Why do I seem to lose reception when a/c is very close?

[wiedehopf]

@skemp255

Perhaps I will also try to deconstruct the gain scripts and customize something. I am surprised there seems to be no way to adjust gain on the fly in response to excess signal.

The rtl-sdr library doesn’t allow on the fly changing of the gain, you’d have to restart the data collection.

Here is how to change gain, find the section for the piaware sd-card:
For Beginners - How to Set / Change Gain

Then you can manually adjust which might indeed be necessary.