Author Topic: A Cool part for PilotAware  (Read 6690 times)

Wadoadi

A Cool part for PilotAware
« on: November 27, 2017, 02:42:58 pm »
OK so it should have read a cooler part for PilotAware :)

I have always had a concern over the amount of heat the SDR DVB-T generated, it is too hot to handle, in the past I have added a heatsink to help but Sunday I fitted and flew with a low power SDR (around 100mA less) and it worked well and remained cool enough that I could keep my finger on it unlike the old unit...

http://getyourwings.co.uk/cool-part-pilotaware/

The unit was from https://www.rtl-sdr.com/tag/low-power/

jamespratt

Re: A Cool part for PilotAware
« Reply #1 on: November 25, 2018, 11:14:22 pm »
Has anyone else used one of these low power ADSB dongles? I have now had two of the original ADSB dongles (on the known good hardware list) stop working so I ordered one of the stratux low powered ones ( V2? has a blue circuit board).  https://www.rtl-sdr.com/buy-rtl-sdr-dvb-t-dongles/

When I start up my pilotware unit the home page says ADS-B connected but the status is red. There is no traffic on the traffic page. The dongle gets hot so it is getting power.

Do I have a duff one? Do I need an updated driver?

I have one of the original pilotawares, with the upgraded bridge, running software version 20180520.


Any suggestions appreciated!





exfirepro

Re: A Cool part for PilotAware
« Reply #2 on: November 26, 2018, 06:30:39 am »
Hi James,

This is in effect the dongle now supplied in the PilotAware Rosetta, so it should ‘just work’ as reported in the article Wadoadi has linked to.

The Red ADSB Status ‘light’ is a bit of a red herring here - all that means is that no ADSB Traffic has been received in the last 5 seconds or so. In normal use this switches between red and green as traffic comes and goes. Of more concern is that you say you have nothing on your Traffic Screen. Obviously we need to know why not.

Can you take and post a screen grab of your Home, Configure and Traffic Screens please so I can see what else is going on here.

Regards

Peter
« Last Edit: November 26, 2018, 06:43:31 am by exfirepro »

Seanhump

Re: A Cool part for PilotAware
« Reply #3 on: November 26, 2018, 07:58:49 am »
I use two of the Low Powered ones in the main PAW setup - the work perfectly, reasonably cool too !

And regarding the no traffic display - it might just be that there isn't anything out there that's detectable at that time ? …

Cheers
Pilotaware user ...

jamespratt

Re: A Cool part for PilotAware
« Reply #4 on: November 26, 2018, 06:32:29 pm »
Hi,

Thanks for the comments. Attached are screenshots of home page, configuration and traffic page.

There were definitely aircraft to pick up according to FR24 (plus they were flying over). I am using the same aerial, cable and connection that worked fine on the last ADS-B dongle, until it broke (I used to be able to see a/c down to the S coast). I also have a spare aerial and have swapped it over - still no traffic so it's not that.

I've seen on the Stratux website that they sell dongles labelled 1090 and 978 - could I have been sent the wrong one?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M7NMWCD/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B01M7NMWCD&linkCode=as2&tag=stratux-20&linkId=e0f8da26cc3464c8424356913314cdd8
« Last Edit: November 26, 2018, 06:36:32 pm by jamespratt »

exfirepro

Re: A Cool part for PilotAware
« Reply #5 on: November 26, 2018, 08:30:49 pm »
Hi James,

Thanks for posting the screenshots. The only obvious thing I see is that you have some sort of power issue - denoted by the entry ‘throttled=50000’ at the right hand end of the ‘Uptime’ row on the Home Screen. This indicates an under voltage issue, though not necessarily significant in terms of traffic reception. What are you using to power your unit? Are you definitely using the supplied Power Lead?

The labelling of the Stratux dongles as 1090MHz or 978MHz is to allow Stratux units to identify them when running twin dongles. When used in PilotAware, this makes no difference as PilotAware automatically tunes the first (or only) dongle to 1090MHz.

From what I am seeing, I suspect an antenna issue such as a break in the coax or the MCX connector. Try using a length of thin bare or insulated wire (but not coaxial cable) which fits fairly tightly into the centre of the SDR antenna connector as an aerial and see what happens. Length isn’t critical.

I would also suggest opening your Mode S filter out to ‘Long Range’ and +/- 30,000ft to maximise the likelihood of seeing traffic

Regards

Peter
« Last Edit: November 26, 2018, 08:36:10 pm by exfirepro »

Ian Melville

Re: A Cool part for PilotAware
« Reply #6 on: November 26, 2018, 08:32:28 pm »
Can you confirm that your antenna is good? That would be the first thing to check

BTW, in what way did your previous SDRs fail?

I see Peter has just posted the same, but must type faster :P

jamespratt

Re: A Cool part for PilotAware
« Reply #7 on: November 26, 2018, 11:51:12 pm »
I lost the original power lead somewhere and have been using one that seemed heavy gauge  - the PAW has worked ok but I'll replace with the proper one.

The last dongle failed because the central wire inside the connecter broke at the back where it was soldered onto the circuit board. Too much jiggling about over time I expect.

I have two antennae and don't get any signal with either - they both worked with the old ADS-B dongle so I don't think it's them. I'll give the wire a go tomorrow.


thanks for the help

jamespratt

Re: A Cool part for PilotAware
« Reply #8 on: November 28, 2018, 12:07:46 am »
Tried inserting a wire into antenna connector as suggested and picked up just two items of traffic on traffic page.

Status page says no msg received from ADS-B dongle. There was a fair bit of traffic about at the time, no distance info on traffic page, even though the Embraer was overhead.

Faulty dongle?

Ian Melville

Re: A Cool part for PilotAware
« Reply #9 on: November 28, 2018, 05:40:29 am »
James, can you confirm this is outside and not in a house? Your position shows a field barn :-) And what length roughly is the wire?

The two messages are the same aircraft and there will be no distance as it is mode S, which has no positional info.

You have proved that the software is working, and that your dongle is deaf rather than dead. This is usually a reception issue, though hardware is still a possibility.

BTW can you do the screenshots at the same time? These appear to be 20 minutes ish apart.
« Last Edit: November 28, 2018, 05:56:10 am by Ian Melville »

jamespratt

Re: A Cool part for PilotAware
« Reply #10 on: November 28, 2018, 08:30:13 am »
Yes, outside the front of the house in plain view of the sky, good view south (plenty of aircraft).

15 cm of wire.

In the same location I would normally obtain plenty of targets.

I thought I took 2 screen shots at same time, must have sent wrong one but will resend tonight after work

exfirepro

Re: A Cool part for PilotAware
« Reply #11 on: November 28, 2018, 10:04:01 am »
Hi again James,

I missed your post last night, but Ian has said pretty much the same as I would have done.

Only one Commercial Aircraft reported at 22,000ft is concerning if there was as you say a lot of traffic around (presumably seen on FR24 or did you actually ‘see’ other aircraft?). Sig(nal strength) of 24 also seems low for a commercial aircraft directly overhead as they normally pump out up to 500 watts, so it does sound like either your new dongle is ‘deaf’ or there is something else going on here.

I’m loathe to suggest buying yet another dongle (especially all the way from China) as that may not be the problem, though I’m struggling to think what else it could be. You could try swapping the SDR to a different USB port. Try swapping them around so the USB port you normally plug the SDR into is left blank. DON’T swap the WiFi one with the unit powered up though - it won’t like it. It would probably be worth getting in touch with Ash at PilotAware Support ( support@pilotaware.com ). He might be able to send you a ‘used’ old style ‘Realtek’ SDR (from the ‘Rosetta upgrade program’ returns) to try, to prove whether your new ‘Stratux’ dongle is faulty or whether there is a fault elsewhere (e.g. on your main board). (Mention this thread if getting in touch so Ash knows the background).

The only other thing I can suggest is a fresh ‘full manual software install’ in case the software has got corrupted, though that seems unlikely. That needs a full card reformat as per the instructions available on www.pilotaware.com - or a new, correctly formatted card. Or it may be time to consider an upgrade to Rosetta  ;)

Regards

Peter

Admin

Re: A Cool part for PilotAware
« Reply #12 on: November 28, 2018, 04:27:46 pm »
James,
I was just about to say 'its a faulty dongle', then I noticed the power warning
throttled=0x50005

Bit Pattern
    0: under-voltage
    1: arm frequency capped
    2: currently throttled
    16: under-voltage has occurred
    17: arm frequency capped has occurred
    18: throttling has occurred

so this means
throttling has occurred, under-voltage has occurred
currently throttled, under-voltage

Under voltage will affect everything

Thx
Lee

jamespratt

Re: A Cool part for PilotAware
« Reply #13 on: November 28, 2018, 08:31:44 pm »
Thanks for all the above.

Proper cable is on order and I'll try again when it arrives and see if that helps.