Rebroadcasting a merged feed

[Breitling]

Hi all, I'm trying to rebroadcast a merged feed to PlanePlotter. Receivers are 2 FR24 boxes which I can perfectly see on VRS. Rebroadcast is set to port 33001 in passthough mode. PP set to receive Beast on port 33001.

If I set rebroadcast from each independent receiver, PP shows their traffic without problem. But if I set rebroadcast from the merged feed, nothing arrives to PP. What am I doing wrong?

[jonfear]

Hi Breitling

I tried to do similar with the Beast output from my dongles. Same as you, nothing output on the merged feed. I think it is something to do with VRS converting all inputs into Basestation format and the converting back again.

Try setting the output to Beast and see if that helps...otherwise set the output to Basestation and then try...no MLATS but should work.

Otherwise we need to get Andrew the Dev to take a look at what is happening.

Jon

[mezoo]

Just out of curiosity - Did you try the other formats of the rebroadcast server i.e. Basestation and AVR ?

I never managed to get pass through to work either.

[IanH]

Tried AVR and BaseStation format from VRS this afternoon since I was intrigued - couldn't get that to work either (from a dongle outputting Beast format and an FR24).

Interested if anyone has some finding.

[jonfear]

All

I have just tried all the settings again. Only Basestation output populates the aircraft list, it does not show any a/c on the map as the list seems to be very volatile, adding and then losing a/c rapidly. AVR and Pass-through are both no output.

Using one RPi and dump1090 under Beast nets the same result, no output.

I seem to remember reading that this maybe down to either UDP or TCP. VRS is TCP only.

I don't think the dev has a copy of PP so he would not be able to help in this case. It is down to us to find out why and then pass the information on to him for a fix...

Jon

[Bethsalem]

I gave up trying to merge feeds from a dongle, a beast, VRS and PP.   

I'm sure it's convoluted, but possible.

If anyone does crack it, please post a step-by-step guide please 

[jonfear]

Hi Breitling

Could you use modsmixer2 to merge the feeds? I have a feeling that PP is looking for a UDP feed.

My guess at the command line is:

modesmixer2.exe --inconnect (IP of FR box 1:FR1 Port no) --inconnect (IP of box 2:FR2 Port no) --outConnectUdp:beast:30005

Remove the () when adding the IP address.

If I read the help me file correctly, this should give an beast formatted output connector on port 30005 of that machine. If PP is running on the same machine then the IP would be 127.0.0.1:30005. You can add more outputs so a separate feed to VRS is possible as it needs TCP.

Maybe worth a try? Once I can access my systems later today, I will try a couple of trials with my dongles and let everyone know the results.

Cheers

Jon

[IanH]

Tried this idea but couldn't figure out the outConnectUDP options.

In desperation tried outServer instead:

modesmixer2.exe --inconnect (IP of FR box):30334 --inconnect (IP of box running dump1090 and dongle):30005 --outServer beast:30009

Changed outServer port from usual Beast 30005 to avoid confusion as to where Beast data for PP is coming from.

Then set up PP to receive Beast TCP and TCP client as 127.0.0.1:30009 [if PP running on same box].

I get output! Since the areas of FR24 and dongle overlap, not certain this is combined data.

Same 30009 port output seems able to supply VRS on another box as well - no separate outServer required.

Someone please confirm this works for them - could be I've connected it up wrong.

Thanks to jonfear for the idea.

[jonfear]

Ian

The logic makes sense, the command line supplied was off the cuff and untried!

I will try later once I can access the systems (Or the wife goes to work!).

Jon

[jonfear]

All

Ian is correct, this does seem to work. I have merged two dongles using beast together and fed to PP.

The command-line is

modesmixer2.exe --inConnect (IP of box1):port --inConnect (IP of box2):port --outServer beast:port

Beware of the capitals! Change the IP addresses and port numbers to suit your setup.

Hope this helps everyone.

I have raised this with the Dev of VRS, on the "to-do" list which is getting longer!

Jon