Tips for Setting Up an RTL-SDR Dongle as a Spectrum Analyzer
Pete Higgins had a tutorial for setting up an SDR dongle as a spectrum analyzer on the HighDefForum, which was very helpful to users not familiar with assembling a folder of open-source software, including me. His tutorial is no longer available because that forum folded. Pete isn't able to recreate that thread, so he suggested that I post any tips available from an archive which I didn't know existed.
https://web.archive.org/web/20170627172716/http://www.highdefforum.com/local-hdtv-info-reception/143795-inexpensive-software-defined-radio-spectrum-analyzer-10-00-a.html
This image showed in Pete's first post, but only if you were signed in:
Post by majortom:
2013-12-01, 08:55 PM
https://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/1918882-post195.html
majortom said:
here is another option for viewing the raw rf spectrum without a 20,000 dollar spectrum analyser...
using one of them 10 dollar dvb-t dongles...
since it's in python it can be used in a Linux, Windows or Mac environment..
Due to the way it works...uses a sliding window while doing FFT in like 2Mhz chunks,
it's kinda slow doing a scan...But it could be useful in spotting whether your having
mutipath issues...so on..
at 10 bux for one of these dongles, first discussed in this thread I don't see how one could go wrong...
https://github.com/stephenong/RTLSDR-Scanner/
Post #9 by Pete Higgins, 04-04-2014, 04:07 PM
Extract:
RTL2832U + R820T DVB-T USB Tuner Card Hints & Kinks 04-04-2014, 04:07 PM
A new version of RTLSDR Scanner was released on April 2nd. It can be found here:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/rtls...se_mirror=iweb
Install 32 bit Microsoft Visual C++ for RTLSDR Scanner
I ran into a problem getting the RTLSDR Scanner software to work with Windows 7 following a fresh install. After countless reinstalls, I discovered that I needed to install the 32 bit version of “Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable (x86) {vcredist_x86.exe}”. The software author actually suggested installing Microsoft Visual C++ but since all my Windows 7 computers are 64 bit I was installing the 64 bit version and that didn’t seem to work. Three computers with fresh installs of Windows 7 setup flawlessly by first installing the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable (x86). It can be downloaded @ no charge from Microsoft here:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downl...s.aspx?id=5555
To install SDR# for use with the RTL2832U + R820T DVB-T USB Tuner Card, go to the section titled “Important note for RTL-SDR users” and use the installation script provided in this section.
http://sdrsharp.com/downloads/sdr-install.zip
Unzip “sdr-install.zip” and double click on the “install.bat” file. I suggest moving the sdr-install folder and its 3 files to C:\. The SDR# application and all of its files will then be found @ C:\sdr-install\sdrsharp\. Apparently, these dongles require a lot more support than some of the other software defined radios. The stable release only contains 20 files and the release installed for my dongle has 32.
Post #12, by Pete Higgins, 11-06-2016, 04:04 PM
Extract:
RTL/SDR Update
It’s been over two years since I started this thread and a lot has changed in the world of software defined radio.
Zadig
In order to communicate with the RTL2832U + R820T2 dongle you need to install generic USB drivers. Zadig is a Windows application that does that. (Note; You need to download the correct version of Zadig for either Windows XP or Windows Vista & higher) The latest version of Zadig is 2.2.
In Zadig, go to Options and make sure “List All Devices” is checked.
Select “Bulk-In, Interface (Interface 0)”, “RTL2832UHIDIR” or “RTL2832U”, whichever shows up with your dongle plugged in.
Ensure that the driver on the right hand side of the green arrow is selected as WinUSB
Click the Replace or Reinstall Driver Button
Link to download Zadig:
http://zadig.akeo.ie/
Link to Zadig 2.0 - User Guide:
https://github.com/pbatard/libwdi/wiki/Zadig
RTLSDR Scanner (NEW STANDALONE VERSIONS)
SDR# has an active spectrum analyzer display that displays a ~2 MHz portion of the spectrum which is limited by the bandwidth of the dongle (For example 88 MHz to 90 MHz). RTLSDR Scanner progressively scans from a user defined lower frequency limit up to a user defined upper frequency limit then stitches the entire scan range into a conventional spectrum analyzer display (For example 88 MHz to 108 MHz or 470 MHz to 700 MHz). It looks at each segment for 131 ms by default. RTLSDR Scanner has proven invaluable to be able to view the channels received at my location and their relative signal strengths. It is capable of loading two saved scans to compare the effect of different antenna configurations.
The author has traditionally used a script based install that from my experience was occasionally prone to failure. He recently released standalone versions of the application that while a little more involved to initially configure seem to be bulletproof and portable from one computer to another when configured.
Link to download RTLSDR-Scanner:
https://github.com/EarToEarOak/RTLSDR-Scanner/releases
(Note; for 32 Bit version (i.e. XP, Win 7 & 10 32-Bit, etc.) scroll down the page)
Overview:
1. Plug RTL2832U + R820T2’s dongle into a USB port or hub.
2. Run Zadig to install the WIN USB driver (If you’ve already installed SDR# this step isn’t necessary).
3. Download the RTLSDR-Scanner executable file.
4. Make a RTLSDR-Scanner directory & copy the RTLSDR-Scanner executable file to it.
5. Download & copy the RTLSDR libraries to the RTLSDR-Scanner directory.
6. Optionally, download & copy msvcr100.dll to the RTLSDR-Scanner directory.
7. For the 64-Bit RTLSDR-Scanner executable download & install Visual C++ Redistributable Packages for Visual Studio 2010 (x64) or 2013 (x64).
The latest standalone 64-bit release of “rtlsdr_scan-windows-64bit.exe” is v1.0.22497.10311 released on Sep 20, 2016
The latest standalone 32-bit release of “rtlsdr_scan-windows-32bit.exe” is v1.0.22180.60082 released on Jan 28, 2016
These are both Windows executable files that require additional support libraries to function.
I suggest creating a directory (folder) labeled “RTLSDR Scanner 32 Bit Stand Alone v1.0.22180.60082 Released on 28 Jan 2016” and copying “rtlsdr_scan-windows-32bit.exe” into it.
Or
For the 64-Bit executable create a directory “RTLSDR Scanner 64 Bit Stand Alone v1.0.22497.10311 Released on 20 Sep 2016” and copy “rtlsdr_scan-windows-64bit.exe” into it.
The 64-Bit RTLSDR-Scanner executable requires you to install Visual C++ Redistributable Packages for Visual Studio 2010 (x64). or Visual C++ Redistributable Packages for Visual Studio 2013 (x64).
Both the 32-Bit and the 64-Bit versions require you to download the RTLSDR libraries and utilities from Osmocom named “RelWithDebInfo”.
Link to download RelWithDebInfo:
http://sdr.osmocom.org/trac/attachme...ithDebInfo.zip
Download and unzip RelWithDebInfo.zip to a folder on your PC. It will create a directory named “rtl-sdr-release”. When you open that directory, you will see folders labeled x32 & x64. You need to copy the following files into the directory that contains the RTLSDR-Scanner executable file so it ends up looking like this:
convenience_static.lib
libusb-1.0.dll
msvcr100.dll
pthreadVC2-w32.dll or pthreadVC2-w64.dll
rtl_test.exe
rtlsdr.dll
rtlsdr.lib
rtlsdr_scan-windows-32bit.exe or rtlsdr_scan-windows-64bit.exe
rtlsdr_static.lib
Notice that except for “pthreadVC2-w32.dll” or “pthreadVC2-w64.dll” and the RTLSDR-Scanner executable all the RTLSDR library files have the same name but are different file sizes. You must copy the files from the correct x32 or x64 directory depending on which version of RTLSDR-Scanner you are setting up.
msvcr100.dll
The correct version may already be on your system – or maybe not.
Both the 32 & 64-Bit versions of RTLSDR-Scanner require msvcr100.dll. Like the RTLSDR libraries, msvcr100.dll comes in 32 & 64-Bit versions. The 32 bit version is incompatible with the 64 bit one.
The 32-Bit version of msvcr100.dll is 756 KB (It comes with SDR# if you need it or can be found in the Windows 10 Professional Windows\SysWOW directory)
The 64-Bit version of msvcr100.dll is 810 KB (I just copied it from the Windows 10 Professional Windows\System32 directory)
To make your RTLSDR-Scanner setup portable, I recommend downloading the correct 32 or 64-Bit version and including it in the directory with the RTLSDR-Scanner executable file.
Note(s):
Many programs depend on msvcr100.dll and usually install it in their application directory, or C:\Windows\System32 and/or C:\Windows\SysWOW64. My 64-Bit Windows 7 & 10 Professional installations had the correct 64-Bit version installed. However, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit and Windows 10 Home 64-Bit did not. Also, when I did a fresh install of Windows XP Media Center Edition the 32-Bit msvcr100.dll was not installed. Windows will first look in the application directory and then in all the directories in the path statement to find msvcr100.dll. If you overwrite a 32-Bit version with a 64-Bit version or vice-versa you may break other applications. That’s why I recommend including the appropriate msvcr100.dll file in the directory with the RTLSDR-Scanner executable file.
Finally, if your installing the 64-Bit RTLSDR-Scanner executable download & install Visual C++ Redistributable Packages for Visual Studio 2010 (x64) or 2013 (x64).
Link to download RTLSDR-Scanner & the Visual C++ Redistributable Packages:
https://github.com/EarToEarOak/RTLSDR-Scanner/releases
FYI,
I noticed that the Stand Alone versions take longer to load than the older versions installed by the script method. When I queried the author (Al) he replied “The stand alone application takes longer to start up as it extracts files to a temporary directory first when you run it. It's quite normal and nothing to be concerned about”.
END OF ARCHIVE EXTRACT
I listed the dongle software that I experimented with here:
https://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/3090963-post100.html
