RTL2832 not recognised. Stuck please help!

[Allan Stevens]

Hi I wonder if anyone would be able to offer some advice?  

I picked up a rtl-sdr dongle from ebay (cached here - https://cc.bingj.com/cache.aspx?q=USB2.0+Digital+Mini+2%2b%3a+RTL-SDR+%26+DVB-T+USB+Set+w%2f+0.5PPM+TCXO+%26+R820T2+Tuner+UK&d=4646381738983942&mkt=en-GB&setlang=en-GB&w=TYPVw6dFeCNA7iKUc2uvG1ecU5Tm0_UT )

My plan was to get it working on my Debian server that runs openHAB but really struggling on Linux, so thought I would first test it on Windows so followed the guide over on rtl-sdr.com and got it working with SDRSharp.  Then opened the windows release of rtl_433 and it seems that it does not detect the dongle. 

I get the following

E:\openHAB\rtl433>rtl_433 -v

rtl_433 version unknown inputs file rtl_tcp

Trying conf file at "E:\openHAB\rtl433\rtl_433.conf"...

Trying conf file at "C:\Users\allan\AppData\Local\rtl_433\rtl_433.conf"...

Trying conf file at "C:\ProgramData\rtl_433\rtl_433.conf"...

Registering protocol [1] "Silvercrest Remote Control"

...

...

Registering protocol [119] "Bresser Weather Center 5-in-1"

Registered 96 out of 120 device decoding protocols

No input drivers (RTL-SDR or SoapySDR) compiled in.

Have I brought a cheap and nasty dongle or am I doing something stupid?  It its the dongle what would be recommended for Debian x86?

Thanks

[Christian Z.]

Get rtl_433 for Windows from the "Releases" page on Github. There are different versions. The one you started does not have support for RTLSDR. The first output line needs to read:

  rtl_433 version 21.05 inputs file rtl_tcp RTL-SDR

Additional support for "SoapySDR" or "TLS" is optional and not needed for your use-case.

[Christian Z.]

On Linux, if your packet manager doesn't have rtl_433 or you want the most up-to-date version, see https://triq.org/rtl_433/BUILDING.html#linux-mac-os-x for building instructions.

[Allan Stevens]

Thanks for the information about building instructions. I was not able to use 'apt-get install rtl-433' so building might be the answer, something to look at on another day. 

Thanks again.