VHF setup for RX-888 MK2

[Gennadiy - RA9UIP]

I have it running....however....there are some things you need to know:

1: On VHF/UHF it only does 8-10MHz wide, so max 20MSPS

2: I run it with the below parameters...just testing but it receives.

Code Select Expand

#!/bin/bash
cd /opt/PhantomSDR-Plus/

## Files to load
FIFO=rx888mk2.fifo
TOML=config-rx888mk2-vhf.toml

[ ! -e "$FIFO" ] && mkfifo $FIFO

#Without PGA
#rx888_stream/target/release/rx888_stream -f ./rx888_stream/SDDC_FX3.img -s 60000000 -a 0 -m low -g 40 -o - > $FIFO &
rx888_stream/target/release/rx888_stream vhf -f ./rx888_stream/SDDC_FX3.img -s 10000000 --frequency 1400000000 -g 24 --vhf-lna 19 --vhf-vga 5 -m low -r -d -o - > $FIFO &

sleep 2 &

build/spectrumserver --config $TOML < $FIFO &

exit

Code Select Expand

[server]
port=81 # Server port
html_root="frontend/dist/" # HTML files to be hosted
otherusers=1 # Send where other users are listening, 0 to disable
threads=2

[websdr]
register_online=true # If the SDR should be registered on https://sdr-list.xyz then put it to true
name="Heppen Test VHF" # Name that is shown on https://sdr-list.xyz
antenna="Diamon V2000" # Antenna that is shown on https://sdr-list.xyz
grid_locator="JO21oc" # 4 or 6 length Grid Locatlr shown on https://sdr-list.xyz and for the Distance of FT8 Signals
hostname="http://websdr.heppen.be" # If you use ddns or something to host with a domain enter it here for https://sdr-list.xyz

[limits]
audio=100
waterfall=100
events=100

[input]
sps=10000000 # Input Sample Rate
fft_size=8388608
#fft_size=16777216
fft_threads=2
brightness_offset=0 # Waterfall brightness offset. Reduce to negative if you see black regions in the waterfall
frequency=140000000 # Baseband frequency
signal="real" # real or iq
accelerator="opencl" # Accelerator: none, cuda, opencl, mkl
audio_sps=12000 # Audio Sample Rate
audio_compression="flac" # flac or opus
waterfall_size=2048
waterfall_compression="zstd" # zstd or av1
smeter_offset=0

[input.driver]
name="stdin" # Driver name
format="s16" # Sample format: u8, s8, u16, s16, u32, s32, f32, f64

[input.defaults]
frequency=145662500 # Default frequency to show user
modulation="FM" # Default modulation
My test server is running at the moment.

I will test UHF too, so the test-server can be offline.

the same thing and it turns out that without using FIFO.
with this configuration it receives frequencies of 433 MHz, not 144 MHz and with each start the frequencies can change

[Bas ON5HB]

I also tried the Soapy approach via rx_sdr, no luck either, segment-faults as soon as I try to switch to VHF.

Tried this version, also has the Soapy driver: https://github.com/ik1xpv/ExtIO_sddc

And an updated firmware, they claim VHF works, but no luck.

As people claim it works under Windows, it must have something missing or so in Linux.

[Emmanuel SV1BTL]

Well, I think that Bas is right. The max bandwidth in VHF sector is 10 MHz Here are some screens using SDR Console under Windows.
But the receiver IS working under Windows!...

[Bas ON5HB]

I know it does as you told me so

Anyway, if you want to do VHF/UHF, why not take an SDRplay device, no matter the type, they all do 9MSPS with Bandwidth 8MHz.
The MSPS has to be larger to avoid ghost-signals and other rubbush.

Also, I read that the SDRplay devices are far better for VHF/UHF and even very good at HF (depending on the type).