Hi all,
I was just playing with rtl_airband a month or so ago.
The .conf file supports either the device index number (0, 1, 2, ..) or the serial number. Using serial gets rid of many of the problems that pop up with just using index, which might possibly change.
From the documentation:
index (integer) - indicates which RTL device this section applies to. This is important when you have more than one RTL device connected at the same time. Alternatively you may provide serial number of the device using serial option.
serial (string) - another way to indicate which RTL device shall be used. The advantage over index is that this number does not change across reboots or when reconnecting dongles in different order. If both serial and index options are given, serial takes priority. To find out serial numbers of your dongles, launch rtl_test utility - it discovers all connected devices and prints their details.
Here is how it looks using serial instead of index:
devices:
({
type = “rtlsdr”;
serial = “502”;
gain = 38.6;
When I first started configuring the program and .conf file, I made multiple errors and then tracked them down one at a time. Running a stable program as a service is fine, but I find it much easier to initially run the program manually, so that I can immediately see every error as it happens. When running it manually as below, if there is any error in the .conf file, the program will output the error and the .conf line number. That makes it easier to locate. I also made the classic extra “,” error you did.
When running the program manually, I ran it with the run-rtl_airband script below, which also explains the two switches I used. The script also has the program -h info as remarks, which often saves time.
dan@Acer-722:~$ cat run-rtl_airband
# run in foreground
rtl_airband -c /home/dan/rtl_airband.conf -f -e
# -f to run in foreround for troubleshooting
# -e to see messages in output (not in log)
# normal logging goes to /var/log/syslog
# Use this to tail the syslog
# tail -f -n 20 /var/log/syslog
# dan@Acer-722:~$ rtl_airband -h
# Usage: rtl_airband [options] [-c <config_file_path>]
# -h Display this help text
# -f Run in foreground, display textual waterfalls
# -F Run in foreground, do not display waterfalls (for running as a systemd service)
# -Q Use quadri correlator for FM demodulation (default is atan2)
# -e Print messages to standard error (disables syslog logging)
# -c <config_file_path> Use non-default configuration file
# (default: /usr/local/etc/rtl_airband.conf)
# -v Display version and exit
I am not currently using the program now, but just wanted to tinker with it for a few hours one day. To be honest, I did not use it long enough to actually figure out how to use the pulse audio feature for live local audio. All my testing was to file.
Regards,
-Dan
