I actually stinged and bought a cheap $15 SDR … right now it seems like I might have been foolish. Do you specify the protocol in the conf file?. I also wasn’t aware that the protocol had to be supported. I just thought it listened to all devices in the spectrum… learning as I go along.
I have seen a couple of videos and nowhere do they mention the conf file and support of protocols. It all seems so easy but in reality quite the opposite. After adding all the protocols I now see the DSC device on the 319.5M frequency. Now to start to figure how to add my water meter and see if the protocol is supported.
Unfortunately the saga continues. I removed the “hop interval” and now my interlogix device which was previously detected has disappeared. Maybe this is too advanced for me
Have you tried going back to basics. On a VM or RPi, instal rtl_433 and then just run a scan to see what you get back?
rtl_433 -f 915M -f 433.92M -H 10
The above command will display data it collects in two frequency, each scanning for 10 seconds. If that doesn’t return anything, then the devices you are scanning for don’t output anything or the dongle is the issue. Also check the spec sheets on your meters to see what frequency and even if they output anything. For example, my power meter constantly sends out readings, but my gas meter only does it when the meter van is nearby and tells it to do so.