AirNav Systems Forum
AirNav RadarBox and RadarBox24.com => AirNav RadarBox and RadarBox24.com Discussion => Topic started by: N9JIG on May 11, 2017, 06:10:41 PM
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I have recently bought a couple RTL-SDR dongles and have them on the same PC as my RadarBox. When I rearranged the USB hub today and started AirNav RadarBox 6.01.001 it found the SDR first and apparently tuned it to 1090 and started decoding. Since the SDR is connected to a scanner antenna and not a tuned 1090 MHz. antenna it only sees a few aircraft vs the hundred or so I typically get this time of day.
First off: It is kind of cool that I could use this with a cheap $20 dongle, I suppose that it would work better if I connect it to the specialized antenna though.
Second: How do I force the application to use the RadarBox instead? I use the SDR for other purposes and it is a PITA to have to unplug it, start ANRB and then plug the SDR in again.
Third: Since the SDR has no ESN could I conceivably use it mobile and leave the RB at home?
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Mobile sdr? I have done it on my android phone:
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8062/29588191285_b17c1a786e_c.jpg) .
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8711/29595673065_7ec635e71c_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8404/29305339310_3d4bfd1b78_c.jpg)
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Some my technically knowledgeable amongst us may have the answer but starting up the radarbox one first and then the other one is the only way I know of doing it
Alan
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The issue is that when I start the RadarBox it finds the SDR and connects to it. To avoid this I would have to remove the SDR from the USB port, start the ANRB application so that it finds the RB then plug the SDR in.
Another question comes to mind here though: If the ANRB application will work with off the shelf SDR's does it not check for an ESN? Is the serial number one enters into the application just a product key not tied to the hardware?
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Unfortunately all generic DVB-T dongles have same Serial Number: 00000001. Flightaware's all ProStick dvb-t dongles have Serial Number: 00001000.
I faced similar problem when I installed dump1090 (ads-b) and dump978 (uat) on my RPi, with two DVB-T dongles plugged-in, one connected to 978 Mhz antenna, other to 1090 Mhz antenna. These two dumps will randomly grab the dongles at start. Although dump1090 and dump978 both had provision to specify the device number (actually usb port number) as 0, 1, 2, .... and I did specify device 0 for dump1090, and device 1 for dump978, the grab was sometimes still random.
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abcd567, what is the application you run on the Android to make it function like if it was connected to the normal software on the PC ?
did not know this is possible, it sure would help me out "in the field"
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abcd567, what is the application you run on the Android to make it function like if it was connected to the normal software on the PC ?
did not know this is possible, it sure would help me out "in the field"
Hi vonsmalhausen
The application on my Android phone is Flightaware's "Flight Feeder", which was available upto 2016 at Google Play Store (Free of charge). It had a decoder software (dump1090) and data feeder to Flightaware.
By end of 2016, Flightaware decided to discontinue using Android Phone/Tablet for data feeding, but it remained available on Google store for next couple of months.
Flightaware finally removed it from Google Play Store, and made it's source code as open source. Its source files are available on Github by the name "Flight Scanner". However in order to use it, one has to first built an installation package (.apk) from the source code.
https://github.com/flightaware/adsb-flight-scanner-android
Luckily an already built .apk package "ADS-B Flight Scanner- Version 2.0.29" is available from a download site, and I have downloaded and installed it from there.
https://apkpure.com/ads-b-flight-scanner/com.flightaware.android.flightfeeder
.
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thanks, will have a close look at it :-)
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thanks, will have a close look at it :-)
Flightawsre removed the data feeder part of the original "Flight Feeder" when they made it open source. They also replaced word "Feeder" from in its name by "Scanner", so it is now "Flight Scanner".
Even if someone still got old "Feeder" version, it wont login and their servers wont connect it to feed data to Flightaware.
The data output is however locally available on Android Phone/Tablet at ports 30005 (beast) and 30002 (AVR), and can be pulled by any computer through network.
The google map with planes, and the aircraft tables are viewable on Android Phone/Tablet, as well as on the browser of any other desktop/laptop/tablet on the same local network to which the phone is connected via wifi.
(https://s20.postimg.org/5i4p4m859/Screenshot_2017-05-12-19-16-05.png)
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thanks for this info, i managed to download and install the FlightScanner app on my phone, it does not look like the screenshots with the menu's you posted earlier, but if it just gets the planes plotted on the map, it is fine for me ( the idea behind this, is to use it round airfields when i go spotting, but can not take my laptop with me, and have no WiFi connection to use FR24 )
now i have to find me a connector to plug the USB end of the dongle in to the phone, and check it out :-)
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well, got me a connector, but no flights show up on the map
the blue light shows on the Micro Radarbox, so it should be connected
problem is, i can not find a way to a set-up menu, only can pop-up a basic menu for map type, speed and altitude units.
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well, got me a connector, but no flights show up on the map
the blue light shows on the Micro Radarbox, so it should be connected
problem is, i can not find a way to a set-up menu, only can pop-up a basic menu for map type, speed and altitude units.
Yes, you wont see any planes unless in Settings you set the antenna location manually. By default it is "Antenna Location: Auto". I took and posted the "Settings" screenshot after removing my Latitude & Longitude for privacy reasons. This reverted "Antenna Location" to default "Auto" and misguided you.
Here is the screenshot with antenna location entered manually. This time I removed the decimal part of latitude & Longitude in Photoshop :)
EDIT:
I keep my phone's GPS off to minimize battery consumption. It may be possible that if Phone's GPS is turned ON, "Antenna Location :Auto" will set the antenna location from GPS, and planes start showing on map. I did not try this, but you may try by turning ON the phone's GPS, and keeping Flight Scanner's setting "Antenna Location : Auto".
IMAGE 1 of 3 - SETTINGS
(https://s20.postimg.org/642us7hz1/Screenshot_2017-05-13-11-56-44-_R.png)
IMAGE 2 of 3 - HALF-SCREEN MAP + HALF-SCREEN TABLE
(https://s20.postimg.org/i3eczinjx/Screenshot_2017-05-13-11-59-32-R.png)
IMAGE 3 of 3 - FULLSCREEN MAP
(https://s20.postimg.org/abxn0yjel/Screenshot_2017-05-13-11-59-36-R.png)
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no, i do not see the same as on you're screenshots,
this is what i see :
image 1, the quick set-up, usually when i put my antenna there, connected to my PC via MicroRB/RB1 i get aprox 25/30 hits
image 2, FlightScanner running on my phone with MicroRB connected
image 3, the only menu/setup i can turn on
thanks for the help/info so far ( really appreciated ) but i think my technical knowledge in this has reached his limits
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The software running on your Samsung Android Phone is NOT Flight Scanner by Flightaware.
There are 2 possibilities:
(1) You have installed another flight tracking software on your phone
OR
(2) The software showing on your phone is built-in into the MicroRB dongle.
If case (2), use Generic DVB-T like I am using (DVB-T + FM + DAB, RTL2832U + R820T2)
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yep, already thought is was not the right software,
i think i found the software you use, but i don't feel confident to set it up
so i just will let it go
again thanks for the time and effort you putted in to trying to explain me :-)
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Am I correct in assuming that the serial number from the receiver is used only as a product key for the software, the software not actually checking the serial number of the receiver?
If this is the case that would explain why the application picked up the SDR and would also point towards the RadarBox receiver basically being an SDR, albeit with specialized filters and front end.
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Am I correct in assuming that the serial number from the receiver is used only as a product key for the software, the software not actually checking the serial number of the receiver?
If this is the case that would explain why the application picked up the SDR and would also point towards the RadarBox receiver basically being an SDR, albeit with specialized filters and front end.
I dont have RadarBox Hardware. I have only few DVB-T RTL SDR Dongles.
To recreate your situation, I downloaded and installed software AirNav RadarBox 6.01.001 on my Windows Desktop.
I then plugged-in two RTL SDR Dongles, one with antenna, in USB port #1, other without antenna, in USB port #2.
When I started RadarBox software, it found and connected one of the two RTL SDR. As planes were shown in table and map, it was the RTL SDR Dongle with antenna, which was plugged into USB port #1. I repeated start and stop software several times, and it always picked the RTL SDR Dongle plugged into USB port #1.
I then swapped the two RTL SDR Dongles. Now USB port #1 had RTL SDR Dongle without antenna, and USB port #2 had RTL SDR Dongle with antenna.
When I started the software, no planes were shown, hence the RTL SDR Dongle picked was the one without antenna, which was now plugged into USB port #1. I repeated software start several times and it always picked the dongle in the same USB port (port #1).
CONCLUSION:
The AirNav RadarBox Software by default always connects to hardware plugged into one particular USB Port.
If that port is the one where you have installed a RTL SDR Dongle, remove the dongle from there, and in that USB port connect Radar Box hardware. Plugin RTL SDR Dongles in some other USB port.
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The software does not check the serial number of the receiver. All it is doing is checking that a receiver is there and what type it is, a radarbox or a stick. The serial number and password are required by the software as a product key as you state to show that you are the authorised user as without these it is not able to be used.
Alan
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The software does not check the serial number of the receiver. All it is doing is checking that a receiver is there and what type it is, a radarbox or a stick. The serial number and password are required by the software as a product key as you state to show that you are the authorised user as without these it is not able to be used.
Alan
The issue is SELECTION of receiver by software at startup.
If there are more than one receiver plugged into USB ports of a Windows Desktop, which receiver the software selects and connects to at startup?
The SELECTION of receiver out of multiple receiver is NOT based on SERIAL NUMBER or TYPE OF RECEIVER.
Out of multiple receivers plugged in, the software selects that receiver which is connected to ONE PARTICULAR USB PORT. So the selection is by USB port number, not by serial number.
The serial number, username and password are required to login, and not for selection of receiver out of multiple receivers plugged in.
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Basically what I wrote ABC
Alan
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OK, back to my original question:
How can I get the ANRB Software to connect to the RadarBox instead of the SDR's? The way things are in my office I cannot easily disconnect the SDR's and the ANRB is the primary application for the computer, it is part of the Startup group and is the application that is ALWAYS running.
Unless I disconnect each of the SDR's the ANRB software will startup and connect to them first.
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I well know your problem N9JIG. In my case the new Radarbox Comstation comes on top too. The Classic RB hardware is the last hardware that the ANRB.exe is looking for. So if you have several SDRs and they aren't already occupied by other software, it will connect to them (as you have already noticed) if you have a comstation in your network it will connect to the the comstation (unless you block a particular port so it can't find it).
As long as ANRB.exe isn't changed by AirNav Systems in a way, that the Hardware isn't automatically identified and connected, but can be user selected, the almost only way would be to go back to V4.03 of ANRB.exe. The issue with V4.03 is, that you will have problems to get an updated NavData.db3 database.
The other way: I used the following option...
I don't use the autostart function of windows to launch ANRB.exe directly. I'm using batchrun to start and stop some software using the SDRs. The particular batchrun file is then placed in the windows autostart folder.
Start SDR software #1 to occupie SDR#1
Start SDR software #2 to occupie SDR#2
.
.
.
Start SDR software #n to occupie SDR #n
wait 5min to be sure, that all SDR software is started.
Start ANRB.EXE
wait 2min to be sure, that ANRB.exe has connected to RB1 (classic RadarBox hardware)
Stop SDR software #1
Stop SDR software #2
.
.
.
Stop SDR software #n
Furthermore I'm using batchrun to create a backup copy of my MyLog.db3 on each start of my PC.
Hope that helps a little bit.
Ingo
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If the software is smart enough to identify that it is connected to "RB1" or an SDR (as it does on the splash screen and in the application itself) it should be able to be set up to allow the user to select the preferred device, perhaps in an INI file or perhaps to ask upon startup if there are multiple devices available.
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That's true...
...and as far as I could remember it was requested be me and some others ages ago...
...but I'm still using batch run...
Ingo