Spotting military aircraft

[Bethsalem]

Or, as I did, buy a 2nd hand Beast. 

[TTECH]

Thanks for the help guys.

I will wait a little before buying one.
I really ony want to invest the money when I'm sure it will do what I want.
I'm also going to introduce it to some friends and who knows..

regards and have fun spotting,
TTECH

[Bethsalem]

TTECH

I forgot to mention that using Beamfinder, I can locate aircraft down to about 900ft, depending on where they are in my local area and what radars can see them. In any direction, Beamfinder is reliable above 3500ft locally. I think the furthest I have located an aircraft using this method is about 220nm. The furthest I have located an aircraft flying at low level has been no more than 20nm though.

Stephen

[TTECH]

That sounds better :-)
The air base is around 10km away from me, but not line of sight.
So I think I am happy if I can locate everything that's flying in  this radius, at any height.
So also below 900ft.

What information do you actually receive using the Beamfinder method?
Will it really locate ANY aircraft that's flying, like ULM aircraft?

I can locate aircraft down to about 900ft, depending on where they are in my local area and what radars can see them.

So you are also depended on other receivers?

I am surprised what's possible these days...
These things really bring spotting to the next level imo.

[Bethsalem]

TTECH

Beamfinder works where the PlanePlotter network of receivers can't be used for MLAT. Here in Spain there are not enough suitable receivers (Kinetic family or Beast family) to be used for MLAT. This means that I have to rely on only my own receiver to detect aircraft not showing their positions.

In order to do this I first have to create a radar.txt file which contains the names, rotation rates and locations of the radars which are illuminating the aircraft that my receiver is detecting. Have a look at my attached screenshots to see what I mean. Please ignore the names of the radars on the rtl1090 screenshot, they are for Germany, but the radar identification tags are correct (such as SI13, II09, etc.)

The PlanePlotter software has a Beamfinder tutorial which goes into much more detail.

If all goes well, and you have produced an accurate radar.txt file for Beamfinder, you should be able to detect aircraft not revealing their positions using only your receiver, like this (see screenshot).

Stephen

[Attachment deleted by Admin to save file space]

[TTECH]

Thanks for explaining, Bethsalem.
It's already more clear now.
I will take a look at the tutorial.

In case everything is set up and ready to work,
I suppose I'll be able to spot all kinds of aircraft flying at low height in a coverage of around 10km, including military aircraft, helicopters, ULM's, sport,... aircraft?
I think it's logical because all aircraft are obligated to use a Mode S transponder, even at airshows.

[mhm]

I have had an SBS1 since 2005 and find it brilliant, plane plotter came along and gave me the military. Go on and invest, you wont look back.
Try a cheap dongle first before you buy expensive.

Regards

[TTECH]

What are your suggestions for a dongle?
What's the main difference in performance between the 'bigger'.?

[Bethsalem]

The R820T dongle is best for 1090MHz reception. In my opinion the most reliable suppliers are Nooelec, Cosycave and Jetvision.

A dongle is not now useable for MLAT on PlanePlotter, and I think it can only be used for Beamfinder Plus S, but not for Beamfinder or Beamfinder Plus. 

But for 20 euros, a R820T dongle is well worth buying and experimenting with.

[TTECH]

I'll take a look at it. Thanks!

It seems that it can do ADS-B?:
"This dongle can with  Planeplotter  and  RTL1090  ​​be used for the reception of Mode-S/ModeAC and ADS-B"
http://h2204566.stratoserver.net/SmartStore.NET/de/ezcap-rtl2832r820t#.Uy3lXPl5N8F

[IanH]

If you try out a R820T dongle it will let you see your local ModeS traffic. Ok you may not be able to locate them without MLAT but at least it will tell you what is in your location.

Then you can check to see whether those ModeS codes match to any aircraft.

Note that aircraft transmit a ModeS code bit do not transmit registration/serial. So unless someone has matched the code to a serial, you will not know which aircraft the code refers to!

For many US and German fighters, the code changes frequently so not possible to match ModeS code to serial. If Belgian Air Force is the same, you will not know the serial of that F-16 that just flew over 

So a dongle is a cheap option to check things out.

[TTECH]

So the dongle won't work with Beamfinder method?
What raw data will it receive? Only the 'hex' code?
But I will know what type of aircraft it is with the code?

[Anmer]

If you know the hex code you should be able to tie it up with an aircraft type and registration using one of the many online resources such as Airframes.org.

[Bethsalem]

So the dongle won't work with Beamfinder method?
What raw data will it receive? Only the 'hex' code?
But I will know what type of aircraft it is with the code?

It's been recently clarified over on the PlanePlotter Yahoo forum that the R820T dongle can be used for Beamfinder if the radar.txt file is accurate.

[Breitling]

Beamfinder (whatever version) works with the dongle, at least mine one.