Announcing the new 978 MHz antenna!

I see on github that an integrated version of dump978 is in development.

I would also like to see other dongles supported, like the airspy, however, I understand that UAT is only used in the U.S.A., so demand may not be high enough to justify the work.

Right now in US there are so many FA receivers, that even for the short-range UAT might be enough coverage, even if 10% of them would add UAT.

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The new version uses soapysdr, so anything with a soapysdr driver should be usable

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I just purchased the 978 antenna and it will be going up on the mast soon. I’ll gladly help if you need any users to run alpha/beta versions of any 978 software for piaware.

Thanks to all the FA staff for your work on this.

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Thanks! We’re actively working on a release. You should have something to play with soon.

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FYI to anyone else interested in this. I found (Thanks to jonhawkes2030) what appears to be flightaware/978 code on github.
https://github.com/flightaware/dump978/tree/v2dev

Looks like he already has it up and running

I am only running the existing or old code

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Installed the new 978 MHz antenna and the new 1090 + 978 MHZ Bandpass filters this week. Very impressed with increased coverage. My generic SDR dongle with the R820T2 chip is having no issues with the increased UAT traffic.

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What I would like to see is dual SDR support in the new 978 version so I can have one Pi receiving both 1090 and 978 and reporting it back through the single connection similar to how Stratux and other portable ADS-B In receivers work. Running two Pi’s is a bit silly.

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That’s how the new release will work.

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Awesome! Any idea on when it will be ready?

So I managed to get skyview978 working, mostly.

I can run it manually OK
pi@uat2:~ $ sudo /usr/share/dump978-fa/start-dump978-fa
raw-port: listening for connections on 0.0.0.0:30978
raw-port: listening for connections on [::]:30978
json-port: listening for connections on 0.0.0.0:30979
json-port: listening for connections on [::]:30979
linux; GNU C++ version 6.2.0 20161010; Boost_106100; UHD_003.009.005-0-unknown

Cannot connect to server socket err = No such file or directory
Cannot connect to server request channel
jack server is not running or cannot be started
JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for -1, skipping unlock
JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for -1, skipping unlock

RtApiAlsa::getDeviceInfo: snd_pcm_open error for device (default), No such file or directory.

Found Rafael Micro R820T tuner
Found Rafael Micro R820T tuner
Found Rafael Micro R820T tuner
Exact sample rate is: 2083333.135571 Hz
[R82XX] PLL not locked!
SoapySDR: using maximum manual gain 49.6 dB
SoapySDR: INFO: Using format CS8.
[::]:30978: accepted a connection from [::1]:53302
[::]:30978: accepted a connection from [::1]:53308
[::1]:53308: connection closed
[::]:30978: accepted a connection from [::1]:53358

When I try to start it automatically, it fails

pi@uat2:~ $ sudo systemctl status dump978-fa.service
● dump978-fa.service - dump978 ADS-B UAT receiver
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/dump978-fa.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: activating (auto-restart) (Result: exit-code) since Sun 2019-03-24 17:29:33 EDT; 4s ago
Docs: PiAware - ADS-B and MLAT Receiver - FlightAware
Process: 21375 ExecStart=/usr/share/dump978-fa/start-dump978-fa (code=exited, status=2)
Main PID: 21375 (code=exited, status=2)

Mar 24 17:29:33 uat2 systemd[1]: dump978-fa.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’.
pi@uat2:~ $

I am also not sure how to run it with two dongles. I have two on my UAT RPI.
The fa dongle is connected to a directional antenna. The rtl-sdr is connected to a hab/nevis/uputronics amp and a DPD antenna.

It is early days, but it seems more reliable than the old dump978

It needs piaware 3.7 to work properly, however, that doesn’t seem to report my traffic.
(Times are US EDT) according to my piaware.log file, I was feeding FA, however, my stats didn’t increase. I had to revert to an older version to keep my 950 streak alive.

Mar 24 15:17:03 uat2 piaware[593]: dump978 start appears to have been successful
Mar 24 15:17:13 uat2 piaware[593]: no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30978 for 10 seconds, next check in 60s
Mar 24 15:17:51 uat2 piaware[593]: 33597 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (5679 in last 5m); 33597 msgs sent to FlightAware
Mar 24 15:17:51 uat2 piaware[593]: 3370 msgs recv’d from dump978-fa (0 in last 5m); 3370 msgs sent to FlightAware
Mar 24 15:18:13 uat2 piaware[593]: no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30978 for 70 seconds, next check in 60s
Mar 24 15:19:13 uat2 piaware[593]: no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30978 for 130 seconds, next check in 60s
Mar 24 15:20:13 uat2 piaware[593]: ADS-B data program ‘dump978-fa’ is listening on port 30978, so far so good
Mar 24 15:20:13 uat2 piaware[593]: Starting faup978: /usr/lib/piaware/helpers/faup978 --connect localhost:30978
Mar 24 15:20:13 uat2 piaware[593]: Started faup978 (pid 13283) to connect to dump978-fa
Mar 24 15:20:13 uat2 piaware[593]: faup978(13283): Connecting to localhost:30978
Mar 24 15:20:13 uat2 piaware[593]: faup978(13283): Connected to [::1]:30978
Mar 24 15:22:51 uat2 piaware[593]: 39990 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (6393 in last 5m); 39990 msgs sent to FlightAware
Mar 24 15:22:51 uat2 piaware[593]: 3465 msgs recv’d from dump978-fa (95 in last 5m); 3465 msgs sent to FlightAware
Mar 24 15:23:30 uat2 piaware[593]: faup978(13283): Connection failed: End of file
Mar 24 15:23:30 uat2 piaware[593]: lost connection to dump978-fa via faup978
Mar 24 15:23:30 uat2 piaware[593]: faup978 exited normally
Mar 24 15:23:30 uat2 piaware[593]: reconnecting to dump978-fa
Mar 24 15:23:31 uat2 piaware[593]: no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30978 for 1 seconds, next check in 60s
Mar 24 15:24:31 uat2 piaware[593]: no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30978 for 61 seconds, next check in 60s
Mar 24 15:25:32 uat2 piaware[593]: no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30978 for 122 seconds, next check in 60s
Mar 24 15:26:32 uat2 piaware[593]: no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30978 for 182 seconds, next check in 60s
Mar 24 15:27:32 uat2 piaware[593]: ADS-B data program ‘dump978-fa’ is listening on port 30978, so far so good
Mar 24 15:27:32 uat2 piaware[593]: Starting faup978: /usr/lib/piaware/helpers/faup978 --connect localhost:30978
Mar 24 15:27:32 uat2 piaware[593]: Started faup978 (pid 13804) to connect to dump978-fa
Mar 24 15:27:32 uat2 piaware[593]: faup978(13804): Connecting to localhost:30978
Mar 24 15:27:32 uat2 piaware[593]: faup978(13804): Connected to [::1]:30978
Mar 24 15:27:51 uat2 piaware[593]: 45713 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (5723 in last 5m); 45713 msgs sent to FlightAware
Mar 24 15:27:51 uat2 piaware[593]: 3567 msgs recv’d from dump978-fa (102 in last 5m); 3567 msgs sent to FlightAware
Mar 24 15:32:51 uat2 piaware[593]: 51689 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (5976 in last 5m); 51689 msgs sent to FlightAware
Mar 24 15:32:51 uat2 piaware[593]: 3955 msgs recv’d from dump978-fa (388 in last 5m); 3955 msgs sent to FlightAware
Mar 24 15:37:51 uat2 piaware[593]: 53865 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (2176 in last 5m); 53865 msgs sent to FlightAware
Mar 24 15:37:51 uat2 piaware[593]: 4337 msgs recv’d from dump978-fa (382 in last 5m); 4337 msgs sent to FlightAware
Mar 24 15:40:30 uat2 piaware[593]: lost connection to dump1090-fa via faup1090

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I assume you did a package build for this?

exit 2 means that it caught an unexpected exception. What did journalctl / syslog say? Probably it is failing to init the sdr. You’re running as a different user when running manually so maybe it’s a permissions problem.

This is because the server-side support for 3.7.0 isn’t deployed yet.

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So who all operates on 978? Is it just GA? What about the fighter planes? I live near a base and can get all other military planes but fighters. Or do they not transmit?

GA are most likely to operate 978. Anything that stays below FL180.
It is possible to operate both. Some Transponders do this. It would give better collision avoidance at low levels.

Fighters and many military aircraft can chose when to transmit (depending on military flight rules). They obviously don’t want to be tracked all of the time.

978 also provides for Weather and FIS reception. This is not available on 1090mhz.

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Does anyone know when more stock of this antenna will be back on Amazon? Amazon must have sold out yesterday.

Sorry about that @ggoldfingerd. Response to the newsletter was far higher than expected. We’ve got another shipment on the way to Amazon and they should be back in stock shortly.

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I have the FA 49 inch 978-1090 antenna. I’m assuming if I have a preamp on it, I can T split the signal at the dual receivers?

I have installed this antenna on the roof of my hanger and it works very well. I have the Stratux 978Mhz tuned radio with Dump978 on a Pi.

I am seeing my own airplane plus some high flyers. Apparently some outfits are installing dual 1090 and 978 OUT.

Looking forward to the new SDCARD software package for UAT.

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the 978 mhz antenna appears to be back in stock as I just did a refresh of the amazon US product page (Saturday 3/30/19 - 7pm ET) and it was listed as in stock so I placed my order.

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