Software-Defined Radio is impressive! I'm testing it for a time on my F.E.C. Fort Lauderdale feed.
I recently started playing with SDR-Console to investigate whether it could make a reasonable alternative to Uniden scanners for my railroad feed(s) and am blown away at its capabilities.
SDR-Console (among other programs) can monitor multiple frequencies simultaneously, as long as they all lie within the chunk of spectrum being sampled. With the Florida East Coast Railway using 3 primary channels lying within 300KC of each other this is a piece of cake!
The cool part is that, unlike a scanner, the SDR doesn't sample a channel and then move on; it just hears everything at once without missing anything. So you can look at the spectrum display and see signals pop up on the road channel while a train is reading back a Form 82-T on the dispatcher talkback channel. It can be confusing, but it is neat, NEAT, NEAT!!
Another benefit of SDR is that you control the vertical, you control the horizontal; you can change the focus to a soft blur, or sharpen it to crystal clarity. Because Uniden scanners have been proven not to have true narrowband i.f. filtering the SDR provides superior signal to noise ratio when the proper narrow bandwidth is selected. This improves intelligibility of weak signals on top of being just plain more sensitive than my Uniden 996XT scanner that I had been running.
I can also steer each received frequency to a different audio channel so the Road channel appears on the right while the Dispatcher talkback frequency is heard on the left channel. You won't miss a quick transmission while waiting for the scanner to toggle back and forth because SDR is always listening!
And unlike a commercial-grade radio from Mother Motorola, you're not stuck with the programming (via finicky PC programming), you can just change the frequency or any other parameter on the fly and be happy while still enjoying better than average radio performance.
Now I gotta figure out the best way to run this stuff economically out in the field. Stay tuned!
Showing posts with label test feed. Show all posts
Showing posts with label test feed. Show all posts
2019-01-30
2010-04-23
Key West test feed
I am testing a temporary feed at Key West, Florida this weekend. If all goes well, I might make it permanent depending on factors beyond my control.
For now it is scanning both police and fire for the city of Key West as well as Monroe County. Their audio levels vary all over the place and I have done all I can to make it sound listenable.
\If this feed becomes permanent it will move to a different mount point name on the Icecast server at which time I will announce it here. Stay tuned.
For now it is scanning both police and fire for the city of Key West as well as Monroe County. Their audio levels vary all over the place and I have done all I can to make it sound listenable.
\If this feed becomes permanent it will move to a different mount point name on the Icecast server at which time I will announce it here. Stay tuned.
2008-11-17
New feed demo: McLean Relay Station
Yes, the McLean Relay Station is back online for a demonstration run.
This time around the focus is not railroad radio, but public safety. [Note 1]
Arlington County's digital trunked system comes in the best, with Fairfax County's a distant second. Both of these trunked systems give occasional fits to Uniden scanners, but for the most part they get the job done.
The focus of this new feed will be fire and rescue communications. Perhaps Arlington police will sneak on there when warranted. During this demo period you never know what you'll hear. Ya been tol'
If things work out well, I will make this feed permanent. You can listen with WinAmp, iTunes, Windows Media Player, and VLC. There might be existing Teamspeak feeds with this same traffic, but this feed allows just about anyone to hear it without requiring the installation of any new software.
If I can set up the talkgroup tags to fill in the Title field on your player, that will only make it that much better to monitor.
Enjoy!
da Bote Man
Note 1: I really like rail communications because they are pure and simple: FM high band simplex, no repeaters getting in the way, clean audio (mostly), and you know when a train is nearby based on signal strength. But these days the VHF band is getting even more polluted with noise generated by computerized devices of all kinds. Plus, the many various high powered transmitters around the receive site overload all but the best receivers. So the effort to receive railroad communications in McLean does not justify the results.
This time around the focus is not railroad radio, but public safety. [Note 1]
Arlington County's digital trunked system comes in the best, with Fairfax County's a distant second. Both of these trunked systems give occasional fits to Uniden scanners, but for the most part they get the job done.
The focus of this new feed will be fire and rescue communications. Perhaps Arlington police will sneak on there when warranted. During this demo period you never know what you'll hear. Ya been tol'
If things work out well, I will make this feed permanent. You can listen with WinAmp, iTunes, Windows Media Player, and VLC. There might be existing Teamspeak feeds with this same traffic, but this feed allows just about anyone to hear it without requiring the installation of any new software.
If I can set up the talkgroup tags to fill in the Title field on your player, that will only make it that much better to monitor.
Enjoy!
da Bote Man
Note 1: I really like rail communications because they are pure and simple: FM high band simplex, no repeaters getting in the way, clean audio (mostly), and you know when a train is nearby based on signal strength. But these days the VHF band is getting even more polluted with noise generated by computerized devices of all kinds. Plus, the many various high powered transmitters around the receive site overload all but the best receivers. So the effort to receive railroad communications in McLean does not justify the results.
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