NEW JUST OUT FLIGHTAWARE DONGLE

[abcd567]

I dont remember the configuration command exactly, but it something like this:

-mlatResultsFormat "beast,connect,localhost:30104 ext_basestation,listen,30106"

[Sam26K]

Just plugged in the new FA ProStick with filter and after a couple of hours I can see about a 25 mile increase in range. It looks like all the signal levels are higher now. Haven't changed anything with the gain yet.

Now I just need to get MLAT working with VRS .

[abcd567]

Update, got the new FA ADS-B USB stick and related hardware and ready to replace. The only hesitation I have now is that after installing PiAware I've learned that there is options to feed the MLAT data back to VRS for local display.

I'm new to PiAware and would like to get this working on my local RPi without compromising the FR24 feed (ie leaked MLAT) before I switch the ADS-B sticks so that there is no doubt in the comparison's between the 2 sticks.

Just plugged in the new FA ProStick with filter and after a couple of hours I can see about a 25 mile increase in range. It looks like all the signal levels are higher now. Haven't changed anything with the gain yet.

Now I just need to get MLAT working with VRS .

FIRST STEP: Configure your Piaware for two things:
1) Input of MLAT from Flightaware to connect to port 30104
2) Output of MLAT from Flightaware to connect to port 30106, for use by VRS

To do both, use following command:

#Configuration command
~ $ sudo piaware-config -mlatResultsFormat "beast,connect,localhost:30104  ext_basestation,listen,30106"

#Check if configuration has actually taken place
~ $ sudo piaware-config -show

#Above command will show contents of piaware config file '/root/.piaware' as follows:
mlatResultsFormat {beast,connect,localhost:30104  ext_basestation,listen,30106}
password xxxxxxxx
user xxxxxxxx

#Now restart piaware so that new configuration starts operating
~ $ sudo piaware-config -restart

#Above command will give following output:
invoking: /etc/init.d/piaware restart
[ ok ] Restarting piaware (via systemctl): piaware.service.

#Now reboot RPi
~ $ sudo reboot

SECOND STEP: Setup VRS
Setup two receivers on VRS

Receiver 1 ADS-B
Format = AVR or Beast Raw Feed
Connection Type = Network
Address = IP address of your RPi on LAN
Port = 30005






Receiver 2 MLAT
Format = Basestation
Connection Type = Network
Address = IP address of your RPi on LAN
Port = 30106






Merge Feed
Now prepare a Merge feed of ADSB and MLAT receivers setup above
Select both receivers you have setup







Setting Map page in Browser (http://127.0.0.1/VirtualRadar/desktop.html)
1) Go to Menu >> Options >> Receivers >> Select Merge Feed Receiver






2) Go to Menu >> Options >> Lists >> Lists Settings, press "add" button, and add MLAT from the list.

[Sam26K]

Thanks for that update abcd567. Followed the steps in your first post on how to do that:
abcd567Tutorial1

Added this step from
http://discussions.flightaware.com/a...ns-t36086.html:

sudo piaware-config -mlatResultsFormat "beast,connect,localhost:30104 ext_basestation,listen,30106"
sudo piaware-config -restart

Now VRS shows an open working port to 30106 which should be the MLAT data from piaware. So far no data returned on that channel but I've stopped the feeders to do all the installs and it's a low traffic time right now. Keeping fingers crossed but so far have not seen any MLAT data on port 30106 yet.

[Anmer]

Not sure if this helps but PiAware MLAT is available as follows:

30105 for mlat data in Beast format
30106 for mlat data in Basestation-like format

[Sam26K]

Anmer, thanks for that info it does help. Right now VRS shows a connection with port 30106 in Basestation format but it just so happens there is no mode-s only aircraft in range right now lol. Will try some of the other settings you suggest if nothing happens.

[Sam26K]

Yahoo! It works. Finally followed instructions from abcd567 above I missed before:

Setting Map page in Browser (http://127.0.0.1/VirtualRadar/desktop.html)
1) Go to Menu >> Receivers >> Select Merge Feed Receiver

1 second after doing that I can now see MLAT returned from PiAware on my local VRS! Very happy all the way around!
Thanks very much for all the help and the new Flightaware Stick is very impressive!

Edit: The ProStick gave me at least 25-50 mile increase in range. All I did was replace the ADS-B stick I was using with the Pro FA ADS-B stick with 1090Mhz filter. There was a noticeable increase in signal strength for all aircraft in range.

I was skectipable from the beginning about this product but now I can say that it is worth the price and will extend your range. Best value in a low cost ADS-B receiver.

[abcd567]

@Sam26K
Reduce gain of dump1090 to 45, watch for some time, then reduce to 42, and watch again.

sudo dpkg-reconfigure dump1090-mutability

Keep pressing Enter key till you reach gain setting (default is "max" which is 49.6 dB). Change max to 45 and keep hitting Enter key, till the setting dialog reaches end and closes. You are done. New value you have entered is saved.
Now restart the RPi for new value of gain to take affect.

sudo reboot

[abcd567]

Yahoo! It works. Finally followed instructions from abcd567 above I missed before:

Setting Map page in Browser (http://127.0.0.1/VirtualRadar/desktop.html)
1) Go to Menu >> Receivers >> Select Merge Feed Receiver

1 second after doing that I can now see MLAT returned from PiAware on my local VRS! Very happy all the way around!
Thanks very much for all the help and the new Flightaware Stick is very impressive!
.......
........

So you initially missed my post describing how to setup VRS for MLAT, on previous page (last post on page 5).

I think it was matter of timing. I posted only 12 minutes before you posted, seems you have already started typing your post when I posted, and therefore did not notice it initially.

[abcd567]

Yahoo! It works. Finally followed instructions from abcd567 above I missed before:

Setting Map page in Browser (http://127.0.0.1/VirtualRadar/desktop.html)
1) Go to Menu >> Receivers >> Select Merge Feed Receiver

1 second after doing that I can now see MLAT returned from PiAware on my local VRS! Very happy all the way around!
Thanks very much for all the help and the new Flightaware Stick is very impressive!
.......
........

So you initially missed my post describing how to setup VRS for MLAT, on previous page (last post on page 5).

I think it was matter of timing. I posted only 12 minutes before you posted, seems you have already started typing your post when I posted, and therefore did not notice it initially.

[Sam26K]

So you initially missed my post describing how to setup VRS for MLAT, on previous page (last post on page 5).

I think it was matter of timing. I posted only 12 minutes before you posted, seems you have already started typing your post when I posted, and therefore did not notice it initially.

Know what you mean. One of my earlier posts in this thread lagged someone else's too.
On the new stick's performance so far here is a couple of screen shots. First time breaking the 200 nmi barrier on FR24 stats page (even though VRS has always indicated more range). Easily an increase in 25 miles and in the area I'm in it translates to a big increase in data received.

I want to start playing with the gain. Is there a narrow band 1090Mhz dump1090 software spectrum analyzer you can suggest so that I can monitor the signal strengths in real time? TIA.
FR24_STATS_7_15_16_SCR3.jpgFR24_STATS_7_18_16_SCR1.jpg

[Sam26K]

Update on improved range. Here is before and after VRS map screen shots showing range data. The most impressive thing is how it improved and filled out the map in directions that had much shorter ranges before.
BTW, I confirmed that with VRS, MLAT a/c's don't affect the range fills, so that's not a factor in the map's range data.

coverage_KSC_7_17_16_NOFA6-E1.jpgcoverage_KSC_7_18_16_NOFA6-E1.jpg

[Sam26K]

Replacing dump1090 with dump1090 mutability with an RPi FR24feed.

To recap how I got everything working on the first attempt, I followed abcd567's tutorial here with some minor deviations:

abcd567ZTutorial1

Stopped all ADS-B feeders and performed the following steps:

1. Update the pi:

sudo apt-get update


2) INSTALL PRE REQUISIT PACKAGES (needed to build, and needed to fulfill dependencies)
Code:
sudo apt-get install -y git
sudo apt-get install -y build-essential
sudo apt-get install -y debhelper
sudo apt-get install -y rtl-sdr
sudo apt-get install -y librtlsdr-dev
sudo apt-get install -y libusb-1.0-0-dev
sudo apt-get install -y pkg-config
sudo apt-get install -y fakeroot
sudo apt-get install -y curl
sudo apt-get install -y cron
sudo apt-get install -y lighttpd

This is where I deviated to avoid a possible disaster. Skip over step 3 that uninstalls dump 1090 and go to step 4 first that downloads dump1090-mutability.

Step 4. DOWNLOAD / CLONE THE SOURCE FILES TO YOUR RPi

sudo mkdir install-dump
cd install-dump
sudo git clone http://github.com/mutability/dump1090.git
EDIT NOTE: There is a typo in the Tutorial original link. It should be 'http' not 'https'" unless you have a password.

Deviation: Go back to step 3 and uninstall the current version(s) of dump1090.

3) REMOVE/UNINSTALL DUMP1090 AND DUMP1090-MUTABILITY IF THESE ARE ALREADY INSTALLED, SO AS TO HAVE A CONFLICT FREE INSTALLATION.
Code:
sudo dpkg -r dump1090
sudo dpkg -r dump1090-mutability


Continue to step 5

5) BUILD THE DUMP1090-MUTABILITY PACKAGE
Note: This is a lengthy process, and seems to freez at several occasions. Please be patient, and let the process take it's time to finish.
Code:
cd ~/install-dump/dump1090
sudo dpkg-buildpackage -b

6) INSTALL THE DUMP1090-MUTABILITY PACKAGE
Code:
cd ~/install-dump
sudo dpkg -i dump1090-mutability_1.15~dev_*.deb

7) CONFIGURE THE WEB SERVER
Code:
sudo lighty-enable-mod dump1090
sudo /etc/init.d/lighttpd force-reload

8) DUMP1090-MUTABILITY POST INSTALLATION CONFIGURATION
Code:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure dump1090-mutability

etc
Edit: After configuring dump1090-mutability the first time and restarting the RPi, FA24feed and PiAware continued working perfectly as if nothing happened.

[abcd567]

@ Sam26K
(1) You are using Piaware, but omitted Step 1-B in my tutorial "How to Install dump1090 mutability 1-15-dev on RPi".
Any specific reason?

(2) Order of Steps 3 & Step 4 is unimportant, any one of the two can be before the other.
Any specific reason why you changed the order?

(3) Stopping all feeders before installation is not necessary, but helps for RPi older models with lower CPU capacity/speed. If adsb feeders are stopped, some CPU capacity will be made free for use in installation work.

(4) I just now tested, the https link for cloning dump1090-mutability (as given in my tutorial) works fine, no password asked.

pi@piaware:~/install-dump $ sudo git clone https://github.com/mutability/dump1090.git
Cloning into 'dump1090'...
remote: Counting objects: 4923, done.
remote: Total 4923 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 4923
Receiving objects: 100% (4923/4923), 6.14 MiB | 427.00 KiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (3328/3328), done.
Checking connectivity... done.

[Sam26K]

Hi abcd567,

1. I'm using the "PiAware (Debian Package Add-on) 2.1-5". As I understand it 1b is only for the piaware image. Anyway it worked for me to skip 1b.

2. I wanted to make sure there was no problem downloading dump1090-mutability before uninstalling the existing dump1090.

3. Stopping the feeders was just a precaution to eliminate any potential problems.

4. Not sure why I was prompted for a password and you were not but I just used http instead of https and it worked. Do you have some kind of user account with github?

BTW, can you suggest a software spectrum analyzer I can use to monitor dump1090 in real time to aid in optimizing the gain?

Thanks Again