Lost radio station

[Vindad]

Hi Guys, I am new here and to the SDR hobby but, I am a long time Radio Ham, G0EMJ.

The problem is that I have 2 SDR units, RTL-SDR and Nooelec NESDR SMART but, neither one of them will pick up a station on 105.4 mhz FM.
This is a station I listen to often and if I tune my TECSUN Radio to this freq it works no problem. I have tried with both SDR's, different antennas
and still it will not pick up this station. On my TECSUN radio it shows 40db plus of signal but in the SDR's no signal there at all?

Any help appreciated guys.

[jdow]

Are you comparing receivers on the same antenna? Are there other frequencies visible and usable, aside from choice of program aesthetics, of course? Did you mess with the gain settings and reduce them enough the signal is not detectable? It's utterly mind-boggling that a station could still be on the air but you cannot tune it when you can tune other stations unless it is very weak and the other signals are very strong.

{^_^}

[Max]

I have tried with both SDR's, different antennas and still it will not pick up this station. On my TECSUN radio it shows 40db plus of signal but in the SDR's no signal there at all?

Sounds like must be something basic. You need to post a full (non-cropped, and posted as an attachment) screenshot in the "fault" condition as per the the info here:



Be sure to have the Home tab selected in the Ribbon bar so we can see all the "Radio" selections (Gains etc). Please also make sure RX DSP panel is open and docked in the default left hand location:

https://www.sdr-radio.com/receive-dsp

Max

[Vindad]

I tried the same antennas on both SDRs and neither one found a station on 105.4 and yet when I switch on my tecsun radio the station is there loud and strong on 105.4

@jdow, I am using SDR# software and other stations around 100 upto 104 work fine but can't get magic radio on 105.4

To be honest I am still learning my way around the software so maybe it is something I am doing wrong but, the stations I do get are all strong and clear.

I also picked up a 10kHz to 30 MHz Magnetic Antenna, Portable Passive YouLoop Antennas HF Response 250 mW and when I go to ham bands with this antenna
it is just silence ?? even when I switch to q branch direct sampling ?

@Max, as you say it must be something simple but, I don't know how to do the things you suggested inside the software yet but, I will try again and see if I can

[KA1GJU]

1) Despite the name of this website, this site is for SDR Console software, not HDSDR, SDR#, SDR++, etc.
Questions about other software may or may not be answered here, since we primarily speak and use SDRC.
2) Did you purchase a ‘real’ Youloop antenna from the folks at Airspy, or a Chinese knock off from Amazon? Yes, there is a difference!
3) The real Youloop antenna was designed for the Airspy HF+ Discovery SDR and its predecessor with the dual antenna port. I’m not sure if the cheap RTL dongles are sensitive enough to use the Youloop antenna. I gave up on the RTL’s years ago due to being not up to the task for me. I have one as an ADSB RX/ Server on a Raspberry Pi, but I haven’t had to do anything to it in years.

Per their website about the Youloop antenna:

Compatibility:
Airspy HF+ Discovery (Recommended)
Airspy HF+ Dual Port (with R3 shorted)
Any other SDR with MDS <= -140 dBm (There aren't that many)

[jdow]

Kriss, is this the thread you meant for that message? It seems like a non-sequitur here.

Vindad, attach a full size screen capture. Settings are important as well as the spectrum and waterfall. If you are using several receivers you may want to go to the ribbon bar. Then go to Tools->Options. On the popup panel go to "Tuning" make sure the top two radio buttons have the lower one selected, "Adjust the display frequency to make visible." You also might have the mute on overload option set, on the left of the options panel select "Auto-mute" and uncheck the "Enable" checkbox at the top in the right hand pane.

{^_^}

[G4ZFQ]

"On my TECSUN radio it shows 40db plus of signal but in the SDR's no signal there at all?"

You must know if there is actually a station on 105.4MHZ. It must be listed, as a known local station.

My guess is that there is no such station although I have no idea how good the Tecsun is.

Alan G4ZFQ

[Vindad]

Ok I can smell the smoke here.

To those of you that tried to help I want to say thank you very much and I do appreciate your help.

@ KA1GJU seriously ? lighten up and if this group is ONLY about certain SDR software then maybe it should be called.
"It's all about the software but, ONLY if it is" followed by a list of your preferred SDR software.

I apologise if I upset anyone else by not using the correct, (preferred) software for this group.

Admin, Please remove my profile as I will not be posting here again as I do not want to upset
anyone else by using SDR#

G0EMJ 73s QRT

[Max]

To those of you that tried to help I want to say thank you very much and I do appreciate your help.

I apologise if I upset anyone else by not using the correct, (preferred) software for this group.

G0EMJ 73s QRT

Geoffrey, I must admit I did not detect any hostility from Kriss regarding your posts, just giving you the heads-up that this is a group specifically to give support for Simon Brown's SDR Console software. We are a friendly bunch here and perfectly happy to help where we can even with subjects that are a bit off-topic. Kriss is one of the most helpful you will ever meet! We do discuss a broad range of topics here so your posts have not caused any problem, just misunderstanding as we assumed you were having operational difficulty with SDR Console. Confusion probably was not helped by me giving you a duff url link in my first reply.

However, I would urge you to try SDR Console. We are biased here I know, but it's seriously (IMHO) the best SDR software out there apart from some very specific omissions/needs like a scanner, for example. Particularly for ham radio ops or AM/FM DXers you will not get better software.

73

Max

[KA1GJU]

@JDOW
Well, the post just prior to mine stated the following:

I am using SDR# software and other stations around 100 upto 104 work fine but can't get magic radio on 105.4

So, yes I was just replying to the OP that was asking questions pertaining to him using SDR#. Since this is Simon's site for help with users of SDR Console, I mentioned he MAY or MAYNOT find help here. Afterall, SDR-radio.com even says this is the site to post questions, possible bugs, etc with his software. Maybe AI sent him here since the title may be confusing to AI and humans? I don't know, it's not my website!

Now there may be folks here that are verbose in SDR#, but the OP might find more help at the proper site:
https://groups.io/g/airspy

As for me, I only use it to read the firmware and serial number of a suspect Airspy before flashing it since there are two versions of firmware depending upon serial number.

Now if the OP can't handle the facts that I posted such as Youloop antenna's are not created equally and require a sensitive RXR to function, thats on him. I have seen the absolute rubbish Amazon has available for hams and usually my call outs to help the ham to troubleshoot and fix what's broken is often due to the tempting prices on Amazon.
On a hunch, I copied and pasted what the OP had posted, which sounds like it was cut-n-pasted from the web "10kHz to 30 MHz Magnetic Antenna, Portable Passive YouLoop Antennas HF Response 250 mW" and immediately it brought me here:
https://www.amazon.com/Magnetic-Antenna-Portable-Antennas-Response/dp/B09PNN9PLX
Sounded like a poorly transcribed Chinese to English sentence which is typical for knock off Amazon products, i.e. the "Antennas HF Response 250 mW" part of it.
Hence my question about the purchase, since everyone knows what a Youloop is here and over at the Airspy groups site.