airtraffic

Author Topic: 3B0 Brand New Setup!!!  (Read 12295 times)

Offline Pete3B0

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3B0 Brand New Setup!!!
« on: May 11, 2024, 03:28:53 UTC »
I decided to host my local airport feed and picked up a Raspberry Pi 4B and Nooelec Dongle. With some much appreciated help from Dave, I was up and running within a few hours of initial setup. The feed is now live and working great![/img][/img]



Offline piperpainter

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Re: 3B0 Brand New Setup!!!
« Reply #1 on: August 26, 2024, 20:47:52 UTC »
is this connected via eithernet? Or can you use wifi to stream? do you have an external antenna? I am trying to get KSEA back up and want to do it right! How many of the USB/radio dongls be ran with one Rasberry Pi?

Offline RonR

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Re: 3B0 Brand New Setup!!!
« Reply #2 on: August 27, 2024, 13:06:42 UTC »
You can easily run multiple SDRs off of a single PI.  A Raspberry Pi comes with four USB ports but they are quite close to each other so there might not be enough room to plug four SDRs directly into those USB ports.  A solution to that would be to use short USB extension cables in between the SDRs and the Pi.  Another solution would be to use a USB hub instead.  The SDRs would then be powered by the USB hub instead of directly from the Pi.  There have generally been no issues plugging three SDRs directly into a Pi.  Four SDRs on the other hand can be iffy so it's probably a better idea to use a USB hub with four or more SDRs.

In case you're not aware, an SDR can be used in either Scan mode or Multichannel mode.  In multichannel mode an SDR can receive multiple frequencies at the same time as long as those frequencies are all within about 2.4Mhz of each other.  This means that multiple individual feeds can be set up from a single Pi if those frequencies fall within that range.

Keep in mind, that if you use multiple SDRs, each one will need an antenna connection.  It's usually no problem to use a single antenna (preferably mounted outside) with a splitter so that each SDR can be provided with an antenna signal.  It might also be necessary to use a signal amplifier depending on how much signal splitting takes place.

In the end, how many SDRs you use will depend entirely on how many frequencies you want to feed.

I hope this helps!

Ron

Offline piperpainter

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Re: 3B0 Brand New Setup!!!
« Reply #3 on: August 27, 2024, 14:59:49 UTC »
Wow! Great information I really appreciate it. I ordered an SDR and will see how well it picks up the frequencies at KSEA compared to my handheld radio. I will have an external antenna and will need to get a splitter for sure! It would be nice with a major airport like SEA to have each frequency individually monitored so that you don't get transmissions cut off. I'm going to eventually try and host the following.
121.70
119.90
120.95
133.65
maybe 119.20 & 120.4 (departures) and Depending how crazy it would be cool to have ramp too. But for now it would be nice just to get SEA back up.

I can definitely get a USB hub. I was more worried about how many SDR's a Raspberry Pi can run computing power wise not so much the USB slots, which like you said are tight. What's the most it can run computing power wise? I need to order a Raspberry Pi, what is the best you'd recommend for my plan? Thanks again Ron!

Offline RonR

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Re: 3B0 Brand New Setup!!!
« Reply #4 on: August 27, 2024, 17:20:03 UTC »
No problem!  Yes I agree, it would be nice to have KSEA back in all its glory lol!  So you know, with that one SDR, you should be able to set up individual feeds for all of those frequencies you mentioned (except for 133.65) with just that one SDR (including those app/dep freqs).  The only questionable one would be 121.7 because it is just beyond that 2.4Mhz range but it might work.

There was a single Pi setup that included two hubs with four SDRs on each (total of eight SDRs) and that was no problem for the Pi.  A single hub with eight SDRs has not yet been tested but there's no reason why that wouldn't work.  And from LiveATC's point of view, more than eight SDRs would not be needed since those eight would be able to cover the entire ATC voice frequency range (118-136Mhz).

Definitely looking forward to seeing KSEA back online!

Ron

Offline piperpainter

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Re: 3B0 Brand New Setup!!!
« Reply #5 on: August 27, 2024, 22:40:39 UTC »
Wow that's crazy! I guess 4 SDR's can do a lot then!  I need to get the PI. I got the SDR today! okay Ordered the Raspberry Pi 4. I will need to wait to mount the external antenna when the weather is good. What do I do once I have the Pi? If you prefer text shoot me a PM with your number. Thanks Ron!
« Last Edit: August 27, 2024, 23:00:16 UTC by piperpainter »