Help need on installation and performance

[kostaskt]

Hello to all. I’m righting this because I need assistance from more experienced people from myself. Less than a month a go I disade to build a pi ADS-B station and stop use in the old fashion receiver (2004) from AirNav.(Thats was my BIGEST mistake I thing.) So I bought 4 dongles and 2 Raspberrys pi model B+ and finally I was able to setup a station with Flightaware software and now I’m feeding to 2 different flight tracking sites Flightradar24 and FlightAware with No acceptable for me range and ‘air tracks’. I know that I’m living in a difficult place in Greece surrounded within big mountains. Now compare my station performance and range before with RadarBox and now with Pi.

And now with pi with the same antenna,cable and LNA.

For someone how thing is the gain I say No because I’m tryout from auto -10 to lowest as possible. Any suggestions from someone??? Thanks

[wiedehopf]

Not all receivers are created equal. A cheap dongle isn’t as good as the dedicated hardware you got, even if that hardware is old.

Maybe filtering for the dongle can help. Which dongles are you using? Not all dongles are equal.

Try this filter: Announcing the new 1090 MHz only bandpass filter!

Together with the Flightaware ProStick Plus you should get good results.

Or try a rtl-sdr blog v3 dongle with their (LNA New Product: RTL-SDR Blog 1090 MHz ADS-B LNA).
You need to enable the bias-t and that needs some software changes. If you are not comfortable with that you can also get an external bias-t.

Or you can go with this LNA, which can be supplied via USB: 1090MHz ADS-B Filtered Preamp

Looking closer at the pictures i don’t even think the performance of the AirNav receiver and the dongles differs as much as you think.
The outline you see is probably generated over 24 hours or something.

You could also check which range is possible based on terrain:

What is the Maximum Range I can Get?

INTRODUCTION The Maximum Range achievable at any location depends on (1) Curvature of earth (2) The terrain around that location. Terrain plays a very important role as hills & changes in ground level will restrict maximum range. This is due to the fact that propagation of radio waves in GHz/Microwave range is line of sight. The range is therefore limited by curvature of earth, and is about 250 nautical miles / 450 km for an ideal condition of perfectly level terrain. Hills & rise in grou…

[kostaskt]

wiedehopf thank you for your reply. Some thinks are familiar to me as an HF amateur but newbie in pi software. So allow my to explain about my antenna setup.My antenna fitting 530m above sea level (15m above ground) and is dedicated for 1090. The cable that connect my receiver in server room we’res the receiver placed is aircom plus about 15 - 20m and then is a 1090 band pass filter from FlightAware the old one. The filter is only 2 days old. I bought it only for use with dongles. The dongles are from nooelec R820T NESDR Mini and R820T NESDR mini 2+.the receiver from AirNav was working without any filter. Any other suggestions or ideas you have we appreciate. And sorry for my English I know is Greeks for you…

[wiedehopf]

@kostaskt

Any other suggestions or ideas you have we appreciate.

Those dongles aren’t really good compared to dongles with integrated LNA (Low noise amplifier).

Get yourself a ProStick Plus from Flightaware (around 30 Euros) or a Radarbox Flightstick (around 15 Euros)

The Radarbox Flightstick is available from the AirNav store and is being discussed here:

RadarBox FlightStick vs. FlightAware Pro Stick Plus

Ordered @ AirNavSystems on Monday, 25th stick arrived today. Disconnected my RTL-SDR stick (had no additional filter connected) and put the AirNavRAdarBoxFlightStick instead, restarted dump1090-fa & piaware: everything works fine. First impression: as expected more a/c and a little bit more range For 9,95 US $ (plus 4,99 for shipping from UK to DE) = 13,71 EURO it’s a bargain I think … [AirNAvRadarBoxFlightStick_1] [AirNAvRadarBoxFlightStick_2]

Try the new dongle you buy with and without the filter you already have. (The new filter they are selling is better suited to block mobile phone signals in Europe. Still even without an added filter the either dongle i mentioned should improve your reception)

[kostaskt]

Thanks again for your reply On that weekend I will try same different ideas with uputronics filter which is for me the BEST Thanks ones more for helping me

[wiedehopf]

Don’t be disappointed, i get the impression you are pretty limited by terrain.
(No dongle or amplifier or antenna can help with that)

Here look at this picture, this is the range limit you have for airplanes flying at 40000 ft:
I’ve used your coordinates listed on your FA stats page and the elevation you stated.

HeyWhatsThat

[66biswas]

Prostick is best here. VMate 9apps

[idh]

Radarbox Flightstick seems to be equivalent. Swapped a blue Prostick Plus dongle for a Flightstick and no obvious differences.

[abcd567]

@idh

and no obvious differences

True, performance wise no obvious difference, but two other differences are very obvious:

• Radarbox’s FlightStick runs hotter than FlightAware’s ProStick Plus.

• The FlightStick is slimmer than ProStick, and does not obstruct the adjuscent USB ports.

[SoNic67]

@kostaskt

So I bought 4 dongles and 2 Raspberrys pi model B+ and finally I was able to setup a station with Flightaware software and now I’m feeding to 2 different flight tracking sites Flightradar24 and FlightAware

Why did you do that? One (good) dongle and one Pi3 can feed FlightAware, FlightRadard24 and RadarBox24 sites easily.

That’s what I have. Install FA client first. Then, install other two, pointing them to use “net mode” with address 127.0.0.1, port 30005, client BEAST.
For RB24 it detected automatically that config, for FR24, it’s a matter of filling those numbers in the setup screen.