On a daily basis, I use the original Flightaware Pro Plus 1.0 receiver for ADS-B reception, with which I had a stable range of about 170NM. As a test, I changed the receiver (without turning off the rpi power supply) to another one to check what range I would have. Then I went back to my old Flightaware Pro Plus 1.0 receiver again. Unfortunately, I noticed that now the maximum range has dropped to about 146NM. What could be the reason ? The SKY7150 preamplifier is damaged. It seems to me that the RSSI now has lower (negative) values than before with the same receiver.
What’s the easiest way to check such a receiver to know where the problem is? Unfortunately, I don’t have another copy to compare the results.
I have the exact same blue model and also experienced what seemed like the same symptoms. I have been testing trying to use a second more general SDR (the Nooelec Mini) for airband reception and using soapyremote-server to make that available over the network (currently to Cubic SDR). It works well (over ethernet, not 2.4Ghz wifi, not tested 5Ghz wifi).
During testing dump1090-fa accidentally latched onto the Nooelec device, which is only connected to a tiny antenna. I could tell because my range went from 150+ miles to around 30 miles. No problem – I used
rtlsdr-device-index 00001000
in /boot/piaware-config.txt to force it back onto the Pro Stick Plus, followed by a restart of dump1090-fa. However I noticed my range was now less than before, number of aircraft was lower and the messages per second was lower than before.
I left it running and the following day the numbers and range were back to where they had been. So I think in my case it was somewhat subjective. The testing had taken a couple of hours and the peak numbers time had already passed and numbers always start to trend downwards here after the peak. I think, on reflection, I was just seeing that effect.
Try leaving it running and then making an assessment the following day, or even over the next few days, since you’ll probably find that certain days can mess with it too, for example weekeds can be quieter.
Installing @wiedehopf’s graphs1090 will give you a useful objective method for comparing numbers across time.
Mine has been like this for about 5 days now. There is no improvement - return to the range before the device was replaced.
I think that for ProStick the index will look:
rtlsdr-device-index 00001090
Still no range improvement for me.
In your original post you mentioned the Pro Plus 1.0 which I assume is the blue Pro Stick Plus, versus the orange Pro Stick. Either way you can check the serial number using one of the rtl utilities. eg my Pro Stick Plus is
$ rtl_test
Found 1 device(s):
0: Realtek, RTL2832U, SN: 00001000
My Nooelec is
$ rtl_test
Found 1 device(s):
0: Realtek, RTL2838UHIDIR, SN: 00000001
Those are the defaults here. This video shows how to change the serial number but I’ve not tried it and would advise caution if you do (eg worst case I suppose it can fail and render the device unusable and not accept a restore).
I have a original blue stick pro plus 1.0 with serial 00001090.
$ rtl_test
Found 1 device(s):
0: Realtek, RTL2832U, SN: 00001090
I like it, makes it recognisable as the ADS-B 1090 Mhz SDR. You’re right, in that case you will use that serial number in piaware-config.txt if you ever have multiple SDRs present and wish PiAware to be sure to use the Pro Stick Plus.
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