RDS menu on GQRX 20150405

[Daniel Tiganas]

 First of all, thank you guys for excellent work. I've successfully built GQRX on Mac OSX Yoesmite (10.10.2), no problems. 

 I've noticed that after the latest update, there is a new RDS menu, but it seems it is not working. I could not find any reference in revision logs regarding the RDS function on GQRX. Is it possible that we will have RDS on GQRX soon?

Also, I know this was a requested feature to have the frequency displayed on FFT, which is now implemented in 20150405 version, however when I hoover the mouse over the FFT the entire spectrum freezes. Can we have a setting to disable/enable frequency display on FFT? Can I disable it somehow?

Thanks again, have a nice day!

[Simon Kennedy]

Dan,

the latest news.txt file on git shows:

2.x.x TBD
	NEW: Bookmarks.
	NEW: FM RDS decoder using gr-rds.
	NEW: Frequency tooltips on the FFT area.
	NEW: Filter shape selector (soft, normal, sharp).
	NEW: Zoom slider to aid zooming on the frequency axis.
	FIXED: Prevent crash due to device errors while starting the application.
	FIXED: Use hardware frequency in IQ file names.
	IMPROVED: Fractional PPM correction.

I was pleasantly surprised that when I installed gqrx via pybombs that it installed the latest version from git. However, I cannot get the RDS feature to show any data (and I have installed gr-rds via pybombs). I especially like the feature to click on a bookmark text on the waterfall to tune.

Regards

Simon. 

[Daniel Tiganas]

Indeed, there are some very nice features in the latest release. I find filter shape selector very useful for SWL. Indeed RDS does not show any data. Can you reproduce the FFT freeze during mouse over?

[Alexandru Csete]

Hi Dan,

RDS is functional but as I recall it requires very strong signal - much stronger than what you have on the screenshot. RFI may also prevent the decoder from locking.

But the RDS widget layout on your screenshot looks very strange, so there is some GUI issue we have to fix.

I am surprised by the issue you are having with the new show frequency function. It is really just a tooltip and most of the same functionality is already used all over the application.

What kind of Qt are you using? Can you try with the official Qt binaries from http://www.qt.io/ ?

Alex

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[Alexandru Csete]

Hi Simon,

As I wrote in my reply to Daniel, RDS decoder should work but it seems to require a strong, clean signal. The necessary parts of gr-rds are included in the gqrx source so installing gr-rds is not necessary.

Alex

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[Alexandru Csete]

On Wed, Apr 8, 2015 at 12:17 PM, Daniel Tiganas <dan.t...@intrasys.ro> wrote:

Indeed, there are some very nice features in the latest release. I find filter shape selector very useful for SWL.

Just for the record, there has been no new release yet, not even a snapshot. It's code that has been checked in to the repository but we need to test it and fix bugs before any release. So I definitely appreciate te feedback.

Alex

[Daniel Tiganas]

Hi Alex, 

I installed gqrx using mac ports. Yesterday, I upgraded outdated ports. One of the upgrades was Gqrx to the new version, 20150405. I am using qt4mac, version 4.8.6_0 (the latest included in mac ports). I did not compile

The added features, as far as I can see, on 20150405 version, are:

1. frequency displayed as tooltip on FFT window: works fine, the frequency is displayed when I hover the mouse, however the entire fft freezes for few moments.

2. filter shape: works perfectly, very very useful for SWL.

3. clicking on bookmark on FFT changes the frequency to the bookmarked station: works perfectly

4. the new RDS window: appears on the GUI, but nothing happens, even when I tune in to a very strong station (indeed in the print screen attached you can see a weak one).

I installed gr-rds and started it in gnuradio-companion, for most of the FM stations I have RDS data. If I switch to GQRX, nothing happens on the same stations where gnuradio works fine.

I've attached 2 more print screens to exemplify. Both are using the same hardware (airspy and a telescopic antenna).

Gnuradio-companion, with gr-rds, 104,5MHz radio station:

 Gqrx, 104,5Mhz radio station:

As for FFT freezing issue, I uploaded a short movie of the behaviour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOpivN5yoPc&feature=youtu.be

[Simon Kennedy]

Thanks Alex, the stronger BBC signals do decode RDS, see the attached screenshot for how it looks on my machine. I do not get a 'hover over' freeze. 

Simon.

[Simon Kennedy]

I should have mentioned that I am using xubuntu 14.04.

[Alexandru Csete]

On Wed, Apr 8, 2015 at 1:47 PM, Daniel Tiganas <dan.t...@intrasys.ro> wrote:

Hi Alex, 

I installed gqrx using mac ports. Yesterday, I upgraded outdated ports. One of the upgrades was Gqrx to the new version, 20150405. I am using qt4mac, version 4.8.6_0 (the latest included in mac ports). I did not compile

The added features, as far as I can see, on 20150405 version, are:

1. frequency displayed as tooltip on FFT window: works fine, the frequency is displayed when I hover the mouse, however the entire fft freezes for few moments.

Oh, so it only freezes for moment, then it continues to run? That sounds like performance issues with Qt. Clearly, the new functionality adds extra code and may affect performance. I have not noticed any performance impact on linux using Qt 5.4.

 

2. filter shape: works perfectly, very very useful for SWL.

3. clicking on bookmark on FFT changes the frequency to the bookmarked station: works perfectly

4. the new RDS window: appears on the GUI, but nothing happens, even when I tune in to a very strong station (indeed in the print screen attached you can see a weak one).

I installed gr-rds and started it in gnuradio-companion, for most of the FM stations I have RDS data. If I switch to GQRX, nothing happens on the same stations where gnuradio works fine.

For sure there seems to be an issue in gqrx with the way the RDS labels are layed out on OS X. Check Simons screenshot, you'll see that you are missing text so even if you have something decoded it may not show on the screen.

For your screenshots I notice that the SNR in your GNU Radio flow graphs is ~ 100 dB and much less in gqrx. Try adjusting the gain for less noise / spikes and more SNR. Even though you may have an apparent SNR of ~ 60 dB in gqrx there are also some very strong spikes all over the spectrum. You could also have spikes of the same strength within the FM signal that interfere with reception.

 

Alex

[Daniel Tiganas]

It might be an issue with qt4mac that I am using, however gqrx mac port depends on qt4 and I cannot install qt5 from ports unless I uninstall qt4. I am not sure if gqrx will install from ports if I have qt5, but I will give it a try. However the issue seems to be caused by the frequency display (before that it worked very smoothly), so is there a way I can disable it?

As for RDS, I think it is just a display bug, because it looks a lot different then the linux version. It might be related also with the qt4 library. 

I'll let you know if I manage to install gqrx and qt5 from ports.

[Daniel Tiganas]

Update: cannot install Gqrx with qt5 from ports, because it depends on qt4.  I really don't want to install it by compiling the source code. 

[Alexandru Csete]

On Wed, Apr 8, 2015 at 4:08 PM, Daniel Tiganas <dan.t...@intrasys.ro> wrote:

It might be an issue with qt4mac that I am using, however gqrx mac port depends on qt4 and I cannot install qt5 from ports unless I uninstall qt4. I am not sure if gqrx will install from ports if I have qt5, but I will give it a try. However the issue seems to be caused by the frequency display (before that it worked very smoothly), so is there a way I can disable it?

Only by editing the code.

As I don't have time to dig into this in details now I will just disable it for now.

Alex

 

As for RDS, I think it is just a display bug, because it looks a lot different then the linux version. It might be related also with the qt4 library. 

I'll let you know if I manage to install gqrx and qt5 from ports.

miercuri, 8 aprilie 2015, 16:43:26 UTC+3, Alexandru Csete a scris:

On Wed, Apr 8, 2015 at 1:47 PM, Daniel Tiganas <dan.t...@intrasys.ro> wrote:

Hi Alex, 

I installed gqrx using mac ports. Yesterday, I upgraded outdated ports. One of the upgrades was Gqrx to the new version, 20150405. I am using qt4mac, version 4.8.6_0 (the latest included in mac ports). I did not compile

The added features, as far as I can see, on 20150405 version, are:

1. frequency displayed as tooltip on FFT window: works fine, the frequency is displayed when I hover the mouse, however the entire fft freezes for few moments.

Oh, so it only freezes for moment, then it continues to run? That sounds like performance issues with Qt. Clearly, the new functionality adds extra code and may affect performance. I have not noticed any performance impact on linux using Qt 5.4.

 

2. filter shape: works perfectly, very very useful for SWL.

3. clicking on bookmark on FFT changes the frequency to the bookmarked station: works perfectly

4. the new RDS window: appears on the GUI, but nothing happens, even when I tune in to a very strong station (indeed in the print screen attached you can see a weak one).

I installed gr-rds and started it in gnuradio-companion, for most of the FM stations I have RDS data. If I switch to GQRX, nothing happens on the same stations where gnuradio works fine.

For sure there seems to be an issue in gqrx with the way the RDS labels are layed out on OS X. Check Simons screenshot, you'll see that you are missing text so even if you have something decoded it may not show on the screen.

For your screenshots I notice that the SNR in your GNU Radio flow graphs is ~ 100 dB and much less in gqrx. Try adjusting the gain for less noise / spikes and more SNR. Even though you may have an apparent SNR of ~ 60 dB in gqrx there are also some very strong spikes all over the spectrum. You could also have spikes of the same strength within the FM signal that interfere with reception.

 

Alex

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[Michael Dickens]

Do Gqrx OSX users want access to Qt5 within MacPorts & does Gqrx work with pretty much any Qt 4.8+? If so, I'll add this to MacPorts; pretty easy change. - MLD

[Alexandru Csete]

On Wed, Apr 8, 2015 at 7:34 PM, Michael Dickens <m...@alum.mit.edu> wrote:
> Do Gqrx OSX users want access to Qt5 within MacPorts & does Gqrx work with
> pretty much any Qt 4.8+? If so, I'll add this to MacPorts; pretty easy
> change. - MLD

Hello Michael,

For now, gqrx should work fine with both 4.8 and 5.x, but I use Qt 5.4
exclusively for development. I don't know if Qt 5.4 has any
significant performance improvements with respect to OSX, it may be
worth to try. There may be the issue that if gr-qt requires Qt 4, it
may be silly to have both Qt 4 and 5 installed because of gqrx.

Alex

[Michael Dickens]

I went ahead and added variants to the gqrx port: +qt4 and +qt5, in
r134861 < https://trac.macports.org/changeset/134861 >. +qt4 is the
default, and works for me on OSX 10.8. Hopefully folks wanting to use
Qt5 can now do so for this port -- you'll have to install gnuradio with
-qtgui, since qt4-mac and qt5-mac cannot be installed at the same time
just yet; we're working it. I'd be interested in hearing if/how this
works; and, if not, please contact me off-list with a compressed build
log showing the failure & I'll work on fixing it. Maybe this will also
provide some info on the RDS menu issue. - MLD

[Daniel Tiganas]

Hi Michael, 

Thank you very much for support, 

I've manage to install gt5-mac and gnuradio with -gtqui variant.

However, when trying to install gqrx with -qt4 and +qt5 variant, I get the same error:

sudo port install gqrx +qt5 -qt4

--->  Computing dependencies for gqrx

--->  Fetching archive for gqrx

--->  Attempting to fetch gqrx-20150405_0+qt5.darwin_14.x86_64.tbz2 from http://nue.de.packages.macports.org/macports/packages/gqrx

--->  Attempting to fetch gqrx-20150405_0+qt5.darwin_14.x86_64.tbz2 from http://lil.fr.packages.macports.org/gqrx

--->  Attempting to fetch gqrx-20150405_0+qt5.darwin_14.x86_64.tbz2 from http://mse.uk.packages.macports.org/sites/packages.macports.org/gqrx

--->  Fetching distfiles for gqrx

--->  Attempting to fetch gqrx-1518f893ce093e481c8a65d624b886c746cc28e2.tar.gz from http://nue.de.distfiles.macports.org/macports/distfiles/gqrx

--->  Verifying checksums for gqrx                                              

--->  Extracting gqrx

--->  Applying patches to gqrx

Error: org.macports.patch for port gqrx returned: can't read "qt_arch_types": no such variable

Please see the log file for port gqrx for details:

    /opt/local/var/macports/logs/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_tarballs_ports_science_gqrx/gqrx/main.log

To report a bug, follow the instructions in the guide:

    http://guide.macports.org/#project.tickets

Error: Processing of port gqrx failed

I will send the compressed log to your mailbox. 

Thanks!

[Walter Francis]

You guys are tuning to WFM and a FM radio station, right?  That's the only place RDS is available.  It seems I've heard of it available on AM broadcast (500-1700) but not 100% sure, but pretty sure RDS in GQRX is only available WFM 88-108mhz.

[Daniel Tiganas]

Yes, I tested RDS on FM band using a FM broadcast station. It seems that on Linux the RDS is working fine, the only issue is on Mac OSX with qt4 (or at least on my Mac OSX)

[Michael Dickens]

OK; thanks. I just pushed some changes that should fix this issue. They will be live in ~30 minutes, around 9:30 AM/US/Eastern. Please try again & see if these changes work for you. - MLD

 

On Thu, Apr 9, 2015, at 03:43 AM, Daniel Tiganas wrote:

Thank you very much for support, 

I've manage to install gt5-mac and gnuradio with -gtqui variant.

However, when trying to install gqrx with -qt4 and +qt5 variant, I get the same error:

sudo port install gqrx +qt5 -qt4

[Daniel Tiganas]

Woow, that was fast, thank you!

I was able to build gqrx using QT5 on Mac OSX 10.10.2. 

I am afraid this not solves the original issues, although it does look a little different. 

The RDS menu is still inactive, meaning that no RDS data is displayed on GUI.

Also the freezing issue during mouse over the FFT is present. 

Furthermore, on the Receiver Option window, the controls have a line over it, see print screen attached.

Also on audio window, the controls are overlapped (it was overlapping before, but now it is worse):

Again, tested with gnuradio and gr-rds, the RDS is decoded for the same station. 

[Michael Dickens]

Hi Daniel - NP; glad those changes worked for you, overall. I'll let
Alex deal with the RDS & specific Qt5 issue :) - MLD

[Daniel Tiganas]

Thanks a lot for support and for excelent work maintaining gqrx ports for mac osx!

[Alexandru Csete]

I have disabled the frequency tooltips on Mac.

I am aware of some layout issues of button on OS X but never seen it as has as the combo boxes on your screenshot. Unfortunately I don't know when I will have time to look at it - I think it is much more than just loading the forms in the designer. Last time I checked they looked fine so it seems to be a runtime issue.

And for one last time: You do *not* need to install gr-rds separately to have RDS in gqrx. Gqrx comes with its own copy and will ignore any other gr-rds installations.

Alex

[Daniel Tiganas]

Hi Alex, 

I've updated gqrx on mac, now on version 20150411, but tooltips are still here. Is there another update?

I know that gr-rds is not needed for gqrx rds menu, I am just using it, on gnuradio,  to test of the antena + sdr setup are good enogh for rds reception. 

Thank you very much!

[Alexandru Csete]

It seems I have been using a deprecated macro to determine whether we are on mac. I have replaced it now so it should be fixed. I think this fix may also improve the layout of some of the buttons that overlap; they were indeed using the same deprecated macro.

Alex

[Michael Dickens]

I just pushed this change into MacPorts in < https://trac.macports.org/changeset/135060 >. Should be live around 10:30 AM/US/Eastern. - MLD

[Alexandru Csete]

That's great Michael, thanks!
Lets hope it works better now.

Alex

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[Daniel Tiganas]

Thank you guys!

Indeed, on version 20150414 frequency tooltips are gone, now my FFT is smooth when I move the mouse around. The controls on audio page are looking better (actually the same as with qt4 version). I will keep the qt5 version, because I think it looks overall better on Mac then the qt4 version.

Still no RDS on Mac, but I really appreciate all your time and effort to make this beautiful piece of software.

If I can be of any assistance, I will gladly help you with any tests needed.

[Alexandru Csete]

I was doing some minor UI-tweak and I think I found out why the RDS
widget had a bad layout on Mac. I hope I fixed it now and it should be
available in the next macports update.

Alex

[Daniel Tiganas]

That's great news Alex!

The mac ports are not yet updated, but I will keep on trying and let you know as soon as I have the update!

[Michael Dickens]

I'm technically on vacation, but I went ahead and bumped Gqrx in MacPorts this morning to the latest GIT master. This commit brings in the changes Alex mentions. Enjoy! I'll be formally back to work on Monday, June 29, but I should have time here and there for simple updates such as this one. - MLD

[Daniel Tiganas]

Now isn't this beautiful! :))

Thank you again for the excelent work!

@Michael, enjoy your vacation!

[Alex Gorski]

Have been following the activities here for a while .... Still stuck with v.2.2, the last one I could find as a ready to install binary.
Really disappointed by the fact that this is no more the case, although I have to respect Alex Csetes decision to stay away from compiling gqrx himself.

Fact is that I'm not as nerdy ( or not nerdy enough ) as you guys are. I have left the ugly world of Windows 11 years ago, re-joining the easy planet of the Apples because I didn't want to lose my precious time greasing my fingers in the deep layers of an overweight OS.

Gqrx is a very smart attempt to bring the SDR experience to the Mac, a real alternative to the couple of Stars from the other world, like the SDR Radio Pro v.2 or SDR#, ergonomically sound apps but still powerful. But every jump into my VM to launch those apps is a long moment of masochism.

I tried to make an effort by installing Macports, but that move failed big time, notwithstanding the presence of the latest X-Code and its toolset package.
My /var Folder remains hopelessly empty and Terminal still doesn't recognize the 'port' command.
And to supplement that, the whole trac.macports.org domain with its Wiki and FAQs is offline/unknown/not available anymore.

That kind of fricking wall is just enough to get me sick of that "experience" and being just a Mini-Nerd, I only have a limited time to steer through all the corners of a "backstage kitchen".
I work in the TV industry, on both tech and creative sides, so I'm more interested in exploring an app than to learn how to compile it.

Really sorry to see that there is no energy left here to provide simple solutions for people who love it the simple way, hence being Mac users.

Therefore, I am going back to the minor pain of the VM with its old XP install where beside those SDR tools are some of my DXer faves like HRD.
There at least, t takes only minutes to install programs, leaving me time enough to enjoy the practice of SWL itself.

But thank you Alex for all your precious time spent creating Gqrx, it still has a huge potential to evolve, even if it is now reserved for only a small slice of Mac Afficionados.
From the screenshots I saw here, it looks really great.

Have a good time and try at least to enjoy all the benefits of the Apple tree.


Alexander Gorski

Film & TV Cameraman, Paris, France
 

[Wilfried Kopp]

Hi,

I guess the topic is a little outdated but since I was wondering as well, here are some comments.

I am using a mac and I installed GQRX using Homebrew (no brainer).

At first I also did not receive any RDS data and I was wondering why.

So you will need a fair signal (I have a very strong signal in the screenshots below).

You will need a station that broadcasts RDS obviously. As you can see below, you can use Mono (or Stereo).

In the following screenshot... bad luck, it should work but no RDS comes in.

You need to notice 2 things:

 1- the filter width

 2- the little peak on the left of the FFT, just outside of my filter. You will see it very clearly when there is a little silence (=no music)

So the issue was that we need to have a filter that is wide enough to catch the RDS data as it does not sit right on the FM signal. Below I used a wider filter. You need at least 90k and even with this, RDS comes randomly. At 150k, you are pretty much guaranteed to catch the RDS data. It is actually very funny to see it getting populated. 

I hope this helps.