RTL Dongle on Linrad

[Earl Shaffer]

Hi All.

Trying to install Linrad using an RTL dongle.

I have the latest Linrad installed on a Windows 10 computer.

Before I got the right drivers installed, Windows installed a useless driver.

I did install Leifs driver package and it is now on C:\Linrad\Dll

I tried to use Zadig as suggested but I could not find RTlSDR.dll  ? listed as an option.

I found WINSDR as an option and I changed to that driver and it did not work.

Linrad is still unhappy and I now have broken the Newcomer mode on Linrad.

It becomes unresponsive. I can still use the expert mode and it tells me I have the wrong driver.

Does someone know how to tell Zadig where to find the right driver?

Computers eat time...  :(

WB9UWA.

--

Earl Shaffer,  WB9UWA

 

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[Earl Shaffer]

Hi All

I have Error 1348.

It suggest's that my drive routine is wrong.

I used WINSDR. and installed that using Zadig.

I followed this site to install the correct driver for the RTL dongle.

https://www.sdr-radio.com/rtl-dongles

Is WINSDR not correct?

I did not break Linrad after all.

I had to click with the mouse first to send a command to it.

WB9UWA

[Leif Asbrink]

Hi Jim,

WINSDR??

All three, WinUSB, libusb-win32 and libusbK work on my 64 bit Windows 10
laptop. It may be different on other systems. Have a look at these:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfYw2pfhhQM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPQARPt6r_8

There have been many problems with USB in the past but I think
they should be settled by now.

There are two devices for the dungle. Maybe you have installed
WinUSB for the optical device only?

73

Leif

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[Earl Shaffer]

Hi Leif.

Yes  WinUSB.

I checked Zadig again and the wrong driver was in place and this time I had no trouble putting WinUSB in place.

There is no second driver needed, I have Linrad going now. The sensitivity is poor. I have not fully explored my options yet.

My noise rise from dummy load to noise on the horizon should be 15 or 20db but it is more like 5db. I'll either need to find more

gain in the dongle or add a preamp. I DID find the gain selector under the frequency selector box.  I selected Linearity mode. 

 If I point the array on vertical toward a 144.39 packet station the  noise drops a lot when it is transmitting.

I just need to play around with it some more, but I have a start now. This evening I copy some stations on 10 meters on an indoor antenna.

Thank you for the videos. That was helpful.

WB9UWA

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/linrad/20201022062245.6ea4d8ae242dbfebbec4961e%40sm5bsz.com.

[Earl Shaffer]

HI Leif.

I have the latest Linrad version working on Windows 10 laptop with my RTL dongle. The function keys do not work with Linrad on my Laptop.

It is a Lenovo. There is a second function instead that they do like mute, volume up/down, etc. I have been able to use ! for help.

I am using the SSB mode in Expert to tune to center frequency of 143.8 Mhz. There are some strong spurs on the Dongle(no input)  about 700 Khz from DC one on each side of DC. I set the bandwidth to 2Mhz. The Image suppression routine was troublesome and did not seem to follow the video, but the result seems ok and linrad no longer complains about it. I used my pulse generator at 900 hz to flatten the frequency response. Initially it was 63% level and 33db S/N but in a later page it complained and reported 4db S/N. I used the I command to run it anyway. Because S/N was so poor I ran it 500,000 cycles. It was obvious  the spur was causing a serious problem with it and I ended up limiting the bandwidth to around a Mhz with the F command. It seems to have worked and Linrad no longer complains about that either so the waterfall is clean of messages. Noise floor is 8db with dongle only and 24 db with mast mounted preamp and dummy load. Linrad gain is set to 23db. I had to use a second gaAsfet preamp in front of the Dongle, but it is protected by a good home brew 2 pole helical filter. Noise on the horizon is 45db. I found cold sky at 78 degrees elevation and discovered a 4db s/n compared to the dummy load. The cold sky was 25k so it should have been equal to the dummy load.  I made a 75 second recording using W and I named the file 4db.wav. I followed instructions and tried to play it back but Linrad complained that the text file I made was not present. It is 7 mb in size so it is probably ok. I need some place to upload it to or maybe I can send it direct in E-mail to you? The A command seems to only measure peaks (peak holding) and will not reduce unless I close the A and restart it again. I have not been able to discover a way to invoke the noise blankers yet. I'll read on.

I'll try sending you that file in direct E-mail. Perhaps you can send me successful parameters for 144 Mhz operation of a dongle with Noise blankers in place.  There are plenty of signals (possibly some spurious) to look to improve S/N on. My center frequency is 143.8 Mhz and there is a troublesome packet radio station on 144.390 Mhz. To get best possible overall system noise figure, the dongle is operating just 3db below saturation according to the A command.

WB9UWA

[Leif Asbrink]

Hi Jim,

With a noise increase from 8 to 24 dB you have a system NF that is determined
by your preamplifiers. Since you are looking for strong signals (interference
pulses) you might reduce gain so you get a smaller noise increase. Something
like 10 dB with a S/N loss of about 1 dB and 6 dB higher dynamic range.

The narrowband recording you made with 'W' is useless. Yse the 'S' command
to make a wideband recording with the antenna at the horizon on the worst
QRM source. Record for 5 seconds only. That will produce about 50 megabytes
of data. I think the E-mail system can manage that - but I do not know.
Give it a try.

The 'A' command is a peak hold detector. Use the 'Z' command to clear it.

73

Leif

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