Raspberry Pi type B + DVB-T Dongle to feed FR24

[andyk1]

Hi,


Andy: (Off the wall thought) It might be cheaper on energy to have a small motor pull an insulating cover over the Pi if it's gets too cold (or close the cooling vents - see ebay item 400577406801) LOL

Funny...

I am guessing inside a closed and sealed metal enclosure it should stay warm enough but we'll see. No sure what the cold will do to the electronics since I haven't seen the min temp specs

Andy

[andyk1]

Flickering: sounds like possible power problem or something.
Tracking: For what my summary of this is worth: Not all the planes we pick up, broadcast their position. That causes it not to plot on any of our maps. Some also withhold CallSign, altitude, etc. Only the ones will a "full" ADS-B broadcast, are displayed on the map, the others are just listed. I had the same "issue" here and had quite a few people angry with me wanting to see everything. However, as logical as what that is: guys with the RadarBox see every single plane there is, they don't have "partials" like we have. And don't ask me why.

I figured out the blue led flicker on the R820T SDR &DVB-T Dongle. Seems when theres heavy Air Craft traffic in my area it flickers because it's working harder I guess. BUT... It doesn't do that with RTL1090 Windows version.
I am guessing you or no one else uses or has to use any "--GAIN Control in your set up huh?

Andy

P.S. It does this with all 4 of my dongles

[peterhr]

how about if the dongle is running through a powered USB hub?

Just curious dump1090 has a parameter doe which tuner it;s running on, can you run more that one dump1090 on a single pi for two or more dongles (would need a powered hub for them).

(I have this vision of 7 dongles - six in reflectors with a dipole at the focus - each covering 60 degrees, and one on a simple dipole or whip antenna for local stuff.)

[andyk1]

how about if the dongle is running through a powered USB hub?

Just curious dump1090 has a parameter doe which tuner it;s running on, can you run more that one dump1090 on a single pi for two or more dongles (would need a powered hub for them).

(I have this vision of 7 dongles - six in reflectors with a dipole at the focus - each covering 60 degrees, and one on a simple dipole or whip antenna for local stuff.)

Yep in Powered USB Hub flickers also when there's a lot of traffic. No Haven't tried more than one dongle at a time as I'd have to tell dump1090 which one to use and I am having a hard time running a back up script I downloaded and can't get it to work I see on github there working on it but have yet to get a response. Not sure how to add the changes there making to dump1090.

[andyk1]

I know there s a way to tell dump 1090 which dongle to use by numbering then. I think I read only up to 4 at a time but can't remember where I read it or can find the source I read it maybe a few weeks before I actually got the RPi ordered

[andyk1]

how about if the dongle is running through a powered USB hub?

Just curious dump1090 has a parameter doe which tuner it;s running on, can you run more that one dump1090 on a single pi for two or more dongles (would need a powered hub for them).

(I have this vision of 7 dongles - six in reflectors with a dipole at the focus - each covering 60 degrees, and one on a simple dipole or whip antenna for local stuff.)

Like this one heheh http://www.microadsb.com/

Look in ads-b Receivers if link doesn't work. Sort of what your talking about

Andy

[andyk1]

I Forgot to mention. I found a youtube video that shows What putting an antenna inside pcv pipe... Which I did with my 8 segment antenna Does. I used electrical grade (Going by the You Tube video I built mine on) .
Anyway it showed how the signal degrades and de-tunes the incoming signal and freq. Regular Water grade PVC is better but still de-grades.

Free standing is better so I'm back to building a J-pole or the Wire loop antenna (Can't remember the name now). I actually did see that on the SDRSharpe.exe that my incoming signal was not on 1090mhz but 1089.930.000 or so I mentioned earlier. My Guess is that's why my antenna doesn't work as well in dump1090 as it does in RTL1090.EXE. Different freq bandwidth I'm guessing (Spread). Sort of makes sense I Guess. Wasting to much time getting this up to optimum distance and not getting it set up.

Found a new location. half way up a 100 meter high cell phone tower hehehe... About 1/2 mile from my home so just maybe. Now to figure out how to get it all in a box, battery, solar panel and all to test even if just 20 meters to test. Am sure wifi will work since it will be line of sight.

[peterhr]

One thing wrong with that one, you have to pay for it !

I was thinking more of parabolic reflectors (there's enough programs on line to work out the shape for a given focal length and width) - not a dish, just a bent rectangular reflector with a hole dead centre for a dipole to poke through. The reflector is made of aluminium foil that's in an A3 / double ltr (17 x 11") sized lamination pouch fixed to a shaped wire support

[speedbird1960]

Found a new location. half way up a 100 meter high cell phone tower hehehe... About 1/2 mile from my home so just maybe. Now to figure out how to get it all in a box, battery, solar panel and all to test even if just 20 meters to test. Am sure wifi will work since it will be line of sight.

Long range Wi-Fi appears to be quite expensive http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-Mile-Ran...-/140437583647 it might be cheaper to use a 3G Phone.

Just found this one and its a lot cheaper, not to sure how it compares on spec. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-Mile-Ran...31049941072%26

[Birdie]

One thing wrong with that one, you have to pay for it !

I was thinking more of parabolic reflectors (there's enough programs on line to work out the shape for a given focal length and width) - not a dish, just a bent rectangular reflector with a hole dead centre for a dipole to poke through. The reflector is made of aluminium foil that's in an A3 / double ltr (17 x 11") sized lamination pouch fixed to a shaped wire support

What about using a Chinese Wok as the reflector ?

wokx.jpg

[peterhr]

... all very fine if we were using a focal point, but we need a focal line to put our vertically polarised 137mm long dipole at...

[andyk1]

Long range Wi-Fi appears to be quite expensive http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-Mile-Ran...-/140437583647 it might be cheaper to use a 3G Phone.

Just found this one and its a lot cheaper, not to sure how it compares on spec. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-Mile-Ran...31049941072%26

Thanks for the advice speedbird but have the logistics all worked out and the cost was an additional $1.08 the .08 cent was the tax on a 8" or so spaghetti strainer. The system did work to about near 1000 feet a few days ago reliably with notihng special. Wifi dongle cost was $4.99 plus shipping. Strainer made to act as a tuned directional antenna and two walkie talkie's for testing and that was not line of site as there was one curve and one small slight hill. I can see the tower from the room my router is located and during winter I have a clear view of the tower.

Talked to the guy's doing maintance on it today and they told me no liability on there part and I'd have to set it up when they where not present and no holes drilled. I was planning on using good quality clamps anyway. Was just reading I'd have to install the antenna 2 times the length of my antenna (about 3 feet or 1 meter) out from the tower it self. 6 feet I'm guessing on a fiber glass or PVC Pipe. Working out the method of supporting the solar panel, battery and Rpi Inside a metal container to reduce the cell phone signal noise but will use a good quality 1090 MHz filter anyway. Got to much time and research to not see this through...
Cost of about $46.08 approx. as I have most of the parts to build it. We'll see but I'm fairly certain it should work with a smaller rebuild good quality antenna.

Andy T-KTIK1

[andyk1]

Peter!!! I'm already thinking about adding a gps (approx. $35.00) to the RPi to see if FlightRadar24 would turn on Mlat also for me... We'll see. But... Now I'm wondering if it's only exclusive to there F-****-* boxes also. Wonder what version of BeagleBone there using, First gen BB or BBB. Can any Admin's monitoring this Tread help me out with a guess?

Peter!!! Of your RPi and BBB, which do you think is better for FR. BBB I'm guessing?

Andy

[peterhr]

Peter!!! I'm already thinking about adding a gps (approx. $35.00) to the RPi to see if FlightRadar24 would turn on Mlat also for me... We'll see.

Unlikely

But... Now I'm wondering if it's only exclusive to there F-****-* boxes also.

That it is, but both you and Herman seem to have a much higher proportion of traffic without full ADSB, and MLAT would probably be good if you can get enough F- receivers in the locality to make it work ... You could always apply for an FR24- receiver (you get a first class box, a very good antenna - but it's not a device you can 'tinker' with.

Wonder what version of BeagleBone there using, First gen BB or BBB. Can any Admin's monitoring this Tread help me out with a guess?

Pictures suggest white original, but black is cheaper and faster

Peter!!! Of your RPi and BBB, which do you think is better for FR. BBB I'm guessing?

There's nothing in it for me as far as running the radar.

For not needing a powered hub in the mix - the Pi is preferred - two USB sockets and it easily runs the dongle directly - the BBB seemed a bit unreliable at doing that.
The Wifi made the Pi unreliable ... it just hung occasionally, so I've gone back to wired (using a homeplug to get the signal to the router).
To power the Pi I have a 12v (really could do with 15-18v) supply feeding a power injector for the in-line antenna amp and feeding a 5v regulator for the PI.

I want to do something else with the BBB, to make our 5 year old 'Smart TV' somewhat smarter so it can run web browser
The BBB has the better processor (andriod, ubuntu) - but may only be 768 pixels deep on screen, and puts more data offscreen than the PI (outside the edges)
The Pi is 1080 pixels deep but doesn't hace the software options

[andyk1]

I want to do something else with the BBB, to make our 5 year old 'Smart TV' somewhat smarter so it can run web browser
The BBB has the better processor (andriod, ubuntu) - but may only be 768 pixels deep on screen, and puts more data offscreen than the PI (outside the edges)
The Pi is 1080 pixels deep but doesn't hace the software options

I did a lot of testing today. Here at home and the tower I was thinking about attaching it half way up. I'm not exactly sure my effort ( My time and money) is worth the effort because I read through all the other treads and seems I am, as they say Just one person and a dime a dozen as the expression here in the US. It was mentioned that People come and go which is in any Project of this sort but as you and a few others pointed out I'm not exactly sure this effort will be of any benefit to me which I wasn't planning on in any way from the beginning.

I'm already a (T-KTIK1) feeder and rarely see my radar listed or used as a tracking site anymore. I understand the difference in the F- feeders of course but why bother investing so much time and effort into something, that in the long run won't matter and only benefit FR with no effort on there part.

The Wifi won't work at that distance as speedbird1960 pointed out, more transmitting and receiving power needed which will require more investment and cost on my part. More power, more solar power, larger battery, More maintenance, more of a risk to me as far as getting all this set up and installed on a tower 150 feet off the ground and more of my time with no return benefit.

The reason I don't apply as an F- feeder is that I did back in feb-march and was going through the process but had two deaths in the family one week apart which required my attention for a few months. In the mean time someone else got the box. No big deal. I understood. But I went from feeding a large part of My area and about 4-5 F-Feeders popped up in surrounding states and they took over my feeding territory so to speak and I only see myself covering area's they don't see which are nearly 250 miles from my location. The outer reaches of my antenna. I'm not willing to spend more than I already have as I managed to piece together the system I have now with spare parts from other projects. Wifi at that distance is an issue. No I'm not willing to feed data on a 3g or 4g network as why should I pay $50-75 a month for a new cell line when my site will rarely be seen as a contributing radar site. A large part of the time lately my site doesn't even show up on FR's feeder sites list. The only way I know i'm working is by looking at my own web or my virtual radar page or Adsbscope to see if it's still working which by the way has not hung once in the past few weeks of testing. I will get a beaglebone but as you said will be looking to use it on another project as it seems a waste to use it on this. I didn't and still don't mind the cost of the Raspberry Pi as it's been aggravating, annoying and fun learning to get it to finally work reliably, had me thinking about making it better and on and on. Not willing to go the extra mile for no return or benefit though. Being offered a Primium account is really not what I call a benefit. I'm also not happy with the new version lacking the details the older version had. Anyway I am plugging along and re-thinking my re-thinking and thinking of just using it here the way I have been and putting it back to Ethernet connected only. I also may add another 10 feet (3.3 meters) to my existing antenna and getting it to 55 feet height. I also do agree with what you said and see your point of view on some of your posts in other treads. I see it both ways also but there needs to be a benefit to me as a feeder and the effort I put into this for there benefit which is a lot greater to them than me. I see no point investing in a Beast or Transponder Mouse as the cheap $10 SDR dongles work nearly as well. I need to take a step back and look at this project more clearly. Not giving up. Just not investing more effort or money at this time. Cheers