The UniTrunker part of this video was made using 2 x RTL-SDR v3 Software Defined Radios (
/ 
). These have been my ‘go to’ SDRs for several years, simply because they work so well across a wide frequency range.
They do have limitations, though. The main one I encounter is the bandwidth. Like most SDRs, these units are capable of receiving a little over 2 MHz simultaneously.
When used in a trunking setup, if the system frequencies span more than 2 MHz, you will need to use 2 dongles to monitor both Control Channel traffic and Voice channels.
That said, my primary use scenario for UniTrunker is for Control Channel monitoring. With so many encrypted talkgroups in my area, at least I can see the traffic I can’t hear!
I have 1 computer that permanently displays UniTrunker decoding the Control Channel data of 2 systems – an EDACS system, and a P25 system.
The P25 system covers over 5 MHz of bandwidth, so I mainly use an AirSpy R2 to monitor the voice channels using SDRTrunk.
As shown in the video, SDRTrunk produces fantastic audio quality on the LSM (simulcast) system. Much better than most scanners. In fact the only scanners that receive this system well right now are the Uniden SDS 100 ( / 
/ 
) and SDS 200 ( / / ). Perhaps I’ll create a video of those in a future episode. However they are much more expensive than an old PC and a Software Defined Radio!