SDR + Scanner plugin + PDW...

[Rikko]

Hi all,

I'm up and running with PDW, and it works well. But I'd like to scan through several frequencies, and still have PDW decode the messages.

I'm using a RTL-SDR USB dongle, and the software SDR# (SDR Sharp). Added to this I have a scanner plugin that makes SDR# jump between the frequencies I tell it.

My concern is that I might miss the beginning of the transmission, and thus not decode the message. I've tweaked it to work with two frequencies quite well. But I'm curious to hear how you've set it up?
Do you run it via SDR (Software-Defined Radio)?
How many frequencies do you monitor simultaneously?
If you use SDR# + Jeff KNapp's scanner plugin, what settings do you use?
How many milliseconds of the beginning of the message can I miss, and still be able to decode (I guess there is a pre-amble?)

Lot of questions there, but let me know how you do it.

Thanks!

/Richard, from Sweden.

[VidarParry]

Hi Richard,
I monitor 2 frequencies each with 512 and 1200 baud. For this I use two scanners (one for each frequency) and split the discriminator taps out to 2 USB interfaces each scanner (meaning 4 interfaces into the PC). I then monitor each of the 4 virtual comms ports with separate instances of PDW.

Even with this configuration, I still miss a few message decodes - not sure whether it's an radio issue or PC issue.

Cheers
...Steve