PoorInRichfield
Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2023
- Messages
- 11
The following setup is something I'm testing based on the feedback from someone in the SoftEOT app group. Using AirSpy's SDR# application and the AirSpy R2 SDR
Requirements
This setup takes advantage of the "Frequency Manager + Scanning" extension to SDR# which allows for defining a group of frequencies and then scanning (or "frequency hopping") between each frequency until something is detected. This is a feature common to normal hardware scanners but isn't so common in SDR applications.
Since SDR # will stop on a single frequency and send it through the virtual audio cable, one only needs the single virtual audio cable since this setup isn't trying to stuff data from 6 frequencies through the pipe like my previous setup does.
I'm currently experimenting with this setup and so far I've successfully captured some HOT and EOT signals from a northbound Canadian National train. That's a promising sign as those two frequencies are 5 Mhz apart (thus the need for the higher-end AirSpy R2 SDR).
This same setup is apparently possible with the SDRPlay RSP1B SDR and SDRuno software. However, the SDRuno software only enables the scanning feature for SDRPlay SDRs, so I have not tried this setup to confirm that it works.
Requirements
- Software
- AirSpy SDR #
- Frequency Manager + Scanning extension
- SoftEOT / SoftDPU
- Virtual Audio Cable (VAC) or VB-Audio Virtual Cable (Free for 1 cable)
- AirSpy SDR #
- Hardware
- AirSpy R2 SDR
- Any SDR with more than 5 Mhz of useable bandwidth should work. The R2 has 10 Mhz where as the less expensive SDRs, like the RTL-SDR V4 have less than 3 Mhz of bandwidth which won't work.
- Windows 11 laptop with considerable processing power
- Note that AirSpy SDR# is also available in a Linux flavor for possible Raspberry Pi installation. I have not tried this.
- Antenna tuned for 455 Mhz range
- AirSpy R2 SDR
This setup takes advantage of the "Frequency Manager + Scanning" extension to SDR# which allows for defining a group of frequencies and then scanning (or "frequency hopping") between each frequency until something is detected. This is a feature common to normal hardware scanners but isn't so common in SDR applications.
Since SDR # will stop on a single frequency and send it through the virtual audio cable, one only needs the single virtual audio cable since this setup isn't trying to stuff data from 6 frequencies through the pipe like my previous setup does.
I'm currently experimenting with this setup and so far I've successfully captured some HOT and EOT signals from a northbound Canadian National train. That's a promising sign as those two frequencies are 5 Mhz apart (thus the need for the higher-end AirSpy R2 SDR).
This same setup is apparently possible with the SDRPlay RSP1B SDR and SDRuno software. However, the SDRuno software only enables the scanning feature for SDRPlay SDRs, so I have not tried this setup to confirm that it works.
