ADS-B Antenna not picking up aircraft

Right so I am mid-way installing it and hit an error:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo apt-get install dump1090-fa
Reading package lists… Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information… Done
E: Unable to locate package dump1090-fa

Possibly the package has been moved or something?

Here’s the result when doing that:

Found 1 device(s):
0: Realtek, RTL2838UHIDIR, SN: 00000001

Using device 0: Generic RTL2832U OEM
Detached kernel driver
Found Fitipower FC0012 tuner
Supported gain values (5): -9.9 -4.0 7.1 17.9 19.2
Sampling at 2048000 S/s.

Info: This tool will continuously read from the device, and report if
samples get lost. If you observe no further output, everything is fine.

Reading samples in async mode…
Allocating 15 zero-copy buffers
lost at least 108 bytes

Right, so my main issue now is this:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo systemctl status dump1090-fa
● dump1090-fa.service - dump1090 ADS-B receiver (FlightAware customization)
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/dump1090-fa.service; enabled; vendor pres
Active: active (running) since Wed 2020-06-24 09:44:15 BST; 1min 54s ago
Docs: PiAware - ADS-B and MLAT Receiver - FlightAware
Main PID: 341 (dump1090-fa)
Memory: 4.6M
CGroup: /system.slice/dump1090-fa.service
└─341 /usr/bin/dump1090-fa --device-index 0 --gain -10 --ppm 0 --max-

Jun 24 09:44:15 raspberrypi systemd[1]: Started dump1090 ADS-B receiver (FlightA
Jun 24 09:44:15 raspberrypi dump1090-fa[341]: Wed Jun 24 09:44:15 2020 BST dump
Jun 24 09:44:18 raspberrypi dump1090-fa[341]: rtlsdr: using device #0: Generic R
Jun 24 09:44:18 raspberrypi dump1090-fa[341]: Detached kernel driver
Jun 24 09:44:18 raspberrypi dump1090-fa[341]: Found Fitipower FC0012 tuner
Jun 24 09:44:18 raspberrypi dump1090-fa[341]: rtlsdr: enabling tuner AGC
Jun 24 09:44:18 raspberrypi dump1090-fa[341]: [FC0012] no valid PLL combination
Jun 24 09:44:22 raspberrypi dump1090-fa[341]: Allocating 4 zero-copy buffers
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo systemctl status piaware
Unit piaware.service could not be found.

Unsure what to do as this is a clean install of piaware.

Unfortunately that is your problem. The FC0012 tuner is not suitable for ads-b.
It only goes up to 948.6 MHz.

2 Likes

Fitipower :sob:

You got the wrong dongle.
“Fitipower tuner” wont work for 1090 mhz
The dongle must have “Rafael Micro R820T tuner”.

This is from my dongle:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo systemctl stop dump1090-fa
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ rtl_test -t
Found 1 device(s):
  0:  Realtek, RTL2838UHIDIR, SN: 00001090

Using device 0: Generic RTL2832U OEM
Found Rafael Micro R820T tuner
Supported gain values (29): 0.0 0.9 1.4 2.7 3.7 7.7 8.7 12.5 14.4 15.7 16.6 19.7 20.7 22.9 25.4 28.0 29.7 32.8 33.8 36.4 37.2 38.6 40.2 42.1 43.4 43.9 44.5 48.0 49.6
[R82XX] PLL not locked!
Sampling at 2048000 S/s.
No E4000 tuner found, aborting. 
1 Like

That’s the major reason for poor performance. Unoptimized stick, poor performance antenna for that specific topic. This can likely result in bad reception.

In addition the stick is obviously not what you have bought. Fitipower inside, but RT820 printed on the case. Seem to be a fake stick

YES

STEP (1): Save Feeder Keys

Before you write fresh image, from existing install, copy-paste feeder keys in Notepad on your desktop/laptop and save notepad:

Plane finder key:
The sharecode is in the file /etc/pfclient-config.json
Scroll right to see it in full. Your Planefinder sharecode is the last item in this long line.

{"tcp_address":"127.0.0.1","tcp_port":"30005","select_timeout":"10","data_upload_interval":"10","connection_type":"1","aircraft_timeout":"30","data_format":"1","latitude":"xx.xxxx","longitude":"yy.yyyy","sharecode":"zzzzzzzzzzzz"}    

Flightradar24 key:
The fr24key is in the file /etc/fr24feed.ini

Radarbox24 key:
The key is in the file /etc/rbfeeder.ini

STEP (2): Write piaware sd card image to your microSD card.

(2.1) Download image
Latest image ver 3.8.1

(2.2) Write image and configure it using this guide:

Howto : Piaware SD card image 3.8.0 Quickstart Guide

Note: When using QuickStart Guide:

  • Do not download old image v 3.8.0 from step 1 of guide
  • Follow steps 2, 3, and 4 of the QuickStart Guide. Do NOT follow steps 5 to 10 if you are not using 978 Mhz UAT. The 978 UAT is available in USA only and requires an extra dongle.

STEP (3): Install Feeders

(3.1) FR24 feeder

$ sudo bash -c "$(wget -O - https://repo-feed.flightradar24.com/install_fr24_rpi.sh)"

## Caution: During configuration of fr24feed, never choose “Receiver DVBT”. 
## Choose Receiver: ModeS Beast(TCP), host/port: 127.0.0.1:30005

(3.2) Planefinder feeder

$ wget http://client.planefinder.net/pfclient_4.1.1_armhf.deb  
$ sudo dpkg -i pfclient_4.1.1_armhf.deb 

## Go to page IP-of-PI:30053 to complete configuration

(3.3) RadarBox24 feeder

$ sudo bash -c "$(wget -O - http://apt.rb24.com/inst_rbfeeder.sh)"

$ sudo rbfeeder --setkey xxxxxxxxxx --no-start   
## Replace xxxxx by your actual key
## Press Ctrl+C to break log output.

$ sudo systemctl restart rbfeeder  

(3.4) Graphs by Wiedehopf

$ sudo bash -c "$(wget -q -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wiedehopf/graphs1090/master/install.sh)"  

 

1 Like

When you say … " mid-way", it suggests you’ve installed raspbian and adding PiAware to it?
That will work (with the right receiver), but I still recommend burning the PiAware image and it’ll “just work” (with the right receiver).

1 Like

Thanks, I’m actually opening a dispute on AliExpress for this as I was sold the stick as a 1090Mhz. Hopefully I will go for a more reliable one.

2 Likes

I would too.
If something can’t do what it’s advertised for, I’d hope Ali will back you.

Yeah, I hope so too. I’ve bought a different model now and have been re-assured by the seller that it is the R820 chip. They’ve shown me that is has a yellow circuit board and has R820 and R2832 printed on the chips. Hopefully, a better outcome. Will update the forum when it arrives.

1 Like

The seller has now provided me with some images showing the Antenna and the Receiver. This time it has markings saying ‘820T2’ on the USB tuner, hopefully things are looking up.

If it is working in general, you can improve it by changing the antenna.
I started with it and followed a recommendation to remove the tip of the antenna and replace it with a hard wire in the correct length. This improved my reception by 30%

1 Like

Many years ago I cut whip to 52 mm and got 25% improvement. On another one, I unscrewed the whip and used a 52 mm wire in its place, and again got 25% improvement.

Recently I went one step further (click here), and got another 50% improvement.

 

I stopped any further development with buying a new antenna.

My handworking skills are too limited :slight_smile:

@Banham

To improve performance:

  1. Place mag-mount antenna close to a window.
  2. Place mag-mount whip over a food can or metal plate.
  3. The whip is too long. Its optimum length is 1/4 wavelength, which at 1090 Mhz is 67mm. Unscrew the whip of mag-mount, and replace it by a 52 mm length of thin steel tie wire (inside the base metalic stud length is 15 mm, so total length will be 52+15=67 mm)

 

(1.1) WHIP REPLACED BY 52mm STEEL TIE WIRE
(1.2) USING FOOD CAN AS GROUND PLANE

 

(2.1) WHIP CUT TO 52mm
(2.2) USING COOKIE CAN AS GROUND PLANE

 

Thanks! I’ve received a notification that the new antenna should be delivered tomorrow so hopefully it has the correct chip.

1 Like

Hopefully the chip is in the stick and not in the antenna :wink:

1 Like

Haha, hopefully this time…

Time will tell :slight_smile: