Dump978-fa intermittent

FlightAware ADS-B Flight Tracking
1

Installed 3.7.1 on sd card and installed in rpi3B Got new station ID . dump1090 piaware seem to be working. FA is logging aircraft and skyview1090 shows 80+ aircraft. skyview978 will show 3-5 messages/second and up to 50 aircraft, but then messages/sec drops to 0 and all aircraft disappear from display. Intermittently the aircraft come back and then go away again. I have used 3 different dongles. Sample journal below. I notice PLL is not locked. I wonder if tuned frequency is drifting?

I am located 1.0 miles from a major international airport and have 2 busy GA airports 4 and 9 miles. The UAT aircraft are mostly GA (C172, C310, PA28) plus foreign air carriers (???why). and seem legitimate.

Additional I stopped dump1090 just in case rpi was overloaded.

journalctl -u dump978-fa
– Logs begin at Thu 2016-11-03 17:16:42 UTC, end at Sun 2019-05-19 18:36:53 UTC. –
May 19 17:17:09 piaware systemd[1]: Started dump978 ADS-B UAT receiver.
May 19 17:17:10 piaware dump978-fa[458]: raw-port: listening for connections on 0.0.0.0:30978
May 19 17:17:10 piaware dump978-fa[458]: raw-port: listening for connections on [::]:30978
May 19 17:17:10 piaware dump978-fa[458]: json-port: listening for connections on 0.0.0.0:30979
May 19 17:17:10 piaware dump978-fa[458]: json-port: listening for connections on [::]:30979
May 19 17:17:10 piaware dump978-fa[458]: Detached kernel driver
May 19 17:17:10 piaware dump978-fa[458]: Found Rafael Micro R820T tuner
May 19 17:17:11 piaware dump978-fa[458]: Reattached kernel driver
May 19 17:17:11 piaware dump978-fa[458]: usb_claim_interface error -6
May 19 17:17:11 piaware dump978-fa[458]: Detached kernel driver
May 19 17:17:11 piaware dump978-fa[458]: Found Rafael Micro R820T tuner
May 19 17:17:11 piaware dump978-fa[458]: Exact sample rate is: 2083333.135571 Hz
May 19 17:17:11 piaware dump978-fa[458]: [R82XX] PLL not locked!
May 19 17:17:12 piaware dump978-fa[458]: SoapySDR: using manual gain 49.0 dB
May 19 17:17:12 piaware dump978-fa[458]: SoapySDR: using stream setting buffsize=262144
May 19 17:17:12 piaware dump978-fa[458]: [::]:30978: accepted a connection from [::1]:51086
May 19 17:17:13 piaware dump978-fa[458]: [::]:30978: accepted a connection from [::1]:51090
May 19 17:46:23 piaware dump978-fa[458]: Sample source reports error: TIMEOUT
May 19 17:46:23 piaware dump978-fa[458]: Reattached kernel driver
May 19 17:46:23 piaware systemd[1]: dump978-fa.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
May 19 17:46:23 piaware systemd[1]: dump978-fa.service: Unit entered failed state.
May 19 17:46:23 piaware systemd[1]: dump978-fa.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’.
May 19 17:46:53 piaware systemd[1]: dump978-fa.service: Service hold-off time over, scheduling restart.
May 19 17:46:53 piaware systemd[1]: Stopped dump978 ADS-B UAT receiver.
May 19 17:46:54 piaware systemd[1]: Started dump978 ADS-B UAT receiver.
May 19 17:46:54 piaware dump978-fa[1127]: raw-port: listening for connections on 0.0.0.0:30978
May 19 17:46:54 piaware dump978-fa[1127]: raw-port: listening for connections on [::]:30978
May 19 17:46:54 piaware dump978-fa[1127]: json-port: listening for connections on 0.0.0.0:30979
May 19 17:46:54 piaware dump978-fa[1127]: json-port: listening for connections on [::]:30979
May 19 17:46:54 piaware dump978-fa[1127]: Detached kernel driver
May 19 17:46:54 piaware dump978-fa[1127]: Found Rafael Micro R820T tuner
May 19 17:46:55 piaware dump978-fa[1127]: Reattached kernel driver
May 19 17:46:55 piaware dump978-fa[1127]: usb_claim_interface error -6
May 19 17:46:55 piaware dump978-fa[1127]: Detached kernel driver
May 19 17:46:55 piaware dump978-fa[1127]: Found Rafael Micro R820T tuner
May 19 17:46:55 piaware dump978-fa[1127]: Exact sample rate is: 2083333.135571 Hz
May 19 17:46:55 piaware dump978-fa[1127]: [R82XX] PLL not locked!
May 19 17:46:56 piaware dump978-fa[1127]: SoapySDR: using manual gain 49.0 dB
May 19 17:46:56 piaware dump978-fa[1127]: SoapySDR: using stream setting buffsize=262144
May 19 17:47:23 piaware dump978-fa[1127]: [::]:30978: accepted a connection from [::1]:51100
May 19 17:47:24 piaware dump978-fa[1127]: [::]:30978: accepted a connection from [::1]:51102

Thanks All

2

It’s still drawing power.
Also dump1090 will after some time be restart by piaware.

If you really want to test if power is the problem it’s probably best to remove the 2nd dongle for 1090 MHz.

Most likely it’s a power issue.

Solutions:

  • other power supply (for example "official RPi power supply)
  • powered USB hub to connect the dongles

Also if you want to get back your old id:
For Beginners - How to Get Back Existing Station Number in A Fresh Install

3

Forgot to say I tried that also. I am running a official RPi PS. Also pulled the 1090 dongle & tried a powered USB 3.0 hub. Though i am not convinced I have eliminated power as an issue

4

Don’t know exactly what timeout means in regards to soapySDR.
Any idea @obj?

May 19 17:46:23 piaware dump978-fa[458]: Sample source reports error: TIMEOUT
5

Means that the sample-reading thread didn’t get any data for 5 seconds; that usually means the dongle has wedged and is no longer sending data. (In normal operation, there’s a buffer of samples turning up multiple times per second). Agreed it’s probably a power issue. Reliably running two dongles on a single Pi seems to be a bit marginal on many setups.

The PLL error is harmless logging noise.

1 Like
6

I feel lucky.

Both of my stations (RPi Model2 and OrangePi PC) are running two dongles since end of March (3.7.0 >> 3.7.0.1 >> 3.7.1) without any problem. No special power supply or powered hub used, just the original power adapter which came with the board.

7

Can you try using another dongle for dump978?

8

cwalker51,

It might be that what you described is normal.

I have a feeder for 1090 and another for 978.

My 978 is running the SD v3.7.0.1. I frequently see what you described in
your original post. I can be watching the Skyview display with just a few
targets and suddenly it will “bloom” with several new targets, generally
all in about the same area. Then after just a couple good messages from
each they will all time out and go away in about a minute. A couple of minutes
later it does it again.

What I think is happening is that some aircraft in the area with 978 ADS-B in is
receiving ground station retransmissions of aircraft nearby. Those aircraft are
using 1090 ADS-B and can not be directly seen on 978. What you and I see on SV 978
is a sudden bloom of targets followed by them timing out. Those targets are yellow
TIS-B targets in italics with funky ICAO identifiers. On a busy GA day with a few
aircraft equipped with ASD-B in and you end up with a lot of yellow targets
coming and going on SV978.

When I first turned up my UAT feeder I spent about a week trying to figure out
why my receiver appeared to be flaky. I think what I have described here is
somewhat normal functioning for UAT978.

I hope this helps.

9 
pi@piaware:~ $ journalctl -eu dump978-fa
May 20 04:29:43 piaware dump978-fa[32434]: raw-port: listening for connections on [:May 20 04:29:43 piaware dump978-fa[32434]: json-port: listening for connections on 0
May 20 04:29:43 piaware dump978-fa[32434]: json-port: listening for connections on [May 20 04:29:43 piaware dump978-fa[32434]: Found Rafael Micro R820T tuner
May 20 04:29:43 piaware dump978-fa[32434]: usb_claim_interface error -6
May 20 04:29:44 piaware dump978-fa[32434]: Found Rafael Micro R820T tuner
May 20 04:29:44 piaware dump978-fa[32434]: Exact sample rate is: 2083333.135571 Hz
May 20 04:29:44 piaware dump978-fa[32434]: [R82XX] PLL not locked!
May 20 04:29:44 piaware dump978-fa[32434]: SoapySDR: using manual gain 42.0 dB
May 20 04:29:44 piaware dump978-fa[32434]: SoapySDR: using stream setting buffsize=2
May 20 04:29:52 piaware dump978-fa[32434]: [::]:30978: accepted a connection from [:May 20 04:30:12 piaware dump978-fa[32434]: [::]:30978: accepted a connection from [:May 20 07:14:41 piaware dump978-fa[32434]: [::1]:33272: connection closed
May 20 07:14:42 piaware dump978-fa[32434]: Caught signal 15, exiting
May 20 07:14:42 piaware systemd[1]: Stopping dump978 ADS-B UAT receiver...          May 20 07:14:42 piaware systemd[1]: dump978-fa.service: Main process exited, code=exMay 20 07:14:42 piaware systemd[1]: Stopped dump978 ADS-B UAT receiver.             
May 20 07:14:42 piaware systemd[1]: dump978-fa.service: Unit entered failed state.
May 20 07:14:42 piaware systemd[1]: dump978-fa.service: Failed with result 'exit-cod
May 20 07:14:43 piaware systemd[1]: Started dump978 ADS-B UAT receiver.
May 20 07:14:43 piaware dump978-fa[29967]: raw-port: listening for connections on 0.
May 20 07:14:43 piaware dump978-fa[29967]: raw-port: listening for connections on [:May 20 07:14:43 piaware dump978-fa[29967]: json-port: listening for connections on 0
May 20 07:14:43 piaware dump978-fa[29967]: json-port: listening for connections on [May 20 07:14:43 piaware dump978-fa[29967]: Found Rafael Micro R820T tuner           
May 20 07:14:43 piaware dump978-fa[29967]: usb_claim_interface error -6             
May 20 07:14:44 piaware dump978-fa[29967]: Found Rafael Micro R820T tuner
May 20 07:14:44 piaware dump978-fa[29967]: Exact sample rate is: 2083333.135571 Hz
May 20 07:14:44 piaware dump978-fa[29967]: [R82XX] PLL not locked!
May 20 07:14:44 piaware dump978-fa[29967]: SoapySDR: using manual gain 42.0 dB      
May 20 07:14:44 piaware dump978-fa[29967]: SoapySDR: using stream setting buffsize=2

May 20 07:14:52 piaware dump978-fa[29967]: [::]:30978: accepted a connection from [:May 20 07:15:12 piaware dump978-fa[29967]: [::]:30978: accepted a connection from [:~                                                                           
May 20 04:29:43 piaware dump978-fa[32434]: raw-port: listening for connections on [:May 20 04:29:43 piaware dump978-fa[32434]: json-port: listening for connections on 0
May 20 04:29:43 piaware dump978-fa[32434]: json-port: listening for connections on [May 20 04:29:43 piaware dump978-fa[32434]: Found Rafael Micro R820T tuner
May 20 04:29:43 piaware dump978-fa[32434]: usb_claim_interface error -6
May 20 04:29:44 piaware dump978-fa[32434]: Found Rafael Micro R820T tuner
May 20 04:29:44 piaware dump978-fa[32434]: Exact sample rate is: 2083333.135571 Hz
May 20 04:29:44 piaware dump978-fa[32434]: [R82XX] PLL not locked!
May 20 04:29:44 piaware dump978-fa[32434]: SoapySDR: using manual gain 42.0 dB
May 20 04:29:44 piaware dump978-fa[32434]: SoapySDR: using stream setting buffsize=2
May 20 04:29:52 piaware dump978-fa[32434]: [::]:30978: accepted a connection from [:May 20 04:30:12 piaware dump978-fa[32434]: [::]:30978: accepted a connection from [:May 20 07:14:41 piaware dump978-fa[32434]: [::1]:33272: connection closed
May 20 07:14:42 piaware dump978-fa[32434]: Caught signal 15, exiting
May 20 07:14:42 piaware systemd[1]: Stopping dump978 ADS-B UAT receiver...
May 20 07:14:42 piaware systemd[1]: dump978-fa.service: Main process exited, code=ex
May 20 07:14:42 piaware systemd[1]: Stopped dump978 ADS-B UAT receiver.
May 20 07:14:42 piaware systemd[1]: dump978-fa.service: Unit entered failed state.
May 20 07:14:42 piaware systemd[1]: dump978-fa.service: Failed with result 'exit-codMay 20 07:14:43 piaware systemd[1]: Started dump978 ADS-B UAT receiver.
May 20 07:14:43 piaware dump978-fa[29967]: raw-port: listening for connections on 0.
May 20 07:14:43 piaware dump978-fa[29967]: raw-port: listening for connections on [:May 20 07:14:43 piaware dump978-fa[29967]: json-port: listening for connections on 0
May 20 07:14:43 piaware dump978-fa[29967]: json-port: listening for connections on [May 20 07:14:43 piaware dump978-fa[29967]: Found Rafael Micro R820T tuner
May 20 07:14:43 piaware dump978-fa[29967]: usb_claim_interface error -6
May 20 07:14:44 piaware dump978-fa[29967]: Found Rafael Micro R820T tuner
May 20 07:14:44 piaware dump978-fa[29967]: Exact sample rate is: 2083333.135571 Hz
May 20 07:14:44 piaware dump978-fa[29967]: [R82XX] PLL not locked!
May 20 07:14:44 piaware dump978-fa[29967]: SoapySDR: using manual gain 42.0 dB
May 20 07:14:44 piaware dump978-fa[29967]: SoapySDR: using stream setting buffsize=2
May 20 07:14:52 piaware dump978-fa[29967]: [::]:30978: accepted a connection from [:May 20 07:15:12 piaware dump978-fa[29967]: [::]:30978: accepted a connection from [:
pi@piaware:~ $
10

That’s another issue.

piaware detects no traffic for a certain amount of time, it chooses to restart dump978-fa in case it has crashed somehow.

The case at hand is the Sample Source error which is an actual error.

1 Like
11

Ill give you a possible. Your description is right but why does it come and go?? I believe I have many AC on both frequencies.

12

FAA only sends traffic data when there’s a 978 in/out equipped aircraft nearby to hear it. Also some of their radar sources seem to have a very low update rate.

(You maybe have two things going on - the TIS-B burstiness, which as mentioned above is expected; and the TIMEOUT thing, which is possibly a hardware problem but dump978 seems to be recovering from it OK when it happens, so I’d only expect a brief outage)

13

Thanks to All for your ideas!!!

14

How can I turn off dump 978? It appears I have both 978 and 978-fa running and think that may be my issue. Is that what is happening? I copied this and hope it can help.

[2020-12-29 20:36 EST] faup978 exited normally
[2020-12-29 20:36 EST] lost connection to dump978-fa via faup978
[2020-12-29 20:36 EST] 2355 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (211 in last 5m); 2352 msgs sent to FlightAware
[2020-12-29 20:36 EST] 0 msgs recv’d from dump978-fa (0 in last 5m); 0 msgs sent to FlightAware
[2020-12-29 20:36 EST] no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30978 for 30 seconds, next check in 60s
[2020-12-29 20:37 EST] no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30978 for 90 seconds, next check in 60s
[2020-12-29 20:39 EST] faup978(19452): Connected to [::1]:30978
[2020-12-29 20:39 EST] ADS-B data program ‘dump978-fa’ is listening on port 30978, so far so good
[2020-12-29 20:39 EST] faup978(19452): Connecting to localhost:30978
[2020-12-29 20:39 EST] Starting faup978: /usr/lib/piaware/helpers/faup978 --connect localhost:30978
[2020-12-29 20:39 EST] lost connection to dump978-fa via faup978
[2020-12-29 20:39 EST] will reconnect to dump978-fa in 30 seconds
[2020-12-29 20:39 EST] faup978 exited normally
[2020-12-29 20:40 EST] faup978(19731): Connected to [::1]:30978
[2020-12-29 20:40 EST] faup978(19731): Connecting to localhost:30978
[2020-12-29 20:40 EST] Started faup978 (pid 19731) to connect to dump978-fa
[2020-12-29 20:40 EST] Starting faup978: /usr/lib/piaware/helpers/faup978 --connect localhost:30978
[2020-12-29 20:40 EST] faup978 exited normally
[2020-12-29 20:40 EST] will reconnect to dump978-fa in 30 seconds
[2020-12-29 20:40 EST] lost connection to dump978-fa via faup978
[2020-12-29 20:40 EST] no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30978 for 31 seconds, next check in 60s
[2020-12-29 20:41 EST] 0 msgs recv’d from dump978-fa (0 in last 5m); 0 msgs sent to FlightAware
[2020-12-29 20:41 EST] 2626 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (271 in last 5m); 2623 msgs sent to FlightAware
[2020-12-29 20:41 EST] no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30978 for 91 seconds, next check in 60s
[2020-12-29 20:42 EST] no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30978 for 151 seconds, next check in 60s
[2020-12-29 20:43 EST] faup978(21477): Connected to [::1]:30978
[2020-12-29 20:43 EST] ADS-B data program ‘dump978-fa’ is listening on port 30978, so far so good
[2020-12-29 20:43 EST] faup978(21477): Connecting to localhost:30978
[2020-12-29 20:43 EST] Starting faup978: /usr/lib/piaware/helpers/faup978 --connect localhost:30978
[2020-12-29 20:43 EST] lost connection to dump978-fa via faup978
[2020-12-29 20:43 EST] faup978(21477): Connection failed: End of file
[2020-12-29 20:43 EST] will reconnect to dump978-fa in 30 seconds
[2020-12-29 20:43 EST] faup978 exited normally

Thanks

Les

15 
pgrep -fa 978

Let’s check with this command which programs you have running.
You’ll need SSH or console access to the pi.

sudo journalctl --no-pager -u dump978-fa | tail -n30

Also why don’t you put the dump978-fa log on pastebin or use these symbols around it to make it format properly:
```
log
```

Check if you get any output from this, no output is good output:

sudo dmesg --ctime | grep voltage
16

IMG_0146.HEIC
IMG_0146.HEIC4032×3024 3.92 MB

Sorry for picture I have no e-mail on my pi
I am using the Blue FA dongle for 1090 and the Orange Dongle for 978 on a Pi 4 using the official Pi power supply no errors from the voltage check

Les

17

You were correct.
It’s likely started in /etc/rc.local
Can you edit that with sudo nano and remove the lines starting the dump978-maint.sh ?

sudo nano /etc/rc.local

Ctrl-O and enter to save, Ctrl-X to exit.

Then reboot and it should be gone.

18

Probably would recommend reducing gain from default:

sudo piaware-config  uat-sdr-gain 36

This shoudl be a good starting point.

19

Much better no 978 seen at all only 978-fa but my initial page on the Pi after I login shows 978 UAT receiver error Not connected to UAT receiver.
7% CPU load
Piaware Feeder normal
1090 receiver normal
Flightaware feed normal
Multilatateration normal
978 UAT receiver error

And if I use my homepage and check site configuration I get this which seems normal since I am sure there is no steady stream of 978.
no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30978 for 70 seconds, next check in 60s

20

Seems to lose the 978-fa connection at times but does restart [2020-12-30 10:09 EST] mlat-client(826): Server status: synchronized with 240 nearby receivers
[2020-12-30 10:09 EST] mlat-client(826): Receiver: 151.7 msg/s received 75.6 msg/s processed (50%)
[2020-12-30 10:09 EST] mlat-client(826): Receiver status: connected
[2020-12-30 10:09 EST] mlat-client(826): Aircraft: 1 of 1 Mode S, 19 of 25 ADS-B used
[2020-12-30 10:09 EST] mlat-client(826): Server: 0.0 kB/s from server 0.0kB/s TCP to server 0.9kB/s UDP to server
[2020-12-30 10:09 EST] 0 msgs recv’d from dump978-fa (0 in last 5m); 0 msgs sent to FlightAware
[2020-12-30 10:09 EST] 1628 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (404 in last 5m); 1567 msgs sent to FlightAware
[2020-12-30 10:09 EST] no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30978 for 190 seconds, next check in 60s
[2020-12-30 10:10 EST] no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30978 for 250 seconds, next check in 60s
[2020-12-30 10:11 EST] no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30978 for 310 seconds, next check in 60s
[2020-12-30 10:12 EST] no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30978 for 370 seconds, trying to start it…
[2020-12-30 10:12 EST] attempting to start dump978…
[2020-12-30 10:12 EST] attempting to start dump978-fa using ‘systemctl --no-block restart dump978-fa.service < /dev/null’…
[2020-12-30 10:13 EST] no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30978 for 10 seconds, next check in 60s
[2020-12-30 10:14 EST] no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30978 for 70 seconds, next check in 60s
[2020-12-30 10:14 EST] 0 msgs recv’d from dump978-fa (0 in last 5m); 0 msgs sent to FlightAware
[2020-12-30 10:15 EST] no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30978 for 130 seconds, next check in 60s
[2020-12-30 10:16 EST] no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30978 for 190 seconds, next check in 60s
[2020-12-30 10:17 EST] no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30978 for 250 seconds, next check in 60s
[2020-12-30 10:18 EST] no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30978 for 310 seconds, next check in 60s
[2020-12-30 10:19 EST] no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30978 for 371 seconds, trying to start it…
[2020-12-30 10:19 EST] attempting to start dump978-fa using ‘systemctl --no-block restart dump978-fa.service < /dev/null’…
[2020-12-30 10:19 EST] attempting to start dump978…
[2020-12-30 10:19 EST] no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30978 for 10 seconds, next check in 60s
[2020-12-30 10:19 EST] 2637 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (526 in last 5m); 2576 msgs sent to FlightAware
[2020-12-30 10:19 EST] 0 msgs recv’d from dump978-fa (0 in last 5m); 0 msgs sent to FlightAware
[2020-12-30 10:20 EST] no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30978 for 70 seconds, next check in 60s