rtl_airband stops recording to file after about 3 minutes even though carrier is still present and modulated

[eriktheswede]

Hi,

I'm using rtl_airband to record an amateur radio repeater to collect evidence of interference, and for this I have it set up to record to file.

The issue is that after about 3 minutes, the recording stops. I figured I would listen to a two hour long net after the fact since I was busy, but only the first 3 minutes was recorded. Then nothing for two hours. I have set the squelch setting to a point where I'm sure it will stay open.

Is this a known issue?
I guess a workaround could be to set up a stream and record the stream, but will this work or is there a cutoff either way?

[gabeschine]

The issue is that after about 3 minutes, the recording stops. I figured I would listen to a two hour long net after the fact since I was busy, but only the first 3 minutes was recorded. Then nothing for two hours. I have set the squelch setting to a point where I'm sure it will stay open.

Would you share what the snr is set to? Maybe try to disable squelch with squelch_snr_threshold = 0.00 and see what happens?

[eriktheswede]

Hi,

Thank you for the suggestion. I had squelch_threshold set to 38 but I changed it to -70 and now it's not cutting out anymore.
I checked and set the 38 value by monitoring but it seems to fluctuate too much.

This solves the main issue. Thanks!

I still have an issue where it cuts out when the carrier goes silent for about 5 seconds then the shutdown tone comes and it creates a separate 2 KB file for that. Is it possible to set how long it keeps recording when the carrier goes out before it starts a new file? Otherwise I'll just create a script that deletes those 2KB files at set intervals.