Welcome to the home of some of the most popular free plugins for SDR# Software Defined Radio.

The Frequency Manager + Scanner plugin delivers a full-featured frequency management tool permitting you to manage and browse frequencies and to scan ranges of frequencies or groups of frequencies that you define. 

Version 1.6.5
This is a maintenance version; there are no new features.
  • Changes in SDR# broke the feature "Mute Audio when Scanning".  This has been corrected in this version.
  • Fixed the error in "Mute Audio when Scanning" that cause the volume to be zero when SDR# started.
  • The Minimum Signal Strength line on the spectrum analyzer now tracks the Offset slider setting.
  •  The "CheckDb()" error on startup is fixed.

**Please note that plugins version 1.6.5 requires SDR# version 1294 or newer**  

Version 1.6
Frequency Manager
  • The Frequency Description is now displayed in the upper-right corner of the spectrum analyzer, along with the indicator for multiple database entries for that frequency.
  • As a result of moving the above information to the spectrum analyzer, the Frequency Manager panel is now 35% smaller.
  • The Clipboard Monitor now optionally watches the clipboard for frequencies you might have copied from the internet; and if that can be converted to a MHz value it tunes the radio to that frequency.
  • Function Keys F1-F10 can now be used to tune to a preset frequency.
Scanner
  • A new Minimum Signal Strength Line is displayed on the spectrum display.  This, along with real-time display of the current signal’s strength when the scanner is running, let you see at a glance how that signal compares to your scanner settings.  In addition you can use customize the line with one of 6 line patterns.
  • Current Signal Strength in dB is displayed in the upper right corner of the spectrum analyzer, just after the Frequency Description.
  • Timeout and Watchdog timers’ indicators are now displayed in the upper right corner of the spectrum analyzer.
**Please note that plugins version 1.6 require SDR# version 1248 or newer**  


Version 1.4
Frequency Manager
  • Frequency Presets - there are now 10 frequency presets you may use to store and recall favorite frequencies.
Scanner
  • A new Signal Strength Indicator displays a real-time measure of a frequency’s signal strength compared to the Minimum Signal Strength that you set.  The indicator shows the signal strength as it bounces below and above your minimum, and also shows when the “Seconds wait for transmission” and “Watchdog” timers have been triggered.
  • The Scanner Configuration window now has two tabs which organize scanner behavior into Rules settings and Performance settings.
  • Snap to next Step Size: a new checkbox lets you force the scanner to tune a scanned frequency to the SDR# step size, or instead allow it to tune to the actual detected peak signal strength of a frequency. 
  • Update a frequency’s Date when monitored: a new checkbox that causes the scanner to record the current date for a frequency that is already in your database, when the scanner lands on that frequency.
  • Adjacent Frequency Rejection: a new setting that lets you define the width of the area around a tuned frequency that is used to monitor signal strength after tuning to a frequency.  This reduces the influence of adjacent strong frequencies that “splatter” into the tuned frequency’s step size or bandwidth size.
  • Faster scanning speed:  Scanning speed has been improved yet again, and is now faster than the improvements in version 1.31.  On my equipment  I now average 1.6 GHz scanning speed as measured with the built-in benchmark tool on a range scan.
  • Improvements to the busy-frequency detection process.
**Please note that plugins v1.4 require SDR# versions between 1110 and 1222**

 System Requirements
Generally speaking if you can run SDR Sharp, you can use the Frequency Manager + Scanner plugin.  As with any software, the more capable your hardware the better the software will run.

  • OS: Windows XP Pro SP3, Windows 7, or Windows 8.  The binaries are compiled for a 32-bit environment for the broadest compatibility but run equally well in an x64 environment.
  • Processor: 1-gigahertz processor or faster; 2 or more cores is recommended.  Hyper-threading/Multi-threading should be enabled for the best performance. NOTE: SDR# and my plugins are multi-threaded applications, meaning they perform multiple tasks simultaneously.  As a result you may have performance problems if your processor cannot execute at least 4 threads simultaneously.
  • Memory: 1 gigabyte or more total in the computer.
  • Hard Disk: The software requires 1MB; the frequency database size is dependent on the number of records.  2000 records will fit in a 620KB database.
  • .NET: Version 3.5 runtime as required by SDR Sharp.

The Scanner Metrics plugin is an accessory to the Frequency Manager + Scanner plugin.  It records scanner activity to a database and performs analysis on that information; the goal being to make it easier for you to determine which of the millions of frequencies you can receive actually are worth spending time on.

You may, for example, setup a frequency range scan, turn down the volume, and go to bed.  In the morning you can use the plugin to display graphs that show you the most active frequencies during the monitoring period.

System Requirements
Scanner Metrics requires the same hardware and software as the Frequency Manager + Scanner plugin, plus the following:

  • Hard Disk: The software requires less than 50KB; the frequency database size is dependent on the number of records, which in turn is based on how active the monitored frequencies are.  8000 records will fit in a 600KB database.
  • Microsoft Chart Controls for Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, available from http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=14422.
  • SDR# Frequency Manager + Scanner version 1.31 or newer.

The Frequency Entry plugin restores the ability to enter the desired Center frequency into SDR#.  It’s extremely simple to use and requires nothing more than an operational copy of SDR# Revision 1110 or newer.

Frequency Manager + Scanner Tools is a standalone application that lets you import and export frequency data, and convert XML files from K5DEV’s Frequency Manager into a file that can be imported into Frequency Manager + Scanner’s database.

All of my plugins are delivered using a single automated installer.  During installation you select the plugins you desire and the program will install those plugins into SDR#, edit the configuration file for you, and copy well-written documentation into a folder for your use.  The same program will also upgrade or uninstall the software and documentation.

You can always find a link to the latest version of my software in the Downloads section on the left.   

Thank you for using my plugins!


44 comments:

ears1 said...

Thanks, it works quite well!

* Can the import/export util remember the previous settings, please? Such a pain to navigate to umpteen folders deep each time!

* Plus it really needs a Merge/Replace option instead of importing over the entire database and losing what was already there! (either that or warn the user to save what they already had, and add the new stuff to the end of the export)

* And being able to specify a Group name on each CSV import line would be good too.

* While Scanning, it would be helpful to see (optionally) which freq is being scanned - shouldn't slow things down unduly to write to a label control - to give us confidence that it's actually doing something?

Cheers

ears1 said...

Thanks

Is it possible to write a plug in that hooks into the mouse wheel events, and do clever things with tuning steps? Here in the UK we have a number of bands where the steps are 12.5k but offset by 6.25 - it wouild be great to have a wrap-around tuning plugin (specify start and end of range, step size and offsets) to tune around such bands.

Thanks

sdrs.freqmgr said...

Hi again ears1:

Yes this is possible. The startup company I work for launched yesterday so I won't have time to do it anytime soon, but it is certainly possible!

ears1 said...

OK, good luck on the startup.

I have a Manual Tune Assist plugin in mind, allowing the offset channel tuning, bandplan tune (international marine channels etc), repeater shift (in defined bands), all the bells and whistles you'd get on a proper VHF/UHF receiver. Oh, and 8.33 airband that actually works ;)

zefie said...

having a lot of freezes with the new plugin on hackrf. not sure why, maybe it cant handle the increased bandwidth

Anonymous said...

Is this compatible with windows xp? What are the requirements? The plugins are too wide (cutoff) when I try to use them. My font is set to normal and I am using a 1080p display. Is there a workaround for this?

Anonymous said...

Hi!. I installed plugin but several error occur when run SDR.
Follow a print to show errors (Sorry, this is in portuguese, but i believe you will understand. https://db.tt/6QodDFB7
After errors windows, SDR open, but crashed.

Thanks
Rogério Leite
www.apolo11.com

Anonymous said...

Hi! Follow again the link of printscreen:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/85172763/erro_sdr_manager.jpg

Thanks
Rogério Leite
www.apolo11.com

ears1 said...

So is the upgrade procedure to uninstall the current one, and then install the new? Or would the new version simply overwrite the old one? Thanks

sdrs.freqmgr said...

ears1: Just run the installer; if it finds an existing version it will perform an upgrade.

Anonymous said...

I have problems with 1.4 when doing "Scan A Group".
I upgraded from 1.31 which worked ok,
I have a range of Police/Ambulance/Fire frequencies that I scan through to check for transmissions, once one is found, the scanner continues nearly immediately,
1.31 works like it's supposed, holding for 10 seconds as configured.
1.4 reports something like "signal found at 0 db, but was -30 db after tuning etc" then it continues, not pausing for the 10 seconds I've configured.
The signal is NOT gone, when the scanner continues, I can hear it's mid sentence :)

So for now I've got to stick with 1.31, sorry :)

Anonymous said...

Hello Jeff, experiencing a big problem with the plug in, I cannot get it to work at all. It installs ok, but when I run SDR# it halts on several error messages before reaching the SDR# main window, the program is then hung and will not respond. I am running the latest version of SDR# which works fine normally, the system is windows XP home. The errors seem to be SQL related. Could it be I am missing something in the OS?

Anonymous said...

trying to set up the scan plug in but i can't get it to scan, it stops on the 2nd scan frequency. i have 3 conventional channels, 152.285, 154.68 and 155.13 in this order in a group named police.

i'm not sure how the channels should be set up?

for each channel i understand the frequency entry field of course but give me a suggestion for what to enter as 'center' for each of these 3 scan channels?

Anonymous said...

disregard the above problem i figured out what is happening.

i was looking at the frequency shown on the readout thinking that scan would update the displayed frequency in order of what channel was being scanned at a particular time. Now i realize that the frequency shows the last active scan member which made me think that the scanner was stopped.

I like it, it works great scanning p25, nxdn and dmr between vhf, uhf and 800 MHz.

Thomas Kunstmann said...

Jeff,

thank you for the quick and enlightening answer.
Me stupid, I didn't notice, that the minimum version is v1110....

Regards
Tom

Anonymous said...

The frequency manager files could not be installed/uninstalled.The error was:the process can not access the file.'C:\...\Frequency manager+ Scanner user guide.pdf ' because it is being used by another process..

Anonymous said...

last versions of sdr# has no more cw-l and cw-u mode (only and simply cw)
how can I set cw only in freq mgr ???

Sean Gilbert said...

Found it now, thanks Jeff. The answer to the question wasn't where I expected it to be, but now having read the user manual properly, I found the DB. I think, as I already have an SQL database for another project, that may have been the reason for not getting the inital message about it being created. Anyway, thanks again, nice plugin! 73 G4UCJ

Anonymous said...

Hi Jeff, I am trying top use your stand alone Import program to import CSV files from radioreference but it wont work.

I select the CSV then the FreqMgr database file in Local Settings but i just get a big error message that says

Error occurred in Line 1 etc

Can it import CSV files and how do i get it to work?

Thanks

Anonymous said...

Hi, i have version 1.0.0.1317 up and running with a couple of channels tuned in, is it possible or is there a update (sorry if i word this wrong) so that the programme is continuously scanning and as soon as someone talks, doesnt matter which channel or frequency, it picks that up so i dont have to keep changing?

sdrs.freqmgr said...

That's great Mike, glad you worked it out. Thanks!
Jeff

Anonymous said...

Good morning,

I am having trouble installing it on my win7 .NET 4.5.1 .
There is no popup on first run, neither any changes in SDRSHARP.
SDR runs fine on .NET 4.5.1, does the manager need .net 3.5 instead?
hmm ??
regards tom

Alpha Nova said...

Same Problem here.. Windows 7, fresh install of SDR# runs fine. After use of your installer all files seems to be copied to SDR# folder but in SDR# no new content is seen. I chekced the config-file and found that your installer dont add any lines into SDR# config !?

Alpha Nova said...

i uploaded my entire SDR# directory to Dropbox, maybe you are able to see whats wrong:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/72291449/SDR%23.ZIP

thank you, regards from germany, Alpha! (1cafd006@opayq.com)

Alpha Nova said...

Hello Jeff,

thanks for feedback and details about new plugin.xml (im not aware of that).
i found the issue. I use a batchfile for setup and download new nightly builds of SDR#. This batch also ask for download and apply plugins from rtl-sdr.ru into the installation and contains a old SDR# configfile which goin active after run.

thanks for support ;-)
regards Alpha Nova!

Unknown said...

Is it possible to edit the Protocol entries? I'd like to add DMR, NXDN etc etc.. Thanks for the great plugin!

Anonymous said...

I have a suggestion,, is it possible to make a plugin to fix frequency drift?PPM
By using the waterfall set two points or marks on either side and as the signal moves(drift) it changes the PPM

Anonymous said...

Thanks Jeff, I downloaded the corrected version of your plugins and this time they installed and SDR# works.

Sheila said...

Per your instructions in the SDR# Yahoo group I re-downloaded the latest release and the SQlite error has resolved. thank you!!

I'm having success in using your plugins along with SDR# as a ghost hunting/paranormal investigation tool. Video evidence is available in my public video album on Facebook. Thanks, Jeff!

sdrs.freqmgr said...

Sheila - what a cool application! Thanks for trying again, and good luck.

bilzin said...

I installed your plug in but when I turned my sdr on it began operating in a frgmented fashion. How do I uninstall the plug in please ?

Bill

Brooks Garrett said...

Do you know where one could find documentation on writing SDR# plugins? I'd like to create a plugin for recording transmissions as well as dominant tone detection but I haven't seen any documentation around the SDR# API. Ideas?

Anonymous said...

Sir I am using the RTL-SDR dongle with SDR # v 1333 and cannot install your scanner plugin because the install halts on an "1294 or newer" message.

Anonymous said...

Hello and thanks for the plugin. I'm using SDR# ver 1.0.0.1333 and this plugin. I cannot get the plugin to scan more than 3 channels. I have created one group, enabled scan on all 7 channels in the group but the plugin will only scan 3 of them. Any suggestion.

Tom H said...

Hello and thanks for the plugin. I'm using SDR# ver 1.0.0.1333 and this plugin. I cannot get the plugin to scan more than 3 channels. I have created one group, enabled scan on all 7 channels in the group but the plugin will only scan 3 of them. Any suggestion.

Tom H said...

Thank you Jeff. I still had the minimal signal strength set for 0. Its now scanning all the channels. Can't believe I missed that one. Thanks again.

Anonymous said...

Love the scanner. thanks for the helpful documentation.

Mark Matthews said...

I'm sorted, it was because I was trying to install the docs into the same folder I was running the installer from. Just in case anyone else has the same problem... Thanks

sdrs.freqmgr said...

Hello Mark. I'm glad you figured it out. Thanks for trying my plugins.

Jeff

Anonymous said...

Hello and thanks for great plugin. Bugreport: During group scan squelch value for particular frequency stored in database is not used. Instead it controllrd only from main SDR# Radio plugin only. But everything is ok when frequency selected manually from browser, when scan=off.

Anonymous said...

I dislike when you're scanning through the waterfall and you hit a memory in the freq manager, it flips over to the mode, width, other settings saved.

Instead of just keeping it where you already have it, or at least putting it back once you leave that memory spot.

de k2ncc

Anonymous said...

i have install the frequency plugin but when i start the SDRSharp a message said :error loading frequency scanner. and after that the sdrsharp starting normaly.how can i fix this????

Anonymous said...

Hello there,

I have problems with "Scan A Group". I have a range of frequencies that I scan through to check for transmissions, once one is found, the scanner continues immediately (seconds wait for more transmissions are 6). Thank you in advance

Anonymous said...

dear sdrs.freqmgr
Thank you for your words. I try and let you know is this help me!
my dongle is nooelec t2

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