iGRID WiFi dongle not working for normal WiFi connection?

[a.alexeev.p]

Hello:-)

I have been using my classic with iGrid for some time (ie I had a second wifi dongle), but as recently I started having issues and wifi not connecting (not even showing) sometimes I ended up ordering two new wifi dongles to replace my existing ones.

It seems, however, that they only work for igrid for me (i.e. if I plug one old one and one new one). So, I can’t make the new wifi dongle start showing up as wifi network (weather I plug just one or two).

Is that expected behaviour or is there something I can do to make new dongles work for WiFi connection of my EFB as well as for iGrid.

Old dongles still  somewhat work, but just not super reliable, hence I wanted to try the new ones.

Kind regards,
Alex

[Keithvinning]

Hi Alex
The IGRID dongle will NOT work as a WiFi dongle for a classic
Sorry
Keith

[owengordonmatthews]

I think it needs a bit more of an explanation...
The Igrid dongle is intended to enable receiving a mobile signal from your phones Wi-Fi  hotspot.
With some android phones you may need to change the phones hotspot network from 5GHz to 2.4GHz in order to be able to receive the signal in your PAW computer !

[exfirepro]

Hi OGM,

You are correct in what you say about the dongles only working on 2.4GHz, but that's not the reason why the 'iGRID' dongles won't work as 'primary' WiFi dongles with Alex's PAW Classic.

The reason for that is that the PAW software was configured to operate with WiFi dongles using the RT5370 chipset as PAW's primary WiFi 'transmitter' to generate the WiFi Hotspot in the PAW Classic. The iGRID dongles use a different chipset so are only recognised as 'Receivers' by the current PAW software.

Unfortunately the older (RT5370 chipset) dongles are now virtually unobtainable. The solution to address faulty primary WiFi dongles in PAW Classics is now therefore to 'upgrade' the motherboard in the PAW Classic to a Raspberry Pi 3B which has a 'recognised' internal WiFi chipset on the board. This also releases a USB port for those who also run other facilities to/from their Classic such as 'GPS Out' to a Transponder or 'Direct Flarm In' from a Flarm Transceiver.

Alternatively, if the PAW Classic is otherwise still working, consider trading it in against a new Rosetta and we will repurpose the useable parts and donate them towards the installation of another ATOM Station. 

Best Regards

Peter

[a.alexeev.p]

That’s a very useful, detailed and complicated story:) I did upgrade to Rosetta indeed in the end, but classic is still working I guess. How come you say though there aren’t any suitable chips anymore? I was pretty sure I saw on amazon wifi dongles that look exactly like the old ones for classics? Or they aren’t same on the inside?

[exfirepro]

Hi Alex,

You are correct, a quick search on Amazon shows a few WiFi dongles which look like the ones used with the PAW Classic, but only one of them mentions the RT5370 chipset. In the early days (when PAW was a self-build project) we found that lots of the 'generic' dongles advertised for sale on the internet - even those which were advertised as based on the RT5370 chipset - simply wouldn't work with the PAW software. You would have to take a gamble and buy one and try it.

If you do, please let us know how you get on.

Best Regards

Peter

[a.alexeev.p]

Thank you:) I think I’ll stick to Rosetta for now. The classic also started to have issues of seeing a lot less targets even after changing SDRs it shows a lot at first and then starts to die after a few months again. But that was still very insightful and helpful thread:)