There’s been an unfortunate accident to my Pi setup, resulting in a broken SD card, so I am going to have to flash a new image to a new card. Presumably, this will count as a ‘new’ installation ? I know that I’m going to have to edit in my wifi credentials, but will I need to do something else as well to get it to log back on to my existing FlightAware account ? It’s a Pi3 B with ‘standard’ PiAware sotware.
Thanks to anyone with any help on this. I hasten to add that I am reasonably computer savvy, but I’m a hardware person, not software
Hi Lawrence, thanks for that. I figured that it must be something along those lines. Is the ‘unique identifier’ contained in the config file ? If so, can I just edit it in at the same time as I am switching on the wifi and entering the router credentials ?
Copy and paste your Unique Identifier from the my adsb section of FlightAware then In the text file where you edit your Wi-Fi details, just add a line at the bottom with
Thanks all. Hopefully I’ll get a replacement micro SD card tomorrow and have it all back up and running by late in the day. So nice to have a support group where people are actually prepared to help even with dumb questions like mine, rather than judging and being offensve and all ‘superior’, like in many of the software groups … Thanks again, guys
OK. Nearly all back up and running. I am connected back to my PiAware account and it seems to know all about me. I put the latest 8.2 image on the sd card. When I first started everything back up, I got ‘three greens’ on the stats page. Then the MLAT went to red and said that it was disabled because my lat / long were not set ?? I restarted the Pi, and it’s gone back green. Any thoughts ? Its not receiving very much at this point because its just laying on the desk with the antenna horizontal. Is that anything to do with it ?
Also, when I very first put it back up, it didn’t want to connect to my wireless network. I went back into the config file and set wired network to off, as I noticed it said that it defaulted to ‘wired’. When next tried, it connected ok. So was turning off ‘wired’ the correct thing to do ? All still running ok at the moment, and I am at least starting to see some stats appear, so I’m happy with that
When reinstalling it should pick up your settings.
However if it complains about your location you can set that again through the config screen on your feeder page.
If you installed it with the wired ethernet connection active then it will default to that.
When disabling the wired connection it will switch over to the wireless connection.
So turning it off fixed that for you, I guess that’s a matter of preference, i have all feeders connected with the wired connection.
Thanks Tom. that’s confirmed what I thought. As for wired versus wifi, I don’t have a very easy path back to the machine that I run the PiAware software on, hence the reason that I use wifi rather than trying to get a cable back. I have been running the rig for some time now and it has been just fine on wifi. I have a dedicated hi speed router separate from the internet gateway modem, and I can have many fixed IP addresses on it, which I have, and which the Pi is one of. The Pi’s built in wifi antenna is not very good though, so when I get to moving this rig properly outdoors, I will add an external antenna connection, and disconnect its internal one. Thanks again for your response. Apreciated
I agree that RPi wireless is not good. After having reliability issues with it I went with poe. I purchased an 8 port Ppoe switch ($40) and a poe Pie Hat ($20) for each of my RPi’s. Network response times are greatly improved at 3ms. That allowed me to get rid of the wall wart power bricks that simplified the equipment installation.
When this rig is in its final position, outside and up in the air, the only thing that will be going to it is quite a long power cable. I’m not sure how well a powerline adapter would work in that situation. My intention is to feed from a small switchmode 12v 3 amp psu that I have to hand, with an adjustable output swichmode regulator at the top end with the Pi. I can set that for an accurate 5.1v or so, taking out any drop on the cable. I’ve had this rig running for some time indoors now using the Pi wifi and it has been fine, but I doubt it will be when the rig is in its final outdoor position. I am open to evaluating all options at the moment, so thank you for your suggestion. Your input is appreciated !
Yes, the Pi wifi is weak, largely due to the antenna being integrated in the print layout. The 3B that I’m using for this rig has tracks and pads for a u.fl connector for an external antenna, but they haven’t bothered to fit one. I may go ahead and do so, but equally, I might just solder an sma ‘tail’ to the board. Either way, I am intending to use an external wifi antenna when its all together in a weatherproof box in its final position. Thanks for your valued input. Appreciated.
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