Hello from North East England

[Colin Keightley]

Hi,

Been wanting to get into ADS-B for years but just didnt know where to start. Any suggestions appreciated. I would prefer a ready to go system I had been looking at the AirNav boxs till I read the reviews.

[Anmer]

Welcome.

I'd recommend an SDR "dongle/stick" running PiAware on a Raspberry Pi.  Easy to setup and will get you started for minimal cost.

Then you can invest further should you need.

https://flightaware.com/adsb/piaware/build

Or wait for other suggestions, which I'm sure there will be.

[Colin Keightley]

Excellent thanks for that, reasonably cheap so ive ordered the parts. Im still open to other suggestions though as I plan to have one fixed and one mobile if possible.

I've been into aviation properly since 1999 and ive been paragliding since 2008, in doing so I've even built my Electronic Conspicuity devices such as Airwhere and Flarm using 868mhz and various micro boards the latest being a TTGO T-Beam. Also built an Airwhere base station too.

Our screens are about to become more cluttered as a lot of the free flying community have took advantage of the government grant for some of the off the shelf devices. Together with the home build flarms the flying sites are about to become littered with hits.

[96jtaylor]

Welcome.

I'd recommend an SDR "dongle/stick" running PiAware on a Raspberry Pi.  Easy to setup and will get you started for minimal cost.

I agree with Anmer.  I recently got into the hobby about 3 months ago with a FlightAware prostick plus with a small indoor antenna connected to a rapberry pi 3b+.  All together cost about $100.  I got it set up and feeding 5+ different sites easily.  Also feeding a personal virtual radar server and running lots of other goodies like graphs1090 and tar1090 tracks.   Within the last month I purchased a high quality outdoor antenna from jetvision.de and am tracking aircraft out to my maximum range for my location.  There is a lot to learn but the good thing is most of it is not hard and there is a very helpful community here eager to assist. Let me know if you have any questions setting up.

[IanH]

For fixed location I have a Pi (alternative cheaper Orange version) with a FlightAware SDR USB stick connected to an aerial (Taylor Made RF)  on the roof of my house.

My SBS-1ER s now in a cupboard and the SBS-3 remains in use pending retirement. They both work fine as "ready-to-go" systems but need additional work to include MLAT which Piaware provides as part of the setup "pain".

For mobile I have a Win7/Win10 laptop with a cheap USB dongle and a small portable ADSB aerial. What you use to display the output depends on your preference. If you go this mobile route make sure to install Zadig software - there is info on this website.

Alternatively there are mobile apps. I don't want to pay roaming charges in distant lands so use my own hardware.

[Colin Keightley]

Cheers Ian, I have Zadig as I used it to set up my NESDR for messing around with Radio using Airspy. I also have unlimited unrestricted data, or in the UK anyhow.

To be honest I'm not sure how much I would use mobile. Can an SDR be used without internet. One of the issues I have is I stay in areas with frequent traffic but no reception.

I have the means to create a wired network in my vehicle if I could use the Pi build.

[Anmer]

Can an SDR be used without internet.

Yes.  It's just a local receiver connected to an antenna and a device for running message decoding software.  The key thing to consider is what to use to dsiplay the received messages.

If it's a Windows device, that should be an easy solution.  And you can test this at home by not connecting the device to the Internet.

[Colin Keightley]

Yes was just going to hook it up to a Win10 laptop I have leisure battery and pure sin inverter so can sustain pretty well.

[IanH]

Using a dongle on a Win10 laptop without internet works fine.

You will not get any MLAT data but becoming a smaller concern as ADSB continues to roll out. The output from the dongle will still list the non-MLAT aircraft but will not show locations.

If you are in an airport with free wifi available, then use FR24 on phone/tablet - MLAT included! Also less obvious than a laptop with an antenna.

[Anmer]

If you are in an airport with free wifi available, then use FR24 on phone/tablet - MLAT included!

Assuming FR24 doesn't "block" the flight or make it anonymous.  ADS-B flights as well as MLAT.

[Colin Keightley]

Built and initial test complete. Thanks guys. Just need to refine the installation now and get it up above the roof line on a bracket and the Pi in a weather proof box.

[Anmer]

Thanks for the update.  Encouraging to know you're making good progress.

[IanH]

If you are in an airport with free wifi available, then use FR24 on phone/tablet - MLAT included!

Assuming FR24 doesn't "block" the flight or make it anonymous.  ADS-B flights as well as MLAT.

For most airliners that will not be a problem.

Only way around this is PlanePlotter 

N9FJ went overhead the other night. FR24 showed it as an AS50, Piaware gave it a fabricated hex code. PP was not showing location (too low) but using the combination of altitude, type, etc from all three, there was only one candidate.

Increasing number of fabricated  hex codes on Piaware in last few weeks. Some seem to be the DEA Aviation Ltd flights (WKT flight numbers - surveillance?) - again PP enables these to be identified.

[Anmer]

You should still be able to match a PiAware anonymised code with another flight in the list.

[Colin Keightley]

Funnily enough N9FJ popped up on mine tonight as AS50 but was before my MLAT had kicked in properly during the setup.