RTL Bridge

[Jim Sky]

Aloha,

I hope a few folks will test out my experimental attempt at using an RTL dongle in Windows with Radio-SkyPipe (RSP) and Radio-Sky Spectrograph (RSS).   The heart of the attempt is free application I wrote and named (imaginatively enough) RTL Bridge.  This is only available as part of the RSS Update or Full Install packages.  Even if you just want to use it with RSP, you will have to install RSS, at least for the present.

RSS Full Install : http://radiosky.com/spec/Spectrograph.exe

RSS Update :  http://radiosky.com/spec/Spectrograph_Update_2_4_6.exe

If you would like to use it with Radio-SkyPipe please do the RSP update at:

 http://radiosky.com/skypipe/RSPII_Update_2_6_17.exe

I wrote a help file which you will need to read!

http://radiosky.com/spec/RTL_Bridge_Help.html

Of course I will appreciate feedback on how well it works, though I realize the implementation is clunky because am I going through rtl_tcp.exe.  So please don't beat me up about the human interface too much.  I am especially interested in whether or not the radio seems to be sensitive.  My calibrated noise source ist kaput!

Thank you

js

-- 
Jim Sky

[ARNO...@aol.com]

Aloha Jim,

I will try Your package as soon as I have some time.I have a RTL dongle and can test it with Your software.

at present I am buisy trying to detect a pulsa

 

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[Ray Fobes]

Jim;

We will give it a try at our observatory in the near future with our RTL based receivers.  Will let you know how it works for us.

Regards,

Ray Fobes

[Jim Sky]

Looks like I forgot to include the FFTW dll in the package for the RTL Bridge.  I will try to repackage it and get it out tonight.

Thanks,
Jim S.

[Jim Sky]

OK, I have added the missing FFTW file to the Radio-Sky Spectrograph distribution package.  Most of you probably already had it on your computers anyway. 

With a little help from Reddit, I was able to discover how to update the parameters like frequency and gain in rtl_tcp without restarting it with new command line parameters.   That update to RTL Bridge will come soon but it is really only a matter of convenience and should not stop anyone from using the current version.

So far I have had zero people tell me that they have had success with getting this working. There is one who cannot run rtl_tcp.exe without a crash and a message that VC2-w32.dll is missing.  I cannot find a reference to this dll anywhere.  That problem occurs also when he tries to use rtl_tcp from SDR#, so that problem is not connected directly with RTL Bridge.  Has anyone else had the problem? 

Thanks,
Jim

[Jim Brown]

Good deal Jim.  What's the new version number?

Sent from my iPhone

HNRAO

[Marcus D. Leech]

On 08/02/2014 06:29 PM, Jim Sky wrote:

OK, I have added the missing FFTW file to the Radio-Sky Spectrograph distribution package.  Most of you probably already had it on your computers anyway. 

With a little help from Reddit, I was able to discover how to update the parameters like frequency and gain in rtl_tcp without restarting it with new command line parameters.   That update to RTL Bridge will come soon but it is really only a matter of convenience and should not stop anyone from using the current version.

So far I have had zero people tell me that they have had success with getting this working. There is one who cannot run rtl_tcp.exe without a crash and a message that VC2-w32.dll is missing.  I cannot find a reference to this dll anywhere.  That problem occurs also when he tries to use rtl_tcp from SDR#, so that problem is not connected directly with RTL Bridge.  Has anyone else had the problem? 

Thanks,
Jim

I've learned over the years that it doesn't matter how smart you make your installer or install scripts, they'll nearly always land on a system
  that has stuff going on with it that you didn't anticipate...

On 7/29/2014 6:54 PM, Jim Sky wrote:

Aloha,

I hope a few folks will test out my experimental attempt at using an RTL dongle in Windows with Radio-SkyPipe (RSP) and Radio-Sky Spectrograph (RSS).   The heart of the attempt is free application I wrote and named (imaginatively enough) RTL Bridge.  This is only available as part of the RSS Update or Full Install packages.  Even if you just want to use it with RSP, you will have to install RSS, at least for the present.

RSS Full Install : http://radiosky.com/spec/Spectrograph.exe

RSS Update :  http://radiosky.com/spec/Spectrograph_Update_2_4_6.exe

If you would like to use it with Radio-SkyPipe please do the RSP update at:

 http://radiosky.com/skypipe/RSPII_Update_2_6_17.exe

I wrote a help file which you will need to read!

http://radiosky.com/spec/RTL_Bridge_Help.html

Of course I will appreciate feedback on how well it works, though I realize the implementation is clunky because am I going through rtl_tcp.exe.  So please don't beat me up about the human interface too much.  I am especially interested in whether or not the radio seems to be sensitive.  My calibrated noise source ist kaput!

Thank you

js

[Jim Sky]

The only difference is in the package, so no new version number for the programs is required.  You can just use

RSS Update :  http://radiosky.com/spec/Spectrograph_Update_2_4_6.exe

and it will have the file that was missing.

JS

[Raydel Abreu (CM2ESP)]

Hi Jim,

There is a MS Visual C++ runtime package required to run rtl_tcp.exe. Don't remember right now if it is 2005, 2008 or 2010.

Best wishes,

Raydel

[Jim Sky]

Thank you Raydel.  I will try loading 2010 on the users computer and see if that helps. 

Aloha,
Jim

[wezelball]

Jim,

It took me two attempts, but I finally got the RTL bridge to work with the NooElec R820T SDR.

It failed at first saying that I needed pthreadVC2-w32.dll - I found that on http://www.rtl-sdr.com/tag/dump1090/, and copied it into the Program Files/Spectrograph/rtl-sdr-release/x32 directory.  After that, RTL bridge worked, and then I fired up RSS, and that worked fine!

Thanks for incorporating the dongle  - what a boon for us dongle owners! (I still plan on using the Radio Jove receiver, but this will supplement it nicely).

[Jim Sky]

Hi Dave,

I have uploaded the RSS installation with the new files that you found missing.  Thank you again for pointing out the problem and the solution.  If anyone out there could not get RTL Bridge to run because of a missing pthreadVC2-w32.dll or msvcr100.dll , they are in the new installation package ready for download.

http://radiosky.com/spec/Spectrograph.exe  for the full install or
http://radiosky.com/spec/Spectrograph_Update_2_4_8.exe if you already have RSS installed and just want to update to RTL Bridge.

Jim S