Dongle blue light stays lighted

Hi, I’ve just set up a second FlightAware tracking location. Both use Pi Model B’s with the PiAware image. Both are sending data to FlightAware. In the first installation on booting the blue light in the NooElec R820T SDR dongle glowed bright for a short time, then went out, or makes an occasional dull flicker. However, in the second installation the blue light in the NooElec R820T SDR dongle stays lighted a bight blue continuously. I’ve tried all the appropriate commands – upgrading the entire system, rebooting the system, shutting down and unpowering then repowering, but nothing changes the bright blue status of the dongle light. Can anyone suggest whether this is normal behavior for a second observation station, or whether there is something I’ve done incorrectly in the installation?
Thanks,
Alan, (ahr10023)
ahr10023@gmail.com

My blue light stays on bright all the time.

I have two. Both have always stayed on.

sounds like your question is ‘is the lights out one working?’
Try swapping them and see if the stats are consistent. If they are, then it’s working and there may be a problem with the led. If not, it’s broken and time to invest another $25 for a new dongle. Buy one anyway and have it as a spare :slight_smile:

I have two dongles where the LED stays on and one where it turns off. They all work fine.
To confuse things further, originally they all stayed on…

So I think it’s entirely cosmetic. I suspect it’s either just a common fault in the LED, or it’s EEPROM related - the last thing I remember doing before noticing the LED was off was changing the dongle’s serial number, so maybe there’s an undocumented setting in there somewhere.

FWIW, mine stays on… and it’s pretty bright.

I put one in a metal case and can no longer tell it is lit all the time. The other has black tape over it so I can’t tell it is on all the time.

Cheers!
LitterBug

Thanks, everyone for your replies. Both dongles – the one with the blue light out and the one with the blue light on – seem to be working fine (although I inadvertently shut down one of the locations yesterday remotely and can’t turn it back on for a few days). I wondered about the lights because the FlightAware documentation for the PiAware image says that on booting the light will turn on for a while and then as it continues working it will turn off. However, since others have the same always on situation I think I’ll just ignore the lights completely!
Thanks again.
Alan, ahr10023

Schrodinger’s LED, then?

I can’t tell… :wink:

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing: