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

[peterhr]

That did it! I ran with the --help parameter. It showed how to add an alternative port in the fr24.sh file. I put in 30003, and it's feeding data. Thanks!

Two quick questions:

- How do I update my base lat/long? I recently moved (only about a mile) from my old location.

FR24 support could do it, but it's unlikely that they would for just a mile - they're just too busy and it doesn't really matter since you're in the same general area

- Are there any instructions on how to set up a wifi dongle on the raspbian shell? I want to move this outside!

I've not done it, I use powerline adaptors to take the network over the house mains - so don't know.

I think you are recommended to get a wifi dongle Rasperian already knows about and it might be plug and go.

A couple of things to think about:

The wifi dongle [radio transmitter] might upset the DVB-TV dongle [sensitive radio receiver] if it's in the immediate vicinity.
The two dongles together may be too much for the Pi USB power - my need a powered USB hub to run it.

An alternative might be to use POE (since you need a power connection anyway)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Power-over-Ethernet-Passive-PoE-Adapter-Injector-Splitter-Kit-5v-12v-24v-48v-/121100493562?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c3226e2fa

run the POE at 12v, then step down for the Pi .. (I use one of these for my Pi ... it's running of the supply that drives the antenna amp)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Car-Charger-DC-Converter-Module-12V-To-5V-3A-15W-with-Micro-USB-Cable-NI5L-/400684685068?pt=US_Power_Inverters_&hash=item5d4aab170c

would then need a 12v PSU and a couple of plugs to sort the power socket requirements of the POE adaptors.

[F-EGLF1]

I've not done it, I use powerline adaptors to take the network over the house mains - so don't know.

I think you are recommended to get a wifi dongle Rasperian already knows about and it might be plug and go.

A couple of things to think about:

The wifi dongle [radio transmitter] might upset the DVB-TV dongle [sensitive radio receiver] if it's in the immediate vicinity.
The two dongles together may be too much for the Pi USB power - my need a powered USB hub to run it.

Have a look at:

http://www.raspyfi.com/wi-fi-on-raspberry-pi-a-simple-guide

it is not hard, I have had sucess with cheap dongles from ebay, just look for one that says it supports Linux and it should work fine.
Ben.

[imokruok]

FR24 support could do it, but it's unlikely that they would for just a mile - they're just too busy and it doesn't really matter since you're in the same general area

Ok - perfect. I have had an account since Jan 2013, but didn't know if they were picky about those things.

Also, I would love to use PoE as I have a lot of WiFi devices and prefer to keep things wired if I can. But I already have a Linux compatible WiFi adapter and don't have any powerline gear.

Thanks again for the help! The --help flag did the trick to get me set.

Also - F-EGLF1, thanks for the link. I will give that a shot later tonight.

I'm already feeding into the system for LAX, but the antenna is indoors (high up) - hopefully will get it out to my balcony, where I have a 25 mile or so view all the way to LAX and LGB!

[peterhr]

The reason for suggesting the POE was you need to run a wire anyway - for power - it's another option.

Have a look at the best antennas thread - there's good stuff buried there on making high performance antennas.

[Guest]

Hi again.

I got it working a few days ago and it seems to be working after pasting

./fr24feed_arm-rpi_242 --fr24key=xxxxxxxxxxxxx

in putty. However it only uploads for a few minutes and won't upload until i type that? What is the problem here? :/

[peterhr]

Hi again.

I got it working a few days ago and it seems to be working after pasting

./fr24feed_arm-rpi_242 --fr24key=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

in putty. However it only uploads for a few minutes and won't upload until i type that? What is the problem here? :/

You probably should edit your post and remove your sharing key - that's private to you.

what I have is
./fr24feed_arm-rpi_242 --fr24key=xxxxxxxxxxxx --bs-ip=127.0.0.1 > /tmp/fr24feed.log &

this is saying
./fr24feed_arm-rpi_242 program to run and its from the current directory
--fr24key=xxxxxxxxxxxx my sharing key
--bs-ip=127.0.0.1 over ride the place they think dump1090 is running
> /tmp/fr24feed.log redirect the standard output to this file (error messages etc still go to console)
& execeute the command in the background ... don't hang onto the the keyboard or batch script that kicked off the command ... for example the putty user could kill the task with control-c without it

... if there's not a reason there, then I's suspect your Pi power supply might be struggling.

[Guest]

You probably should edit your post and remove your sharing key - that's private to you.

what I have is
./fr24feed_arm-rpi_242 --fr24key=xxxxxxxxxxxx --bs-ip=127.0.0.1 > /tmp/fr24feed.log &

this is saying
./fr24feed_arm-rpi_242 program to run and its from the current directory
--fr24key=xxxxxxxxxxxx my sharing key
--bs-ip=127.0.0.1 over ride the place they think dump1090 is running
> /tmp/fr24feed.log redirect the standard output to this file (error messages etc still go to console)
& execeute the command in the background ... don't hang onto the the keyboard or batch script that kicked off the command ... for example the putty user could kill the task with control-c without it

... if there's not a reason there, then I's suspect your Pi power supply might be struggling.

Thanks for the hint. Edited the post as soon as I saw it.

I'm not getting eny errors in the console. It's sending ping's and seems to be uploading. It's been running without any issues longer than normal but the power might actually be it. I'm using a 1A HTC charger at the moment. I should probably try my Nexus charger instead and buy a more suitable one for the pi.

[baracudaz]

Hi all,

Following various guides in order to setup dump1090 & fr24feed I could not help noticing the init.d start-up script could be improved. So here I am contributing back to community:

pi@raspbmc:~$ cat /etc/init.d/fr24feed 
#!/bin/bash
### BEGIN INIT INFO
#
# Provides:         fr24feed
# Required-Start:       $network $remote_fs $time
# Required-Stop:        $network $remote_fs $time
# Default-Start:        2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop:         0 1 6
# Short-Description:    fr24feed initscript
# Description:          Enable service provided by daemon.
#
### END INIT INFO

OWNER=pi
PIDDIR=/var/run
LOGDIR=/var/log

# Edit for your environment
DUMP1090=dump1090
DUMP1090_PATH=/home/pi/dump1090
DUMP1090_ARGS="--quiet --net --net-ro-size 500 --net-ro-rate 5 --net-http-port 8080"
DUMP1090_PID=$PIDDIR/dump1090.pid
DUMP1090_LOG=$LOGDIR/dump1090.log

# Edit for your environment
FR24FEED=fr24feed_arm-rpi_242
FR24FEED_PATH=/home/pi/fr24feed
FR24FEED_ARGS="--fr24key=YOUR_KEY"
FR24FEED_PID=$PIDDIR/fr24feed.pid
FR24FEED_LOG=$LOGDIR/fr24feed.log

# See if the daemons are there
test -x $DUMP1090_PATH/$DUMP1090 -a -x $FR24FEED_PATH/$FR24FEED || exit 

. /lib/lsb/init-functions

start() {
    log_daemon_msg "Starting"

    log_progress_msg "dump1090"
    if ! start-stop-daemon --start --oknodo --make-pidfile --pidfile $DUMP1090_PID \
        --background --chdir $DUMP1090_PATH --no-close --chuid $OWNER \
        --exec $DUMP1090_PATH/$DUMP1090 -- $DUMP1090_ARGS > $DUMP1090_LOG 2>&1
    then
        log_end_msg 1
        exit 1
    fi

    log_progress_msg "fr24feed"
    if ! start-stop-daemon --start --oknodo --make-pidfile --pidfile $FR24FEED_PID \
        --background --no-close --chuid $OWNER \
        --exec $FR24FEED_PATH/$FR24FEED -- $FR24FEED_ARGS > $FR24FEED_LOG 2>&1
    then
        log_end_msg 1
        exit 1
    fi

    log_end_msg 0
}

stop() {
    log_daemon_msg "Stopping"

    log_progress_msg "dump1090"
    start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --pidfile $DUMP1090_PID
    rm -f $DUMP1090_PID
    
    log_progress_msg "fr24feed"
    start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --pidfile $FR24FEED_PID
    rm -f $FR24FEED_PID

    log_end_msg 0
}

## Check to see if we are running as root first.
if [ "$(id -u)" != "0" ]; then
    echo "This script must be run as root" 1>&2
    exit 1
fi

case "$1" in
    start)
        start
        exit 0
    ;;
    stop)
        stop
        exit 0
    ;;
    reload|restart|force-reload)
        stop
        start
        exit 0
    ;;
    **)
        echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop|reload}" 1>&2
        exit 1
    ;;
esac

exit 0

Ensure the script is executable:

sudo chmod + /etc/init.d/fr24feed

Start and enjoy:

pi@raspbmc:~$ sudo /etc/init.d/fr24feed start
[ ok ] Starting: dump1090 fr24feed.

Optional: Make the script start on R-PI boot:

pi@raspbmc:~$ sudo update-rc.d fr24feed enable

Automatic start on boot may or may not work depending on your network and/or internet availability during start-up.

Any feedback or comments are welcomed.

[peterhr]

... It all depends if you want to run the feeder as a service or from a simpler shell script

for me the shell script wins - it's certainly much easier to comprehend and maintain, and no problem starting from crontab and bootup.

The feeder doesn't need a tidy shut down when the machine shuts down, letting the apps get killed won't corrupt a database or anything like that (besides I's suspect with the Pi most shut downs are achieved by the power getting pulled)

[baracudaz]

Sure. Nothing stops to use this script within terminal or cron. The biggest advantage is that it takes care of process owner, PID, log files.

[Guest]

So I think I can rule out any power struggle. I tried some other alternatives but my connection to flightradar24 still dies after a few hours. DUMP1090 continues to feed when i open my Pi's ip adress though.

When I paste

./fr24feed_arm-rpi_242 --fr24key=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx --bs-ip=127.0.0.1 > /tmp/fr24feed.log &

I get this: [1] 2236

No errors.

Could it be that some kind of power sawing function is on?

[peterhr]

what does /tmp/fr24feed.log have in it in the first few lines and if it changes?

[Guest]

I must be doing something wrong because I can't open the log. Sorry if I'm being slow here...

[peterhr]

I must be doing something wrong because I can't open the log. Sorry if I'm being slow here...

You command
./fr24feed_arm-rpi_242 --fr24key=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx --bs-ip=127.0.0.1 > /tmp/fr24feed.log &

shows where the log should be going
... but if you have restarted the Pi then /tmp would have been cleared

[Guest]

You command
./fr24feed_arm-rpi_242 --fr24key=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx --bs-ip=127.0.0.1 > /tmp/fr24feed.log &

shows where the log should be going
... but if you have restarted the Pi then /tmp would have been cleared

This it what it says.

root@raspberry-pi:~# /tmp/fr24feed.log &
[2] 2336
[1]   Exit 255                ./fr24feed_arm-rpi_242 --fr24key=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx                                                                                        xxxx --bs-ip=127.0.0.1 > /tmp/fr24feed.log
root@raspberry-pi:~# -bash: /tmp/fr24feed.log: Permission denied