (and rebroadcasting it with the built in webserver!! lol). I have purchased multiple VB Cables but am not sure how to config everything to be able to broadcast as well.

Thanks in advance for your help and if I left some info out please let me know. Thank you!

 

[jbeen]

Hello.

Any chance you could post screenshots of the following:

- Unitrunker Voice VCO panel
- DSD startup screen showing the audio input/output devices and initialized devices.
- The Trunking Recorder Configure -> Recording settings screen.

With those items, we should be able to help troubleshoot.

I'm sure you've looked at it, but review the TR setup diagram here and see if it helps:
http://www.scannerbox.us/TrunkingRecorder/Trunking Recorder setup diagram.png

If you can't post images, PM me for an email address.

Regards,
Josh

 

[faithalone]

Thanks Josh! Here are the screen shots, should have just included them to begin with... duh! Thanks for the help! Images attached...

Hello.

Any chance you could post screenshots of the following:

- Unitrunker Voice VCO panel
- DSD startup screen showing the audio input/output devices and initialized devices.
- The Trunking Recorder Configure -> Recording settings screen.

Regards,
Josh

 

[jbeen]

Perfect, thanks for the screenshots.

Your DSD input looks correct - "Cable-A Output".

Set your DSD output to device #4 - "Cable Input".

Set the Trunking Recorder device to "Cable Output". (not Cable-A Output)

So, your DSD launch .bat file would look something like this:
DSDPlus -i1 -o4 -O NUL

Let us know if that works.

Thanks,
Josh

 

[faithalone]

Thank you so much Josh! Selecting those inputs and outputs works!! I think I now have a much better understanding of how the signal is getting piped, thanks again, been working on this for a couple of days.

Not to sound ungrateful, lol - is there a way to have the audio be sent to the speakers also (specify 2 outputs?) - or should I just listen through Trunking Recorder?

appreciate ya!

 

[jbeen]

Ahh, yes, there is a way to listen to the audio and send to Trunking Recorder at the same time.

Open the Sound Control Panel.
Click the Recroding tab.
Double-click the "Cable Output".
Click the Listen tab.
Enable the "Listen to this device" checkbox and select Speakers for the playback device.
(see attached image.)

This works ok if you're just recording one Talkgroup at a time, but the beauty of the system you're setting up is the ability to record multiple talkgroups at once.
(Probably by adding another dongle for a 2nd voice channel, but if the frequencies are close enough, one dongle can receive several transmissions at once.)

If you care to share, which system are you primarily monitoring?

Josh

 

[faithalone]

OMG you are my rock star!! lol - I am brand new to the SDR world (even radio world honestly) and I have a good friend that set me up cause I had surgery and was disabled for a bit and then I got hooked and know he had to get tired of me everytime something went wrong (he was very patient and awesome!) but I finally started to learn myself and am slowly getting more comfy.

As far as systems, I am in Jonesboro (NE) Arkansas and monitor the statewide AWIN network. I believe it is P25. I am just now learning how to scan for CC's and became a premium member here and want to be able to help keep the databases current, etc.

Thanks again bro!

 

[jbeen]

You're welcome. Glad you are having fun figuring it out.

With a big statewide system like that, figure out which towers are close and you can get a good control channel decode from.
Then, if the nearby control channel frequencies are in proximity (within 2MHz), you can have one dongle decode multiple control channels.

For example, I have 4 dongles decoding 8 nearby control channels.
Then, I have 4 additional dongles for voice decoding, which are shared amongst all control channels, depending on which one has an enabled talkgroup active.
Each voice signal is routed to a separate DSD+ decoder, then to Trunking Recorder.

At that point, you'll need more Virtual Audio Cables, so look at this one, which supports hundreds.
https://software.muzychenko.net/eng/vac.htm

Josh

 

[faithalone]

Thanks! I did make a donation to get a couple extra virtual audio cables but I may need more one day!