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MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
Thu Aug 24, 2017, 10:26 AM Aug 2017

What's on my radio today in the background:

Today, my background noise is radio traffic from a courier service in the Twin Cities of MN. Commerce appears to be happening at a brisk pace today. Products, parts, medical specimens and all sorts of other things are being transported around the metro area by people who are part of the current gig economy.

The dispatcher is dispatching and the drivers are whizzing to and from destinations, hoping to earn enough money to pay their bills, while driving vans and trucks leased from the courier service.

It's interesting. Over a few days of listening to this stuff in the background, I'm learning that the dispatcher controls the livelihood of all those folks. Some drivers are receiving many calls, while others are getting sent long distances for minor things. Tempers flare from time to time. Yesterday, I even heard one driver quit on the spot and telling the dispatcher to send someone to retrieve his van. He didn't like being sent clear across the metro area with one part for an HVAC company fixing an air conditioner. And so it goes.

I'm preferring this to the usual news feed from the local news/talk station.

12 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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What's on my radio today in the background: (Original Post) MineralMan Aug 2017 OP
Are you listening to a scanner or to a scanner app? NT mahatmakanejeeves Aug 2017 #1
I'm using a VHF/UHF USB SDR Dongle MineralMan Aug 2017 #2
I've heard of those. I don't own one, though. mahatmakanejeeves Aug 2017 #3
They're actually quite remarkable. MineralMan Aug 2017 #4
I'm in a local scanner owner's group. mahatmakanejeeves Aug 2017 #6
I've owned a bunch of different scanners and other receivers. MineralMan Aug 2017 #7
I put on the soundtrack to the John Adam's HBO mini series. Sure beats the news and FSogol Aug 2017 #5
Do you have any update on your SDR dongle? mahatmakanejeeves May 2018 #8
It's still working flawlessly. MineralMan May 2018 #9
Thanks. Firefox will support Vista for another month. After that.... mahatmakanejeeves May 2018 #10
I edited the post above to include download URLs. MineralMan May 2018 #11
Thanks. mahatmakanejeeves May 2018 #12

MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
4. They're actually quite remarkable.
Thu Aug 24, 2017, 11:41 AM
Aug 2017

For $25, it's the equivalent of equipment I used while in the USAF that cost over half a million bucks. The one in my review at that link is outstanding, although installation of the software is sort of fiddly, but there are instructions on doing that at that radio reference forum that worked perfectly.

It's so cheap and works so well that anyone who is at all interested in exploring the radio spectrum needs one of those things.

Mind-blowing, really. Let me know if you have any questions if you decide to buy one.

mahatmakanejeeves

(56,895 posts)
6. I'm in a local scanner owner's group.
Thu Aug 24, 2017, 01:02 PM
Aug 2017

They meet once a year at a pizza joint. I got to this year's meeting late, which I do every year. The presentation I missed was about SDR dongles.

I'm registered at Radio Reference, but it's been so long that I put in a presence there that I'd have to look up my user name and password.

I don't do anywhere as much listening as I used to. I have a digital scanner I never even got around to programming. All I listen to anymore is trains, and even the most basic Radio Shack scanner can hear them.

Full disclosure: well, what's on my desk right now? I see a Radio Shack HTX-200 handheld 2m transceiver. I've got it tuned to hear (but not send) on the out-of-band frequency 161.5500 MHz, which is CSX in these parts. From the roof of my workplace near the US Capitol, I can hear the equipment defect detector at CP Slaters Lane in Alexandria, Virginia. If you want to know what one of those sounds like, there's a snippet of a defect detector thrown into the soundtrack at the end of the remake of "The Manchurian Candidate." Yeah, what were they thinking?

Bachelor number two is a Montgomery Ward 856 four-channel crystal scanner. Yes, really. It was made by Sharp. The four crystals in there are all for railroad frequencies. That scanner can hear things happening farther away than any other scanner I own.

At home: bunches more stuff.

Listening to trains reinforces the opinion that trainspotting might be the most unexplainable way to pass the time there is. Ehh, different strokes for different folks.

One of these days, I'll break down and start thinking about getting a SDR dongle.

Thanks.

MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
7. I've owned a bunch of different scanners and other receivers.
Thu Aug 24, 2017, 01:09 PM
Aug 2017

What I always missed was the radio spectrum display that I got used to while in the USAF. Without that, I always felt blind. That's the cool thing about using one of those dongles. The software provides a zoomable spectrum display you can use for tuning in signals that are visible. It also has a waterfall display below that that lets you see what sort of signal you're dealing with.

You can also download decoding modules for most common types of signals that aren't covered in the basic software, like the digital systems now used by most police and fire departments. I haven't bothered with that yet, though.

Being able to see the entire spectrum from about 25 MHz to 2 GHz is pretty cool, even though a lot of the signals aren't all that useful or provide much information. I'm pretty much just a voice person, but there are decoders for all sorts of digital transmissions, as well.

For $25, it's an amazing bargain, I think, even if you just use it for mundane things.

FSogol

(45,357 posts)
5. I put on the soundtrack to the John Adam's HBO mini series. Sure beats the news and
Thu Aug 24, 2017, 11:44 AM
Aug 2017

all the excuses for Trumpy's latest debacle.

mahatmakanejeeves

(56,895 posts)
8. Do you have any update on your SDR dongle?
Sun May 20, 2018, 03:01 PM
May 2018

Last edited Sun May 20, 2018, 03:32 PM - Edit history (1)

I ask because I've just rejuvenated a couple of Dell laptops I found in the trash. One is running Windows Vista, and the other is running Windows 7. They got tossed because the batteries died, and the owners figured they were better off buying a new computer, when you consider how much a replacement lithium-ion battery pack costs.

They are spyware-free, and I have a docking station for each one. Obviously I won't be taking them out in the field, but for a base station scanner, each would work just fine.

The one with Vista has 32-bit Vista. The computer has everything it needs to be updated to Windows 7, should I latch upon a copy of that OS. The one with Windows 7 has a 64-bit OS. Both have Intel CPUs.

I suspect that, like too much other stuff, the SDR dongles will come with Windows-only software.

I'm a member of RadioReference. I never post there, though, and my visits to the site are few and far between.

Thanks.

ETA: this thread came up with I Googled DU for "CSX Alexandria," to see if anyone had posted about yesterday's derailment.

MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
9. It's still working flawlessly.
Sun May 20, 2018, 03:07 PM
May 2018

The software doesn't come with the dongles. It's free, though. I use SDR#, which seems to be the most popular. A search for that will find the download site and installation instructions. It will run on Vista or Windows 7. As long as you don't have the Vista machine connected to the Internet, it will be just fine and you won't have to worry about updates.

Here's the download site for SDR# - https://airspy.com/download/

Here is the best installation instruction set: https://www.rtl-sdr.com/rtl-sdr-quick-start-guide/

mahatmakanejeeves

(56,895 posts)
10. Thanks. Firefox will support Vista for another month. After that....
Sun May 20, 2018, 03:12 PM
May 2018

The last version of Opera that runs on Vista is nothing but trouble.

mahatmakanejeeves

(56,895 posts)
12. Thanks.
Sun May 20, 2018, 03:15 PM
May 2018

Last edited Sun May 20, 2018, 03:49 PM - Edit history (1)

I might get around to ordering one from cheatin' Jeff Bezos' Amazon.

From https://www.rtl-sdr.com/rtl-sdr-quick-start-guide/:

SDR# (SDRSharp) Set Up Guide (Tested on Windows 10/8/7 32/64 Bit) (XP/Vista Incompatible)

So there's that. I'm not sure if Windows 7 has service packs, and if it does, which one I have. I can check tomorrow.

Also:

You must have the Microsoft .NET 4.6 or newer redistributable installed to use SDRSharp.

I'll have to check at work tomorrow. That's where the Windows 7 computer is.

I really lucked out. We just upgraded at work from Windows 7 to Windows 10. We had to turn in our old computers, Dells in each case. I asked about the docking station and power supply, thinking that maybe, just maybe they would work. They did. The power supply is a stock Dell 19.5-volt PS, which fits both computers. The docking station they let me have fits the Vista laptop, and I have another docking station at home that fits the Windows 7 computer.

I found it inside a box that had held a flat screen TV. I always give those a little rattle as I walk past, on the grounds that maybe the old TV is inside, or a handful of A/V cables. Neither of those was there, but there was this laptop inside.

Nothing ventured; nothing gained.

The RR wiki looks like a gold mine of information:

http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Software_Defined_Radios

Another thing I'm thinking about is an SDR TV tuner, such as:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/RTL2832U-R820T-DVB-T-USB-Digital-TV-Tuner-Receiver-Support-SDR-F-Laptop-PC/928738077

or

https://www.amazon.com/DVB-T-RTL-SDR-Realtek-RTL2832U-Receiver/dp/B00MN90D0S

The one from Amazon might not work, because:

input frequency:174 MHz-230 MHz;470 MHz-862 MHz
We still have a few local TV stations that are broadcasting on their old analog frequencies. That is, their physical frequencies and their virtual frequencies are the same. That would be the DC stations on channels 7 and 9, and the Baltimore stations on channels 11 and 13. I forgot what physical channel 7 is. If only there were some way to look that up....

Oh, that will work. Per Television Broadcast Frequencies, the VHF high band (channels 7 through 13) runs from 174 MHz to 216 MHz. UHF, channels 14 through 69, are no problem. So I'd be good to go.

My interest stems from the fact that I have no way of recording TV programs in the digital domain. I can receive digital TV transmission, but I can't record them. With an SDR TV dongle, I could save them to hard drive, I guess.

Thanks again.
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