Need full tutorial or video or chat, phone call or even e-mail to get my rtl stick up & running from A to Z

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darkci...@gmail.com

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Dec 10, 2016, 1:15:51 PM12/10/16
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I've read just about every tutorial & watched every Youtube video until I'm almost blind. Can someone with patience talk me through installing my rtl stick on my PC & download what's needed in a slow & concise step by step manner. One of my main concerns is some say plug the stick in first, others say plug it in after step 6 or whatever, install zadig first, don't install zadig at all, download sdr# or this or that, twice I even got a screen which actually looked like my stick was working until I unplugged the stick & the screen was still working which I figured had to be a demo, also confusion with proper placement of zip files, PC files, this that & the other, PLEASE HELP ME.

darkci...@gmail.com

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Dec 10, 2016, 1:17:58 PM12/10/16
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Andras Bato

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Dec 10, 2016, 2:11:59 PM12/10/16
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Impossible mission Sir!
I have written a ten step guide for you which may led you thorough the installation process.
Did you think I was wrong?
I have five sticks, all can be used, installed SDR# many times.
You do need a driver which name is Zadig.
It's evident you can not install a USB device which is not connected to your computer!
First of all let me ask you WHO ARE YOU?
Ham radio operators usually sign their messages, so what's your callsign, or at least what's your name?
By the way do not ask too much!
Do install your device, please!
gl de ha6nn
Andras

On Sat, Dec 10, 2016 at 6:15 PM, <darkci...@gmail.com> wrote:
I've read just about every tutorial & watched every Youtube video until I'm almost blind. Can someone with patience talk me through installing my rtl stick on my PC & download what's needed in a slow & concise step by step manner. One of my main concerns is some say plug the stick in first, others say plug it in after step 6 or whatever, install zadig first, don't install zadig at all, download sdr# or this or that, twice I even got a screen which actually looked like my stick was working until I unplugged the stick & the screen was still working which I figured had to be a demo, also confusion with proper placement of zip files, PC files, this that & the other, PLEASE HELP ME.

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jdow

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Dec 10, 2016, 7:02:10 PM12/10/16
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On the basis you might not be a troll even though somebody else seems to think
you are here is how you can bring up SDR Console. This presumes, perhaps rashly,
that you have a compatible DAB-T dongle. I further presume you have one of the
standard cheap ones from NOOELEC or RTLSDR.com (GOOD ones!) or similar. Please
read completely before starting the steps.

1) visit http://zadig.akeo.ie/ and follow the instructions for downloading.
2) Plug in the dongle and let Windows Vista or later trundle until it thinks the
dongle is installed. (Give it a minute or so in case it insists on downloading
the Windows native DAB driver.
3) Run Zadig by right clicking on it and selecting "Run as administrator". If
you don't use "Run as administrator" most likely the installation will not work.
4) From options select the first entry "List All Devices".

From here it gets risky.

5) Scroll down the droplist at the top of the dialog. Notice the numbers that
change on the lower left labeled USB ID. You are looking for specific values on
the left number and right number. If either does not match move on. The most
common numbers for dongles are 0bda on the left and either 2832 or 2838 on the
right. If you do not find one of these numbers stop and ask here with details
about your dongle such as you know them. We can let you know if you have a
compatible dongle. NOTE THAT YOU VERY WELL MIGHT NOT HAVE A COMPATIBLE DONGLE.
If you purchased a generic DAB-T dongle and presumed it will work, you may be a
victim of your presumption.

6) If you found a known RTL dongle ID select the "Replace Driver" button. It
should declare success. At this point the dongle should be connected to the
Windows supplied "WinUSB.sys" driver, which is a dumb shell driver that
applications can use.

7) Now we pause for awhile - long enough that you have run Zadig on a known good
dongle ID candidate. You need an RTLSDR driver and SDR software. That depends on
what you download for an SDR application. Simon's "SDR Radio" is a perfectly
good solution. It can be found at "http://sdr-radio.com/". Visit that page
first. I'd recommend the V3 beta download. Select the "Version 3" entry. Scroll
down the page to find the download button. Then go back up on the right to
"Getting Started" and start reading. It will tell you what to do from there.

8) (optional) If there are still some problems getting SDR Radio to run, you can
visit by google drive page and download RTLTool. It is in the RTLTool folder at
(mind any possible wraps):
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4ImLhg3WKL5fnhRalBOVU8wVmFma1ZzR25LVEZYR0RBMzBwTFh6M0psbkZOei03ZVBDeTQ

You should find and download "RTLTool Distribution 20161210.zip."

You should be able to unzip the archive and run. Select the x86 version as it
also runs on 64 bit machines. It should find your dongle in the drop list. There
are various tests you should be able to run. At the moment simply finding the
dongle is your test. If it is found it will likely work. You can run a transfer
test to see if you USB bus is fast enough. (I'd be very surprised if it is not.)

9) (optional) Once you get SDR Radio working there is an improved rtlsdr.dll
with a whole lot of other work folded into it that's not in the Osmocom tree or
the version that comes in the SDR Radio install. For SDR Radio select the
SDRConsole folder on my google drive page and download the file there. Unzip it.
Then drop the "appropriate* SDRSourceRTL2832UFull.dll, libusb-1.0.dll and
rtlsdr.dll files into the "c:\Program Files\SDR-Radio.com (v3)" folder approving
the copy as needed. Since I do not replace Simon's RTL "SDRSourcecXXX" file you
should simply be able to visit the select radio property page and search for
dongles with the "RTL SDR (FULL)" search options.

So let us know how far you made it. Take your time and do it right. Randomly
installing the WinUSB driver on any old USB ID found can leave you suddenly
without some critical tool such as your USB keyboard or mouse. So please do be
careful. Again the most common "USB ID" values known to work are 0bda 2832 and
0bda 2838.

These steps are known to work on Win 10 as if a couple months ago when I
installed it on a new test machine.

Enjoy!

{^_^} Joanne
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Leif Asbrink

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Dec 10, 2016, 7:43:41 PM12/10/16
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Hello,

Over the years many different procedures have been required.
They are still on the Internet and looking at all of them
might be confusing.

There are a couple of basic facts:

1) There are two DIFFERENT protocols for communicating with
USB devices.

a) libusb0 or libusbK (needs libusb0.dll)
b) libusb-1.0 (needs libusb-1.0.dll)

2) Today everybody should use Zadig to install one of these three
drivers. Which one to choose depends on the software you
want to use. For a rtlsdr you probably want libusb-1.0.dll
but for example Rocky you want libusb0.

This old video shows a problem that is no longer present, but
it might help to explain some of the confusion:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/bfYw2pfhhQM
Today Linrad needs libusb-1.0 to work with rtlsdr.

It seems the people at Osmocom changed librtlsdr to use the modern
driver for USB a couple of years ago.

There can be all sorts of problems with dll files in Windows.
several years ago Linrad installed dll files in the system directory
under the assumption that if someone else would install a more recent
dll it would be compatible. As it turned out, that was a false assumption,
another program might install a libusb dll file that needed some component
of Microsoft Visual C which was not installed in the system directory
and Linrad would crash with the message "The program could not start
properly" A very (un)helpful message indeed...

Today Linrad installs its dll files in a special location so these
problems are eliminated in Linrad.

Use Zadig. It will not only install the driver, it will also
install a modern version of the dll file in your system directory.

Depending on what SDR program you use ic could be a good idea to
delete libusb dll files from the program directory to force the
software to use the ones supplied by Zadig in the system directory
and if that fails it might be clever to copy from the system directory
into your program directory. Linrad is a special case, it looks for
dll files in C:\linrad\dll and possibly other SDR developer have
found reasons for something similar.

I think "Welcome to USB hell" is no longer appropriate - but it
was a couple of years ago. First when USB2 was introduced and many
software moved from libusb0 to libusb1.0 and then with USB3 for
which proper drive routines were not available for all hardware.

Internet does not easily forget so you can find a lot of info
from frustrated SDR users with USB problems.....


Regards

Leif
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jdow

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Dec 10, 2016, 9:03:41 PM12/10/16
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My stuff is built with libusb_1.0.dll. That is why I (rashly) include it in the
collections of files I publish. I take pity on the new user. I try not to send
him off for Heinz 57 different files.

{^_-}

Leif Asbrink

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Dec 11, 2016, 12:03:33 AM12/11/16
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Hi Joanne,

My posting was intended to explain why "I've read just about every
tutorial & watched every Youtube video until I'm almost blind."
is a not unusual experience for a newcomer to rtlsdr. Trying
to bring some comfort to him if you wish....

Modern Windows is overcomplicated in is efforts to make things
simple for its users. This is an example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsh_hU6ARDc
"Windows will never forget a mistake you made when installing
drivers"

I think users who do not immediately get the desired results
should use the mailing lists to describe exactly what they
did and what was the result.

Hopefully, within a couple of years, the modern, stable procedure
(Zadig) will be the only one used, but how could a new "innocent"
user know??

73

Leif

jdow

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Dec 11, 2016, 12:53:04 AM12/11/16
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Just a note here. Zadig does not install libusb, per se. It's real magic is in
telling Windows to associate the particular USB ID to the WinUSB.sys device
driver. The various versions of libusb simply communicate with WinUSB.sys. You
MAY save problems by not throwing a libusb variant into System32. So simply
"installing" WinUSB.sys should turn the trick with minimum disruption.

Also note that Zadig may not necessarily toss the latest version of libusb into
where ever it places the files. (On my first install it placed the libusb DLLs
into a folder on the root of the C drive.) Unless it goes out and downloads the
latest DLLs the one you get when you download it is putting an older version
(1.0.19.10905) than the latest stable 1.0.20.11004. (Although rtlsdr appears to
work nicely with either version. The latest version adds USB 3.0 capability.)

Although there is a good argument for placing proper versions into the Windows
folders in the right places. It's complicated enough I try not to rely on users
doing that. It's also why I include the correct libusb variant with the file
collections I distribute.

{^_^} Joanne

darkci...@gmail.com

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Dec 13, 2016, 11:13:43 AM12/13/16
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On Saturday, December 10, 2016 at 1:15:51 PM UTC-5, darkci...@gmail.com wrote:

darkci...@gmail.com

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Dec 13, 2016, 11:33:12 AM12/13/16
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On Saturday, December 10, 2016 at 1:15:51 PM UTC-5, darkci...@gmail.com wrote:
I've read just about every tutorial & watched every Youtube video until I'm almost blind. Can someone with patience talk me through installing my rtl stick on my PC & download what's needed in a slow & concise step by step manner. One of my main concerns is some say plug the stick in first, others say plug it in after step 6 or whatever, install zadig first, don't install zadig at all, download sdr# or this or that, twice I even got a screen which actually looked like my stick was working until I unplugged the stick & the screen was still working which I figured had to be a demo, also confusion with proper placement of zip files, PC files, this that & the other, PLEASE HELP ME.

Thanks all for your very informative replies, Leif & Joanne you were especially helpful & I now have my dongle up & running, got some tweaking ahead of me but I'm learning as I listen to different bands & services. As for the first poster that assisted me & obviously felt my reply was some kind of insult to your technical expertise, I just stated that your directions didn't work for me, many others replies on other forums  didn't work either, not one of them felt slighted in any way, this aspect of the hobby is still experiencing growing pains since the companies don't provide instruction manuals with their products & that's why most of us elect to assist others with our knowledge, if it works that's good, if it doesn't work we seek other options & I never slighted you an any disparaging way. No I'm not an amateur radio operator (I didn't know that was a requirement here) so I thoroughly read the sites TOS & if you can overrule that & prove to me that only amateur radio operators belong here I'll gladly delete my membership here so you wont have to suffer the presence of a lesser person. The sites TOS does address your accusatory TROLL issue which is as serious as SPAMMING so feel free to report me as a TROLL & let's see just how far you want to go with this accusatory insult.

jdow

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Dec 13, 2016, 5:39:21 PM12/13/16
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I'm glad you got it working. It's fun to get (cheap SWL level) commercial radio
performance by adding a very cheap dongle to your computer.

For HF SWL, though, a sad event has taken place. Radio Australia is shutting
down its international radio transmissions after bazillions of days broadcasting
news and entertainment with an Aussie slant. Gotta miss them.

{^_^}
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darkci...@gmail.com

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Dec 13, 2016, 8:42:07 PM12/13/16
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On Saturday, December 10, 2016 at 1:15:51 PM UTC-5, darkci...@gmail.com wrote:
I've read just about every tutorial & watched every Youtube video until I'm almost blind. Can someone with patience talk me through installing my rtl stick on my PC & download what's needed in a slow & concise step by step manner. One of my main concerns is some say plug the stick in first, others say plug it in after step 6 or whatever, install zadig first, don't install zadig at all, download sdr# or this or that, twice I even got a screen which actually looked like my stick was working until I unplugged the stick & the screen was still working which I figured had to be a demo, also confusion with proper placement of zip files, PC files, this that & the other, PLEASE HELP ME.

Hello again Joanne, I remember Radio Australia when I attended Pink Floyds "Momentary Lapse of Reason" Concert in Sydney in 1988, HF/SWL/BCB is losing a lot of business to satellite, even military which I am an avid listener. I built my first crystal receiver with cats whisker tuning 56 years ago, my life has been radios ever since, even after using radios to save lives I love the hobby, this new aspect of the hobby has relegated me to being a newbie again, kind of weird for me but you're never too old to learn, even when you're old as dirt, lol, again thanks. You & Leif did a wonderful thing.

jdow

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Dec 13, 2016, 8:46:11 PM12/13/16
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And, remember, we are both of greybeard age. Mine has a 7 in front of it. NEVER
too old. But, I did have a head start of being professionally in both RF design
and software. Nonetheless, learning never need stop and is usually rewarding in
its own right.

{^_-} Joanne
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