Adding UAT 978 to existing 1090 install

[foehammer]

Hello,

I already had a Flight Aware 1080 dongle feeding Flight Aware, Airnav Radar Box, ADSB Exchange etc.

I recently received my AirNav Radabox UAT 978 dongle and antenna and added it to my RPi 4, following the instructions on how to change the serial numbers one dongle at a time. I was able to get Flight Aware to receive both ADSB and UAT data with a few config file changes to specify which device to use for what protocol.

I cannot for the life of me get rbfeeder to take in both ADSB and UAT. I've found some forum posts from 2020 stating that you can only do one or the other. I was hoping that is outdated info seeing as Flight Aware supports it.

My rbfeeder.ini file, with certain data redacted.

Code: [Select]

client]
network_mode=true
log_file=/var/log/rbfeeder.log

key=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

sn=XXXXXXXXX

lat=XXXXXXX

lon=XXXXXXXXX

alt=269

sat_used=0

sat_visible=0

[network]
mode=beast
external_port=30005
external_host=192.168.X.XXX

[mlat]
autostart_mlat=true
#mlat_cmd=/usr/bin/python3.5 /usr/bin/mlat-client

[dump978]
dump978_enabled=true
dump978_port=30979


[Runway 31]

The forum posts will have been refering to are regarding using the V6 software and UAT.  You are feeding RB on the web so no issues with that

Unfortunately I know very little about Pi's so cant help but have a look at
https://forum.radarbox24.com/index.php?topic=104911.msg486421#msg486421

https://forum.radarbox24.com/index.php?topic=104861.msg483961#msg483961

https://forum.radarbox24.com/index.php?topic=103271.msg444091#msg444091

Hopefully abcd123 will be around soon to guide you


Alan

[foehammer]

Thank you for the response Alan. Those were helpful links. I believe I may have created an issue by having both dump978-fa and dump978-rb enabled, both trying to use the same dongle.

I've disabled dump798-rb for now since I had seen UAT tracks on FA. I have also tried adding the undocumented dump978_port=30979 flag to rbfeeder.ini.

Now I wait for UAT tracks. I need the snow to melt off the roof so I can take the antenna out of the attic and onto the roof.

[foehammer]

That did the trick!

Thank you for your help, and for the 978 dongle and antenna!

[Runway 31]

Great, well done

Alan

[vantage]

I ran into a similar problem.

I was successfully feeding only 1090 to ADSBexchange and radarbpox24. I received the RB24 978 USB stick & antenna, added the HW and SW to the raspberry PI and all feeds stopped working. If I disconnect the 978 USB stick, the 1090 feed to ADSBexchange works again but still nothing being sent to RB24.

Read several threads here and this is what I've got  now for rbfeeder.ini plus some output  Any help would be greatly appreciated.
=============================================================================
cat /etc/rbfeeder.ini
[client]
network_mode=false
log_file=/var/log/rbfeeder.log

key=<redacted>

sn=<redacted>

lat=<redacted>

lon=<redacted>

alt=<redacted>

sat_used=0

sat_visible=0


[network]
mode=beast
external_port=30005
external_host=127.0.0.1

[mlat]
autostart_mlat=true
#mlat_cmd=/usr/bin/python3.5 /usr/bin/mlat-client

[dump978]
dump978_enabled=true


==================================================================================


pi@raspberrypi:/etc/default $ nc localhost 28380
pi@raspberrypi:/etc/default $ sudo netstat -anp|grep -w 28380
pi@raspberrypi:/etc/default $

=====================================================================


Excerpt from /var/log/rbfeeder.log.  At [2022-03-01 01:01:20] is when I restarted everything and the feeds stopped.

[2022-03-01 00:58:44]  ******** Statistics updated every 30 seconds ********
[2022-03-01 00:58:44]  Packets sent in the last 30 seconds: 0, Total packets sent since startup: 0
[2022-03-01 00:58:44]  Data sent: 3.8 KB
[2022-03-01 00:58:44]  Data received: 1.4 KB
[2022-03-01 00:59:15]  ******** Statistics updated every 30 seconds ********
[2022-03-01 00:59:15]  Packets sent in the last 30 seconds: 0, Total packets sent since startup: 0
[2022-03-01 00:59:15]  Data sent: 3.8 KB
[2022-03-01 00:59:15]  Data received: 1.4 KB
[2022-03-01 00:59:46]  ******** Statistics updated every 30 seconds ********
[2022-03-01 00:59:46]  Packets sent in the last 30 seconds: 0, Total packets sent since startup: 0
[2022-03-01 00:59:46]  Data sent: 3.8 KB
[2022-03-01 00:59:46]  Data received: 1.4 KB
[2022-03-01 01:01:20]  Starting RBFeeder Version 0.4.3 (build 20210909231001)
[2022-03-01 01:01:20]  Using configuration file: /etc/rbfeeder.ini
[2022-03-01 01:01:20]  Network-mode disabled. Using local dongle.
[2022-03-01 01:01:20]  System: raspberry
[2022-03-01 01:01:20]  Start date/time: 2022-03-01 01:01:20
[2022-03-01 01:01:20]  Socket for ANRB created. Waiting for connections on port 32088
[2022-03-01 01:01:21]  Connection established.
[2022-03-01 01:01:21]  Connection with RadarBox24 server OK! Key accepted by server.
[2022-03-01 01:01:21]  Your station serial number is: <redacted>
[2022-03-01 01:01:23]  Can't connect to 978 source (127.0.0.1:28380). Waiting 5 second...
[2022-03-01 01:01:28]  Can't connect to 978 source (127.0.0.1:28380). Waiting 5 second...
[2022-03-01 01:01:33]  Can't connect to 978 source (127.0.0.1:28380). Waiting 5 second...
[2022-03-01 01:01:38]  Can't connect to 978 source (127.0.0.1:28380). Waiting 5 second...
[2022-03-01 01:01:43]  Can't connect to 978 source (127.0.0.1:28380). Waiting 5 second...
[2022-03-01 01:01:48]  Can't connect to 978 source (127.0.0.1:28380). Waiting 5 second...
[2022-03-01 01:01:50]  ******** Statistics updated every 30 seconds ********
[2022-03-01 01:01:50]  Packets sent in the last 30 seconds: 0, Total packets sent since startup: 0
[2022-03-01 01:01:50]  Data sent: 1.6 KB
[2022-03-01 01:01:50]  Data received: 1.0 KB
[2022-03-01 01:01:53]  Can't connect to 978 source (127.0.0.1:28380). Waiting 5 second...
[2022-03-01 01:01:58]  Can't connect to 978 source (127.0.0.1:28380). Waiting 5 second...
[2022-03-01 01:02:03]  Can't connect to 978 source (127.0.0.1:28380). Waiting 5 second...
[2022-03-01 01:02:08]  Can't connect to 978 source (127.0.0.1:28380). Waiting 5 second...
[2022-03-01 01:02:13]  Can't connect to 978 source (127.0.0.1:28380). Waiting 5 second...
[2022-03-01 01:02:18]  Can't connect to 978 source (127.0.0.1:28380). Waiting 5 second...
[2022-03-01 01:02:21]  ******** Statistics updated every 30 seconds ********
[2022-03-01 01:02:21]  Packets sent in the last 30 seconds: 0, Total packets sent since startup: 0
[2022-03-01 01:02:21]  Data sent: 2.1 KB
[2022-03-01 01:02:21]  Data received: 1.1 KB
[2022-03-01 01:02:23]  Can't connect to 978 source (127.0.0.1:28380). Waiting 5 second...
[2022-03-01 01:02:28]  Can't connect to 978 source (127.0.0.1:28380). Waiting 5 second...
[2022-03-01 01:02:33]  Can't connect to 978 source (127.0.0.1:28380). Waiting 5 second...
[2022-03-01 01:02:38]  Can't connect to 978 source (127.0.0.1:28380). Waiting 5 second...
[2022-03-01 01:02:43]  Can't connect to 978 source (127.0.0.1:28380). Waiting 5 second...
[2022-03-01 01:02:48]  Can't connect to 978 source (127.0.0.1:28380). Waiting 5 second...
[2022-03-01 01:02:52]  ******** Statistics updated every 30 seconds ********

[Runway 31]

I note that at the very top of your ini file you have

cat /etc/rbfeeder.ini
[client]
network_mode=false

change to network mode=true

Alan

[vantage]

Thanks.
That fixed the problem of getting 1090 fed to both adsb and radarbox24 when the 978 stick is *not* plugged in.

If I plug in the 978 stick, nothing is sent to either site.

[Runway 31]

Have you renumbered the sticks 0 and 1

Alan

[abcd567]

You did not give very important information that
(1) which image you have written to your microSD card? There are many images such as:
- Raspberry Pi OS image
- Piaware sd card image
- FR24's Pi24 image
- Adsbexchsanqe iimage


(2) which decoders you have installed. What is the output of these commands?

Code: [Select]

apt-cache policy dump1090-fa 

apt-cache policy dump978-rb 

apt-cache policy dump978-fa 

apt-cache policy readsb 



.

[abcd567]

If both 1090 mhz and 978 mhz decoder are installed and two dongles are pluggex in, one with 1090 mhz filter and antenna, other with 978 mhz filter and antenna.

If configuration is not done properly, it is very likely that at startup the dump1090 grabs 978 dongle and dump978 grabs 1090 dongle. This will result in very poor performance (even zero) for both frequencies.


Also there are following decoders available. The configuration varies with decoder installed. With improper configuration either or both 1090 & 978 may fail

For 1090 mhz:
 - dump1090-mutability
- dump1090-fa
- dump1090
- readsb
- modesdeco2

For 978 mhz:
- dump978-rb 
- dump978-fa 
- dump978

CONCLUSION: Which decoders are installed must be known exactly, and configuration done accordingly.

.

[Runway 31]

Thanks for the advice abc

Alan

[abcd567]

Thanks for the advice abc

Alan

Hi Alan,

Because of multiple decoders, and because of multiple images using different decoders, situation is messy.

Unfortunately the users dont specify what OS image they have written to their microSD card and what decoders are installed. They come up with problems without mentioning anything or very little about their installation. As a result it becomes impossible to diagnose and cure the problem. When they are asked to issue diagnostic commands and post the output, many just ignore it. They are like a patient who comes to Doctor, says I have pain in abdomen area (which can be due to indigestion, constipation, pulled or strained muscles, or appendicitis or kidney stone etc), and asks Doctor to give him prescription without telling anything more. When Doctor tells him to take the blood and urine test and ultrasound, he ignores it.

Regards,
ab cd

[abcd567]

If configuration is not done properly, it is very likely that at startup the dump1090 grabs 978 dongle and dump978 grabs 1090 dongle. This will result in very poor performance (even zero) for both frequencies.

Hi Alan

I forgot to mention that the very basic technique with all types of decoders to prevent situation described above and force dump1090 to grab only the donglee with 1090 antenna and 1099 filter is to serialize the 1090 dongle, and then add this number to configuration of dump1090.  Numbers, or alphabets, or a combination of alphabets and number can be used (maximum 8). However general practice is to use either 8-digit 00001090 (Flightaware) or simply 1090 (Adsbexchange) without leading zeros .

Serializing just 1090 mhz dongle is not enough. The 978 mhz dongle should also be serialized with a different serial number, and this number added to configuration of dump978. Numbers, or alphabets, or a combination of alphabets and number can be used (maximum 8). However general practice is to use either 8-digit 00000401 (Radarbox24), or 8-digit 00000978 (Flightaware) or simply 978 without leading zeros (Adsbexchange).

Regards,
ab cd

[Runway 31]

Thanks abcd, all understood.  That is why I asked if the sticks had been re-numbered.  Can you provide a simple guide for users as to how that can be done

Alan