ADS-B / Flightradar 24 setup

Analoguesat

Analoguesat

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My Satellite Setup
TM 5402HD
Sky+ UK.
My Location
Scottish Borders
Well Ive decided to have a go at feeding info into the the FR24 website. Im going for a home built system using a raspberry pi

Flightradar24.com - Live flight tracker!

I suspect south and west coverage wont be great due to trees to the south and hills & trees to the west. There is only so high I can get the antenna before annoying the landlord & neighbours..... Or put myself in danger due to the overhead power lines along the back of the cottages. East should be ok and north fine if I can clear the roofline of the cottage.

But we will see - its more of a fun project on these wet "summer" days.

First part of the project - RPi 3 kit on order. :)
 
Good luck, am an avid user of " Flightradar 24 " to spot overhead flights, very informative, and if you click on that flight/plane you can choose the 3D option with terrain from either plane outside or cockpit view :)

Regards
 
I use it at work to track flights before we dispatch cars.

It's always very amusing to confuse our drivers by telling them the flight is just crossing the English channel doing 500mph and will be on the ground in 45 minutes.

It's even more amusing when they're at the airport waiting to pickup and you can tell them to look up to the left or right and describe the aircraft they're looking at and telling them their fare is on that :-lol
 
1GB Micro SD card found in the junk box so thats sorted. Along with an ethernet cable liberated from the bag of assorted tangled cables in the shed :D
 
Analoguesat said:
1GB Micro SD card found in the junk box so thats sorted. Along with an ethernet cable liberated from the bag of assorted tangled cables in the shed :D
Click to expand...
Looking forward to shouting ..
Well done AS from behind my computer screen ...
:D
 
So finally made a start on setting up.

Managed to get the pi3 to boot up & load the NOOBS operating system which came on a microcard. Cant get it to install yet although Ive figured out how to remote into it across the lan from my win7 desktop. Cant get the OS to actually install onto the pi yet (probably simply because I dont have a keyboard attached atm - cant find my spare one so I'll borrow one from work tomorrow save pulling my desktop apart)

I'll do a quick start guide once Ive actually got the bloody thing running - Im sure other folks would be interested in this project. No proper antenna yet although Ive located a suitable bit of coax to cut up

So to begin with I shall be using the short whip which came with the dongle.
 
Analoguesat said:
So finally made a start on setting up.

Managed to get the pi3 to boot up & load the NOOBS operating system which came on a microcard. Cant get it to install yet although Ive figured out how to remote into it across the lan from my win7 desktop. Cant get the OS to actually install onto the pi yet (probably simply because I dont have a keyboard attached atm - cant find my spare one so I'll borrow one from work tomorrow save pulling my desktop apart)

I'll do a quick start guide once Ive actually got the bloody thing running - Im sure other folks would be interested in this project. No proper antenna yet although Ive located a suitable bit of coax to cut up

So to begin with I shall be using the short whip which came with the dongle.
Click to expand...
You -will- get ...something...but dont expect miracles with that little antenna..
 
Im not - thats just the proof of concept. I shall make a multi segment coax antenna when Ive got a few minutes. Initial install of this will be near ground level but it'll go higher at some point.

Im intrigued about the possibilities of the dongles now - I shall get another one and try another project once Ive got this up and running :)
 
Analoguesat said:
Im not - thats just the proof of concept. I shall make a multi segment coax antenna when Ive got a few minutes. Initial install of this will be near ground level but it'll go higher at some point.

Im intrigued about the possibilities of the dongles now - I shall get another one and try another project once Ive got this up and running :)
Click to expand...
Are you using a normal pi for this?
 
A standard pi3 ( I added a case to stop dust from the coal fire getting onto the gubbins)

However according to the FR24 website you can use any Raspberry Pi. The only awkward one is the Pi-zero as it doesnt have a network socket on it - but a usb hub with a network socket on it apparently works ok.
 
Hmm I think Ive been making it too difficult for myself. If Ive understood the instructions properly now Ive had a chance to play with the pi you can just use a ready built operating system for it which can be d/l from the fr24 site.
 
Hehe having a quick play with the built in pi browser. (its called Epiphany browser)

pi.webp

Im starting to get my head around it a bit better now - the operating system is booted from the micro card rather than being loaded onto hardware like in a desktop or laptop computer. Change the card (or set it for dual boot) and its easy to change the operating system. Over the weekend I shall load the FR24 image onto another card and hopefully start to log planes.

The screengrab is using the remote desktop tightvncplayer on my win7 desktop
 
Well I seem to have got it set up on the diddy wire antenna with a bit of footling around.. The antenna is sitting on the windowsill so Im not expecting great results & I only have clear a view to the east.

No I need to find how the hell to show up any airplanes that pass by & get captured!
 
Bought the app last night, played with the view screen.

Point the camera up at a aeroplane, and it gives you the details.

image.webp

image.webp

If I could only find my pooleys flight guide.
 
So progress so far

The pi3 has been set up with the latest FR24 image. No nice graphical interface with this one - is effectively a command line client. The DVB-T stick has been plugged in with the diddy wire aerial connected. The system seems to be up and running, but I have no idea if its picking any planes up - the supposed interface command to give you a map of some sort - putting <pi3 ip address:8080>into a browser - doesnt work

In any case the antenna is not great & Im only getting reception out to the east, plus its not the busiest airplane area in the world round here!

Ive got an adaptor on order so I can build the colinear antenna - unfortunately it seems to be taking the slow boat from China - I hadnt realised it was coming all that way or I would have paid a bit more & used a European seller!
 
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Analoguesat said:
So progress so far

The pi3 has been set up with the latest FR24 image. No nice graphical interface with this one - is effectively a command line client. The DVB-T stick has been plugged in with the diddy wire aerial connected. The system seems to be up and running, but I have no idea if its picking any planes up - the supposed interface command to give you a map of some sort - putting <pi3 ip address:8080>into a browser - doesnt work

In any case the antenna is not great & Im only getting reception out to the east, plus its not the busiest airplane area in the world round here!

Ive got an adaptor on order so I can build the colinear antenna - unfortunately it seems to be taking the slow boat from China - I hadnt realised it was coming all that way or I would have paid a bit more & used a European seller!
Click to expand...
I've had FR24 on an RPi for a few months, supposedly feeding data back when the antenna's up, but yes it's CLI, and for me it's on a cheapo Goodmans TV-cum-monitor with a DVI connection where I have it, so very difficult to read with my eyesight. Like you, I tried to get a map up, with no luck, so I haven't bothered with it for a while as I need the RPi for other uses. Or connect a decent monitor to it.
 
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