I bought the FlightAware Pro Stick Plus at Pi Hut.
The first stick I got was marked “bad” and I got a replacement, but this replaced one is switching off by itself and can only be recovered by removing from USB-Port and plugging in again (same USB-Port used).
Support says, this is not a fault of the stick because they sold a large number and this problem is not known.
Before I bought this stick with amplifier, I used a DVB-T stick in the same configuration without any dropout over years.
Is there somebody who knows about the problem or can help?
The performance of the stick is good, but I can’t climb every day to the roof to reactivate it.
Did you try a different USB port ? Or connect the stick to a powered usb hub ? Maybe the USB port is failing or the power output on the port drops to low ?
Perhaps your stick is moving slightly in the port and momentarily disconnecting. You mention the roof so perhaps thermal expansion during sunlight hours or wind. A good quality very short USB 3 extension cable can fix that possibility, eg I use one of these with another stick.
I was monitoring for a while the solution of putting a powered USB-Hub after the pi USB connector and connect the FlightAware Stick into the hub.
Since that time it is running stable.
It seems that my Pi does not deliver enough power to provide a stable operation of the stick.
Make sure to use a good quality power supply, ideally the official Pi power supply. I use this with my Pro Stick Plus and it does provide enough power. A cheaper or lower-quality third-party power supply might not be able to sustain supply when loaded.
Check for any voltage-related warnings in your OS logs with the command
Factor such as nearby electronics devices, radio interferences, or physical obstructions could effect the signal reception, Try moving the pro stick plus and antenna to a different location to see if the issue persisits.
Yes, I got in the protocol the message „undervoltage detected“.
Since I have the usb-hub with power supply the error is gone.
The power supply was a no longer used 12 W original mobile charger of a well known brand.
But now I have a solution I will stay with.
Thanks to all who gave ideas to test.
Thanks for your support finding a solution that fits for me.
Good to hear it is fixed with the external hub. I would however recommend to get a decent powersupply for the Raspberry Pi. Under voltage can lead to all kinds of malfunction, programs hanging etc. They don’t cost the world and it will be extending the life of your equipment.
And if you would like your system to stay powered up, get yourself a nice UPS power supply battery backup and you’ll be sailing with a good wind in your sails.
Right you are sir on all counts. I must have a half dozen of them all over the house. I especially like the features and price of the CyberPower EC650LCD Ecologic Battery Backup & Surge Protector UPS System, 650VA/390W, 8 Outlets, ECO Mode. $87 on Amazon. $110 for the 850 va model. Has nice digital readouts on selective ac voltage in/out, battery capacity etc.
I have 5 of them, most units are bought 2nd hand so not as costly as the new ones. For a used one you’d pay around 75 euro’s and then you need to replace the batteries at 50 euro’s per set every 4 years.
These are connected via management cards to the network so if something occurs with either the powergrid or the internals of the UPS you’ll get notified.
Batteries are replaced every 3-4 years depending on their age, the UPS itself is on a 2 weekly self-test schedule.
Average runtime on the UPS is 4 hrs.
Where I live a power outage is quite rare so this is sufficient to overcome such an event.
In my current house I’ve had 3 outages in 7 years of the external power, 1 of them was longer then 4 hrs.
All of my RPi’s and other network devices are networked using power from a battery backed POE⁺ switch. I also have a gas powered genset for extended outages.
not only for the flightfeeders but also for the home automation. 