Using the SDRPlay RSP1A via network connection possible ?

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snoozer
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Sep 01, 2018 6:48 am

Using the SDRPlay RSP1A via network connection possible ?

Post by snoozer » Sat Sep 01, 2018 6:58 am

Hello,

I am looking for a SDR of good quality that works at lower frequencies and the RSP1A was recommended to me as good entry level device. I have been unsing RTL-SDR for some time now and I usually run the actual receiver on a remote mountain site and connect to rtl_tcp via the network. I have not found anything that would suggest I can do the same with the RSP1A. If someone can tell me will the following work with the RSP1A:

HDSDR on my Linux/Windows frontend computer
ExtIO for HDSDR to remote access RSP1A via the network
RSP1A hardware on Debian based linux CLI accepting network connection from ExtIO HDSDR

Any help would be much appreciated.
Kind Regards
Jan
Last edited by snoozer on Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am, edited 0 times in total.
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lenlong58
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Joined: Thu Apr 25, 2019 7:06 pm

Re: Using the SDRPlay RSP1A via network connection possible ?

Post by lenlong58 » Sat May 25, 2019 6:48 pm

I am using an SRD-Play Version 1 with SDR Console V3 and I am able to use my SDR-Play from anywhere on my LAN or the Internet.
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StandingWave
Posts: 56
Joined: Mon Feb 18, 2019 6:54 pm

Re: Using the SDRPlay RSP1A via network connection possible ?

Post by StandingWave » Mon May 27, 2019 8:22 pm

The equivalent of rtl_tcp for the RSP is rsp_tcp which can be downloaded from the downloads section on the SDRPlay website. Im not sure whether the RTL Extio will work with this or whether you will need the Extio plugin TCP from SDRplay, but it should work in the same fashion in principle.

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cathalferris
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Re: Using the SDRPlay RSP1A via network connection possible ?

Post by cathalferris » Wed Jul 03, 2019 1:22 pm

I'm running an RSP1a across my network, with some success and some caveats.

I've been trialling two options for the RSP1a connected to my 20m of horizontal dipole strung across the rear lawn.
  • First option is a Dell Precision laptop with a dual core I7-2640 running Win7. On this I've been running SDR Console Server, and it's been reasonably good, though intermittently laggy even at 2.048 bandwidth and on wired gigabit. No issues with getting decent signal levels etc.
  • Second option is my trying to be more software-agnostic and using rsp_tsp on a Pi3 or a Pi4. I can apparently get a stream of data from that application, but I've not yet got any useful signals when looking from within SDR Console V3. I've recompiled from source without any success as well. It just looks as though the rsp_tcp application just doesn't work for me
I've been trying to get the networked signals working so that I don't have to have a power hungry PC running all of the time for this kind of thing, and I'm not best impressed with the Pi support available from SDRPlay so far - though to be fair I have not yet raised tickets until I've completed my own troubleshooting and trying all of the avenues that are useful for me. SoapySDR isn't really a good option given the lack of support within the Windows applications that I use.

I have had some successes with networked SDR that isn't RSP-based:

I've got an RTL-SDR v3 dongle on a Pi2 running dump-1090 very well, with about 300km range using the bundled antenna sitting on the windowsill in an upstairs bedroom. This is happily providing networked ADSB data in the house to my other PCs and laptops, though not yet reporting upstream to the aggregator websites.

I've also got another Rpi3 with another attached RTL-SDR v3 dongle and cheap Chinese upconverter pulling radio signals from an outdoor miniwhip and serving across 802.11ac 5GHz. That's working very well, and is giving a more stable signal than the laptop+RSP1a has been.

In short, networked RSP1a is fine with a decent PC and SDR Console software. All bets appear off with Linux as the serving hardware at the moment.
Last edited by cathalferris on Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am, edited 0 times in total.
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--
Astronomer, techie, pedaller, paddler.
Limerick, Ireland.
RSP1a, x2 RTL-SDR, a handful of cheap DVB-T dongles, and an Airspy+Spyverter en route.
20m homemade horizontal dipole/Chirio miniwhip/crappy Chinese miniwhip, RTL-SDR bundled antennae.

Ian S
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Jun 12, 2019 4:22 pm

Re: Using the SDRPlay RSP1A via network connection possible ?

Post by Ian S » Mon Aug 19, 2019 1:38 pm

I’m currently using an RPi3B to host a remote RSP2. I installed SDRplay’s Rpi image and it works well. I’m using the previous image, as it works I don’t see the point in upgrading it to he latest image.

Dump1090 works very well, and I use Virtual Radar on either a PC or another pi to access it. For other listening I’ve been using Soapy Remote on the pi, and Cubic SDR on a PC. one thing to watch out for is Soapy Remote is quite heavy on network bandwidth. running the RSP at 2.048 MHz bandwidth generates 65 – 70 Mb/s of data. The first Fast-Ethernet switch I used couldn’t cope with this. A new Gig-E switch sorted it. Cubic SDR doesn’t like dropped packets so a good network connection is needed. My RSP and pi are in the garden shed, linked back to the house by Cat6 cable.

Dump1090 and Soapy Remote are quite light on the pi’s cpu. However I’ve put a small fan on my pi as I installed it on one of the hottest days of the year, and I happened to have a suitable fan handy.

Hope this helps.
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SDRnerd
Posts: 56
Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2018 6:29 pm

Re: Using the SDRPlay RSP1A via network connection possible ?

Post by SDRnerd » Tue Aug 20, 2019 5:25 am

I had the RSP-TCP server running within two minutes time with the latest Raspberry Pi release on a new Pi4B in combibation with a RSP1A. Have tested it with HDSDR, Sdr# and SDRconsole v3.0.12. Just install the Raspberry Pi image on your Pi and change the IP adress to the values of your system and of you go. Andy made it simple for us. Just look at the YouTube video that is marked in the manual and all we be clear ;)

I did experience a gain related problem with SDRconsole as that the automatic gain seems to work, but the manual settings are not making a change. This said the manual Gain control does offer a good value. Simon Brown commented that the RSP-TCP is not suported, hence the gain not working in this program, but the SNR seems to be ok, thus usable but with a limitation. So in reality the server is running fine for 3 days now without any problems and tasted with 1 wired LAN pc and 2 laptops on wifi. You can run the server with 10 Mhz sample rate without problems in a wired LAN. On Wifi I managed 6 Mhz without hickups.

The Raspberry Pi4B is running @11% cpu load and its temperature is 35°C with a 2 Mhz Sample rate. The RSP1A is connected over a triplexer to an LZ1AQ active loop and a Diamond D130J discone antenna so it covers from 1.6 Mhz up to 1.3 GHz :P

Good luck!
Last edited by SDRnerd on Tue Aug 20, 2019 1:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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