Is this a usb power limits issue, or something else?

[skptrsn]

After  wrestling with my pi in futility, I found the installation instructions for BOOKWORM by ABCD and life was better. I was able to get RadarBox working again - sort of.

When I "left off" and first reestablished connection, my MLAT was working fine, then it dropped out...but the other (maybe) more interesting observation I've made is that my 1090 stick and 978 stick both seem to be collecting data, and passing it to the servers, but the servers are not recognizing 978 data as 978... if I'm reading this thing right.

I'll include screenshots of my observations below for review and interpretation by ones more familiar with the "normal" operation of this software. My question - if this is a power limits issue has a follow-up - if it IS related to power, can I solve the problem by running the dongles through a powered USB hub to a single port on the Pi? I know, I could buy one to try it and report my findings, but if someone else has done it and I can learn from their efforts, I'm, game.

    

The images demonstrate that aircraft well below 18K' MSL, within the US, are being received - my previous installation of these aircraft, which disappear when I pull the 978 MHz dongle offline, appeared as UAT aircraft. If this is not a power issue, is it a setting I've inadvertently changed?

[Runway 31]

Have you serialized the dongles

Alan

[skptrsn]

Hi Alan, thanks for the response. Yes, the dongles are serialized. The 1090 is set at 00001090 and the 978 is @ 00000401. I have the MLAT data set in the init file (or whichever it was) per instructions, and it WAS working when I first got this back online.
I think the MLAT dropped out when I got my UAT (978 MHz) back online, but it might have been shortly after. I've been intending to try a powered USB hub to see if I'm asking my Pi for too much USB power, but I have to wait until I either find one of the ones around here or buy a new one. I mostly think I screwed a setting up somewhere.

[Runway 31]

Can you post a copy of your ini file to see if there are any issues with it

Alan

[skptrsn]

[client]
network_mode=false
log_file=/var/log/rbfeeder.log

key=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
sn=EXXXXXXXXX3

lat=nn.nnn421999999999
lon=-nn.nnn492000000006
alt=nnnnnn

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

[mlat]
autostart_mlat=true
mlat_cmd=/usr/bin/python3.9 /usr/bin/mlat-client

[dump978]
dump978_enabled=true

[abcd567]

[mlat]
autostart_mlat=true
mlat_cmd=/usr/bin/python3.9 /usr/bin/mlat-client

[dump978]
dump978_enabled=true

The python version in Bookworm is 3.11
The ini file has python version 3.9 because it is for Bullseye.

There are two ways to fix this issue:

OPTION (1):  Put a # at start of "mlat_cmd=" line. This will make it ineffective. The rbfeeder will then automatically find the available version of python and use it. Please see attached screenshot.

NOTE: By default, the rbfeeder ini file has a # mark at start of line "mlat_cmd=". It seems you have removed it by mistake.


OPTION (2): In line starting with "mlat_cmd=", change 3.9 to correct version 3.11


Please REBOOT your Pi after making any one of the two changes noted above and saving the ini file.

[skptrsn]

Thank you for that! I caught that I had accidentally removed the comment from that line, but whenever I would try to re-comment it, the station would go into "offline" status after rebooting - so I kept it out.
Updating the python version manually and rebooting the pi, it's back online. Promising. The MLAT isn't showing yet, but that might be me or time.. I will watch it for a day or two to see if I stumble into the fully functional station I thought I had. lol. I usually see more UAT aircraft during the daylight hours - about 10+ hours away.

[abcd567]

@Runway 31
@skptrsn

For your quick reference, I am ataching below screenshots from my Station EXTRPI000008.

[Runway 31]

Thanks abcd

Alan

[skptrsn]

Yes, thank you to both of you - sorry for the delayed response - I was hoping to have better news to report, however -
Still getting my butt kicked here. Overnight my WiFi router must've done an update, as it reset itself to factory defaults - which were not in the Pi.. SO I unplugged the pi, took it to a monitor and keyboard, got it back online, took it to the antenna setup and plugged it back in... says it's back online again (but, of course, not reading any airplanes).
Attempting to self-help has led me to more frustration than success.
I will share what I've found is true about my system in hopes that my mistake is evident. In the .ini (/etc/rbfeeder.ini) file, if I comment out the lines below MLAT and UAT, as in many working systems, the system remains offline. If I stop rbfeeder and run rtl_test -t, both dongles are still found, still serialized as before - looks like nothing has changed there. If I remove the comment hashtag from the lines I referred to, the system appears to start, but is unable to read the attached dongles. I have network mode set to "false" to indicate it should read the dongles it finds onboard, not a remote feed - I believe that's how the instructions read?
I do see that there is no MLAT client installed - as shown by the test above with my results here:
pi@raspi1:~ $ apt-cache policy mlat-client
mlat-client:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 1:0.2.13+deb11
  Version table:
     1:0.2.13+deb11 500
        500 https://apt.rb24.com bullseye/main arm64 Packages