Kinetic Puck replacement

[ashton152000]

Hi

I have recently had my kinetic puck stolen and i was looking to replace it with another one but they are no longer on sale.

Can anyone recommend a replacement for use whilst travelling?

Regards

Ian

[Anmer]

Hi Ian

I'd heard there were no more Pucks available or being made.  End of an era.

You could get yourself an RPi and DVB-T SDR receiver instead.  A lot cheaper than a Puck and just as good.

You can use ModeSMixer to feed the data to BaseStation.

It's dead easy if you use the FlightAware PiAware image:

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

I have a couple running here and get more coverage than using an SBS-1/3

[ashton152000]

Hi

With regards to a pro stick, can this be plugged straight into a pc or do you need a RPI as well (which plugs into a pc)

Also, where can you down load the modesmixer2 softeare from?

Thanks in advance.

Ian

[Anmer]

You can either use the Pro Stick with an RPi or PC.  But PiAware only runs on an RPi.

If you want to use the Pro Stick (or any suitable DVB-T SDR) with a PC, you'll need decoding software on the PC to process the raw Mode-S messages.

ModeSMixer:

http://xdeco.org/?page_id=30

[IanH]

Piaware will run on a PC. It need to be built on Debian or Ubuntu rather than simply downloaded to an SD card. There are scripts available - I need to find out how I did this.

If you are not a Linux person, there a several Windows programs that will take data from a Dongle and then using ModeSMixer translate it for use in BaseStation.

If you are going to need a Windows program, recommend thatyou start at http://rtl1090.com/

Download the RTL1090 - IMU (Installer and Maintenance Utility) version which helps installing the required software. If you choose to stick with RTL1090, suggest you download either v2 or V3 (read to see difference) and replace the RTL1090.exe from the inital install.

Alternatives once you have the initial install in place are "ModeSDeco" (from same website as ModeSMixer) or "dump1090" - I need to find a recent link.