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ICE Con+ info in DSDPlus format

Thanks Eric. I updated the Foxboro listing on the Wiki. There is a 6th frequency in use on that system. The control channel data refers to OTA channels 11 and 12. I'm pretty sure it's 939.950, but have never caught it as a control channel to confirm that.



wb1hbu said:
Hello,

I took the frequency information I have and added it to the original file plus thread updates, and renamed it -2. There were some differences in order for Site 6, Site 7, and Site 13. I kept the originals commented out. One of the Site 13 frequencies maybe a typo. The other two belong to another nearby site, so it could be a mistake or the frequencies could have been reassigned. Fortunately the two sites use different color codes (13 versus 14).

I noted the color codes in the site comments.

73 Eric
 
garys said:
So my saga continues. Redoing the DSDPlus.frequencies file didn't correct my problem. So, I reinstalled everything from scratch. SDR# feeds the signal to CC.bat no problem. I get good signal and the data is correct. Now, I'm trying to figure out FMP-VC and VC.bat. My problem is with FMP-VC, I think. My configuration is FMP -i1 -o2002 -Po.o -rv. When I try to start FMP-VC I get a message "Invalid Wave Out Device or TCP Port specified". When I start VC.bat, I get a message that it is trying to connect to Port 20002, but that the target machine is actively rejecting it. My configuration for VC.bat is DSDPlus -rv -i20002 -o1 -v3. The rest of that line relates to where the windows will open, so I won't include them.

Any ideas on what I did wrong here?

I think I had better results when I used VBCable to connect FMP-VC to VC.bat, but it appears that is no longer an option.
Hello,

The sample config I have seen uses port 20001 and both FMP and DSDPlus are configured with the same port number. It could also be a firewall issue.

73 Eric
 
Gary, when you start VC.bat, if you don't start FMP right after that, you'll get that message all day long. As long as you start FMP you should be good to go, under normal circumstances. I can send all of my .bat files if you'd like, you'll just have to figure out which ports your devices are and rework the command line accordingly.

Edit: poor wording on my part. Not your quoted message, instead the "actively rejecting" message.
 
Do start FMP or FMP-VC? Or both?

Yes, if you could send me your .bat files, maybe that will give me a clue.

Of course, in the mean time I can listen to Stoughton Public Works simplex. :)

Edited to Add: I must have fouled something up in the reinstall. I saved my old files to a separate directory and when I ran FMP-VC there, it ran fine. I'm going to go back in do the install again tomorrow. I've done enough for today.

Scott SNE Webmaster said:
Gary, when you start VC.bat, if you don't start FMP right after that, you'll get that message all day long. As long as you start FMP you should be good to go, under normal circumstances. I can send all of my .bat files if you'd like, you'll just have to figure out which ports your devices are and rework the command line accordingly.

Edit: poor wording on my part. Not your quoted message, instead the "actively rejecting" message.
 
If you are trunktracking, there are 4 batch files to run. If you are monitoring conventional channels, there are two.
You need to know your SDR device numbers first. If you run FMP, it will show what the program sees on your computer and you can adjust as needed.
For trunktracking DMR, I first start:
FMP -i1 -o20001 -P-1.8 -g32 -f454.23125
Next:
DSDPlus -i20001 -fr -rc
Then
FMP -i2 -o30001 -P-1.8 -rv -g32
Last
DSDPlus -i30001 -o1 -fr

For conventional, use the first FMP file and then use the following for DSDPlus file:
DSDPlus -i20001 -fa -E

I have a bunch of other parameters regarding recording, window size and placement, filtering, etc

I use a help file that I print for each new version for reference when I am setting up any new batch files.
 
Sorry for the delay; between the snow and the football game I got a little off track. Here are the three batch files I use in conjunction with SDR#.
 
Thanks. I'll work on this during the week. I'm sure that whatever I screwed up is relatively minor. I just have to figure out what it was.

On to DSDPlus!



Scott SNE Webmaster said:
Sorry for the delay; between the snow and the football game I got a little off track. Here are the three batch files I use in conjunction with SDR#.
 
I finally got a chance to work on this today. I have CC.bat working fine. CC.bat seems to direct FMP-VC.bat correctly, but VC.bat doesn't seem to be getting signal from FMP-VC. When I start VC.bat, I now get a message that it has connected to TCP Port 20002 as it should. The problem is that it seems that VC.bat is getting it's signal source from SDRSharp, not FMC-VC as it should. As a result I only get audio from Slot 2 of whatever the control channel frequency is.

There should be activity in the DSD+ Voice Activity log, but there isn't. Looking at FMP-VC in Notepad, the settings are FMP -i1 (R820T2 dongle), -o20002, P0.0, -f99.9 -rv. That all appears correct, but FMP-VC is not feeding signal to VC.bat. FMP-VC reports a connection to a different TCP port at start up, but I think that's it's connection to VC.bat.

So, that's where I stand now. I'm still playing with various configuration settings, but haven't had much luck.

I checked my configuration against what Scott sent me and it's identical, which is just the more frustrating.
 
If you are using 2 SDR dongles, you run something like
CC side -
FMP -i1 -o20001
DSDPlus -i20001 -o0 -rc

VC side -
FMP -i2 -o20002
DSDPlus -i20002 -o1 -vc

You may have a bunch of other options but this is the basic port layout for 2 SDR dongles, in from the first dongle out to DSDPlus (with no audio output). Then, the second dongle is being steered by the first DSDPlus and outputs to the second DSDPlus that sends audio out to the speakers.

If it still looks correct, copy and paste the contents of the 4 batch files here or in another thread and we can sort it out.

chris
 
I'm using Airspy for the control channel and a SDR dongle for the voice. I might swap that around now that FMPA is out there. Before I do that, I'll post the bat files. I should note, if I didn't make that clear, SDR and CC.bat work perfectly. CC.bat even seems to send the correct information to FMP-VC.bat.



cdgordon said:
If you are using 2 SDR dongles, you run something like
CC side -
FMP i-1 -o20001
DSDPlus -i20001 -o0 -rc

VC side -
FMP -i2 -o20002
DSDPlus -i20002 -o1 -vc

You may have a bunch of other options but this is the basic port layout for 2 SDR dongles, in from the first dongle out to DSDPlus (with no audio output). Then, the second dongle is being steered by the first DSDPlus and outputs to the second DSDPlus that sends audio out to the speakers.

If it still looks correct, copy and paste the contents of the 4 batch files here or in another thread and we can sort it out.

chris
 
Here are the .bat files I'm using,

CC.bat
DSDPlus -rc -i4 -v3 -wsl400.2 -wss100.200 -wel0.1 -wcl0.445 -wes400.520 >>CC.log

FMP-VC.bat
FMP -i1 -o20002 -P0.0 -f99.9 -rv

VC.bat
DSDPlus -rv -i20002 -o1 -v3 -wsl400.210 -wss100.200 -wel172.522 -wcl528.0 >>VC.log

Here is a picture of what I see when the software is operating.

View attachment 1

On the right side of the screen is the CC Channel Activity screen, the CC Event Log, and the CC Source Audio Screen. Not shown is SDRSharp. All of that seems to work fine.
On the left side of the screen is the FMP-VC screen. The narrow vertical line is where the generated frequency should be. The header shows the correct frequency, but as you can see, there is nothing there. I don't know what the wider vertical line is showing, but it doesn't appear to be related to any activity on the trunk system. Maybe that's the issue, but I have no idea of how to fix it . As you can see, there is nothing on the VC Channel activity screen and the VC Audio scope is going crazy.

One thing I noticed is that the channel spacing is set to 6.25 Khz. I don't know if that has anything to do with the issue, nor do I have any idea if I can change that.
 
you have zero PPM for the Voice SDR, unless you are using one of the newer 0ppm RTL-SDR units, that could be the issue. That is set by -P in the batch file
If you have enough activity with the Voice channels, you can use the C or c key to move the PPM higher of lower. Once you figure it out, use that number in the batch file. Of course it may be easier just to use DSDPlus in conventional format and get it adjusted. Try creating a Conventional batch file to check:
FMP-Conv.bat
FMP -i1 -o20002 -P0.0 -f938.1625
This is assuming you only have one SDR and it is #1, also that the CC is still 938.1625 as it looked in the photo. Lower case "c" moves the signal bar left, upper case moves it right. You want the green bump centered in the shadow after the SDR warms up.

chris
 
Also, if you hear voice or an echo when the second slot of the control channel is active, try putting -o0 in the CC-DSDPlus batch file. That tells the program not to send any audio from the CC side to the speakers.

chris
 
I was going to mention that. That's the only audio I do hear. When Slot 2 on the control channel frequency is active as a voice channel, I get audio. I'll give both of those a try.

cdgordon said:
Also, if you hear voice or an echo when the second slot of the control channel is active, try putting -o0 in the CC-DSDPlus batch file. That tells the program not to send any audio from the CC side to the speakers.

chris
 
I can't believe it's this simple, but it seems to be. I set up FMP-Conv.bat as you suggested. I had to dial in +63.8 of frequency correction but, now it seems to be working well. I also set the audio output of CC.bat to 0 to be sure I'm muting that. I'm now only getting audio on Slot 2 when Slot 2 is generated by FMP-VC and VC.bat decodes it. The SDR dongle I'm using is a NooElec R820T2 and I a bit surprised I had to dial in that much correction. I might still have to fine tune that, but at least I know what to do now.

No matter, this is now working the way it should. Both the VC Channel activity screen and the CC voice source screen are doing what they are supposed to.

The only thing I see that doesn't match what you say is that there are two green bumps and they sort of straddle the shadow. The audio is good though, so I'm not going to fool with that.

Thank you, Chris.


cdgordon said:
you have zero PPM for the Voice SDR, unless you are using one of the newer 0ppm RTL-SDR units, that could be the issue. That is set by -P in the batch file
If you have enough activity with the Voice channels, you can use the C or c key to move the PPM higher of lower. Once you figure it out, use that number in the batch file. Of course it may be easier just to use DSDPlus in conventional format and get it adjusted. Try creating a Conventional batch file to check:
FMP-Conv.bat
FMP -i1 -o20002 -P0.0 -f938.1625
This is assuming you only have one SDR and it is #1, also that the CC is still 938.1625 as it looked in the photo. Lower case "c" moves the signal bar left, upper case moves it right. You want the green bump centered in the shadow after the SDR warms up.

chris
 
Glad it worked
While a channel is active, you should see the green bump centered. It is likely just needing some more adjustment. It doesn't take much to make a weaker signal unreadable.

chris
 
I'm still playing with that a bit. I'm using Quincy right now, because it has a good signal. It's also busy as hell, so once it's all dialed in, I'll change over to Freetown since I get good signal and it doesn't carry much AAA traffic.

cdgordon said:
Glad it worked
While a channel is active, you should see the green bump centered. It is likely just needing some more adjustment. It doesn't take much to make a weaker signal unreadable.

chris
 
You can lock out TGs you don't want to hear or drop the priority to allow other traffic to take priority. I think it is a right click or two on the Target for lockout, right click on Priority to lower it (left click to raise it).

chris
 
Thanks. I've been doing that in the groups txt document, but it's nice to know I can do it on the fly. I've got AAA Avon (28) locked out because it's almost non stop and the program would just sit on it.

Now that I have this working, I'm going to go back and read the txt documents for the various versions and see what other commands are available.

I've now got correction at 68.2 PPM. Does that sound like it's in the "normal" range? Or is there such a thing?

cdgordon said:
You can lock out TGs you don't want to hear or drop the priority to allow other traffic to take priority. I think it is a right click or two on the Target for lockout, right click on Priority to lower it (left click to raise it).

chris
 
I seem to have cooked my Airspy. I sent if off for repair and decided to play with using two R820T dongles instead of Airspy and a dongle. What I found was that using either the R820T or T2 dongle with SDR# is sub optimal. So, I took the plunge and set up FMP-CC to work with one of the dongles. Signal is much clearer than using either dongle with SDR#.

This time I remembered to dial in frequency correction and all went well. Well, once I remembered to specify different dongles for the two FMP bats. Windows dose not like that conflict and I saw the blue screen of death.

The only advantage of SDR# is that it's easier to dial in the control frequency than it is with FMP. Not a major problem, though.

The other good news is that before Airspy croaked, I was able to get the software set up on my Windows 8 computer. Next time I'm down south visiting my son, I should be able to monitor a UHF NXDN networked trunk system used by a few PDs in his area.
 
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