Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Home Brew Antenna

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • #16
    @abcd567
    Feb 2019

    Is it possible to also run two INDEPENDENT instance of Piaware Data Feeder on same Pi?

    @obj
    Feb2019
    Yes, though not out of the box. You can start two copies of piaware each with different -configfile and -cachedir command-line options, and then configure the two config files to point to different data sources. You’ll need to put together your own systemd service files to do that.
    SOURCE:
    One Pi, Two Dongles, Two Maps, Two Receivers

    Scroll down to last few posts

    Comment


    • #17
      What I actually meant was; ultimately to run one antenna (using my new rtl-sdr LNA when it arrives), one stick (my new rtl-sdr V3 when it arrives) with dump1090(insert most appropriate version name here), piaware and FR24feed as described in the article you kindly linked to a few posts back.

      Comment


      • #18
        Originally posted by technodevotee View Post
        What I actually meant was; ultimately to run one antenna (using my new rtl-sdr LNA when it arrives), one stick (my new rtl-sdr V3 when it arrives) with dump1090(insert most appropriate version name here), piaware and FR24feed as described in the article you kindly linked to a few posts back.
        Oh, I misunderstood that you want to run TWO antennas, connected to TWO sticks, both feeding to FR24 + Flightaware as TWO stations, but both sticks plugged into only ONE RPi instead of two RPis.

        Comment


        • #19
          Well, I probably wasn't specific enough.


          Anyway, when I was up my loft fitting my second antenna (more-or-less the same as no. 1 in the post you linked to), I looked at the spider I've been using since late 2015 and discovered that the top wire was 140mm long!

          Needless to say, after I'd shortened it all my stats improved significantly.

          Comment


          • #20
            wiedehopf, ran out of replies on FA and didn't want to be appearing to blank you so thought I'd try you on here.

            That setting is only for the piaware sd-card image. Are you using that?
            No but I saw that it said not to edit the file because it would be recreated on boot. I tried it anyway when setting my PPM correction figure and it did indeed get wiped out, so I used piaware-config rtlsdr-ppm 63 and it seems to have worked so far.

            Comment


            • #21
              # If you are using a PiAware sdcard image, this config file is regenerated
              # on boot based on the contents of piaware-config.txt; any changes made to this
              # file will be lost.
              Note the "If".

              Maybe you just didn't save the file when editing it? (in regards to the ppm setting)

              The settings from piaware-config in regards to dump1090-fa normally have zero effect when not using the piaware sd-card image.

              Comment


              • #22
                Thanks.

                I couldn't find piaware-conf.txt and I'm sure I saved the file because I checked it before rebooting and it had changed back after rebooting.

                Come to think of it though, I don't think I've restarted since issuing the piaware-config command.

                What is this maximum of 22 replies nonsense on FA?

                Comment


                • #23
                  If you are running two RPis maybe you mixed them up?

                  The piaware-config.txt is located under /boot. But it shouldn't be present as you aren't using the piaware sd-card image.

                  Anyway it's easy enough to check, change the gain via piaware-config, do a reboot and check the config file.
                  If the file does not have the new gain value you selected it does nothing and if it works well maybe you do have the piaware sd-card image

                  That maximum is only for new users.
                  At least new users can post links over there.

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    IDK. Just rebooted and it wasn't set so I set it in etc/default/dump1090-fa and rebooted and it stayed set.

                    props to you sir!

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      i know that each SDR usb dongle is slightly off the real frequency. mine is +56 ppm. where do i enter this information on my raspberry pi ?

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        and props to you again sir abcd!

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Looks like the antenna is the weak link in my setup as I received my RTLSDR kit and it helps but not as much as I had hoped.

                          Being in the loft with the roof tiles, trusses and gang nail joint plates being in the way doesn't help of course.

                          I tried it with gain left at -10 and it gave massive signal but fewer messages than the old one.

                          Then I tried incrementally increasing the gain starting at 30 (about 20% fewer messages than old one), up to 50 in steps of 5.

                          At certain gain levels I got about 50% more messages than the old one with more planes at greater distance.

                          Crikey, the Dongle gets hot though.

                          I've gone back to the old one for now as I'm waiting for some connectors and cables to arrive, then I'll be able to put the LNA in the loft near the ant and try it properly.

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            I got myself a cheap Arctic brand fan to cool my RPi and receiver.
                            It's not necessary but it's nice to have.

                            Accidentally got the 12cm version. But i'm sure the 8 cm version will run on 5 V too.
                            For a hot attic that's not a bad idea probably.

                            My setup hanging out in the attic:
                            49b361cec4b1c0758f5acadf47b23da82e5eb178_2_333x500.jpeg

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              Yeah, I saw your pic the other day - IMHO it definitely qualifies as an art installation.

                              Move over Damien Hirst!

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                As far as the existing setup goes, I've now got both RPis running the same core software - DUMP1090-FA, Graphs1090 (thanks wiedehopf) and flightairmap. They have the same dongle and the same (as near as makes no difference) homebrew spider in the loft up under the ridge tiles. One of the antennae is right in the centre of the roof and the other is about six feet away (as far away as feasible from the humongous pole with the TV aerial on it.

                                I've tweaked and tweaked everything for max performance and have on average almost the same signal strength, number of planes and messages on both receivers.

                                One feeds FA and FR and the other feeds RB and ADSBX. For my own consumption, VRS is configured with a merged feed of both receivers (sometimes shows an additional ten or so planes).

                                To complete the job, I've just added an MLAT feed from the two receivers to the merged feed in VRS as well, which involved inserting --results beast,listen,30105 --results ext_basestation,listen,30106 into adsbexchange-mlat_maint.sh to enable the MLAT output on the second one.

                                It will be interesting to see what improvements the new gear makes once I get it installed properly.
                                Last edited by technodevotee; 2019-04-28, 06:11. Reason: typos / errors

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X