[XTension] Problems with SDR
Jeffrey Lomicka
JeffreyLomicka at comcast.net
Tue Jul 11 17:25:25 EDT 2023
My experience with the SDR so far, in XTension, has not been great. I'm
have a lot of trouble reliably getting data, especially the Acurite rain
gauge data. I'm thinking this is NOT a radio problem, or even a data
stream parsing problem, but something between the parsing of the data
and the unit updates. I'm working with the instrument and the receiver
in the same room. (Of course, I only resorted to that when it didn't
work from outside.)
The reason for my suspicions is that all the data I want can be viewed
in debug mode, but I don't (always) get the corresponding unit updates
in the log.
For example, here I am starting the plug-in, just so you can see I've
configured it correctly, and what version I'm running. This is the
recommended RTL-SDR version 3:
Jul 11, 2023 4:54:21 PM SDR 433Mhz: plugin starting in debug mode
Jul 11, 2023 4:54:21 PM SDR 433Mhz: in add command handler with
command close
Jul 11, 2023 4:54:21 PM SDR 433Mhz: Software Defined Radio
(rtl_433) plugin v0.4 Ready
Jul 11, 2023 4:54:21 PM SDR 433Mhz: Final Command:
(/Users/jlomicka/Xtension/XTension.app/Contents/Resources/Plugins/rtl433.isf/rtl_433
-f 433.920Mhz -F json -M level -M time:none -d :00000002)
Jul 11, 2023 4:54:21 PM SDR 433Mhz: rtl_433 version 20.11
(2020-11-13) inputs file rtl_tcp RTL-SDR SoapySDR with TLS
Jul 11, 2023 4:54:21 PM SDR 433Mhz: Registered 153 out of 183
device decoding protocols [ 1-4 8 11-12 15-17 19-21 23 25-26 29-36
38-60 63 67-71 73-100 102-105 108-116 119 121 124-128 130-149
151-161 163-168 170-175 177-183 ]
Jul 11, 2023 4:54:22 PM SDR 433Mhz: Found Rafael Micro R820T tuner
Jul 11, 2023 4:54:22 PM SDR 433Mhz: Exact sample rate is:
250000.000414 Hz
Jul 11, 2023 4:54:22 PM SDR 433Mhz: Sample rate set to 250000 S/s.
Jul 11, 2023 4:54:22 PM SDR 433Mhz: Tuner gain set to Auto.
Jul 11, 2023 4:54:22 PM SDR 433Mhz: Tuned to 433.920MHz.
Jul 11, 2023 4:54:23 PM SDR 433Mhz: baseband_demod_FM: low pass
filter for 250000 Hz at cutoff 25000 Hz, 40.0 us
Shortly after startup we get two readings for a THG122N that did NOT get
followed by an update to the corresponding unit
Jul 11, 2023 4:54:25 PM SDR 433Mhz: json({"brand": "OS", "model":
"Oregon-THGR122N", "id": 201, "channel": 1, "battery_ok": 1,
"temperature_C": 29.8, "humidity": 13, "mod": "ASK", "freq":
433.915, "rssi": -10.818, "snr": 14.794, "noise": -25.612})
Jul 11, 2023 4:54:25 PM SDR 433Mhz: json({"brand": "OS", "model":
"Oregon-THGR122N", "id": 201, "channel": 1, "battery_ok": 1,
"temperature_C": 29.8, "humidity": 13, "mod": "ASK", "freq":
433.915, "rssi": -10.818, "snr": 14.794, "noise": -25.612})
But a short time later (skipping ahead a bit in the log), we get values
from an identical device with a different ID, and these worked:
Jul 11, 2023 4:54:29 PM SDR 433Mhz: json({"brand": "OS", "model":
"Oregon-THGR122N", "id": 122, "channel": 2, "battery_ok": 1,
"temperature_C": 27.2, "humidity": 47, "mod": "ASK", "freq":
433.926, "rssi": -1.691, "snr": 24.771, "noise": -26.462})
Jul 11, 2023 4:54:29 PM Received value for Cricket's Office
Temperature of 80.96
Jul 11, 2023 4:54:29 PM SDR 433Mhz: json({"brand": "OS", "model":
"Oregon-THGR122N", "id": 122, "channel": 2, "battery_ok": 1,
"temperature_C": 27.2, "humidity": 47, "mod": "ASK", "freq":
433.925, "rssi": -1.612, "snr": 26.915, "noise": -28.527})
Jul 11, 2023 4:54:29 PM Received value for Cricket's Office
Temperature of 80.96
My biggest problem, however, is that I've failed to reliably replace the
rain sensor, because these messages are fairly consistently ignored:
Jul 11, 2023 4:54:26 PM SDR 433Mhz: json({"model":
"Acurite-Rain899", "id": 291, "channel": 0, "battery_ok": 0,
"rain_mm": 0.254, "mic": "CHECKSUM", "mod": "ASK", "freq": 433.942,
"rssi": -0.102, "snr": 25.81, "noise": -25.912})
Jul 11, 2023 4:54:26 PM SDR 433Mhz: json({"model":
"Acurite-Rain899", "id": 291, "channel": 0, "battery_ok": 0,
"rain_mm": 0.254, "mic": "CHECKSUM", "mod": "ASK", "freq": 433.942,
"rssi": -0.102, "snr": 25.81, "noise": -25.912})
Jul 11, 2023 4:54:26 PM SDR 433Mhz: json({"model":
"Acurite-Rain899", "id": 291, "channel": 0, "battery_ok": 0,
"rain_mm": 0.254, "mic": "CHECKSUM", "mod": "ASK", "freq": 433.942,
"rssi": -0.102, "snr": 25.81, "noise": -25.912})
That is, until certain values are reached. Some values get through.
After flipping the sea saw (changing nothing else), it's now working:
Jul 11, 2023 5:09:26 PM SDR 433Mhz: json({"model":
"Acurite-Rain899", "id": 291, "channel": 0, "battery_ok": 0,
"rain_mm": 0.762, "mic": "CHECKSUM", "mod": "ASK", "freq": 433.939,
"rssi": -0.115, "snr": 24.869, "noise": -24.984})
Jul 11, 2023 5:09:26 PM Received value for Rainfall Accumulation of
0.03
Jul 11, 2023 5:09:26 PM SDR 433Mhz: json({"model":
"Acurite-Rain899", "id": 291, "channel": 0, "battery_ok": 0,
"rain_mm": 0.762, "mic": "CHECKSUM", "mod": "ASK", "freq": 433.939,
"rssi": -0.115, "snr": 24.869, "noise": -24.984})
Jul 11, 2023 5:09:26 PM Received value for Rainfall Accumulation of
0.03
Jul 11, 2023 5:09:27 PM SDR 433Mhz: json({"model":
"Acurite-Rain899", "id": 291, "channel": 0, "battery_ok": 0,
"rain_mm": 0.762, "mic": "CHECKSUM", "mod": "ASK", "freq": 433.939,
"rssi": -0.115, "snr": 24.869, "noise": -24.984})
Jul 11, 2023 5:09:27 PM Received value for Rainfall Accumulation of
0.03
I haven't discerned the pattern yet, but definitely some values work
okay, and some values don't, and it seems to depend on the unit value,
in this case 0.254 versus 0.762.
I'm observing the same behavior on other units, such as the temperature
sensor that came with the device. It usually works, as shown here:
Jul 11, 2023 4:54:26 PM SDR 433Mhz: json({"model": "Acurite-Tower",
"id": 8359, "channel": "A", "battery_ok": 1, "temperature_C": 30.3,
"humidity": 51, "mic": "CHECKSUM", "mod": "ASK", "freq": 433.945,
"rssi": -1.293, "snr": 25.938, "noise": -27.231})
Jul 11, 2023 4:54:26 PM Received value for Kitchen Deck Temperature
of 86.54
Jul 11, 2023 4:54:26 PM SDR 433Mhz: json({"model": "Acurite-Tower",
"id": 8359, "channel": "A", "battery_ok": 1, "temperature_C": 30.3,
"humidity": 51, "mic": "CHECKSUM", "mod": "ASK", "freq": 433.945,
"rssi": -1.293, "snr": 25.938, "noise": -27.231})
Jul 11, 2023 4:54:26 PM Received value for Kitchen Deck Temperature
of 86.54
Jul 11, 2023 4:54:26 PM SDR 433Mhz: json({"model": "Acurite-Tower",
"id": 8359, "channel": "A", "battery_ok": 1, "temperature_C": 30.3,
"humidity": 51, "mic": "CHECKSUM", "mod": "ASK", "freq": 433.945,
"rssi": -1.293, "snr": 25.938, "noise": -27.231})
Jul 11, 2023 4:54:26 PM Received value for Kitchen Deck Temperature
of 86.54
but a few minutes later (when I went back to flip the sea saw on the
rain sensor), it stopped recording temperatures from the temperature sensor:
Jul 11, 2023 5:09:20 PM SDR 433Mhz: json({"model": "Acurite-Tower",
"id": 8359, "channel": "A", "battery_ok": 1, "temperature_C": 30.0,
"humidity": 50, "mic": "CHECKSUM", "mod": "ASK", "freq": 433.945,
"rssi": -5.183, "snr": 22.489, "noise": -27.673})
Jul 11, 2023 5:09:20 PM SDR 433Mhz: json({"model": "Acurite-Tower",
"id": 8359, "channel": "A", "battery_ok": 1, "temperature_C": 30.0,
"humidity": 50, "mic": "CHECKSUM", "mod": "ASK", "freq": 433.945,
"rssi": -5.183, "snr": 22.489, "noise": -27.673})
Jul 11, 2023 5:09:20 PM SDR 433Mhz: json({"model": "Acurite-Tower",
"id": 8359, "channel": "A", "battery_ok": 1, "temperature_C": 30.0,
"humidity": 50, "mic": "CHECKSUM", "mod": "ASK", "freq": 433.945,
"rssi": -5.183, "snr": 22.489, "noise": -27.673})
So, bottom line, I think it's broken, but in a way that wouldn't be
immediately obvious.
- Jeff
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