Help with openplotter and Wifi

[tomigambi]

Hello! i have a Raspberry pi 3 B with openplotter (i have tried openplotter 2 and 3) and i cannot get it to connect to my house wifi to test it, upgrade, etc. it makes the openplotter network but it doesnt have acces to the internet and the clock cant sync because of that and i think because of that i cannot connect my ESP32 with SenseESP. How can i connect the rpi to my home wifi but also mantain the Openplotter network to connect remotely (its the headless version). thanks.

PD: When i use the network app to set the network mode to AP and Station the wifi menu on the top bar shows all the networks available but when i try to connect it doesnt say anything and it doesnt connect (wlan0 = Not Associated), and also is very unstable. when i use the on board option the wifi menu shows No wireless interfaces found. i dont think it is a hardware error.

[PaddyB]

The ap and station mode with just the internal adaptor is very unstable but it should usually work enough to get logged on to a network. Best longer term answer is a usb WiFi dongle, but doesn't answer the question though. I'll try my pi3 later.

OK just tried it, very unstable but stayed logged on enough to connect to the mobile phone network.
Can you get in using a terminal?
ifconfig might show something useful

[baltika_no_9]

I am 100% in agreement with PaddyB that if you want both a reliable external Wifi connection and a robust AP to connect local devices to the Pi then a separate WiFi adapter is required. It might seem an obvious statement, but make sure you get a dongle/adapter that works with the Pi as there are many out there that do not.

[gildas declercq]

I do use an external wifi, and did not have issues,

i made myself a step by step install as I am testing , you may look at the part for wifi setup.
what each time and works:
connect to "openplotter" wifi
connect to vnc
change to "ap and station" 
reboot
set wlan country
connect to home wifi

the issues I have, not sure it is linked to wifi, is to connect with VNC, sometime I have to use the ip adress, even if the name is resolved...very strange.

once the rpi is AP and station,  I should be able to connect to VNC with home wifi or, rpi wifi depending on which one I chose to connect to with my computer.

[baltika_no_9]

I do use an external wifi, and did not have issues,

.....................

Yes but you are using a Pi 4, the OP is using a Pi 3 so it is not an exact comparison as the hardware is different.

Pi 4 has 802.11ac Wi-Fi but the Pi 3 Model B+ has only 802.11n Wi-Fi.