Hi I need a bit of help troubleshooting. I’m putting my old piaware receiver boxes back up. Just reinstalled the first one and am getting a very low message count even though these are some pretty good antennas and in extremely good locations. New pi4 and fresh install through the install script. They used to get around 1000 messages/sec. Anyone have time to help troubleshoot?
Dec 18 17:12:54 vernontastic sudo[2201]: piaware : PWD=/ ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/bin/netstat --program --tcp --wide --all --numeric
Dec 18 17:12:54 vernontastic sudo[2201]: pam_unix(sudo:session): session opened for user root(uid=0) by (uid=999)
Dec 18 17:12:55 vernontastic sudo[2201]: pam_unix(sudo:session): session closed for user root
Dec 18 17:12:55 vernontastic piaware[988]: ADS-B data program ‘dump1090-fa’ is listening on port 30005, so far so good
Dec 18 17:12:55 vernontastic piaware[988]: Starting faup1090: /usr/lib/piaware/helpers/faup1090 --net-bo-ipaddr localhost --net-bo-port 30>
Dec 18 17:12:55 vernontastic piaware[988]: Started faup1090 (pid 2203) to connect to dump1090-fa
Dec 18 17:13:01 vernontastic piaware[988]: 161 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (2 in last 5m); 161 msgs sent to FlightAware
Dec 18 17:13:23 vernontastic piaware[988]: mlat-client(1563): Input connected to localhost:30005
Dec 18 17:13:23 vernontastic piaware[988]: mlat-client(1563): Input format changed to BEAST, 12MHz clock
Dec 18 17:13:23 vernontastic piaware[988]: mlat-client(1563): Beast-format results connection with ::1:30104: connection established
Dec 18 17:17:39 vernontastic piaware[988]: mlat-client(1563): Receiver status: connected
Dec 18 17:17:39 vernontastic piaware[988]: mlat-client(1563): Server status: not synchronized with any nearby receivers
Dec 18 17:17:39 vernontastic piaware[988]: mlat-client(1563): Receiver: 0.2 msg/s received 0.1 msg/s processed (45%)
Dec 18 17:17:39 vernontastic piaware[988]: mlat-client(1563): Server: 0.0 kB/s from server 0.0kB/s TCP to server 0.0kB/s UDP t>
Dec 18 17:17:39 vernontastic piaware[988]: mlat-client(1563): Aircraft: 1 of 1 Mode S, 0 of 0 ADS-B used
Dec 18 17:18:01 vernontastic piaware[988]: 169 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (8 in last 5m); 169 msgs sent to FlightAware
Dec 18 17:23:01 vernontastic piaware[988]: 178 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (9 in last 5m); 178 msgs sent to FlightAware
Dec 18 17:28:01 vernontastic piaware[988]: 188 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (10 in last 5m); 188 msgs sent to FlightAware
sudo journalctl -eu piaware
Dec 18 21:18:16 vernontastic piaware[988]: mlat-client(2610): Server status: synchronized with 3 nearby receivers
Dec 18 21:18:16 vernontastic piaware[988]: mlat-client(2610): Receiver: 3.8 msg/s received 2.3 msg/s processed (60%)
Dec 18 21:18:16 vernontastic piaware[988]: mlat-client(2610): Server: 0.0 kB/s from server 0.0kB/s TCP to server 0.0kB/s UDP t>
Dec 18 21:18:16 vernontastic piaware[988]: mlat-client(2610): Aircraft: 2 of 2 Mode S, 0 of 0 ADS-B used
Dec 18 21:23:01 vernontastic piaware[988]: 1591 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (39 in last 5m); 1591 msgs sent to FlightAware
Dec 18 21:28:01 vernontastic piaware[988]: 1616 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (25 in last 5m); 1616 msgs sent to FlightAware
Dec 18 21:33:01 vernontastic piaware[988]: 1661 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (45 in last 5m); 1661 msgs sent to FlightAware
Dec 18 21:33:17 vernontastic piaware[988]: mlat-client(2610): Receiver status: connected
Dec 18 21:33:17 vernontastic piaware[988]: mlat-client(2610): Server status: synchronized with 28 nearby receivers
Dec 18 21:33:17 vernontastic piaware[988]: mlat-client(2610): Receiver: 3.3 msg/s received 1.6 msg/s processed (48%)
Dec 18 21:33:17 vernontastic piaware[988]: mlat-client(2610): Server: 0.0 kB/s from server 0.0kB/s TCP to server 0.0kB/s UDP t>
Dec 18 21:33:17 vernontastic piaware[988]: mlat-client(2610): Aircraft: 1 of 1 Mode S, 2 of 2 ADS-B used
Dec 18 21:33:17 vernontastic piaware[988]: mlat-client(2610): Out-of-order timestamps: 1
Dec 18 21:38:01 vernontastic piaware[988]: 1689 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (28 in last 5m); 1689 msgs sent to FlightAware
Dec 18 21:43:01 vernontastic piaware[988]: 1735 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (46 in last 5m); 1735 msgs sent to FlightAware
Dec 18 21:48:01 vernontastic piaware[988]: 1740 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (5 in last 5m); 1740 msgs sent to FlightAware
Dec 18 21:48:18 vernontastic piaware[988]: mlat-client(2610): Receiver status: connected
Dec 18 21:48:18 vernontastic piaware[988]: mlat-client(2610): Server status: not synchronized with any nearby receivers
Dec 18 21:48:18 vernontastic piaware[988]: mlat-client(2610): Receiver: 2.1 msg/s received 0.8 msg/s processed (36%)
Dec 18 21:48:18 vernontastic piaware[988]: mlat-client(2610): Server: 0.0 kB/s from server 0.0kB/s TCP to server 0.0kB/s UDP t>
Dec 18 21:48:18 vernontastic piaware[988]: mlat-client(2610): Aircraft: 0 of 0 Mode S, 1 of 1 ADS-B used
Dec 18 21:48:18 vernontastic piaware[988]: mlat-client(2610): Out-of-order timestamps: 1
Dec 18 21:53:01 vernontastic piaware[988]: 1765 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (25 in last 5m); 1765 msgs sent to FlightAware
Dec 18 21:58:01 vernontastic piaware[988]: 1798 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (33 in last 5m); 1798 msgs sent to FlightAware
Dec 18 22:03:01 vernontastic piaware[988]: 1832 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (34 in last 5m); 1832 msgs sent to FlightAware
Dec 18 22:03:18 vernontastic piaware[988]: mlat-client(2610): Receiver status: connected
Dec 18 22:03:18 vernontastic piaware[988]: mlat-client(2610): status: not synchronized with any nearby receivers
Dec 18 22:03:18 vernontastic piaware[988]: mlat-client(2610): Receiver: 3.3 msg/s received 1.4 msg/s processed (44%)
Dec 18 22:03:18 vernontastic piaware[988]: mlat-client(2610): Server: 0.0 kB/s from server 0.0kB/s TCP to server 0.0kB/s UDP t>
Dec 18 22:03:18 vernontastic piaware[988]: mlat-client(2610): Aircraft: 0 of 0 Mode S, 1 of 1 ADS-B used
Dec 18 22:03:18 vernontastic piaware[988]: mlat-client(2610): Out-of-order timestamps: 1
Dec 18 22:08:01 vernontastic piaware[988]: 1874 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (42 in last 5m); 1874 msgs sent to FlightAware
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Also needs info about the hardware used.
If the antenna is indoors, could be near some noise source like a monitor / monitor cable.
Could be a failed LNA, LNA not powered, loose connection, failing SDR. All kinds of possibilities.
If you’re going to set up feeds to multiple websites, give adsb.im a try, makes it very quick.
journalctl -eu dump1090-fa only shows auto-gain adjustments down to zero. Swapped the dongle and no change. I read it might be a power supply issue so I swapped that and no change. So I swapped the antenna. No change except when I was holding it lower.
I’m guessing it’s an issue of interference since there are some very high-powered vhf repeaters on the roof as well. I suppose it could also be a damaged feed line. Attaching some photos of the hardware and location. Also in the box is a meshtastic repeater and solar/battery backup for only the lora transceiver. Interestingly, the lora transceiver is working well.
How are the filters in the blue flightaware dongle compared to other options available? Perhaps a filter specifically for the vhf band would help as well?
Good shots of your system and the surrounding area. Interference is a strong possibility. A Cavity filter can be a huge help, low insertion loss and very high rejection in the filter’s favor. The Blue Flightaware receiver is unshielded, and could be a factor. There are similar SDRs in metal cases that might be helpful. Sadly, all solutions are a bit costly and definitely involve additional trips to the roof and rearrangements of the box internals. Adding the Graphs1090 software should give you additional information on your overall system performance. Best wishes and have a wonderful Christmas with your family.
Thank you so much everyone! The old feed line does pass the continuity test. I figured out that surprisingly enough, the antennas went bad somehow. That’s the alibaba special for you. They lasted 2-3 years outdoors. Bet I can take them apart and fix them. At the bare minimum I’ll learn something about how they’re designed. I ended up comparing one with a fresh feedline to a small tuned 1090 mag antenna and the small one outperformed it by a long shot. I really appreciate this wonderful community. Hope you all have a great holidays and new year.
The FA blue stick has the filter after the LNA, so if the LNA is overloaded you just get lots of noise.
Which would fit with autogain reducing to zero.
That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the antenna, it could just be that they pick up the interference with different gain. Possibly they were also mounted in a different location which could make an even bigger difference.
RF getting weaker with inverse square over distance and all.
I did the test on the much more radio quiet roof of my house with the antennas in the same location. But it’s a good point I hadn’t thought about. I had the gain setting set to 18 during that test. I can re-run the test with gain 0 to make a second comparison. But the fiberglass antenna used to perform at that gain setting on my house roof quite well, and it certainly isn’t anymore.
Santa dropped off my new Lothars 1090 Cavity filter and I installed it Thursday evening. So far, the results in graphs 1090 are looking pretty positive!
Would be glad to share. If there is something else you would be more interested in, please let me know. The change was made Thursday evening just past 7pm so we are just approaching 48 hours.
Thanks for the graphs - the 7 day views would be interesting to show before/after the cavity filter was added. Could you also include the Signal Level?
Did you have a filter and/or LNA in your setup previously?
Thanks - the filter has made a noticeable difference. There is a clear improvement in weakest signal received.
I assume that least some of the increase in Aircraft Seen and ADSB Maxima must be real, as I assume you have a pre-Christmas peak in flights in your part of the world?
Yes, the traffic absolutely peaks here in Central Florida during the Christmas and New Years holidays. We are in the Orlando and Sanford, Florida traffic patterns. Both in the air and on the ground!
