Second ADS-B receiver on Pi drops range as soon as PC ADS-B turned on

Technical Support
1

I have had a FlightAware Pro dongle ADS-B receiver on my PC for a few years now and I feed ADS-B exchange via rebroadcast using Virtual Radar Server.

A few weeks ago I bought a Raspberry Pi500 and set it up with ADS-B exchange to feed directly. Both the PC and the Pi use separate but identical aerials.

Individually there is no difference between them in terms of aircraft plots and range, however as soon as I turn on the PC before even the main screen has loaded the plots on the Pi visibly drop off and the range falls from 200km+ to less than 100km!

If I turn off the PC the Pi range for tracked aircraft returns to normal. I have tried turning off VRS and DUMP1090 on the PC but that doesn’t help. I have also tried removing the PC FlightAware Pro stick that too has no effect.

The PC is connected to my router via Ethernet cable and the Pi via WiFi. I am at a complete loss as to why the PC and the Pi cannot coexist at the same time both with full range. The PC range is unaffected by the Pi being on.

I am at a complete loss as to how to resolve this.

2

Sounds like your PC is making RF Interference (RFI). Is the Pi’s antenna indoors / close to the PC? Try separating them as much as possible. Ideally antennas should be outdoors, with a clear view of the sky, and away from noisy electronics as much as possible.

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3

Thanks I’m suspecting RFI from the PC as a possibility, but am unsure as the PC ADS-B itself gets excellent plane signal range and I don’t know if potential RFI from the PC should also be impacting its own performance or not. Both aerials are indoors and each are within a 1m + 1m cable length from the PC and the Pi. I do have a longer 4m cable which I will experiment with the Pi

4

dseven, you solved it! It was RFI from the PC, as soon as I moved the aerial from the Pi further away now 5m the plane range instantly doubled to exactly match my other ADS-B. thank you so much for giving me the inspiration to try the change today.

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