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

[peterhr]

I'm sure some of my fellow ADS-B guru's might have a better solution, but here is what I am doing:

Receiver is a dongle on a Linux box running Dump1090. My PC connects to it and retrieves data for Virtual Radar Server. I downloaded the global DB from Gatwick Aviation Society, but it does not contain ALL the AC. Whenever I get an unknown one, I use Active Display Lite and enter the ICAO code, it does a lookup, if not found, I pop over to airframes.org and get it from there. Then just manually enter the details and save it to the DB. I presume if you do purchase Active Display, it can also connect to your Dump1090 and automatically update unknows.

My Virtual Radar checks all hits against the DB and displays info accordingly. The DB is also used for other software plotting.

But I guess there might be an easier method out there....

Do you also provide the details GAS for them to update their database?

[trigger]

Yes as the comment above... You may need to manually set your gain settings. Mine is set to about "--gain 33" In auto gain I see only a few. I have no idea why some see all aircraft in auto settings and some of us have to set a gain value. I suspect it has something to do with how our antenna is constructed.

Thanks for the information. Once I get my RPi running again I'll use a gain setting.

[HermanZA]

Do you also provide the details GAS for them to update their database?

I doubt that the Lite version shares to the MotherShip. Wish it could, cause I wont mind sharing, but does not look like it has an export function. We have a kind of Master List for SA Aircraft we tend to use as well to populate the local DB's.

[Andres]

The "--enable-agc" parameter seems to be related to the RTL2832U chip, and the "--gain xx" parameter (xx=34 for me, but value may vary case by case) is related to the R820T tuner. Both can be set without conflict between them. The documentation says that Automatic Gain Control (AGC) for the R820T can be set with "--gain -100" parameter , but it didn't worked, at least in my case. If no "--gain xx" is set, the tuner works with the maximum possible gain (around 49 dB); it seems to work better with a lower gain.

[SAFlyer]

How do you go about in combining the ADS-B data from them, or do you do it on DUMP?

Use modesmixer to combine the signals from each of your dongles on the Pi - this works brilliantly!

[peterhr]

I doubt that the Lite version shares to the MotherShip. Wish it could, cause I wont mind sharing, but does not look like it has an export function. We have a kind of Master List for SA Aircraft we tend to use as well to populate the local DB's.

I think it may be a manual operation http://www.gatwickaviationsociety.or...odeslookup.asp second part of the page...

[Andres]

Use modesmixer to combine the signals from each of your dongles on the Pi - this works brilliantly!

Hi SAFlyer!

Please clarify if you are using two or more RTL-SDR USB "dongles" connected to the same RPi; and if possible please comment about your hardware and software setup (for instance, do you run more than one instance of dump1090 at the same time?).
Thanks in advance, best regards.

[SAFlyer]

Hi SAFlyer!

Please clarify if you are using two or more RTL-SDR USB "dongles" connected to the same RPi; and if possible please comment about your hardware and software setup (for instance, do you run more than one instance of dump1090 at the same time?).
Thanks in advance, best regards.

I am using 2 dongles connected to a powered USB hub which in turn is connected to the Pi. Here is the part of the script which utilises dump1090

./dump1090 --device-index 0 --net --net-sbs-port 30003 --net-ro-port 31001 --net-bo-port 30005 --quiet > /dev/null &
./dump1090 --device-index 1 --net --net-sbs-port 30004 --net-ro-port 31002 --net-bo-port 30006 --quiet > /dev/null &

As can be seen, I am using the --device-index 0 and 1 to identify each dongle.

The output of the dump1090's are then combined using modesmixer as follows:

./modesmixer2 --inConnect 192.***.0.***:31001 --inConnect 192.***.0.***:31002 --outServer sbs10001:10001

This output feeds Basestation and also Planeplotter

[Andres]

I am using 2 dongles connected to a powered USB hub which in turn is connected to the Pi. Here is the part of the script which utilises dump1090

./dump1090 --device-index 0 --net --net-sbs-port 30003 --net-ro-port 31001 --net-bo-port 30005 --quiet > /dev/null &
./dump1090 --device-index 1 --net --net-sbs-port 30004 --net-ro-port 31002 --net-bo-port 30006 --quiet > /dev/null &

As can be seen, I am using the --device-index 0 and 1 to identify each dongle.

The output of the dump1090's are then combined using modesmixer as follows:

./modesmixer2 --inConnect 192.***.0.***:31001 --inConnect 192.***.0.***:31002 --outServer sbs10001:10001

This output feeds Basestation and also Planeplotter

Thank you for your answer. Was it neccessary to access the "dongles" with an EEPROM command to write a different ID number on each, to made them recoginzable with different device_index values? Or it's just a function of USB enumeration to give different device_index values to the "dongles" automatically?

Best regards

Andres

[SAFlyer]

Thank you for your answer. Was it neccessary to access the "dongles" with an EEPROM command to write a different ID number on each, to made them recoginzable with different device_index values? Or it's just a function of USB enumeration to give different device_index values to the "dongles" automatically?

Best regards

Andres

If you run rtl_test (you have to install rtl_sdr to provide the drivers for the dongles) you will see that all dongles have the same serial number and that the OS assigns a USB enumerator to each dongle

pi@raspbpi ~ $ rtl_test
Found 2 device(s):
  0:  Realtek, RTL2838UHIDIR, SN: 00000001
  1:  Realtek, RTL2838UHIDIR, SN: 00000001

Hence the use of the following

./dump1090 --device-index 0
./dump1090 --device-index 1

Just as a side note for those wishing to use modesmixer to feed Basestation, you need to use the following to be able to feed the data to Basestation:

--net-ro-port 31001
--net-ro-port 31002

[andyk1]

How do you go about in combining the ADS-B data from them, or do you do it on DUMP?

No I mean I have 4 separate dongles since I started this. I am only using one at a time but they all need different --gain settings. although very small to get optimum readings. I suspect the tuners are not dead on or my antenna is not tuned to 1090mhz. No way to know for sure.

Andy

[andyk1]

The "--enable-agc" parameter seems to be related to the RTL2832U chip, and the "--gain xx" parameter (xx=34 for me, but value may vary case by case) is related to the R820T tuner. Both can be set without conflict between them. The documentation says that Automatic Gain Control (AGC) for the R820T can be set with "--gain -100" parameter , but it didn't worked, at least in my case. If no "--gain xx" is set, the tuner works with the maximum possible gain (around 49 dB); it seems to work better with a lower gain.

Yes exactly.

[peterhr]

I don't think my Pi would handle two dump1090 processes running alongside each other - the one I have is often using 60% of CPU on it's own (due to lots of flights in range) - I'd probably be forced to use the beaglebone black...

[loplo]

My pi is running dump1090 and another process. I've tried to run VirtualRadarServer too, via mono, but that kills the box. I'm pretty sad, I needed VRS for a database creation.

BTW peterhr, did you move/remove the documentation from google drive. My bookmark gives me "Empty folder".

[peterhr]

My pi is running dump1090 and another process. I've tried to run VirtualRadarServer too, via mono, but that kills the box. I'm pretty sad, I needed VRS for a database creation.

BTW peterhr, did you move/remove the documentation from google drive. My bookmark gives me "Empty folder".

Sure did, post 8 in the thread had bot the old and the new versions for two or three weeks, old version is now gone replaced with https://drive.google.com/folderview?...Tg&usp=sharing

(don't bookmark this - I might change it again - refer to post 8)