SDR# vs HDSDR & RDS Spy - Free FM

Here's a comparison between the capabilities of SDR# vs the HDSDR coupled with RDS Spy.

As you can see, SDR# is a little bit weaker than RDS Spy, and doesn't quite manage to decode the PS in the RDS. Other errors occur too.

This is using an IQ file recorded on my mobile SDR set-up. I was not in a good reception spot at the time, hence the lack of anything else surrounding Free FM.





CLICK HERE to download either the IQ file or a single frequency IF file to try yourself in whichever software you choose.

Software that will play the above linked file:-

SDR#
HDSDR

For RDS decoding in HDSDR...
RDS Spy

Use this to pipe the audio from HDSDR to RDS Spy...
http://vbaudio.jcedeveloppement.com/Download_CABLE/HiFiCableAsioBridgeSetup_v1007.zip
Link above taken from http://vb-audio.pagesperso-orange.fr/Cable/index.htm

Remember you need to set up the virtual audio cable to send out and 'record' 192000Hz (192KHz) sample rate. HDSDR needs to be set up to send out via the virtual cable, likewise RDS Spy needs to be set up to accept input from the virtual cable.

Portable SDR and Bandscan on Lansdown (remix)

I have recently started getting back into using my RTL SDR dongle and I discovered that it was possible to have Windows 8.1 on a tablet allowing me to use better software than just SDR Touch (an Android SDR app which is fine for listening but not so great if you want to make IQ / IF recordings) and also run the dongle from the USB socket alone although with reduced battery life. That means I don't have to take my laptop anywhere, which would be too cumbersome for me as I don't drive so all my outdoor radio adventures are done on foot, bus and train. Taking the tablet out with me is a lot easier. Although sitting in a field with the aerial in a tree and all the gear spread out on the ground is slightly embarrassing when dog walkers come by, I decided to have a go at my idea to do an SDR bandscan up on the hill at Lansdown. First time around, this wasn't so successful as I was in a hurry and getting cold (not great weather!), but it proved it was achievable. I did get some IQ recordings out of it, so not a total failure.

Tablet - Dell Venue 8 Pro running Win 8.1, Intel Atom processor
Software - SDR Sharp (SDR#) with RDS Data Logger plugin
SDR device - RTL-SDR Dongle, NooElec NESDR Mini 2 (R820T2 chip)

I'm very pleased with how this runs on the tablet with very few drop-outs. Pity I hadn't really set the gain up properly (I didn't notice any major problems at 87.5 so assumed it was fine all the way, but higher up the band it was overloading), plus trying to do a bandscan automatically with the RDS logger and recording to an IQ file doesn't really work very well as on playback you find the band is scrolled at irregular intervals.





Anyway, from the IQ files I managed to grab on this first trip, here are a few of the more interesting signals.


93.2 BCFM (can be stronger than this on Lansdown, but I'd have to move the aerial around a lot to improve it)
96.1 BBC Solent
97.2 Wessex FM
97.5 Somer Valley FM
96.6 Frome FM
98 Ujima (stange effect on some stations causes there to be a trough rather than a peak at the center frequency, not sure why this happens)
105.8 Wave 105
105.5 WCR (Warminster Community Radio)
106.3 Bridge FM



I went back for a second go last weekend. I think I was up there about 3 hours in total! I was freezing by the end :D I found that different spots on the playing fields gave slightly different results, so had to try and do my best moving around with my flimsy wire dipole stung up in different trees / bushes, or even just being held as I was walking around. I need to build a portable wire yagi I reckon, one I can fold up and stuff in my backpack. I won't bore you with more videos, here's the best I can do going by what's in the IQ files...

87.5
87.6
87.7
87.8
87.9
88.0
88.1	Radio 2
88.2	Radio 2
88.3	Radio 2
88.4
88.5	Radio 2
88.6	Radio 2
88.7
88.8	Radio 2
88.9
89.0	Radio 2
89.1	Radio 2 (possibly)
89.2
89.3	Radio 2
89.4
89.5	Radio 2
89.6
89.7
89.8
89.9	Radio 2
90.0
90.1	Radio 2
90.2
90.3	Radio 3
90.4	Radio 3
90.5	Radio 3
90.6
90.7	Radio 3
90.8	Radio 3
90.9
91.0	Radio 3
91.1
91.2	Radio 3
91.3	Radio 3
91.4
91.5	Radio 3
91.6
91.7	Radio 3
91.8
91.9
92.0
92.1	Radio 3
92.2
92.3	Radio 3
92.4
92.5	Radio 4
92.6	Radio 4
92.7	Radio 4
92.8
92.9	Radio 4
93.0	Radio 4
93.1
93.2	BCFM / Radio 4 (directional)
93.3
93.4	Radio 4
93.5	Radio 4
93.6
93.7	Radio 4
93.8
93.9	Radio 4
94.0
94.1
94.2
94.3	Radio 4
94.4
94.5	Radio 4
94.6
94.7	BBC Hereford and Worcester
94.8
94.9	BBC Bristol
95.0	BBC Gloucestershire
95.1
95.2	BBC Oxford
95.3
95.4
95.5	BBC Soms
95.6
95.7
95.8	BBC Gloucestershire (or Wales, dunno!)
95.9	BBC Wales
96.0	BBC Unid - Too far back in the mush
96.1	BBC Solent
96.2
96.3	Heart
96.4	Maybe something
96.5	Unid - Too far back in the mush, Could be Wave or Heart
96.6	Frome FM
96.7	Heart
96.8	BBC Cymru
96.9
97.0	Fantasy Radio (Proabably!)
97.1	Heart
97.2	Heart / Kiss 101 / Wessex FM (Directional)
97.3
97.4	Capital - Quite hidden by Somer FM
97.5	Somer Valley FM
97.6
97.7	Radio 1
97.8	Radio 1
97.9	Radio 1
98.0	Ujima
98.1
98.2	Radio 1
98.3
98.4	Radio 1
98.5
98.6	Radio 1
98.7	Radio 1
98.8
98.9	Radio 1
99.0
99.1	Radio 1
99.2
99.3
99.4
99.5	Radio 1
99.6
99.7	Radio 1
99.8
99.9
100.0	Classic
100.1	Classic
100.2	Classic
100.3	Classic
100.4	Classic
100.5
100.6	Classic (slight trace)
100.7	Heart (slight trace)
100.8	Classic
100.9
101.0	Kiss 101
101.1
101.2
101.3	Classic
101.4	Classic
101.5
101.6
101.7	Classic
101.8
101.9
102.0	Spire FM
102.1
102.2	Heart
102.3	Heart
102.4	Breeze
102.5
102.6	Heart
102.7
102.8	Breeze (slight trace)
102.9	Heart
103.0	Heart
103.1
103.2	Capital
103.3
103.4	BBC Devon
103.5	BBC Wiltshire
103.6	BBC Bristol
103.7
103.8	BBC Solent
103.9	BBC Wales
104.0
104.1	BBC Berkshire
104.2
104.3	BBC Wiltshire
104.4	Unid (slight trace)
104.5
104.6	BBC Bristol
104.7	Unid (slight trace)
104.8
104.9	BBC Wiltshire
105.0
105.1
105.2	Wave 105
105.3
105.4	Heart
105.5	Swindon 105.5 / WCR (directional)
105.6	Breeze
105.7	Heart
105.8	Wave 105
105.9	Heart
106.0	Sam FM
106.1	Badminton Radio (RSL)
106.2	Sunshine
106.3	Bridge FM
106.4
106.5	Sam FM
106.6	Breeze
106.7
106.8	Nation
106.9
107.0
107.1	Unid (slight trace)
107.2	Breeze
107.3
107.4	Breeze
107.5
107.6
107.7	Sam FM
107.8
107.9	Breeze
108.0

I have a better SDR device on the way - an SDRPlay - which doesn't suffer so much with overloading and images. If I can get that running from the tablet, it'll make things even easier for bandscanning, but it might be a bit too much try to power it from the USB socket alone.

Free FM 10/4/2015

Here is a recording of Free FM from a few weeks back. It wasn't a long broadcast that evening as the stream it was relaying started to stutter after only 20 mins and eventually they gave up to try again another day. I managed to catch the RDS too...

Free FM 105.8 - Caroline 319 Relay - 10/4/2015 by Bristol Radio Recordings on Mixcloud

Free FM still going...

Free FM is currently running relays of American pop station Star 104 for a couple of hours most evenings, though personally I think he's chosen better stations to relay in the past. Not bad reception considering I was walking around and recording this on a cheap-ish mp3 player / radio. The stereo drops out and the signal does dip a tiny bit in places. This goes right up to the end of the broadcast which is quite abrupt.

Free FM 105.8MHz - Star 104 Relay 12 03 2015 by Bristol Radio Recordings on Mixcloud

Last of the Summer Wine

I have spent some time up hills in a bath... sorry, in Bath.

Back in May I recorded some weak signals in Alexandra Park, South of the centre on top of Beechen Cliff...

106.1 is Badminton Radio, the RSL for the Badminton horse trials 2013
105.52 is Swindon 105.5, Swindon's community station, battling a bit with Real Radio on 105.4 from Wales. There was a local artist being interviewed before I recorded this, talking about getting one-rings on the mobile phone during pirate radio shows :D

Then, yesterday I decided to go up on the hill at Lansdown just North of Bath (the P&R bus goes up there and conveniently parks up near some playing fields).  I have just about received UKs Finest / Sub Zero FM on 87.5 up there before, but today wasn't a good day for getting accurate normal signal levels. Atmospherics were causing a lot of different things to come in.

This was really uncomfortable to record, as a result it's a bit cak. Look out for the green thing that decided to walk across the top of the Tecsun!

Radio Ramadan from Bristol appears to be fading in and out with the atmos on 87.9. There is also a similar station on 87.8 but whether that is a Ramadan RSL or something coming in on atmos I don't know for sure, but I'd assume it was Radio Ramadan 87.8 FM - Walsall!

There is also something on 90.95 (I tune to 91.0 in the vid) which also doesn't look like an RSL to me.

There's something playing what sounds like a mix of Spanish and Arabic music in there too (accompanied by the green thing), and a bit of French.  There were so many signals in and out between 87.5 and 87.9 including French and some pop stations, no idea what they could be.

Isle of Wight Radio on 107 is normal on Lansdown in my experience.

When I wasn't recording or sat on the floor, Ujima and BCFM came in much better, Ujima reaching 19dB.

On 97, but not in the vid, was Fantasy Radio from Devises.

Free FM doesn't broadcast at the time of day I recorded this, so 105.8 has Wave 105 coming in on atmos. It also appears on 105.2.

You might just hear Heart on 100.7, next to Classic on 100.8.

Radio Solent is the BBC station on 96.1.

The rest I just didn't have time to ID. I'd love to spend a day up there in a tent with the laptop running SDR# to get a really decent scan, but that's a bit mad :D

Below, the view from the hill...

Above... Moooo!

Free FM - 105.8 - Caroline 319 Gold (Dutch) Relay

Free FM 105.8 - Caroline 319 Gold (Dutch) Relay - 27-03-2013 by Bristolpirates on Mixcloud

Free FM has ceased to relay Laser Hot Hits recently, and is now relaying Caroline 319 Gold instead :)

Free FM - Bath - 105.8

Relaying Laser Hot Hits and Oldies 104 across Bath, this signal has been around for a while. I haven't had much chance to hear it myself tho, so went of a mission to Bath specifically earlier today. I was in the wrong spot for decent reception really, but here's a recording of what I heard.

Notice how it cuts out suddenly a lot, as if the rig is losing power and then slowly getting it back again a few seconds later. - EDIT : This has now been attributed to my minidisc recorder :D

Anyway, it was stronger in the toilets at Bath Spa station, but where's the fun if the signal is rock steady?

Free FM - 105.8MHz - Laser Hot Hits Stream Relay - 21 04 2012 by Bristolpirates on Mixcloud

In other news, Rage FM was hit by Ofcom (rig only!) for the first time after just over a year of broadcasting. They've been testing again today, 100.6 and 104.5, so listen out if you're out Taunton way.

Recent events...

LASER HOT HITS - 95.1FM - NE SOMERSET

I can't believe I've not mentioned this before, or if I have the search isn't working and I can't find my post about it. Laser Hot Hits, the famous UK SW Rock pirate, has an FM relay in NE Somerset on 95.1FM. Apparently it can be heard from about J18 of the M4 all the way to Clevedon. I can't hear it where I am, it may not be on when I try to tune in, but it's power has been increased recently according to the LHH website. It's odd that they don't use 95.2 as that is more directly between the two local BBC frequencies of 94.9 and 95.5, but as the 95.5 one is for Somerset I guess it's best to steer clear of it.

PASSION RADIO BRISTOL

Recent posters were advertising the 106.2FM frequency and since then there has been a rig confiscation which put the station off air for a few weeks. It came back on in the last week and I was listening to it earlier, but it seems to have disappeared now. However...

105FM???

I'm not even sure this is a positive, but tonight I'm getting a carrier jumping in and out on 105FM. Sounds a bit like somebody setting up a rig. Maybe Passion have decided to move frequency finally? Maybe it's the return of Ragga? Maybe it's something new? It could turn out to be some faulty equipment near me putting out a carrier.


UPDATE - Terry Star confirms there is a carrier on 105, although it's 'quite clear' where he is.

UPDATE -  The rig on 105 was off by mid day on Friday 11th March. I have not heard it since, but I've been busy. No return of Passion on 106.2 either.