nRF52840 dongle as a sniffer to capture BLE packets in Wireshark.

[Abdul0]

I am using an nRF52840 dongle as a sniffer to capture BLE packets in Wireshark. Recently, I’ve noticed that the captured files are approximately half the expected size, and I’m not sure what is causing this issue.

This setup has been very reliable for the past two and a half years, and I haven’t made any significant changes to my configuration.

Has anyone experienced a similar issue or have any suggestions on what might be causing this?

[Simonr]

Hi

Looking at the files, have you noticed anything specific missing from them, or do you have any idea what is missing from the files? I can't say I have heard of something similar before, no.

Do you have some information on what version of the sniffer firmware and Wireshark you're running on your setup?

Best regards,

Simon

[Abdul0]

From reviewing the capture files, it appears that every other data packet is missing.

The central and peripheral successfully establish a BLE connection and begin exchanging data.  I would normally expect around 5500 kB of data. However, the captures consistently show about half of that, which suggests that roughly every other packet is not being captured.

I have tested this across multiple runs:

• Collected 10 Wireshark capture files
• About 50% of the expected data is present in each, indicating a consistent pattern of missing packets

Regarding my setup:

• nRF Sniffer for Bluetooth LE firmware: Version 4.1
• Wireshark: 4.0.12 (also tested with the latest version, same behavior observed)

Please let me know if you need additional details or specific capture samples.