Results from FlightAware 1090 MHz ADS-B Antenna - 26 in

Ok, finally I was able to find my way home again.

I’ve installed a “Mini Circuits,15542 VBZ-1065-S+, 980-1050 MHz” Filter onto the Blue FA Dongle.

Let’s see if a filter improves things.

Nice thing.

Looks like a hot washed FA filter tube :slight_smile:
You might need to adjust gain, depends how much you will loose due to that filter.

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This is going to be my downfall… Can it be done without taking the SD card out of the Pi?

Sure.

Are you running the Piaware image or did you set up Raspbian OS and the Piaware package addon?

It’s a setting in the config files.

I have the image that I downloaded from FA

Default is maximum possible gain.

But adjusting gain is never a bad idea.

For Beginners - How-to SSH to RPi - Setup Putty in Windows - #19 by SoNic67
For Beginners - How to Set / Change Gain
Thoughts on optimizing gain - #2 by wiedehopf

So I have to down load some software to do this?

then the second link @wiedehopf provided will guide you on how to do it.
Gain is per default set to “-10” which is the maximum.
Going backwards means you need a “lower” gain which is a higher value.
Some values are 42.1 43.4 44.5 48.0 49.6. Test it and leave these values running for a while to verify a change.

You will need to run a SSH session from your PC to the Raspberry, that is described in the first thread documented.

How did you access your Raspberry before?
Check the threads, they are giving you all information

Thanks… I merely downloaded the image and use a zip program years ago to write the image file and then once it is up and running it updates itself through the FA website control panel

I’ve taken the SD car and put it into the PC and modified the file for the wireless settings and such but that is the full extent of what I have ever done other than install it.

Looks like (even though it’s not easy to retrieve) that it will be easier with my skills to remove the SD card and then put it into the PC and use a dos prompt to edit it.

But… How do I decide what # to set it to? This is the guessing game as the remove/reinsert is a pain to get to…

That’s why you want SSH access :slight_smile:

It’s not that hard, give it a try.

Otherwise if you have an FA antenna outside, low loss coax and FA blue, 43.9 is usually a good bet.

That’s my setup… I a 10’ cable between the dongle and the FA antenna

The blue Pro Plus dongle?
Then i would give either 42.1 or 43.4 a try. Change it, leave it up and running for a day and change it to a different value. Once you found the best, leave it as it is.

There are some values you should consider. One is the number of messages > -3dBFS
This is an indicator of “noise” which overloads the receiver.
Having that value below 5% is a good starting point.

Do you have graphs1090 installed? This would be required to verify the setup.

Ok. retrieved the SD card. Modified as the instructions say and then launched PuTTY.

I cannot get past the login of the “password” part

For piaware sd card image:
Login: pi
password: flightaware

For Raspbian/Raspberrypi OS image:
Login: pi
password: raspberry

Thanks. Been years since I have had to use it

Ok… That was easy

Now, just throwing **** on the wall to see what sticks I started with 42.1

No… I follow that link and honestly am a little confused.

Do I download those files and then go get he SD card and put it back into the PC and save them to the SD card or do I?

This is frustrating. PuTTY has been logging in and then disconnects and then will not log in again…

once you get putty working all you have to do is download wiedehopf’s graphs…no need to remove the SD card anymore…you can do all from putty. wiedehopf’s graphs are great and will help you set the gain by monitoring the % of messages >-3dB. you can set gain to achieve around 5% messages >-3dB. if you have less then 5% (or so) you will be missing some aircraft. if you have a lot more than 5% than you gain is too high. i started this “hobby” 2 years ago and was like a “deer in the headlights”…keep posting, you’ll get it.