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TXAdvance - New app


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Hi,

 

I would like to introduce TXAdvance, an Android app for managing wireless transmitters. It's an all-in-one solution providing RF spectrum analysis and frequency coordination.

 

Main features :

-Scan any part of the RF spectrum from 50 to 1300MHz with a 5kHz resolution using SDR technology,

-intermodulation calculation up to 7th order,

-automatic function for finding optimal frequencies.

 

Available on Google Play https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.compasseur.txadvance

More infos : https://www.compasseur.com/

 

Thanks.

screenshot_accueil_full.jpg

screenshot_accueil_edit_txfreq.jpg

tel_plus_cle_clean_small.png

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12 hours ago, Derek H said:

Can you elaborate on the gain setting? Why is the default "2" and when would it be useful to change it?

 

This is very cool. Not the most intuitive but that's ok. The more I use it the more I see the logic. 

The R820T2 has 29 different settings for gain, from 0 to 496 (0, 9,14, 27, 37,...439, 445, 480, 496).  To make it simpler, I chose 7 values and named them 1 to 7.

Here are the corresponding values :

1 -> 9

2 -> 77

3 -> 125

4 -> 229

5 -> 280

6 -> 402

7 -> 480

 

I found that the setting 2 (77) is a good compromise between seeing signals and noise floor. If the app was about listening some very weak signals, I would have put more gain values.

For our use, with a gain of 2 (77), the SDR receiver would get the signal the same way our wireless RX do (this is approximate of course as it depends on the receiver and the antenna used).

 

If you have wireless transmitters close to the SDR (less than 1m, depending on the transmitting power), it can be wise to lower the gain so as to not overload the receiver.

 

Trying to find a good compromise between simplicity and customization...

 

 

10 hours ago, Dalton Patterson said:

Make this work on ios and I will throw money at you.

Genius. 

i am sorry but it is not possible to directly plug and communicate with the SDR dongle on iOS. Believe me, I would have loved to implement it on iOS too as most of sound engineers use iPhone...

For the demo version, not at the moment, but you can buy the app and be reimbursed if needed.

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So I tried this with an ancient android phone I had laying around (Motorola Droid Turbo) and a nooelec smart sdr dongle from a few years ago (not sure if it’s the latest version) it would scan sometimes and then not. The debug in the SDR driver claims that it’s not getting enough power from the phone. 
 

Have you found that most recent android devices provide sufficient power to the dongle? Are the Google pixel phones a safe choice?

 

I have tried using a “powered” OTG cable which has a y-split to attach a charger but the problem there is the phone seems to decide to only do one thing at a time. Either use the dongle or just charge but not both. Maybe if I used a dumb power supply it would work but phone chargers or battery packs seem to be too smart for their own good in this case. 

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1 hour ago, Derek H said:

So I tried this with an ancient android phone I had laying around (Motorola Droid Turbo) and a nooelec smart sdr dongle from a few years ago (not sure if it’s the latest version) it would scan sometimes and then not. The debug in the SDR driver claims that it’s not getting enough power from the phone. 
 

Have you found that most recent android devices provide sufficient power to the dongle? Are the Google pixel phones a safe choice?

 

I have tried using a “powered” OTG cable which has a y-split to attach a charger but the problem there is the phone seems to decide to only do one thing at a time. Either use the dongle or just charge but not both. Maybe if I used a dumb power supply it would work but phone chargers or battery packs seem to be too smart for their own good in this case. 

 

Hi Derek,

 

Yes recent phones will definitely provide more power. I have a beta tester and now a few users with Pixel phones and it works fine.

 

Alternatively, I know that some of those "powered" OTG can be tricky. You have to try different orders, like :

1) plug the power, then the phone, then the SDR

2) plug the phone, then the SDR, then the power

......
 

When and if you find the right one, remember it !

Keep me(us) inform please.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

How are people getting on with this? 1st day testing at home. Navigating between TX lists was a bit unintuitive (created an analogue 1 and digital 1). Main worry right now though is the spread of frequencies offered is either too wide to work with the 35 mhz limit of wisycom or if I apply a custom exclusion list (leaving 550 to 638) the app says no frequencies available. Maybe I just can't handle the RF truth but the wisy scanner will offer me freqs and in a smaller BW. Am I doing something wrong? I've tried reducing the gain as well, different antenna.

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I found a basic Wiko android 8 phone in a drawer, ordered the sdr dongle, waiting for it.

now I am wondering about the antenna. I do not see how a single whip antenna like the one on your photo would allow a good scan from 470Mhz to 694, and even less up to 800.

What antenna do you recommend for a scan from 470 to 800Mhz?

A dipole?

I read someone advising a telescopic antenna. I guess you would have to do several scan with different lenght step by step? Does the app keep memory of the different medium band scans and can then assemble them to view the total wide band?

Thanks

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On 4/29/2022 at 5:13 PM, daniel said:

How are people getting on with this? 1st day testing at home. Navigating between TX lists was a bit unintuitive (created an analogue 1 and digital 1). Main worry right now though is the spread of frequencies offered is either too wide to work with the 35 mhz limit of wisycom or if I apply a custom exclusion list (leaving 550 to 638) the app says no frequencies available. Maybe I just can't handle the RF truth but the wisy scanner will offer me freqs and in a smaller BW. Am I doing something wrong? I've tried reducing the gain as well, different antenna.

Hi Daniel,

 

To work with the MCR54 and its 32 MHz window, i recommend at the creation of your TX list to modify the low and high frequency limits of your first TX so that it has a bandwidth of 32 MHz. You only have to do it once for the first TX. When you add another TX, it will get the specifications of the last added TX.

Exclusion lists are list of frequencies to avoid. So the frequencies in those list will be excluded from the list of available frequencies for any TX and from the auto mode. They will be scanned though and you can bypass them by manually entering a frequency for your TXs.

I need to find an easier solution for those MCR54. I'm open to any suggestion.

18 hours ago, Fred Salles said:

I found a basic Wiko android 8 phone in a drawer, ordered the sdr dongle, waiting for it.

now I am wondering about the antenna. I do not see how a single whip antenna like the one on your photo would allow a good scan from 470Mhz to 694, and even less up to 800.

What antenna do you recommend for a scan from 470 to 800Mhz?

A dipole?

I read someone advising a telescopic antenna. I guess you would have to do several scan with different lenght step by step? Does the app keep memory of the different medium band scans and can then assemble them to view the total wide band?

Thanks

Hi Fred,

 

From the receiver side, the length of the antenna is not as important as from the transmitter side. Of course it will be better to have the exact length for every band but if your antenna is tuned to the center of 470-694 MHZ, the app will detect any frequencies which could be problematic for our use in this band. You will even detect radio stations frequencies at 90-100 MHz or your car keys at 434 MHz. 

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On 5/2/2022 at 4:59 PM, Compasseur said:

Hi Daniel,

 

To work with the MCR54 and its 32 MHz window, i recommend at the creation of your TX list to modify the low and high frequency limits of your first TX so that it has a bandwidth of 32 MHz. You only have to do it once for the first TX. When you add another TX, it will get the specifications of the last added TX.

Exclusion lists are list of frequencies to avoid. So the frequencies in those list will be excluded from the list of available frequencies for any TX and from the auto mode. They will be scanned though and you can bypass them by manually entering a frequency for your TXs.

I need to find an easier solution for those MCR54. I'm open to any suggestion.

I think an 'INCLUSION' list would do it for me ('CUSTOM INCLUSION' even)?  Shure RX have this option. The easy way I found to limit the scan to legal bands, wisy limits etc was in location edit. But I have to remember it's there (which I don't always :) and it means I'm editing location details instead of RF details. If 'CUSTOM EXCLUSION' let me enter more than 1 exclusion band i could create a 'sandwich' for the band I want to include. 

On 5/2/2022 at 4:59 PM, Compasseur said:

Hi Fred,

 

From the receiver side, the length of the antenna is not as important as from the transmitter side. Of course it will be better to have the exact length for every band but if your antenna is tuned to the center of 470-694 MHZ, the app will detect any frequencies which could be problematic for our use in this band. You will even detect radio stations frequencies at 90-100 MHz or your car keys at 434 MHz. 

 

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On 5/5/2022 at 5:35 PM, daniel said:

I think an 'INCLUSION' list would do it for me ('CUSTOM INCLUSION' even)?  Shure RX have this option. The easy way I found to limit the scan to legal bands, wisy limits etc was in location edit. But I have to remember it's there (which I don't always :) and it means I'm editing location details instead of RF details. If 'CUSTOM EXCLUSION' let me enter more than 1 exclusion band i could create a 'sandwich' for the band I want to include. 

 

Hi Daniel,

You can add as many custom exclusion lists as you want. Just click on the "+" on the right of the drop down menu in the exclusion lists screen. The exclusion lists will affect all of your tx though. So that's why I think it's easier to modify the frequency limits of your MCR54 tx so that they stay in a 32 MHz window.

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It is quite fancy for me to be able to get a scan on all locations discreetly during technical reccie!! Getting an idea of the fx availability before getting the gear is pretty reassuring. 
 

8529659F-C32A-4E42-87F9-253418625E2D.jpeg

(PS: sorry Jerusalem’s sun is stronger than my display but it is quite clear from 470 to 700Mega)

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On 5/6/2022 at 8:18 PM, roubi said:

Hi Daniel,

You can add as many custom exclusion lists as you want. Just click on the "+" on the right of the drop down menu in the exclusion lists screen. The exclusion lists will affect all of your tx though. So that's why I think it's easier to modify the frequency limits of your MCR54 tx so that they stay in a 32 MHz window.

Thanks Roubi, obvious now you say it. 4 custom exclusions: everything up to 582; everything up to 606; everything from 614; everything from 638. Depending which 2 I deploy i can scan ch38 and/or 2 overlapping 32mhz (wisy friendly) bands with ch38 at 1 end or the other. There's probably something smarter but this will do.

 

Is there a way to program or import a given brands receiver Groups into TXAdvance? Perhaps on the 'Edit TX' screen. When I'm trying to determine best freqs. it would be kinder to have both systems offer the same freqs. or am I missing some trick here too? I get the feeling either set of compatible freqs (offered by the RX or TXA) will work but have not determined if if 1 is better than the other. I tried locking the 1st TX to a frequency from 1 of the RX brand's groups but the AUTO button didn't modify the others to correspond to the rest of the freqs in the same (RX brand) group.

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On 5/11/2022 at 4:44 PM, Fred Salles said:

It is quite fancy for me to be able to get a scan on all locations discreetly during technical reccie!! Getting an idea of the fx availability before getting the gear is pretty reassuring. 
 

8529659F-C32A-4E42-87F9-253418625E2D.jpeg

(PS: sorry Jerusalem’s sun is stronger than my display but it is quite clear from 470 to 700Mega)

Thanks Fred, and nice view!
Here are also a nice view and pretty clean spectrum from not very far...

txadvance_kazneh.png

On 5/11/2022 at 7:22 PM, daniel said:

Thanks Roubi, obvious now you say it. 4 custom exclusions: everything up to 582; everything up to 606; everything from 614; everything from 638. Depending which 2 I deploy i can scan ch38 and/or 2 overlapping 32mhz (wisy friendly) bands with ch38 at 1 end or the other. There's probably something smarter but this will do.

 

Is there a way to program or import a given brands receiver Groups into TXAdvance? Perhaps on the 'Edit TX' screen. When I'm trying to determine best freqs. it would be kinder to have both systems offer the same freqs. or am I missing some trick here too? I get the feeling either set of compatible freqs (offered by the RX or TXA) will work but have not determined if if 1 is better than the other. I tried locking the 1st TX to a frequency from 1 of the RX brand's groups but the AUTO button didn't modify the others to correspond to the rest of the freqs in the same (RX brand) group.

Hi Daniel, I am not sure I completely follow you. You need to first set up your scan limits, let's say from 470 to 694. So any frequency below 470 or higher than 608 will not be scanned but can still be selected for a TX (you will just not know the frequency content in dBFS) then set your TX frequencies limit : you can keep the default one or in the case of MCR54, set them up so that they represent 32MHz. That will make sure the app only presents you with 32MHz worth of bandwidth frequencies. You can then add exclusion lists from 608 to 614 for example (I believe this band is forbidden in the US) and any other you need. The frequencies in exclusion lists will also be kept out of the list of frequencies for every TX. That can also be useful if you have to share the RF spectrum with other people.

As for the frequency tables from the manufacturers, I don't think I will as the point of app is that you don't really need it anymore. But, you can also work the other way around and set up your TX/RX and then check if everything is fine thanks to the app.

Sorry if I didn't get your point and thus did not answer right. Please tell me if that's the case !

On 5/12/2022 at 6:47 PM, soundflowers said:

Hi 

just got it and I’m very excited :)

is there away too put a us zip code to get all active tv stations , kind of like in wireless workbench or FreqFinder ? 

Hi Soundflowers,

 

Thank for getting the app. At the moment it is not possible but that is on my list. 

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