No ADS-B messages showing up in readsb

Technical Support
1

Hi - I just set up a new receiver and it’s not showing any messages in readsb, even though I know I’m receiving some.

Base station: Latest ADSBx on a RPI 3B+ with an RTL-SDRv4
Antenna: cantenna mounted ~15 feet off the ground (atop lamp post on deck)
Siting: I live in the flight path for three major airports plus a local municipal airport, and there are regularly planes flying directly over my house

The problem: No ADS-B messages are showing up in readsb. Installation of ADSBx went fine, and no errors are reported in the system/service logs. I do have the RDL-SDR assigned to readsb.

If I turn off readsb and run rtl_adsb, I do see messages which I can decode with pyModeS. For example:

pms.tell(“8dfbf34db0d3c4a9f027536c7121”)
Message: 8dfbf34db0d3c4a9f027536c7121
ICAO address: fbf34d
Downlink Format: 17
Protocol: Mode-S Extended Squitter (ADS-B)
Type: Airborne position (with GNSS altitude)
CPR format: Odd
CPR Latitude: 0.16595458984375
CPR Longitude: 0.07680511474609375
Altitude: 11115.48592 feet

So, I’m receiving messages, but they’re not showing up in readsb. Any idea what I’m doing wrong here, or things to look into to fix?

2

The “blog” v4 requires drivers to be installed - did you do that? RTL-SDR Blog V4 Users Guide I would have expected it to be needed for rtl_adsb too, though. What does journalctl --no-pager -u readsb look like when it’s not working?

3

Installing the right drivers fixed it.

Thanks!

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