My setup is not tracking any planes, why?

[pranasziaukas]

Hey.

First off, amazing project! It is obvious that a lot of thought has gone into making this possible, providing detailed instructions, etc. Thank you for all the hard work!

I am looking for ideas or suggestions as to why my setup is not tracking any planes, and how to investigate further.

I am running this project on a Raspberry Pi 4 together with a RadarBox ADS-B FlightStick dongle. I have gone through all the setup steps successfully, have gotten premium services from flight tracking providers, and there is no indication in logs (AFAICT) of any software or hardware components failing.

Here is what typical device logs (in balenaCloud dashboard) look like:

 opensky-network  Statistics
 opensky-network   - started on Sun Apr  2 08:22:48 2023
 opensky-network   - running since   0d, 00h:20m:00s
 opensky-network  
 opensky-network   Receiver
 opensky-network   -                         645 frames received (0.54 /s, 0.53 /s)
 opensky-network   -                         644 [100%] Mode-A/C (0.54 /s, 0.53 /s)
 opensky-network   -                           0 [  0%] Mode-S Short (0.00 /s, 0.00 /s)
 opensky-network   -                           1 [  0%] Mode-S Long (0.00 /s, 0.00 /s)
 opensky-network     -                           1 [100%] type 18 (0.00 /s, 0.00 /s)
 opensky-network   -                           0 [  0%] status (0.00 /s, 0.00 /s)
 opensky-network   -                           0 [  0%] unknown (0.00 /s, 0.00 /s)
 opensky-network   -                         644 [100%] filtered (0.54 /s, 0.53 /s)
 opensky-network   -                           0 [  0%] Mode-S filtered (0.00 /s, 0.00 /s)
 opensky-network   -                         645 unsynchronized frames
 opensky-network  
 opensky-network   Buffer
 opensky-network   -                           0 queued messages (current)
 opensky-network   -                           1 queued messages (max)
 opensky-network   -                           0 discarded messages (current)
 opensky-network   -                           0 discarded messages (overall)
 opensky-network   -                           0 discarded messages (in worst overflow situation)
 opensky-network   -                         199 messages in pool (Usage 0.00%)
 opensky-network   -                           0 dynamic pools (current)
 opensky-network   -                           0 dynamic pools (overall)
 opensky-network   -                           0 dynamic pools (max)
 opensky-network   -                           1 flushes
 opensky-network   -                           0 uncollected dynamic pools
 opensky-network   -                           0 Garbage Collector runs
 opensky-network  
 opensky-network   Network
 opensky-network   -                             currently online
 opensky-network   -                        1200 [100%] seconds online (overall)
 opensky-network   -                           0 disconnections
 opensky-network   -                           1 connection attempts
 opensky-network   -                        1713 bytes sent (1.43/s)
 opensky-network   -                           6 bytes received (0.01/s)
 fr24feed  2023-04-02 08:42:52 | [time][i]Synchronizing time via NTP
 fr24feed  2023-04-02 08:42:52 | 23-04-02 08:42:51.761 [I][crxstats_sender.cpp:84] [stats]sent 16 bytes
 fr24feed  2023-04-02 08:42:51 | [time][e]Time synchronized, offset -0.002 seconds, drift -0.034 seconds/minute
 wifi-connect  Checking internet connectivity ...
 wifi-connect  Your device is already connected to the internet.
 wifi-connect  Skipping setting up Wifi-Connect Access Point. Will check again in 120 seconds
 fr24feed  2023-04-02 08:42:59 | [feed][n]ping 5
 fr24feed  2023-04-02 08:43:00 | [feed][n]syncing stream result: 1
 radarbox  [2023-04-02 08:43:08]  ******** Statistics updated every 60 seconds ********
 radarbox  [2023-04-02 08:43:08]  Packets sent in the last 60 seconds: 8, Total packets sent since startup: 152
 radarbox  [2023-04-02 08:43:08]  Data sent: 1.6 KB
 radarbox  [2023-04-02 08:43:08]  Data received: 31 B
 piaware  0 msgs recv'd from the ADS-B data program at dump1090-fa/30005 (0 in last 5m); 0 msgs sent to FlightAware
 fr24feed  2023-04-02 08:43:29 | [feed][n]ping 6
 fr24feed  2023-04-02 08:43:30 | [feed][n]syncing stream result: 1
 fr24feed  2023-04-02 08:43:59 | [feed][n]ping 7
 fr24feed  2023-04-02 08:44:00 | [feed][n]syncing stream result: 1
 radarbox  [2023-04-02 08:44:09]  ******** Statistics updated every 60 seconds ********
 radarbox  [2023-04-02 08:44:09]  Packets sent in the last 60 seconds: 7, Total packets sent since startup: 159
 radarbox  [2023-04-02 08:44:09]  Data sent: 1.6 KB
 radarbox  [2023-04-02 08:44:09]  Data received: 31 B
 fr24feed  2023-04-02 08:44:16 | [reader][i]Connecting to unknown receiver via (tcp://dump1090-fa:30005)
 fr24feed  2023-04-02 08:44:16 | [reader][i]Connected to the receiver, configuring
 fr24feed  2023-04-02 08:44:16 | [reader][i]Configured, processing messages
 fr24feed  2023-04-02 08:44:29 | [feed][n]ping 8
 fr24feed  2023-04-02 08:44:30 | [feed][n]syncing stream result: 1
 fr24feed  2023-04-02 08:44:59 | [feed][n]ping 9
 wifi-connect  Your device is already connected to the internet.
 wifi-connect  Skipping setting up Wifi-Connect Access Point. Will check again in 120 seconds
 fr24feed  2023-04-02 08:45:02 | [feed][n]syncing stream result: 1
 radarbox  [2023-04-02 08:45:10]  ******** Statistics updated every 60 seconds ********
 radarbox  [2023-04-02 08:45:10]  Packets sent in the last 60 seconds: 7, Total packets sent since startup: 166
 radarbox  [2023-04-02 08:45:10]  Data sent: 1.7 KB
 radarbox  [2023-04-02 08:45:10]  Data received: 31 B
 fr24feed  2023-04-02 08:45:29 | [feed][n]ping 10
 fr24feed  2023-04-02 08:45:30 | [feed][n]syncing stream result: 1

lsusb returns:

Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux 5.15.34-v8 xhci-hcd xHCI Host Controller
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0bda:2838 Realtek RTL2838UHIDIR
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 2109:3431  USB2.0 Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux 5.15.34-v8 xhci-hcd xHCI Host Controller

Realtek RTL2838UHIDIR being the dongle, as expected.

And dmesg | grep -i rtl returns:

[    1.349655] usb 1-1.2: Product: RTL2838UHIDIR
[    9.761058] usb 1-1.2: dvb_usb_v2: found a 'Realtek RTL2832U reference design' in warm state
[    9.828149] dvbdev: DVB: registering new adapter (Realtek RTL2832U reference design)
[    9.851446] rtl2832 22-0010: Realtek RTL2832 successfully attached
[    9.851550] usb 1-1.2: DVB: registering adapter 0 frontend 0 (Realtek RTL2832 (DVB-T))...
[    9.851580] dvbdev: dvb_create_media_entity: media entity 'Realt
root@plane-tracker:~# lsusb
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux 5.15.34-v8 xhci-hcd xHCI Host Controller
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0bda:2838 Realtek RTL2838UHIDIR
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 2109:3431  USB2.0 Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux 5.15.34-v8 xhci-hcd xHCI Host Controller
root@plane-tracker:~# dmesg | grep -i rtl
[    1.349655] usb 1-1.2: Product: RTL2838UHIDIR
[    9.761058] usb 1-1.2: dvb_usb_v2: found a 'Realtek RTL2832U reference design' in warm state
[    9.828149] dvbdev: DVB: registering new adapter (Realtek RTL2832U reference design)
[    9.851446] rtl2832 22-0010: Realtek RTL2832 successfully attached
[    9.851550] usb 1-1.2: DVB: registering adapter 0 frontend 0 (Realtek RTL2832 (DVB-T))...
[    9.851580] dvbdev: dvb_create_media_entity: media entity 'Realtek RTL2832 (DVB-T)' registered.
[    9.914602] rtl2832_sdr rtl2832_sdr.2.auto: Registered as swradio0
[    9.914626] rtl2832_sdr rtl2832_sdr.2.auto: Realtek RTL2832 SDR attached
[    9.914635] rtl2832_sdr rtl2832_sdr.2.auto: SDR API is still slightly experimental and functionality changes may follow
[    9.924385] rc rc2: Realtek RTL2832U reference design as /devices/platform/scb/fd500000.pcie/pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0/0000:01:00.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.2/rc/rc2
[    9.924534] rc rc2: lirc_dev: driver dvb_usb_rtl28xxu registered at minor = 0, raw IR receiver, no transmitter
[    9.924642] input: Realtek RTL2832U reference design as /devices/platform/scb/fd500000.pcie/pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0/0000:01:00.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.2/rc/rc2/input2
[    9.941485] usb 1-1.2: dvb_usb_v2: 'Realtek RTL2832U reference design' successfully initialized and connected
[    9.941698] usbcore: registered new interface driver dvb_usb_rtl28xxu
[   43.489438] dvb_usb_v2: 'Realtek RTL2832U reference design:1-1.2' successfully deinitialized and disconnected

My setup has not tracked anything in the first 24 hours, according to the local web interfaces (ports 8080, 30053, 8754). Why? Are there any other relevant logs to check?

Some additional context:

• There is just the dongle plugged into the RPi4, no antenna.
• The nearest (small) international airport is 20km away.
• The device is located next to a window on the 2nd floor, there are some trees around but still plenty of sky view.

What are the chances of my setup being insufficient to track anything? Or a hardware issue with the dongle?

I am completely new to flight tracking, so any ideas or suggestions are appreciated. Cheers!

[ketilmo]

Hi @pranasziaukas,

Thanks for reaching out and for your kind feedback about the project. It's greatly appreciated. Sorry for my delayed response, it's hectic times here currently.

Hopefully, you have managed to get everything up and running by now. If not, we can start debugging this together, which should be possible due to your great work on supplying relevant logs.

The first thing to verify: Do I understand correctly – that you do not have any antenna connected to the USB dongle? You would need either an indoor or outdoor antenna connected to be able to pick up ADS-B data.

If you have an antenna connected, we must debug further using the logs.