SDRPlay RSP1A + OpenSuse + CubicSDR + PulseAudio + Dream

General discussions
Post Reply
daniel.aronovitch
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed May 09, 2018 1:10 pm

SDRPlay RSP1A + OpenSuse + CubicSDR + PulseAudio + Dream

Post by daniel.aronovitch » Tue Feb 26, 2019 12:58 pm

Using that chain, I try to listen to DRM signals and I guess I do something wrong because I never succeed.
If I set CubicSDR to USB with a 10 kHz band pass, Dream decode the name of the programs and the parameters of the coding. Then, it is able to decode the program, very shortly, and then loose it.
The setup I use for Pulse Audio Control are as such:
• Playback: CubicSDR at 100%
• Recording: Dream receiver at 100% - Monitor of built-in audio analog stereo
• Output device: Headphones
• Input device: Monitor of Built-in Audio analog stereo
• Configuration: Profile: Analog Stereo Duplex
All my experiments have been made on the very powerful signal of Radio Romania, here in Belgium.
I guess, but could be wrong, that the problem comes from my configuration of the Pulse Audio Control. That is that whenever Dream receives and decode the DRM signal, the output of Dream is injected to it’s input and so, the result is that Dream cannot decode, mute, and at that point, is again able to decode the output of CubicSDR because the output of Dream and the one of CubicSDR are mixed. Furthermore, for the short time I receive the DRM, both the output of Dream and the one of CubicSDR are driven to the headphone socket, mixed together, ouputing a very uncomfortable sound.
I think that what should be achieved is to pipe the output of CubicSDR only to the input of Dream but cannot figure how.
If I select the I/Q mode of CubicSDR, I have a fixed 48k band pass filter and Dream cannot decode anything.
Could anyone help me ? Did someone been able to use this combination of programs to comfortably listen to DRM programs.
By the way, under Windows, using SDRUno and Vcable, there is no problem, things works smoothly. It’s hard for me to admit that what could be done easily under Windows could not be achieved under Linux !
My aim is to become able to listen to the DRM programs of All India Radio.
Thanks to anyone that could help me.
DA
Last edited by daniel.aronovitch on Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am, edited 0 times in total.
Reason: No reason

ON5HB
Posts: 140
Joined: Sat Dec 29, 2018 1:07 pm

Re: SDRPlay RSP1A + OpenSuse + CubicSDR + PulseAudio + Dream

Post by ON5HB » Thu Feb 28, 2019 10:22 am

Did you do this at the same time?
As the station you mention, I tried with my Icom 7300 and feed it into Dream.
I could not decode it either.

When I do the same with France International at 3965 KHz and with 10 KHz audio-band-width, there is no problem decoding.

At the moment I'm listening to it without problems.

Do not forget, not all bands work at the same time, e.g. 15 MHz is totally dead at the time I write this.

HF bands open and close, depending on the time of day and the conditions, what works one day may fail the next.

Reason: No reason

CopyLion
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2019 8:32 am

Re: SDRPlay RSP1A + OpenSuse + CubicSDR + PulseAudio + Dream

Post by CopyLion » Thu Feb 28, 2019 6:32 pm

daniel.aronovitch wrote:By the way, under Windows, using SDRUno and Vcable, there is no problem, things works smoothly.
So, what you need is a virtual audio cable for Linux? Easily done by using a text editor to edit ./etc/pulse/default.pa and adding this line at the end:

Code: Select all

load-module module-null-sink sink_name=virtual sink_properties=device.description="virtual"
After a reboot, you should be able to select "monitor of virtual" and "virtual" as input and output devices. CubicSDR would output to virtual and Dream would have "monitor of virtual" as its input and "Built-in Audio Analog Output Stereo" as output. The program "Pulseaudio Volume Control" makes it all easy.
Last edited by CopyLion on Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am, edited 0 times in total.
Reason: No reason

daniel.aronovitch
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed May 09, 2018 1:10 pm

Re: SDRPlay RSP1A + OpenSuse + CubicSDR + PulseAudio + Dream

Post by daniel.aronovitch » Fri Mar 01, 2019 10:54 pm

Thanks very much, simple and efficient. I wasn't aware of the capacities of PulseAudio, now am I, thanks to you.
DA
Last edited by daniel.aronovitch on Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am, edited 0 times in total.
Reason: No reason

ON5HB
Posts: 140
Joined: Sat Dec 29, 2018 1:07 pm

Re: SDRPlay RSP1A + OpenSuse + CubicSDR + PulseAudio + Dream

Post by ON5HB » Sat Mar 02, 2019 3:48 pm

I was looking for this too!!

It's even more simplistic to control with this:

Code: Select all

sudo apt install pavucontrol
Don't know how it must be installed with Suse.

Thanks.

Reason: No reason

StandingWave
Posts: 56
Joined: Mon Feb 18, 2019 6:54 pm

Re: SDRPlay RSP1A + OpenSuse + CubicSDR + PulseAudio + Dream

Post by StandingWave » Sat Mar 02, 2019 8:09 pm

I have recently been trying to achieve the same thing on either Windows or Linux. This evening I was working with SDRuno on Win7 and Dream 2.1.1-svn808. I picked up a strong stream on the waterfall at 7030kHz. I had already set up the "virtual cable" between SDRuno and Dream and I experimented with the settings in SDRuno until I finally found something that produced some station details in Dream. At this point I still had no audio, but I picked up a station called "SNR Tiganesti E1", with transmission details "20.96 kpbs EEP AAC+ P-Stereo". In SDRplay I had to use the DIGITAL button and the 24k filter, as the bandwidths available in AM mode are too narrow.

However, I also noticed that next to the entry in the 4 position list in Dream showed [no codec available] which explained the silence. I tried downloading a couple of AAC codec DLLs and placing them in the Dream folder, but still the message [no codec available] persisted. Doing some Google searches eventually led me to this tutorial:

https://www.rtl-sdr.com/tutorial-drm-ra ... g-rtl-sdr/

I tried downloading the codec file faad2_drm.dll that is mentioned there via the link provided:

https://mega.co.nz/#!m5RUHIDQ!SqcGUBSGM ... QQyRJ_dFuE

I copied the file into the directory where Dream lives and now finally Dream could decode and burst into life with audio. When the signal was being received properly, the audio was clear and interference free, but it was prone to occasional dropouts and the odd digital artefact. I am in the Midlands area of the UK and my antenna system is nothing special, just a 30ft or so outdoor long wire, so the RSP was probably doing quite well to pick up these signals. I believe the TX is in Germany.

I know these instructions are for Windows but it seems that the required AAC codec is not supplied with Dream due to licencing issues. One has to download it separately and place it in the directory that Dream lives in but it also has to be the correct version of the DLL. Having checked on my Linux Mint system, I found that faad AAC code package was already installed.

The transmissions themselves are a little random but there are a couple of schedules online. Curiously the frequency I found this stream on is not even mentioned, but an hour or so later I also picked up radio Romania, Galbeni TX on 6030kHz, mono, 10kHz filter this time, speaking in English which is on the schedule.

Unfortunately, my attempts to do the same on Linux Mint with CubicSDR + Dream + Pavucontrol installed from the Ubuntu repository were not successful. Despite a good strong waterfall signature and an a signal being displayed in Dream, it was not decoding anything. I tested with both the RSP and the RTLSDR. Same result. I'm not sure whether there is a problem with version 2.2.2a of Dream supplied from the repository or whether there is something missing, but nothing is complaining. I will need to investigate further and will report back if I am successful in getting it working.

Anyway, I hope you don't mind me posting this here as I thought it might help someone.

Reason: No reason

CopyLion
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2019 8:32 am

Re: SDRPlay RSP1A + OpenSuse + CubicSDR + PulseAudio + Dream

Post by CopyLion » Sun Mar 10, 2019 4:14 pm

Running Manjaro Linux, here. Tried several branches of the source code and the only one that would compile (once I uninstalled gpsd) and decode with audio was dream-980. Tried it on the Radio Romania signal at 5980 at 2300UTC and got some audio, but mostly dropouts/intermittent when there was audio. Thanks to all in this thread for inspiring me to tackle this program and finally get it to work!
Last edited by CopyLion on Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am, edited 0 times in total.
Reason: No reason

Post Reply