Ubuntu 16.04 current soapysdr and built sdrplay module fail.

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kb9rlw
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Jun 03, 2017 1:07 pm

Ubuntu 16.04 current soapysdr and built sdrplay module fail.

Post by kb9rlw » Sat Jun 03, 2017 1:16 pm

Hello,

I'm stuck. Ubuntu 16.04, fresh install with current iso. I've added the soapySDR PPA's and installed. I've built the SDRplay soapy module from git. soapy util sees it just fine, Clip from the output below:

Available factories...airspy, bladerf, hackrf, null, redpitaya, remote, rtlsdr, sdrplay, uhd,


In the gnu radio gui I can drop in the source and it queries the hardware fine.

In Cubic, it's not listed. In GQRX, using other and entering the string: driver=sdrplay,soapy=0, it doesn't work.
Has anyone else seen this and figured out a fix?

Kevin, KB9RLW
Last edited by kb9rlw on Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am, edited 0 times in total.
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octave9
Posts: 59
Joined: Sun Feb 19, 2017 7:54 pm

Re: Ubuntu 16.04 current soapysdr and built sdrplay module fail.

Post by octave9 » Sat Jun 03, 2017 6:15 pm

You didn't mention installing the API, but I'm not sure you'd get as far as you did without it.

The file is called SDRplay_RSP_API-Linux-2.10.1.run and it's available from http://www.sdrplay.com/downloads/

I've been trying to do a minimal install of GQRX on a fresh Mint 18.1. It isn't going well using the GNU Radio package...

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kb9rlw
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Jun 03, 2017 1:07 pm

Re: Ubuntu 16.04 current soapysdr and built sdrplay module fail.

Post by kb9rlw » Sat Jun 03, 2017 8:43 pm

Well I've had some success. I have a list of step by step instructions that get's you going with the latest CubicSDR. Complete with support for the extra features of the RSP2 including selecting the antennas and the MW notch.

Working on a blog post and video now. Search you tube for KB9RLW in a day or so to find it on my ham related channel.

GQRX isn't working, but I think I just have to build gr-osmosdr with the non-free switch to get there.
Last edited by kb9rlw on Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am, edited 0 times in total.
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DK7OB
Posts: 79
Joined: Thu Mar 24, 2016 7:14 am

Re: Ubuntu 16.04 current soapysdr and built sdrplay module fail.

Post by DK7OB » Tue Jun 06, 2017 7:49 am

kb9rlw wrote: GQRX isn't working, but I think I just have to build gr-osmosdr with the non-free switch to get there.
This is not required if you are using the soapysdr bacckend in gromosdr. But I think you need quite recent grosmosdr and soapysdrplay for working with API 2.x and RSP2. (I have an RSP1 so I can't say for sure)

Regards
Wolf, DK7OB

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octave9
Posts: 59
Joined: Sun Feb 19, 2017 7:54 pm

Re: Ubuntu 16.04 current soapysdr and built sdrplay module fail.

Post by octave9 » Tue Jun 06, 2017 3:36 pm

I enjoyed your YouTube video Kevin and thanks for making the scripts. I'll certainly use them next time I install CubicSDR. My current version is 0.2.2 alpha and it seems to have the antenna switch features. I don't use it much so it can stay at that version.

I like GQRX though and it's bugging me that I haven't been able to install it, so that it works with RSP2, on a fresh Mint 18-1 install. Works fine on my main partition and was really easy to get working, but this Mint 18 has radio stuff going back to my RTL dongle days and has survived all sorts of attempts to get things working.

I'm (fairly) convinced it will work with the packaged versions of GQRX and GnuRadio, although the latter has dependencies which aren't covered by the install. GRC (gnuradio-companion) complains about PYTHONPATH and numpy. Python 2.7.11-1 is already installed, so I installed python-numpy and swig using Synaptic, which seemed to satisfy those requirements. https://gnuradio.org/doc/doxygen/build_guide.html mentions a 'boost' requirement, but I couldn't decide which package to install from what's available via Synaptic. gr-fosphor (which I'd also like to get working) depends on some boost libs, so I installed that and it helped with the next 'gr-osmosdr' step.

Following http://osmocom.org/projects/sdr/wiki/Gr ... playSource I installed with the NONFREE option and was hoping that would be all that's necessary, but GQRX (again from your favourite package manager) doesn't see the SDRplay. Shows a list of radios I don't own and didn't install for though. Sure would be nice to see RSPs in that list without needing to go anywhere near a command line (not that I've anything against doing things that way, but newbies...)

In the original post you said "In the gnu radio gui I can drop in the source and it queries the hardware fine." Might help if I knew how to do that. Could you explain?

Thanks.

[Just to be clear; I have GQRX working with 'driver=sdrplay,soapy=0'] with packaged versions of both GQRX and gnuradio.]

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kc1gif
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Jun 17, 2017 3:12 am

Re: Ubuntu 16.04 current soapysdr and built sdrplay module fail.

Post by kc1gif » Sat Jun 17, 2017 3:34 am

I just worked through this tonight and I (sort of) got it working with my RSP1. I am using Ubuntu 16, the latest SoapySDRPlay and the latest API.

The biggest thing I can see is that SoapySDR was not able to bind the RSP. I was getting errors when running

Code: Select all

$ SoapySDRUtil --probe
By adding a few blacklist rules to modprobe I was able to get Soapy at least binding the RSP and assigning a device address (the 'soapy=0' part of the device string).

Code: Select all

$ cat /etc/modprobe.d/sdrplay_blacklist.conf 
blacklist sdr_msi3101
blacklist msi001
blacklist msi2500
Once I created that file with the content shown, I rebooted and now I am able to see the device in SoapySDR:

Code: Select all

$ cat /etc/modprobe.d/sdrplay_blacklist.conf 
blacklist sdr_msi3101
blacklist msi001
blacklist msi2500
I do believe there may be an issue with the mirisdr library as well. I suggest updating to the latest version on github - https://github.com/f4exb/libmirisdr-4
Last edited by kc1gif on Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am, edited 0 times in total.
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