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

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  • The RPi feeder software has only been available for a few weeks - it didn't exist at the time the PDF was created (a good few months ago - and that was done because the standard wheezy linux release became so bloated with stuff we didn't need, so switched to a minimal build)

    As far as an amplifier is concerned, go to http://www.heywhatsthat.com/ - put in your location as accuratly as possible and the antenna height. Once you have the map click 'up in the air' top right, then put in altitudes of - say - 30000 and 40000 feet ... see if how the projected distance plots correlate to your received range ... if they are similar, then an amplifier will serve little purpose.

    For people doing new builds, in my experience of not being able to get the powered USB lead to work (maybe it was just the one I bought) - I'd try something else first.
    * Power over Ethernet - to put the pi + dongle nearer the antenna ( use a kit like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200841109556, to counteract the volt-drop on the network cable use a 12v PSU and use one of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181202073503 to power the Pi, would need some power adaptor plugs)
    * Use an antenna amp (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/350657754545, needs 15v injected up the wire [and possibly a second used as a voltage blocker above the amp if the antenna is shorted or resistive to DC voltage] using one [or two] of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121321050146 and a 15v PSU for the amplifier)

    I use the antenna amp and in fact also use the http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181202073503 to power the Pi from the same 15v supply as is used to send power up to the antenna amplifier. In my case the antenna amp is directly attached to the base of the antenna ... wrapped in self amalgamating tape to protect it and it's connectors from water ingress. My antenna is open circuit - so I only need one voltage injector block.

    I'll post pictures later

    Comment


    • Pictures of my feeder rig
      IMG_1057.JPG
      * Mains power comes in via a 15v PSU
      * The 15v goes to
      ** a power inserter (similar to http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121321050146 ) to push 15v up the inner conductor of the coax (bottom left) to antenna, and
      ** also onto a voltage regulator ( http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181202073503 )that provides 5v for the Pi
      * We have the coaxial cable feeding the R820t dongle via a small adaptor
      * Output from the Pi goes back to the internet router via a short network cable and Powerline adaptors (these pass network signals over the building power cables)

      IMG_1058.JPG
      * This shows the antenna amplifier ( http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/350657754545 ) - it is really intended to sit in the feed from a satellite receiver LNB to bost the signals back to the TV satellite receiver
      * there is a N-Male - F Male adaptor ( http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/330888807934 ) fitted to the base of the bulgarian antenna ( http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/201102963432 ), the amplifier fits directly onto the adaptor and connects to the down lead using a F-connector.
      * the assembly is wrapped in self-amalgamating tape to protect from water ingress.
      * Notes:
      ** antenna is open circuit to DC - so the voltage passed by the amplifier into the antenna doesn't matter (doesn't need decoupling)
      ** If going to buy the Bulgarian antenna off Ebay - do it by auction, they always have lots for sale and often there are no or only one bid for them
      IMG_1059.JPG
      This shows the antenna at the top of a 4.5m aluminium mast.

      Click the links in my signature below to see how it works.

      Comment


      • photo.jpg

        here's my pi strapped to a laptop cooler (free after rebate) with some ghetto ducting. stays at a constant 35.8c.

        peter -- do you get high loads with dump1090/rpifeeder? with just those two running i'm getting .77 constantly.

        Comment


        • Is your Bulgarian antenna and amplifier "typhoon-proof".
          F-WSSS1 - Cats refused to Pee & Pooh on RadarBox - Running a FR24 Receiver & DVB-T Dongle 24/7 to piss off The Chief Thief.

          Comment


          • Originally posted by Filldo View Post
            peter -- do you get high loads with dump1090/rpifeeder? with just those two running i'm getting .77 constantly.
            I'm showing about ~30% constant CPU load, most of that from dump1090. Can you show us a screenshot from top?

            Comment


            • Originally posted by Birdie View Post
              Is your Bulgarian antenna and amplifier "typhoon-proof".
              No, but we're not in a typhoon area - I had considered putting some stays on the mast, - if it kinks at the fixing due to high winds - I do have a spare section I could use to replace the bottom one then sort out some stays.

              Dump1090 uses 60% of the processor, feeder 8% - but then it usually has 80 - 160 aircraft in range at any one time 80% have full ADSB, so is busy.

              Comment


              • Originally posted by peterhr View Post
                Dump1090 uses 60% of the processor, feeder 8% - but then it usually has 80 - 160 aircraft in range at any one time 80% have full ADSB, so is busy.
                What is the correct command to use to check the processor usage of the pi, it would be interesting to see what its using.

                Also over the last few days I have noticed I seem to be tracking aircraft as showing over 300nm away, not witnessed these in real time but what's the likely hood of these being genuine hits?

                Uptime (as % of available time): 100%
                Aircraft seen: 1,158
                Positions reported: 2,468,127
                Total data upload: n/a
                Maximum distance: 327nm
                T-EGCC59: http://radar-sw.no-ip.biz/VirtualRadar/
                Raspberry Pi, Dump1090, ADS-B RTL2832 Dongle, Bulgarian Collinear 8m AGL.

                Comment


                • Hi! I wrote the image to my Pi yesterday and added my key to the fr24.sh and also added back the "export FR24AUTHIP=83.140.247.20" line into the script.

                  When I start the script it doesn't say anything is wrong. Anyhow, I don't seem to be uploading any data to FR24. DUMP1090 in the browser is at least getting data. I tried searching the thread but couldn't find anyone with this issue.

                  Any ideas?

                  Cheers Andreas

                  Comment


                  • Originally posted by Mutt08 View Post
                    What is the correct command to use to check the processor usage of the pi, it would be interesting to see what its using.
                    I'd use 'top' to show the cpu - it updates every second or so, 'q' to exit

                    Originally posted by Mutt08 View Post
                    Also over the last few days I have noticed I seem to be tracking aircraft as showing over 300nm away, not witnessed these in real time but what's the likely hood of these being genuine hits?

                    Uptime (as % of available time): 100%
                    Aircraft seen: 1,158
                    Positions reported: 2,468,127
                    Total data upload: n/a
                    Maximum distance: 327nm
                    Yesterday I got

                    Uptime (as % of available time): 100%
                    Aircraft seen: 1,360
                    Positions reported: 487,994
                    Total data upload: n/a
                    Maximum distance: 247nm

                    327nm is unlikely - aircraft at 40000ft go over the horizon at about 250nm - but who knows, maybe you got a signal that bounced off something, or it's a glitch ... have to see if it happens often.

                    Positions reported seems high - maybe you have a feeder running on the PC and the Pi?

                    Originally posted by limparius View Post
                    Hi! I wrote the image to my Pi yesterday and added my key to the fr24.sh and also added back the "export FR24AUTHIP=83.140.247.20" line into the script.

                    When I start the script it doesn't say anything is wrong. Anyhow, I don't seem to be uploading any data to FR24. DUMP1090 in the browser is at least getting data. I tried searching the thread but couldn't find anyone with this issue.

                    Any ideas?

                    Cheers Andreas
                    First thing is to look at /tmp/fr24feed.log, the easy way to to this is to type
                    Code:
                    more /tmp/fr24feed.log
                    this will show a screen full at a time if you hit the spacebar or a line at a time if you hit enter (q to exit)

                    This is what I presently have in my fr24.sh that actively does stuff, you'll notice that the feeder software has been updated

                    killall fr24feed_arm-rpi_242
                    killall dump1090
                    cd /root/dump1090
                    ./dump1090 --fix --net --net-sbs-port 30003 --net-ro-port 31001 --quiet > /dev/null &
                    cd /root
                    export FR24AUTHIP=83.140.247.20
                    ./fr24feed_arm-rpi_242 --fr24key=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx --bs-ip=127.0.0.1 > /tmp/fr24feed.log &

                    download the latest feeder from info on this page http://forum.flightradar24.com/threa...-Flightradar24

                    to do this on the pi do
                    Code:
                    wget https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/66906/fr24feed_arm-rpi_242.tgz
                    tar -xzf fr24feed_arm-rpi_242.tgz
                    Then edit the script to use the new file.

                    Updating the feeder is a good thing to do, but the old one should still work.

                    Comment


                    • Originally posted by peterhr View Post


                      First thing is to look at /tmp/fr24feed.log, the easy way to to this is to type
                      Code:
                      more /tmp/fr24feed.log
                      Thanks for the reply!

                      Can't seem to find this directory. I did download the new feeder and edit the script though. No luck so far.

                      Comment


                      • Originally posted by peterhr View Post
                        I'd use 'top' to show the cpu - it updates every second or so, 'q' to exit

                        Positions reported seems high - maybe you have a feeder running on the PC and the Pi?
                        .
                        I had noticed that the 'positions reported' had increased considerably over the last few days, along with the added range. So it would seem that something has changed, yet I have not altered anything as I have been working & not had time.

                        Just tried the 'top' command & got the following thats pasted below, not sure why their is several instances of fr24feed, perhaps this is a clue! Nothing else on my PC feeding fr24 that I am aware of, just Virtual Radar thats taking a network feed from dump1090.

                        top - 15:15:22 up 1 day, 5:05, 1 user, load average: 1.84, 1.83, 1.81
                        Tasks: 67 total, 2 running, 65 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
                        %Cpu(s): 41.0 us, 44.2 sy, 0.0 ni, 0.0 id, 0.0 wa, 0.0 hi, 14.8 si, 0.
                        KiB Mem: 448180 total, 111596 used, 336584 free, 15164 buffers
                        KiB Swap: 102396 total, 0 used, 102396 free, 46504 cached

                        PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
                        1858 root 20 0 15780 6052 904 R 60.6 1.4 826:09.84 dump1090
                        2485 pi 20 0 22720 4032 1400 S 7.1 0.9 13:45.45 fr24feed_arm-
                        2104 pi 20 0 22720 4040 1404 S 6.1 0.9 85:57.21 fr24feed_arm-
                        2132 pi 20 0 22720 4040 1404 S 6.1 0.9 82:45.81 fr24feed_arm-
                        2183 pi 20 0 22720 4032 1400 S 6.1 0.9 57:00.37 fr24feed_arm-
                        2243 pi 20 0 22720 4032 1400 S 6.1 0.9 41:38.79 fr24feed_arm-
                        2303 pi 20 0 22720 4032 1400 S 6.1 0.9 37:12.06 fr24feed_arm-
                        2530 root 20 0 4668 1476 1028 R 1.3 0.3 0:07.84 top
                        7 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0.3 0.0 3:00.18 rcu_preempt
                        T-EGCC59: http://radar-sw.no-ip.biz/VirtualRadar/
                        Raspberry Pi, Dump1090, ADS-B RTL2832 Dongle, Bulgarian Collinear 8m AGL.

                        Comment


                        • Originally posted by Mutt08 View Post
                          I had noticed that the 'positions reported' had increased considerably over the last few days, along with the added range. So it would seem that something has changed, yet I have not altered anything as I have been working & not had time.

                          Just tried the 'top' command & got the following thats pasted below, not sure why their is several instances of fr24feed, perhaps this is a clue! Nothing else on my PC feeding fr24 that I am aware of, just Virtual Radar thats taking a network feed from dump1090.

                          top - 15:15:22 up 1 day, 5:05, 1 user, load average: 1.84, 1.83, 1.81
                          Tasks: 67 total, 2 running, 65 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
                          %Cpu(s): 41.0 us, 44.2 sy, 0.0 ni, 0.0 id, 0.0 wa, 0.0 hi, 14.8 si, 0.
                          KiB Mem: 448180 total, 111596 used, 336584 free, 15164 buffers
                          KiB Swap: 102396 total, 0 used, 102396 free, 46504 cached

                          PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
                          1858 root 20 0 15780 6052 904 R 60.6 1.4 826:09.84 dump1090
                          2485 pi 20 0 22720 4032 1400 S 7.1 0.9 13:45.45 fr24feed_arm-
                          2104 pi 20 0 22720 4040 1404 S 6.1 0.9 85:57.21 fr24feed_arm-
                          2132 pi 20 0 22720 4040 1404 S 6.1 0.9 82:45.81 fr24feed_arm-
                          2183 pi 20 0 22720 4032 1400 S 6.1 0.9 57:00.37 fr24feed_arm-
                          2243 pi 20 0 22720 4032 1400 S 6.1 0.9 41:38.79 fr24feed_arm-
                          2303 pi 20 0 22720 4032 1400 S 6.1 0.9 37:12.06 fr24feed_arm-
                          2530 root 20 0 4668 1476 1028 R 1.3 0.3 0:07.84 top
                          7 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0.3 0.0 3:00.18 rcu_preempt
                          That's 6 feeders running

                          My guess is that when you updated the feeder, you forgot to change the killall line earlier in the fr24.sh script.

                          Originally posted by limparius View Post
                          Thanks for the reply!

                          Can't seem to find this directory. I did download the new feeder and edit the script though. No luck so far.
                          The file is created here, if the file doesn't exist - your feed command is different (also note the direction of the '/' ... the other way from Windows)

                          export FR24AUTHIP=83.140.247.20
                          ./fr24feed_arm-rpi_242 --fr24key=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx --bs-ip=127.0.0.1 > /tmp/fr24feed.log &
                          Last edited by peterhr; 2014-06-15, 16:13. Reason: multi-quote

                          Comment


                          • Originally posted by peterhr View Post
                            The file is created here, if the file doesn't exist - your feed command is different (also note the direction of the '/' ... the other way from Windows)

                            export FR24AUTHIP=83.140.247.20
                            ./fr24feed_arm-rpi_242 --fr24key=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx --bs-ip=127.0.0.1 > /tmp/fr24feed.log &
                            I tried this line before and it said that it couldn't connect to BS. I recently rebooted my Pi after editing a line i forgot in the fr24.sh.

                            After pasting the line above it is working! I just checked the latest upload which was only a few minutes ago. Thanks for the help!

                            Comment


                            • You're very welcome

                              Comment


                              • Originally posted by peterhr View Post
                                That's 6 feeders running

                                My guess is that when you updated the feeder, you forgot to change the killall line earlier in the fr24.sh script.
                                Whoops! Thanks Peter, all sorted now..

                                PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
                                1816 root 20 0 15780 6052 904 R 43.3 1.4 0:24.52 dump109
                                2104 pi 20 0 22588 3880 1316 S 7.9 0.9 0:04.19 fr24fee
                                2128 root 20 0 4668 1360 1028 R 1.0 0.3 0:00.27 top
                                T-EGCC59: http://radar-sw.no-ip.biz/VirtualRadar/
                                Raspberry Pi, Dump1090, ADS-B RTL2832 Dongle, Bulgarian Collinear 8m AGL.

                                Comment

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