starting to get frustrated, and poll

FlightAware ADS-B Flight Tracking
1

I just recieved a pro stick in the mail. All appears to be operating normally, except the yellow LED light is not illuminating. I’m either thinking that it’s a bad LED or a dead amp. I dunno?

I can’t find any manual , instruction, or any others that can tell me what exactly the yellow light indicates when it’s on. I wrote an email to support at flight aware , and have not received a response. I thought it was a power issue with the raspberry pi, but I used a power supply that I use on my other Raspberry Pi that runs 2 rtf-sdr’s, 1 gps dongle, and 1 fan without issue. I even switched out raspberry pi’s and ran piaware on my other unit (just incase). Still no light.

I am just about to return the pro stick and go with something else, unless someone can tell me if not having a yellow LED is an issue or not.

sorry for the rant, just hitting dead ends everywhere and can’t get a solid answer.

take the poll!

2

Does your yellow light on your pro stick stay on constantly?

Yes and No.

On two of my Pro Sticks the light stayed on anytime power was applied. On my latest Pro Stick (v 1.1) my light worked a few times and then quit.

All three Pro Sticks seemed to work fine with or without the LED.

I’ve physically removed the LED’s from all my RTL-SDR’s. This is because I read somewhere that the LED may cause some RF interference.

The dongle pictured below, from rtl-sdr.com has almost the identical circuitry as the FA Pro Stick but without the LED.

http://rtlsdrblog.rtlsdrblog.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/main_dongleonly_site2-300x300.jpg

3

Did you just unsolder them? I find the lights annoying and if it is that simple, I know what I am doing tomorrow!!

4

I tried to desolder them but I guess either my hands weren’t steady enough or my soldering iron didn’t get hot enough.

What I finally ended up doing was wiggle the LED’s back and forth until the connectors broke off at the solder joints.

5

The LED is irrelevant to the operation of the dongle for ADS-B. It might be part of the IR stuff that dates back to using the dongle as a DVB-T.

Why would you return a working dongle?

6

The LED is irrelevant to the operation of the dongle for ADS-B. It might be part of the IR stuff that dates back to using the dongle as a DVB-T.

Why would you return a working dongle?

Because this is not a "multi-purpose rtl-sdr dongle. It’s the pro stick from flightaware specifically designed for ads-b usage. If the light wasn’t “semi-relative” to the operation, why would they include it? Problem is, no resource out there can tell me what the light actually indicates.

7

It is just what happens to be on the reference design rather than a deliberate decision on the part of FA. You’ll see it on most other designs too. I personally never bothered to work out why exactly it is there since it does not affect the dongle’s operation and it doesn’t seem to indicate anything consistently useful. You could ask NewSky directly if you wanted to sate your curiosity, they are the only people who could give you a definitive answer why it is on the board.

8

Thank you for this.

9

The LED is connected directly to the output of the 3.3V voltage regulator. It is only used as a power indicator light and isn’t needed for the operation of the prostick.
The LED can be removed from the device. If the LED goes out it is probably the LED and not the voltage regulator.

When using a contract manufacturer we specify parts that are definitely sourced and others that are up to the CM. Most Resistors and LED are in the category for the CM to choose. Our CM is using the same part used in the generic RTL-SDRs.