@abcd567 As I understand ethernet over power line, it works best if both ends are on the same phase and the same circuit. I’m pretty sure that’s not the case for my situation. If I go ethernet over something, it would be ethernet over coax, since there are some unused nearby coax from the original cable installation in this house.
@tech0 Ok. I can’t use ethernet directly, which I agree would be the most stable.
The cleanest and simplest solution is to run a ethernet cable from router (or switch) to the RPi. Do you have any problems in doing so?
If everything suggested is not practical in your situation, then easiest and best solution is to revert to BULLSEYE
It would be difficult for me to feed an ethernet cable through the walls and floor from an upstairs closet where the RPi is located to downstairs where the router is located. I guess it could be done by someone who knows what they are doing.
A wifi range extender with an ethernet port might be a solution - connect the Pi4 to the range extender with ethernet, then wifi to the router as with your current dongle.
That’s a possibility. I see there are other models with external antennas, so it could be equivalent to my current WiFi dongle in performance. Will look into it, thanks.
I made a mistake to purchase two (2) models, both without external antenna (because these appeared sleek). However when used, found for both extenders, that their range & speed is NOT very good. 
Better choose one with external antennas, even if it looks clumsy.
Left one is single band 2.4G only, which I purchased 4 years ago. TP-Link model WA850RE
Right one is dual band 2.4G and 5G, which I purchased last month. TP-Link model AC750 Mesh WiFi Extender
To verify whether I had a USB power problem, I added a 4-port powered USB Hub to the setup. Didn’t seem to help at all and maybe even made it worse (more MLAT “clock unstable” messages in the piaware log). So I’m concluding it’s a USB data problem, not a USB power problem.
If I use the ethernet over WiFi approach, how will the Rpi show up on the router? For example using the TP-Link device mentioned above, assume the TP-Link device will show up on the router. How do you then ssh into the RPi?
Remember that the RPi 4B shares all USB ports with one 2.0 bus, whenever, a 2.0 or less device is used. Your USB bus may be running out of bandwidth.
Run
lsusb -t
or lsusb -v
To get the USB bus details.
Here’s what the basic lsusb command shows:
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 05e3:0626 Genesys Logic, Inc. USB3.1 Hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 0bda:2838 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL2838 DVB-T
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0bda:2838 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL2838 DVB-T
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 05e3:0610 Genesys Logic, Inc. Hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0bda:b812 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL88x2bu [AC1200 Techkey]
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 2109:3431 VIA Labs, Inc. Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
The powered hub is the Genesys Logic entries. Not sure why it’s listed twice with different ID’s.
Here’s lsusb -t command:
/: Bus 02.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci_hcd/4p, 5000M
|__ Port 2: Dev 2, If 0, Class=Hub, Driver=hub/4p, 5000M
/: Bus 01.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci_hcd/1p, 480M
|__ Port 1: Dev 2, If 0, Class=Hub, Driver=hub/4p, 480M
|__ Port 1: Dev 3, If 0, Class=Vendor Specific Class, Driver=rtl88x2bu, 480M
|__ Port 2: Dev 4, If 0, Class=Hub, Driver=hub/4p, 480M
|__ Port 1: Dev 5, If 0, Class=Vendor Specific Class, Driver=usbfs, 480M
|__ Port 1: Dev 5, If 1, Class=Vendor Specific Class, Driver=, 480M
|__ Port 2: Dev 6, If 1, Class=Vendor Specific Class, Driver=, 480M
|__ Port 2: Dev 6, If 0, Class=Vendor Specific Class, Driver=usbfs, 480M
The lsusb -v command response is indeed verbose !! So, not listed here.
RPi will show up on your router same way as shown when directly connected to router without extender.
If you install the TP-Link Tether App on your phone, RPi will also show up on Tether App, alongwith it’s local IP. You can SSH to RPi using this local IP. Please see screenshots below
Do NOT purchase TP-Link model WA850RE, as it is single band 2.4G only. Also it has less options.
Purchase TP-Link model AC750 or better AC1200. These are dual band 2.4G and 5G. Also these have better and more options.
A few weeks ago I purchased a TP-Link model BE9300 Tri-Band Wi-Fi 7 Router for less than $250. I works well and the throughput is fantastic. I converted most of my home Wi-Fi network to Wi-Fi 7. The BE9300 also handles my devices that can’t be upgraded - HVAC controls, door locks/controls and a TV. With 30 SSID’s nearby, I was happy to get on the 802.11be 6 GHz band with most of my devices.
OT but with regular input this will reach a few frequent users I recognise.
Keep an eye out for posts from names like amanda2369weaver and help report/watch.
I’ve caught 3 this week using chatgpt or AI to post replies then come back and inject links later.
(Googling the user is obvious when they’re super helpful on every subject known to man in the last 73hrs)
Yeah, I was looking at a BrosTrend device for this. I’ve had good luck with their WiFi USB dongle.
It can be a combination of things.
The USB extension is gonna lower the voltage going to the SDR.
Any additional USB device is also gonna lower the voltage going to the SDR.
The SDR aging often means it needs more voltage to run stable.
If anything, try the powered hub after the extension.
Then I upgraded to Bookworm and started having problems with MLAT
Unless you go back to an old sd-card and the problems go away, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s related. As mentioned SDRs often degrade and require more voltage to run stable as time goes on.
Why are you using a USB Wifi adapter?
Have you tested with the built in Wifi and do you have the same issue?
@wiedehopf and @kmm0000 As I mentioned in other posts, I think I have pretty much nailed this down to being a USB data problem rather than a USB power problem. There is too much activity on the USB bus when I have two SDR dongles and a WiFi USB adapter all using the USB bus. And yes, the MLAT problem does go away if I use the built-in WiFi. However built in WiFi is not reliable because the RPi 4 is in an aluminum case for heat conduction purposes. Hence the use of a WiFi USB adapter.
For all of the above reasons, I’m leaning towards using a WiFi to ethernet adapter (the BrosTrend device shown in my last post) and getting rid of the WiFi USB adapter.
Although I have been laying the blame for the MLAT problem on Bookworm, I notice even on Bullseye that I occasionally see MLAT “clock unstable” messages on the piaware log. By “occasionally”, I mean once or twice in a 24 hour period. On Bookworm these messages are 50 to 90% of the time. So the problem was there even in Bullseye, but “went under the radar” so to speak.
So, I got the BrosTrend Ethernet to WiFi Adapter mentioned above, set it up, and connected it to the Rpi. Now I can do 978 and 1090 with MLAT reliably on bookworm.
However, there’s a few caveats (aren’t there always?). For one thing, the BrosTrend device puts up extension networks to the SSID I’m using: _EXT and _5GEXT networks. I don’t use these and AFAIK, they cannot be turned off. So it’s a waste of bandwidth. Second, I can’t tell how well the WiFi is working (can’t see power levels, etc) since WiFi is no longer on the RPi. So I can’t compare performance now with what I had using the USB WiFi adapter or with the built-in WiFi. I did a backup over the network, and the speed seems closer to the built-in WiFi than the USB WiFi adapter. (Bummer). Course that’s just speed, don’t know about reliability of the WiFi connection. That will show up in day to day usage. Finally a customer reviewer on Amazon stated that the BrosTrend device sends data back home (China). Not sure if that’s true or not. I don’t believe everything I read on Amazon reviews.
Anyway, after two weeks I have dump1090-fa and dump978-fa working reliably on bookworm! Thanks to all for your suggestions on sorting this.
Hi, I recently obtained a PI-5 and installed Bookworm and did the entire build - I am UNABLE to have BOTH 1090 and 978 - no matter WHAT configuration (I have researched and researched (Lots of older sggestions and tried and tried - various combinations - 1090 ALWAYS will open the dongle - yes, I have them properly serialized -
recently - I wanted to try 978 ONLY - so - set RECEIVER-TYPE to NONE - and UAT-RECEIVER to uat-ser-device driver=rtlsdr,serial=00000978 --sdr-gain 29.7 --format CS8
There appears to be a problem that if 1090 is running at all - IT will open the first receiver (seems to ignore the serial number) - AGAIN I ask, what is the trick to have BOTH 1090 and 978 on a Pi5 - with BOOKWORM - ??
thanks
-J-
