Piaware v 6.0 24 hrs after installation first results

[tomvdhorst]

Last night I updated my 4 flightfeeders to the Piaware v 6.0 and dump1090-fa v 6.0 via manual installation.

Now 24 hrs running it I will call this an improvement to V 5.0 at this point in time
I did enable adaptive gain and it seems to improve my reception of signals.
Previously I had the gain tuned manually and checked once a week or so if it was still at a desired level.

A few figures

Aircraft count up 6,5 % when averaged over the 4 flightfeeders
Postion count up by 12,5% when averaged over the 4 flightfeeders
Range is staying the same or slightly improved, but that’s also dependant on the weather.

All in in all I think this upgrade is really usefull and I’d like to thank all involved in it for their work so we can enjoy a hobby

[eric1tran]

Awesome, glad to hear!

[turbodogfl]

I installed piaware 6 and dump 1090-fa and gain went to maximum. I disabled the gain adjust until I can find some ideas on how to make it work better

pi@c16494:~ $ sudo systemctl status dump1090-fa
● 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 Sun 2021-09-05 07:04:55 EDT; 4h 53min ago
     Docs: https://flightaware.com/adsb/piaware/
 Main PID: 4081 (dump1090-fa)
    Tasks: 3 (limit: 2062)
   CGroup: /system.slice/dump1090-fa.service
           └─4081 /usr/bin/dump1090-fa --quiet --device-type rtlsdr --gain 37 --adaptive-range --fix --lat 26.15410 --lon -80.26576

Sep 05 07:06:06 c16494 dump1090-fa[4081]: adaptive: available dynamic range (43.6dB) >= required dynamic range (30.0dB), continuing
Sep 05 07:06:06 c16494 dump1090-fa[4081]: adaptive: changing gain from 44.5dB (step 26) to 48.0dB (step 27) because: probing dynamic
Sep 05 07:06:06 c16494 dump1090-fa[4081]: rtlsdr: tuner gain set to 48.0 dB (gain step 27)
Sep 05 07:06:16 c16494 dump1090-fa[4081]: adaptive: available dynamic range (43.6dB) >= required dynamic range (30.0dB), continuing
Sep 05 07:06:16 c16494 dump1090-fa[4081]: adaptive: changing gain from 48.0dB (step 27) to 49.6dB (step 28) because: probing dynamic
Sep 05 07:06:16 c16494 dump1090-fa[4081]: rtlsdr: tuner gain set to 49.6 dB (gain step 28)
Sep 05 07:06:26 c16494 dump1090-fa[4081]: adaptive: available dynamic range (39.4dB) >= required dynamic range (30.0dB), continuing
Sep 05 07:06:26 c16494 dump1090-fa[4081]: adaptive: changing gain from 49.6dB (step 28) to 58.6dB (step 29) because: probing dynamic
Sep 05 07:06:26 c16494 dump1090-fa[4081]: rtlsdr: tuner gain set to about 58.6 dB (gain step 29) (tuner AGC enabled)
Sep 05 07:06:36 c16494 dump1090-fa[4081]: adaptive: reached upper gain limit, halting dynamic range scan here
![Screenshot 2021-09-05 204656|613x500](upload://8NilK6XSkB0l36gfhLOwmnWbXQL.jpeg)

…

[tomvdhorst]

You can define an upper and lower limit in the config file

[turbodogfl]

this feeder is using the radarbox dongle. How would you determine if a dongle is measuring dynamic range as expected?
also was getting 404 error for (feeder ip)/dump1090-fa/data/stats.json Does this mean it didn’t finish installing?

[tomvdhorst]

it will define the type als an rtlsdr device. That’s already in your output so that’s ok.

The adaptation is indeed visible via the json page but I can’t determine why it gives you a 404 error.
look at the installation log for the upgrade to determine if there are issues when installing.

[turbodogfl]

where is the installation log for the upgrade?

[tomvdhorst]

It’s located here /var/log/piaware.log

[turbodogfl]

getting messages in /var/log/piaware.log about receiver status

[tomvdhorst]

post deleted by the author

[tomvdhorst]

If you look inside that directory you will see more log files from Piaware.

Examples are
Piaware.log
Piaware.log.1
Piaware.log.2
Piaware.log.3
Piaware.log 4
Pick the one that includes your installation date (I don’t know how long you are running on v 6.0) and check inside that log the time you have installed v 6.0
Command
sudo nano /var/log/piaware.log.x (replace the x with the correct number). If there was an errror with the installation I would expect to see it there in the log.

[turbodogfl]

Looks like the installation was successful from the messages, in Piaware.log.1

Still have 404 error for (my ip)/dump1090-fa/data/stats.json
Setting dynamic range target to 43 keeps gain between 44.5 and 48

[tomvdhorst]

You are not using https instead of http ?

Otherwise you might have an issue with lighttpd
Issue the follwing commands

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/log/lighttpd/
sudo systemctl restart lighttpd

Check if you still get the 404 error

[RonRN18]

This is is a 3-month display of CPU usage. Can you tell when I changed from PiAware 5.0 to 6.0? Granted, it isn’t like the software was taxing my Pi but I found it interesting to see a drop in use.

[turbodogfl]

@tomvdhorst

sudo systemctl restart lighttpd

Thanks for suggestion still the same, even after version 6.1. Seems to work fine other than 404 error

[tomvdhorst]

Then I’m out of options I’m sorry.