Raspberry Pi B (the first, slow generation) with recent Piaware SD card image
“MSI” DVB-T dongle (Dexatek DK DVB-T Dongle (MSI DigiVox mini II V3.0) (Realtek, Rtl2832UD
Standard small antenna bundled with dongle
RPi and antenna are outside with clear view of sky, connecting to Piaware via WiFi (Edimax micro USB wifi adapter)
I have the seemingly common issue of not getting any data whatsoever, in spite of the configuration is seemingly is in order.
What I have tried already:
Running just dump1090 on a vannlla Raspbian Lite OS image on the RPi, specifically via this scrpt: this one, " The ADS-B Receiver Project", same issue, no data received
Major airport is nearbly (within 20 km), it should be some air traffic (?)
What I haven’t tried and could be the issue:
Use the dongle with a separately powered USB hub. Could be that the dongle + the other WiFi USB adapter draw too much power, the PI’s USB bus can’t handle both? (in this case the none of the USB devices wouldn’t work or be detected at all properly - WiFi, etc.?)
Antenna is too weak (the bundled one) is to weak - even though I have seen others using the same small one and working properly
Overall the RPi 1 is too old and underperforming for this purpose?
Maybe try the dongle on a different Linux machine (eg a laptop with Debian + dump1090 just separately?)
Potenitally try the same config on a RPi 3 I have lying around (though it always complains about power supply issues, even though I use brand Samsung / Apple chargers)
I was unable to run dump1090-fa --interactive, due to if I want to do service piaware stop and service dump1090-fa, it will drop be from the ssh session instead (RPi power cycles instead).
Some status command output:
pi@piaware:~ $ service dump1090-fa status
● dump1090-fa.service - dump1090 ADS-B receiver (FlightAware customization)
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/dump1090-fa.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Mon 2022-01-31 13:21:12 UTC; 11min ago
Docs: https://flightaware.com/adsb/piaware/
Main PID: 340 (dump1090-fa)
Tasks: 3 (limit: 877)
CPU: 59.125s
CGroup: /system.slice/dump1090-fa.service
└─340 /usr/bin/dump1090-fa --quiet --device-type rtlsdr --device-index 0 --gain 60 --adaptive-range --adaptive-duty-cycle 10>
Jan 31 13:21:12 piaware systemd[1]: Started dump1090 ADS-B receiver (FlightAware customization).
Jan 31 13:21:13 piaware dump1090-fa[340]: Mon Jan 31 13:21:13 2022 UTC dump1090-fa 7.1 starting up.
Jan 31 13:21:16 piaware dump1090-fa[340]: rtlsdr: using device #0: Dexatek DK DVB-T Dongle (MSI DigiVox mini II V3.0) (Realtek, Rtl2832UD>
Jan 31 13:21:17 piaware dump1090-fa[340]: Found FCI 2580 tuner
Jan 31 13:21:17 piaware dump1090-fa[340]: rtlsdr: tuner gain set to about 9.0 dB (gain step 1) (tuner AGC enabled)
Jan 31 13:21:18 piaware dump1090-fa[340]: adaptive: using 10% duty cycle
Jan 31 13:21:18 piaware dump1090-fa[340]: adaptive: enabled adaptive gain control with gain limits 0.0dB (step 0) .. 9.0dB (step 1)
Jan 31 13:21:18 piaware dump1090-fa[340]: adaptive: enabled dynamic range control, target dynamic range 30.0dB
Jan 31 13:21:18 piaware dump1090-fa[340]: Allocating 4 zero-copy buffers
Jan 31 13:21:39 piaware dump1090-fa[340]: adaptive: reached upper gain limit, halting dynamic range scan here
lines 1-20/20 (END)
pi@piaware:~ $ service piaware status
● piaware.service - FlightAware ADS-B uploader
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/piaware.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Mon 2022-01-31 13:21:13 UTC; 14min ago
Docs: https://flightaware.com/adsb/piaware/
Main PID: 355 (piaware)
Tasks: 4 (limit: 877)
CPU: 15.926s
CGroup: /system.slice/piaware.service
├─355 /usr/bin/piaware -p /run/piaware/piaware.pid -plainlog -statusfile /run/piaware/status.json
├─581 /usr/lib/piaware/helpers/faup1090 --net-bo-ipaddr localhost --net-bo-port 30005 --stdout --lat 47.452 --lon 19.571
└─616 /usr/lib/piaware/helpers/fa-mlat-client --input-connect localhost:30005 --input-type dump1090 --results beast,connect,>
Jan 31 13:29:23 piaware piaware[355]: mlat-client(616): fa-mlat-client 0.2.12 starting up
Jan 31 13:29:23 piaware piaware[355]: mlat-client(616): Using UDP transport to 206.253.84.195 port 13433
Jan 31 13:29:23 piaware piaware[355]: mlat-client(616): Listening for Beast-format results connection on port 30105
Jan 31 13:29:23 piaware piaware[355]: mlat-client(616): Listening for Extended Basestation-format results connection on port 30106
Jan 31 13:29:23 piaware piaware[355]: mlat-client(616): Route MTU changed to 1500
Jan 31 13:29:23 piaware piaware[355]: mlat-client(616): Input connected to localhost:30005
Jan 31 13:29:23 piaware piaware[355]: mlat-client(616): Input format changed to BEAST, 12MHz clock
Jan 31 13:29:24 piaware piaware[355]: mlat-client(616): Beast-format results connection with ::1:30104: connection established
Jan 31 13:29:29 piaware piaware[355]: 0 msgs recv'd from dump1090-fa; 0 msgs sent to FlightAware
Jan 31 13:34:29 piaware piaware[355]: 0 msgs recv'd from dump1090-fa (0 in last 5m); 0 msgs sent to FlightAware
lines 1-22/22 (END)
pi@piaware:~ $ piaware-status
PiAware master process (piaware) is running with pid 355.
PiAware ADS-B client (faup1090) is running with pid 581.
PiAware ADS-B UAT client (faup978) is not running (disabled by configuration settings)
PiAware mlat client (fa-mlat-client) is running with pid 616.
Local ADS-B receiver (dump1090-fa) is running with pid 340.
dump1090-fa (pid 340) is listening for ES connections on port 30005.
faup1090 is connected to the ADS-B receiver.
piaware is connected to FlightAware.
dump1090 is NOT producing data on localhost:30005.
Your feeder ID is
If the combination was running perfect, check if you or something changed the gain to a manual value.
It happens pretty often that people changing gain from initial -10 to something lower, but then “forget” to remove the minus sign.
Or, if this is not the case it can be simply broken hardware.
The most popular RLT2832U dongles are the ones with E4000 and R820 tuners. This is due to the high frequency range these tuners have. Elonics E4000 covers 52 to 2200 MHz with a gap at about 1100 MHz and Rafael Micro R820T covers 24 to 1766 MHz.
But there are also RTL2832U based dongles with other tuners. One example is FCI FC2580 tuner which is capable of receiving 146 - 308 MHz and 438 - 924 MHz, limiting its use to DVB-T only! It can’t even receive FM radio 88 – 108 MHz.
I never mentioned that this was working for years, since I just recently cobbled the whole thing together :). Sorry for the misunderstanding. The tuner dongle I found in a thrift store. I assumed this would work for this project.
Well that’s a bummer, I havent given a more toughtful to this. My assumption was that any Realtek based device would do for this. I’ve seen there are also these many cheapo DVB-T sticks on the market you can get brand new, but there are not Realtek.
I think right now there are other issues with this thing. When plugged it in a laptop is not detected… and the thing gets hot… so it is definately busted. Have to look for a different one, I guess.
Ok, I successfully killed the thing. What is the cheapest of these DVB-T adapters that one can get nowdays with the proper R820T or E4000? Are those blue ones from Aliexpress are fair enough?
I think it’s a misundersdtanding. You did not mention it, but @pmg1704
Which “blue ones”?
The blue genuine FA stick is surely fair enough. On Aliexpress there are lots of devices which try to look like a good one, but they aren’t
If you mean the one in photo below, then make sure that:
(1) The listing clearly specifies BOTH chips RTL2832U and R820T2
(2) In Color choice it is R820T2 (some sellers offer color choices, like R820T2 / Fitipower / FC0012).
(3) On the blue plastic body R820T2 is clearly printed.
One of the reasons i never buy anything there.
Some might be good and fair, but not if it comes to electronics. You will find tons of cheap USB sticks where the nominal size exceeds the real size by 300% or more…
But the opposite is also possible. My wife needed some spare parts for one of her sewing machines. A german dealer called out 80 Euro for the same parts she got on Alixepress for 25 USD
But anyways, we’re moving away from the topic.
I would take a little more money and try to get a blue FA stick
Yeah, that’s true. It’s like a lottery with these kind of stuff from Ali. Though if you sort by number of orders, you might get what you actually looking for…
And yes, I was referring to getting the blue generic DVB-T one attached in the picture here. But first I would rather give the thrift stores a second chance, but this time I’ll actually make sure I get the right device with the right chipset.
As a last resort I would get one of the “dedicated” devices, I would rather get the “AirNav RadarBox FlightStick” instead.
At Aliexpress you will find lot counterfeit AirNav Flight Stick and Fkightaware ProStick. Their appearance is veery similar to original, so be careful. Better buy direct from AirNav store.
And even if you get a genuine one from there, if something’s wrong with it AirNav probably won’t honor their warranty because you didn’t buy it directly from them or one of their authorized resellers. I had that issue with a Nooelec SMArtee that I bought from a seller on Lazada Philippines which partners with Ali Express: the always-on bias T doesn’t work and Nooelec support said they can’t help me because of where I bought it even though it’s a real NESDR SMArtee not a counterfeit, it’s just a defective one. (At least the tuner and analog-digital converter works so I can still use it as a radio.)
In my case, if the SMArtee is a fake they did a darn good job of counterfeiting it. They even printed a Nooelec thank you card with the QR code for their support site on the back, and the magmount base with Nooelec’s logo on it. I’m positive that mine’s genuine but Nooelec still doesn’t support it and won’t replace it because I bought it from an unauthorized reseller. From their email:
Hi! Sorry to hear about the issue. It sounds like it may be defective. Unfortunately, we cannot replace it directly if purchased from a non-authorized distributor. You would have to contact them for the warranty/exchange request. Thanks for your understanding!
People are pretty creative. So to me it’s not surprising that they are trying getting their products not looking “suspicious”
I remember a case where even certified dealers sold fake stuff because they did not know it better.
My wife is knitting, weaving and spinning. She has a good eye for fake knitting needles where you and I as non-experts won’t see any difference.
The amount of fakes is extremely high in this segment
