No signal from sdr, just white noise

[— Delta-4 —]

I am relatively new to sdr's and their  software. I just installed gqrx and the install went great.  When i first loaded it up, all i got was static, nothing on the waterfall and nothing on the scope.  If anyone knows what is happening, any advice would be greatly appreciated.  Running KDE NEON most recent version, installed everything it needed/wanted.

[Simon Kennedy]

Difficult to say without knowing what antenna you are using and whether there is a signal you would expect to receive on 745 MHz. Also, you have mode set to Raw I/Q, I suggest you tune to a known local FM broadcast radio station and set the mode to WFM. 

Also show us the input controls tab because setting the gain levels correctly is crucial.

On Wed, 23 Jun 2021, 20:13 — Delta-4 —, <hasty...@gmail.com> wrote:

I am relatively new to sdr's and their  software. I just installed gqrx and the install went great.  When i first loaded it up, all i got was static, nothing on the waterfall and nothing on the scope.  If anyone knows what is happening, any advice would be greatly appreciated.  Running KDE NEON most recent version, installed everything it needed/wanted.

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[Scott Elliott]

Real common easy mistake is the mis-matched polarity on the antennas and cables.  Most SDRs have normal polarity and most consumer gear has reverse polarity with the "gender" of the central pin is reversed.  In short, if you put a consumer WiFI antenna on most SDRs you will not get a solid RF signal connection and get just noise. See https://www.everythingrf.com/community/what-are-reverse-polarity-connectors 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/gqrx/CACopv_h7bx%3De3p%2Bsbi7BHb0DH04zau-eBAS%3DsSD5pHNYbV8r_w%40mail.gmail.com.

[— Delta-4 —]

You sir, i belive you might have solved my problem

[Scott Elliott]

I have taken to buying a silver sharpie and marking my RP antennas. Saved me no end of pain.  Also, without intending any political message, two male inner pins jammed into each can cause damage.  Another bit of common wisdom is to never rotate the cable, only rotate the outer nut to prevent wear damage to the conductors (not sure if there is real data behind that last nugget of wisdom)..

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/gqrx/b3c38203-3102-40cc-ac0d-b5ec66d4b1dfn%40googlegroups.com.

[— Delta-4 —]

thanks, i figured it out and you were right, im going the see if i can find a better antenna than the stock one.