Second receiver at nearly the same place

[ABi69]

Good evening.

I want to set up a second receiver (Paspberry PI) roundabout 15 meters away from the first on in order to increase coverage.
The first receiver ist located at a south window and the second one will be located at a noth window.

When both receivers are running, i want to see the received planes in one map...

Do i need a second sharing-key or is it possible that one of the receivers sends his data to the other one which then adds the two data-streams?

Thanks for your tipps.

[Joey_1970]

...I'm new at FlightRadar24 and have nearly the same situation:
two Raspberry Pi, two Dongles at the same network
I would prefer to show both in one map too.

Joey

[abcd567]

Use independent sharing key for each receiver and send data as independent 2 or 3 stations under one account.
Do NOT send combined data of two or more receivers to tracking sites.
The servers at Flighradar24, Planefinder, Flightaware detect if the data source is single receiver or combined data of two receivers. If found a combined data, it is garbaged by the server.

However there is no harm in combining data on a local map on your computer for your personal viewing. You can do it this way:
(1) Run one extra instance of dump1090 on one of the RPi. You can call it a "Combiner".
(2) Configure "Combiner" to run without dongle by adding parameter --net-only
(3) Block output ports of "Combiner" as shown in the table below.
(4) Create socat or netcat data pipes to connect "Combiner" with data output ports (30005) of two main dump1090
- Data Pipe 1 (to local Pi) = 127.0.0.1:30005
- Data Pipe 2 (to remote Pi) = 192.168.xx.xx:30005

PORT SETTINGS OF "Combiner" (i.e. extra instance of dump1090)

DEFAULT	MODIFIED
--net-ro-port 30002	--net-ro-port 0
--net-sbs-port 30003	--net-sbs-port 0
--net-bo-port 30005	--net-bo-port 0

To do all above is tricky without a moderate knowledge of Linux.

I think wiedehopf has posted on Github some script which does all this automatically.
I think he calles it "Combine1090" or something similar. I will check and post the link.

[ABi69]

Thank you very much!

This is the link, i assume?

https://github.com/wiedehopf/combine1090

[abcd567]

Yes, that is the link. Lot of people are using it and are happy with it, but I have never used it.There are following 2 resons for my not using it:

(1) Since many years & before wiedehopf wrote script for installing combine1090, I have installed VRS on my Windows Desktop. The VRS pulls the data from my 2 RPi's and displays aircrafts from my both Pi's on a single map on my Windows Desktop. Therefore I dont have any pressing need to switch to combine1090

(2) I use dump1090-mutability, while weidehopf's combine1090 requires dump1090-fa.

As far as data feeding is concrrned, I have 2 RPi's and I feed two stations (T-CYYZ9 & T-CYYZ52) with 2 sharing-keys under a single account.

[Joey_1970]

...as you write, I first get a second sharing key. This now work (correctly)... ;-)

I understand that I can't use the script, because I use dump1090-mutability.
I have a question to your list:
(1) Run one extra instance of dump1090 on one of the RPi. You can call it a "Combiner". - How must I do this?

Joey

[abcd567]

(1) Run one extra instance of dump1090 on one of the RPi. You can call it a "Combiner". - How must I do this?

If you are not good at Linux, do NOT do it.
OK, in brief, just to give you an idea it is like this:

Make copies of following 2 files in same folder, but with another name such as "dump1090-mutability2" OR "combiner"

/etc/init.d/dump1090-mutability
/etc/default/dump1090-mutability

So you will now have 4 files instead of 2:

/etc/init.d/dump1090-mutability
/etc/init.d/combiner
/etc/default/dump1090-mutability
/etc/default/combiner

If RPi is rebooted, the system will start two instances of dump1090-mutability.
Seems easy, isn't it?

Now read on, the difficult part is below.

Since the contents of original and copied files are identical, both instances will have identical parameters, and there will be a conflict between two instances for grabbing the Dongle and the input/output Ports.

This will cause failure of one or both instances.
To avoid this clash, you need to modify the contents of copied files and make changes in device and port parameters. This is a tricky part and requires good knowledge of Linux and understanding inner working of dump1090-mutability.

CAUTION:
I you dont fully know what modifications are to be done in the copies, please do NOT make copies of files as shown above.
Simply making copies without doing modifications (or doing modifications wrongly) will result in failure of at least any one or even both instances of dump1090
I have given above information for academic purposes only.


RECOMMENDATION:
Install VRS (Virtual Radar Server) on your Desktop/Laptop, and configure it to get data from the all your RPIs.
Once properly configured (not difficult), the VRS map will show planes from all RPIs on one map.

For combined display on map, in VRS Settings, you will have to set up "Merge Feeds" of RPi 1 & RPi 2
After setting Merged Feed, go to VRS Map in browser > Menu (gear icon) > Receiver > Merged feed of Pi1 + Pi2

VRS Setting for RPi 1 and 2.png


VRS Map Options.png

VRS Map - Wikimedia.png

[Joey_1970]

Hello abcd567,

VRS look good and I try to install it on a (third) Raspberry Pi. When I look at http://myIP:8080/VirtualRadar/desktop.html it works, but I can't get on the WebAdmin-Site. I had create a account with sudo mono VirtualRadar.exe -nogui -createAdmin:name -password:password, but when I call http://myIP:8080/VirtualRadar/WebAdmin/Index.html, I have been ask for user and password, but I don't get into the page...

Do You have a idea why??

Joey

[abcd567]

Joey_1970:

I never used VRS on RPI, only on Windows.
Sorry, can not help you with VRS on mono/RPi