Need help with my setup

FlightAware ADS-B Flight Tracking
21

Check your antenna cable. Does the connector on receiver (ProStick) side have the required pin?
It’s quite easy to buy the wrong one with RP-SMA connector instead of SMA.

 

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SMA AND RP-SMA

The SMA-male has center pin. The reverse SMA (RP-SMA) male does NOT have a center pin, it has a hole.

Difference between SMA & RP-SMA
Difference between SMA & RP-SMA407×670 70.1 KB

 

TEMPORARY WORKAROUND

The SMA-female does not have center pin. The reverse SMA (RP-SMA) male also does not have a center pin, it has a hole. The center wire connection is open because of missing pin. A temporary workaround is to cut a short piece of center wire of coax and insert in hole of RP-SMA male. This piece of wire will act as the missing pin, and connection will be established.

RP-SMA Workaround

 

22

The FA Prostick Plus is SMA Female, and the antenna I have is SMA Male, which is linked above.

23

This makes ProStick the prime suspect.

 

24

There is another possibility as @wiedehopf has alresdy mentioned: a strong RF interference. If very strong, it can saturate front end of ProStick and make it deaf to signals from aircraft. The source of this RF interference may be either tv / fm / cell / mobile towers nearby, or some electrical / electronic appliace withi your home. HDMI cables are notorious in radiating RF interference.

Try to relocate your portable antenna and RPi to another room and see if that makes any difference.

 

25

Did you ever try using a paperclip as a test antenna with the feeder outside with a view of the sky, as I suggested yesterday?

26

@cram314

Please see this thread for your situation:

dump1090 is NOT producing data on localhost:30005

Setup to test dongle:

To test, disconnect antenna from prostick, and insert a straightened paper clip in hole of SMA female of Prostick. Keep the straightened paper clip vertical. See photo below

The paper clip acts as antenna and is sufficient to receive at least few nearby plane.

20190212_010308
20190212_0103083024×4032 3.11 MB

27

@cram314

Other reasons of misbehaviour of ProStic are power supply/voltage issue, and usb extension cable.

(1) Check if you have voltage issues with following command. Please post output of this command

sudo dmesg --ctime | grep voltage

(2) Is the dongle connected directly to the RPi or are you using an extension cable?

If you are using an extension cable, try another, or plug dongle directly into RPi.

28

ProStick + is plugged directly into the RPi and always has been. I just inserted the paperclip to be used as an antenna. I am unable to place it outside at the moment as it is rainy here today, but is it next to a big window. Previously I had tried the setup(with antenna I mentioned earlier) in several different rooms including out on the deck when is was nice out. Currently still no data coming through with the paperclip

I ran “sudo dmesg --ctime | grep voltage” but it does not produce any output. I am hoping that means there are no voltage issues.

Is there an easy way to determine if I am getting interference from nearby towers? I also thought the point of the ProStick Plus was its embedded filter to help with interference.

29

Yes, no output means no voltage issues.

 

In most cases internal filter is enough. However in strong RF interference areas, this may not be enough and an external filter is also required.

 

(1) Do I Need A Filter?

(2) Spektrum - How-to Speedily Scan RF Noise in band 24MHz ~ 1800MHz

 

30

Thanks! I ran the scans. I ran one with the paperclip as an antenna and one with the antenna I have. They both look the same:
image

It looks like that through the entire spectrum. I understand there could be dense and less dense areas, but this through the entire spectrum…does that make any sense?

31

Looks broken.
You could run one without antenna …
But yeah pretty sure it’s just toast.

1 Like
32

I ran one without an antenna, it looks different, but again the whole spectrum is the same…
image

My new ProstickPlus should be here in a day or two so hopefully I will have better luck and return my broken one…

33

The second stick arrived today, it works without any issues. I am requesting a replacement for the defective stick.

Thanks for all the help everyone. Although the issue ended up being the stick it certainly helped me learn alot.

Thanks all!

4 Likes
34

This topic was automatically closed 365 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.