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  • #31
    Originally posted by Sam26K View Post
    There is this link that's selling the ProStick with the whole FA antenna package. Great deal if you don't already have the antenna.
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01F8DQV24?psc=1
    Yes, actually its a great deal, but, there is a problem: > "This item does not ship to Brazil. Please check other sellers who may ship internationally."
    T-SBCT5/T-SBCT6

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    • #32
      @Sam26K
      If you purchase each item individually, and total, it will be less than package price. However the total of individual postages for all items may be higher.

      They are offering one size (RFC 240) and one length (20 feet) of coax. If you order cable seperately, you can get longer/shorter length according to your need. Also you may choose LMR400/RFC400 which has much lower losses than RFC240/LMR240. Lower loss cable is better if your cable run is long.

      Times Microwave Coax, various sizes:
      (LMR400® and LMR240® are registered trademark of Times Microwave)




      Custom Cables Group LLC
      (RFC400® and RFC240® are registered trademark of Shireen Inc.)

      10 foot cable - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FTKC8NC
      15 foot cable - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FTK7SI2
      25 foot cable - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FFZW44O
      50 foot cable - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FTKK0AA

      The above links are for guidance only. There may be many other sellers who sell quality cables at competetive prices. Please run a search on Amazon.com to find the best offer
      Last edited by abcd567; 2016-07-13, 01:48.

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      • #33
        @dudesjp Sorry about the shipping problems. Have you looked into a proxy service like Borderlinx or similar service? Sounds like mixed reviews though. Brazil has always been a difficult country for importing things.

        Thanks for that additional info abcd4567. Good news. I found this offering that is in stock.
        https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0..._hps_bw_g23_i6

        Only about $5USD over the parts separately (which the USB stick is still not available separately). No need for the included dipole and the only thing lacking was an N to SMA adapter cable. The same vendor that ships the product for FlightAware in my area (Custom Cables Group LLC) also had the adapter cable I needed. 1 foot N male to SMA male RG400 to connect between the filter and the FA antenna. Considered the direct connect type adapter, but N male to SMA male are very fragile and prone to damage and wasn't sure I had the clearance to connect the filter directly to the antenna. The setup I have now is the pi is mounted directly under the antenna so I only need enough cable to connect devices together. Currently there is just a 6 inch adapter cable N male to mcx directly to the usb antenna input (no idea what impedance but it came with the USB stick). And a 6 inch USB extender cable between the ADSB stick and the pi. It's in the attic out of the elements and around 90' above sea level with a range of about 200-250 nm mostly towards the NE to SW. The hills to the east block most traffic past around 50 - 100 miles depending on altitude.

        Link to 1' adapter cable N male to SMA male (goes between 1090 filter and FA antenna. If you want a longer antenna cable you can buy a longer version available from the same vendor.):
        Custom Cables Group LLC


        Total price was around $85USD. $65USD for USB with filter kit and $13USD for the 1' N to SMA adapter cable plus 8% CA sales tax.Shipping is free for ground.
        One thing that is interesting is that the ADSB stick is sold on Amazon as from "FlightAware" but the vendor that ships it in my region is "Custom Cables LLC". If you go to the FlightAware main website, there is no links to purchase this item that I could find anyway.

        Looking forward to the results this should be a great test for just replacing the ADS-B USB stick. Tracking and archiving current data.

        Edit just noticed that abcd567 cable links are the same vendor that sells the Flightaware ADS-B Pro Stick mentioned above. So you can include that in the same shipment. Recommend the RG400 cables but it looks like that vendor may not have anything over 6' in RG400 for that cable.

        Better selection for longer LMR400 antenna cable might be here:https://www.amazon.com/MPD-Digital-4...le+to+SMA+male
        Last edited by Sam26K; 2016-07-13, 10:40.

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        • #34
          @Sam26K
          @dudesjp

          Flightaware page with links to purchse Pro Stick from different countries (see "Availability"):


          Pro Stick tech details:


          Information & discussion about purchase of cables:



          How to hookup diagram by abcd567:

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          • #35
            @abcd567, Thanks for that image, it was a double take to make sure I ordered the correct gender cable between filter and antenna (the top cable in the image). The kit I ordered has a 6" adapter cable between filter and ADS-B stick which I prefer to hanging it off the USB stick but might consider it once I have hands on with the hardware. In your image it's the 2nd cable from the top that can be used between the USB stick and the filter (mentioned for others who may not know that).

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            • #36
              abcd567, do you know if this is plug and play? i.e. unplug current ADS-B stick and replace with Flightaware USB stick in the same usb port, run the necessary driver updates and go?
              Last edited by Sam26K; 2016-07-13, 12:26.

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              • #37
                Originally posted by Sam26K View Post
                @dudesjp Sorry about the shipping problems. Have you looked into a proxy service like Borderlinx or similar service? Sounds like mixed reviews though. Brazil has always been a difficult country for importing things.
                @Sam26K, yes, here in Brazil we have serious problems with importing! Not just the prices, but the taxes! Most of the times, you pay more in taxes that you payed in the product!

                Edit:
                As I just said, look this photo, the taxes are more expensive that the antenna! And the shipping is half of the price!

                Captura de Tela 2016-07-13 às 10.30.26.jpg
                Last edited by dudesjp; 2016-07-13, 13:37.
                T-SBCT5/T-SBCT6

                Comment


                • #38
                  Originally posted by Sam26K View Post
                  abcd567, do you know if this is plug and play? i.e. unplug current ADS-B stick and replace with Flightaware USB stick in the same usb port, run the necessary driver updates and go?
                  Yes, I simply replaced the generic (black) DVB-T by ProStick+Filter, and it started working without any software/driver update.

                  I noticed that performance is slightly less than black dvb-t. I then reduced the gain of dump1090-mutability from "max" to 43 dB (max=49.6 dB), and performance jumped up, much better than black dvb-t dongle.

                  Code:
                  sudo dpkg-reconfigure dump1090-mutability
                  A dialoge window will open for settings. Accept default values by pressing Enter key, till you reach gain setting. Change whatever value is there to 43 dB and keep pressing Enter key till the dialog box closes. Your new setting is saved.

                  Try other values of gain like 45 and 42, and finally settle on the value which gives best results.

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                  • #39
                    Originally posted by dudesjp View Post
                    Edit:
                    As I just said, look this photo, the taxes are more expensive that the antenna! And the shipping is half of the price!

                    [ATTACH=CONFIG]7754[/ATTACH]
                    That's outrageous! The same antenna on Amazon is $45.00. Borderlinx has to be better than that but a common complaint is that the delivery charges are higher than expected.

                    https://www.amazon.com/1090MHz-ADS-B...ds=FLIGHTAWARE

                    @abcd567 That's surprising that you have to reduce the gain especially with significant length of antenna cable. When you change the dump1090 gain are you actually changing the actual gain of the USB stick's onboard chip set or is it a software gain only external to the stick?

                    Unfortunately I don't have the mutability version installed. I started to google replacing dump1090 and it doesn't sound simple without having to re-install the feeders or a lot of reconfiguring. Do you have a link to straightforward way to replace dump1090 with the mutability version without messing up the FA24feed and PiAware installs?

                    Currently I have both piaware and FR24 feeding in parallel on the same rpi and it works perfect. No issues with either feed and don't want to break it. TIA!

                    Edit: To dudesjp I do sympathise with your import problem. Brazil is famous for graft and corruption at the borders as are many other South American countries. There are those that specialize in negotiating the corruption to get past that. It's not a joke and a reality for most people who do business in those areas. My advice is to research the import businesses like Borderlinx and go from there.
                    Last edited by Sam26K; 2016-07-14, 09:10.

                    Comment


                    • #40
                      Originally posted by dudesjp View Post
                      @Sam26K, yes, here in Brazil we have serious problems with importing! Not just the prices, but the taxes! Most of the times, you pay more in taxes that you payed in the product!

                      Edit:
                      As I just said, look this photo, the taxes are more expensive that the antenna! And the shipping is half of the price!

                      [ATTACH=CONFIG]7754[/ATTACH]
                      dudesjp,

                      do you have the same import problems if you use aliexpress or similar from china?

                      Comment


                      • #41
                        Originally posted by majo View Post
                        dudesjp,

                        do you have the same import problems if you use aliexpress or similar from china?
                        @majo, yes! The only way is if the seller send as gift, declare a very low price and the federal employee in the day that your package arrive it is in a good humor and releases the product without taxes! But since March, everyone I know who bought out of Brazil are being taxed, no matter the price declared! A friend of mine bought in AliExpress a US$11,00 arcade joystick and it was taxed in US$15,00...
                        T-SBCT5/T-SBCT6

                        Comment


                        • #42
                          @Sam26K

                          (1) To adjust gain in dump1090

                          Check your Pi if you have a file
                          /etc/init.d/dump1090.sh

                          You edit this file in nano editor:
                          Code:
                          sudo nano /etc/init.d/dump1090.sh
                          In the file opened, find the line:

                          PROG_ARGS="--interactive --net --net-ro-size 500 --net-ro-rate 5"

                          In this line, add --gain xx. Use the desired value of gain in place of xx, for example if you want gain to be 45, replace xx by 45

                          The line will become

                          PROG_ARGS="--interactive --net --net-ro-size 500 --net-ro-rate 5 --gain xx"

                          Save the file (ctrl+o) and exit the nano editor (ctrl+x)

                          Reboot R Pi

                          (2)To replace dump1090 by dump1090-mutability

                          Alternative 1: Best is to purchase a new microSD card and do a fresh install of all software (Raspian+dump1090-mutability+data feeders), and keep your current microSD card intact as backup if something goes wrong.

                          Alternative 2: Format the current microSD card and do a fresh install of Raspbian+dump1090umutability+data feeders.

                          Alternative 3: Remove dump1090 and install dump1090-mutability. I have posted a method in the thread linked below, but with all software modifications, there is always some risk of breaking something. If you are ready to take that risk, go ahead. I have tried it on flightaware's Piaware.img installation successfully.

                          How to Install dump1090-mutability_1.15~dev on RPi

                          .
                          Last edited by abcd567; 2016-07-14, 16:43.

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                          • #43
                            Thanks for that update, abcd567. Can't wait for the arrival of the Flightaware stick. it is in transit.

                            @dudesjp, the corruption at Brazil's border is famous. Your posts highlight the struggle and maybe the internet with social media forums will be embarrass them to clean up their act. In the mean time the only way is to negotiate the myriad of "import/export" businesses available.

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                            • #44
                              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.

                              Comment


                              • #45
                                I have ProStick as well as DVB-T black. I feed Flightaware (MLAT enabled) as well as Flightradar24 (MLAT enabled) on both Dongles. There is no difference in MLAT weather you use ProStick or black DVB-T.

                                The only thing you have to do is to configure dump1090 to connect Flightaware MLAT result feedback to port 30104, so that it does not get mixed with non MLAT feed which uses port 30004. Also you will have to configure port 30106 to feed VRS.

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