Hello, I have a problem. Since 1st of march my number of positions/flight tracked is drastically reduced without motivation. I was wondering that aircraft traffic decreased , but analysing near receivers this is not possible because they track the same number of flights… Maybe the ads b receiver damaged? Or the antenna? Thanks
The decrease is substantial, but without knowing more about your installation, it’s hard to say.
I had a similar experience last September, an even bigger decrease. I checked everything, in the end, the dongle was faulty.
Check all cables, the shorter and thicker, the better. Anything exposed to the elements, check for water.
Yes, check for water, if the sun is shining and everything is dry, maybe traffic is increasing.
And then you know.
1 Like
Well, this week snowed a lot Here, followed by rain… But i’ve been using this antenna for months , also during heavy thunderstorms… now I checked up my antenna and dried it and putted more hot glue to better insulate some parts. My instruments are:
-orange Pi zero with active fan for dissipation
-rtl2832U basic dongle without case.
- DIY antenna displayed in my foto.
-TV antenna cables.
-dongle and orange pi into a waterproof (tested ) electrical plastic case.
I can’t understand what happened
. Maybe I will try changing antenna. Thanks a lot.
Check for a new source of noise.
See abcd567’s post on do I need a filter.
You may also try re-runing the gain optimisation script.
The sudden change makes it likely to be weather, a fault or electrical noise.
what is the command for the optimisation script? thanks. tomorrow I’ll build another antenna
Similar problem here:
Dropout during weekend away, after return monday afternoon wiggled cables & Raspberry. Seems to have solved the problem. However, remote SSH over WiFi failed during the difficult period so it could have been a connection issue, possibly interference from neighbours. Anyway - no good explanation found but connection issue seems more likely than cable problem based on the symptoms.
So now I’m looking for a 5GHz or dual band WiFi dongle supported by Raspbian…
NB: Second receiver did not have any problems…
GL with searching for a cause!
i noticed some network problems in these last days, but the “offline times” that you see in my photos are caused by some problems on my orange pi. in fact i implemented an hardware watchdog that every 2 hours ping the ip of orange pi and if it can’t reach the pc, the watchdog send the reboot command. When i watch your photos i notice that the number of flights tracked is similar when your pc is online…
You’re right. I should install the watchdog timer, have the script but not installed it yet 
Have not taken the time for that but will do so now.
Little update. I built a new antenna, very similar to the previous one and for 2 days worked pretty well. today I experienced the same problem of less tracked airplanes. I also insulated the antenna contacts with hot glue to avoid water. what can i do? thanks
. i think it is water (in theese days there is a bad weather here), but i want to understand where water can enter…
Sometimes i just reboot my router and everithing is oke.
Maybe you can try it to.
Otherwise you have a perfect weather station on that screen 
Water can enter almost everywhere, i use rubberband around plugs.
3M Scotch 23 Self bonding electrical tape.
(8 Dollars)
1 Like
well, i’ve just finished drying the contact on the antenna… water was making short between ground and the signal pin -.- . let’s see now
If you keep your Spider exposed to atmosphere, it will get water again after sometime. Apply some sealant or self-fusing tape around connectors.
Alternatively put your Spider inside an enclosure, like a large plastic jar, something like this:
i’m just thinking about a proper enclosure for the antenna(now i putted a plastic bag for frozen food on it and sealed with some electrical tape)… but seems that also after driying situation is the same… let’s see