The bad news: Yes, I’m new here and new to ADS-B tracking.
The good news: I’m a wireless network engineer. I am very technical and understand RF!
The setup:
brand new USB Pro Stick,
FA 1090 filter
2.5 dbi antenna (amazon.com/1090Mhz-Antenna-Connector-2-5dbi-Adapter/dp/B013S8B234) mounted outside on roof
connected to a never used RPi 1.0.
Powered via POE Injector that supplies 10 watts.
Samsung Flash with PiAware image
Nothing else connected or running on RPi.
I am close enough to KGSO to be able to hear the aircraft during the winter when leaves are off the trees.
when I run sudo piaware-status I get:
dump1090 is running.
faup1090 is running.
piaware is running.
dump1090 is listening for connections on port 30005.
faup1090 is connected to port 30005.
piaware is connected to FlightAware.
dump1090 is NOT producing data on port 30005.
When I run less /tmp/piawareout, I get:
05/05/2016 00:07:35 0 msgs recv’d from dump1090 (0 in last 5m); 0 msgs sent to FlightAware
05/05/2016 00:12:35 0 msgs recv’d from dump1090 (0 in last 5m); 0 msgs sent to FlightAware
05/05/2016 00:17:35 0 msgs recv’d from dump1090 (0 in last 5m); 0 msgs sent to FlightAware
05/05/2016 00:22:35 0 msgs recv’d from dump1090 (0 in last 5m); 0 msgs sent to FlightAware
05/05/2016 00:27:35 0 msgs recv’d from dump1090 (0 in last 5m); 0 msgs sent to FlightAware
05/05/2016 00:32:35 0 msgs recv’d from dump1090 (0 in last 5m); 0 msgs sent to FlightAware
05/05/2016 00:37:35 0 msgs recv’d from dump1090 (0 in last 5m); 0 msgs sent to FlightAware
05/05/2016 00:42:35 0 msgs recv’d from dump1090 (0 in last 5m); 0 msgs sent to FlightAware
05/05/2016 00:47:05 no new messages received in 3889 seconds, it might just be that there haven’t been any aircraft nearby but I’m going to try to restart dump1090, just in case…
05/05/2016 00:47:05 attempting to restart fadump1090.sh using ‘invoke-rc.d fadump1090.sh restart’…
05/05/2016 00:47:06 dump1090 restart appears to have been successful
05/05/2016 00:47:16 ADS-B data program ‘dump1090’ is listening on port 30005, so far so good
05/05/2016 00:47:16 Starting faup1090: /usr/lib/piaware/helpers/faup1090 --net-bo-ipaddr localhost --net-bo-port 30005 --stdout
05/05/2016 00:47:16 Started faup1090 (pid 5023) to connect to dump1090
05/05/2016 00:47:36 0 msgs recv’d from dump1090 (0 in last 5m); 0 msgs sent to FlightAware
05/05/2016 00:52:35 0 msgs recv’d from dump1090 (0 in last 5m); 0 msgs sent to FlightAware
05/05/2016 00:57:35 0 msgs recv’d from dump1090 (0 in last 5m); 0 msgs sent to FlightAware
So far, I have tried, each with no change
Removing the band pass filter
Changing the speed of the RPi in case there was a noise issue caused by the CPU
Added a 2 meter USB extension cable to further isolate any EMI/RF
I have ordered the FA antenna as I am a little concerned about the antenna quality.
I have also ordered a RPi 3 that I can throw at it. However, I don’t think that is the problem. It would be one thing if I was getting too many messages. When I run top, the CPU is generally around 5% utilization.
What am I missing? Are there other ways of checking the status?
I have that antenna (I have three) on one RPI 3ft off the ground and it works well. I can see out to 100NM on a good day.
Not all of them work great, I ran them out the window and may have compressed the coax too much.
Double check the dongle connection. Remember that WIFI uses SMA-RP and these dongles use just SMA. We have seen issues with the wrong connectors many times.
can you look at /var/log/dump1090 ? I don’t run the STD setup so am trying to remember where the log files are.
I ran sudo ls -l /proc/8995/fd/ (8995 is PID) and never saw it writing out to a logfile.
I stopped the piware service and then ran:
pi@piaware:~ $ sudo dump1090 --interactive
Found 1 device(s):
0: Realtek, RTL2832UFA, SN: 00001000 (currently selected)
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_write_reg failed with -1
No supported tuner found
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
Enabled direct sampling mode, input 1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
Max available gain is: 0.00
Setting gain to: 0.00
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
Exact sample rate is: 2000000.052982 Hz
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_demod_read_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_write_reg failed with -1
rtlsdr_write_reg failed with -1
Gain reported by device: 0.00
Hex Mode Sqwk Flight Alt Spd Hdg Lat Long Sig Msgs Ti
It looks like this could be my problem.
To answer your question, I am only using the cable that came with the antenna. I know better than to use an RP-SMA with an SMA. (You know us wireless guys…always have to be different.
Also, just for the heck of it, I connected another antenna and was unable to get anything either. I guess my next step is to build a new Pi image. I think I have a RPi2 that I can steal from its current task.
OK, so I’m home now, so I can troubleshoot a bit more hands on. I went into the attic and grabbed the ProStick. On my mac running CubicSDR I am able to see data at 1090 and it works across the band with the filter removed. Next I’m going to go into the attic and connect to the rooftop antenna. If I can verify the antenna is working, I can focus on the image/RPi.
OK, As soon as I connected to the rooftop antenna, I was unable to access the Pro Stick. I tried multiple time. It seems there is a short or something in the antenna. I took an antenna up that I had used in my dining room to see data, and connected that. Still nothing. Now I am going up with a 2.1 amp power supply to see if my power injector is the problem. If that doesn’t solve it, gonna scrap the image, rebuild as new for the RPi2 and go from there with the new antenna.
I have seen some people have problems fully inserting the dongle into an RPI or one with a case.
Make sure it is plugged in fully.
I use 6" USB pig tails. I also changed my case to a metal one from rtl-sdr.com/buy-rtl-sdr-dvb-t-dongles/ The FA dongle fits perfectly.
Sounds like either a bad USB connection (as jon says, this may be a mechanical issue with the prostick case) or bad power.
You are right to think that dump1090 --interactive should work and not spew errors like that.
OK. It looks like I had two concurrent issues. I have replaced the antenna and replaced the RPi with a newly built image. Now everything works as expected. I can now see the webpage at port 8080, and am tracking flights a hundred miles away, and the new antenna is still in the attic. Just for kicks and giggles, I connected the known good RPi to the antenna and it did have issues. I also connected the new antenna to the old RPi with the old card, and that also did not work.
I’ll install it permanently outside this weekend. I’m really happy that the 802.3af POE injectors work. I would much rather just run Cat5E into the attic for these things than try to figure out power.
Be VERY careful with the 802.3af POE boxes. They’re close to marginal and you might get away with it, but I was having all kinds of weird issues with mine. I finally went the power supply route and it’s been significantly better and more consistent.
