GNU Radio Signal Scanner



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Introduction

gr-scan is a program written in C++, and built upon GNU Radio, rtl-sdr, and the OsmoSDR Source Block. It is intended to scan a range of frequencies and print a list of discovered signals. It should work with any device that works with that block, including Realtek RTL2832U devices. I developed this software using a Compro U620F, which uses an E4000 tuner. That product doesn't seem to be available on the US site, but the Newsky DVB-T Receiver (RTL2832U/E4000 Device) has good reviews. The current version of gr-scan is: 2012082301.

Building and Running

These instructions are intended for a GNU/Linux installation, however it should be possible to adapt gr-scan for use on other platforms.

  1. Ensure GNU Radio, rtl-sdr, and the OsmoSDR Source Block are installed. You will also require a recent version of GCC: to support the new for loops introduced by C++11. You might be able to compile it with GCC 4.6, but I recommend 4.7 or greater.
  2. Download and extract the gr-scan Source Archive.
  3. Change to the source directory, edit the Makefile if necessary, and run make.
  4. For a simple scan between 99 and 101 MHz (actually a little extra at each side), run
    ./gr-scan -x 99 -y 101
    To search for intermittent signals, such as amateur radio try something like
    ./gr-scan -x 144 -y 146 -p 600
    This will cause gr-scan to keep listening on each frequency for 600 seconds (10 minutes). For a complete list of options, see
    ./gr-scan --help