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Cheapest way to feed FR24 / Anyone using RTL-2832u-R820t usb dongle ?

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  • Jarod
    replied
    Originally posted by Mike View Post
    We have now published a guide how to setup a DVB-T USB-stick with FR24
    The world’s most popular flight tracker. Track planes in real-time on our flight tracker map and get up-to-date flight status & airport information.


    We have some extra DVB-T sticks (including antenna) in the office that we'll send out for free to the first 50 applications we get from locations where we currently don't have coverage (check map on Flightradar24.com). If you want to apply, please send an email with your name and full address to fredrik@fr24.com
    If you need help installing, come to irc.freenode.net and join #sdrsharp
    And we'll fix you up with adsb# sharp as well...
    And if the guys from FL24 had done a little more research and/or read my forum posts they would have found out that the R820T is MUCH better than the E4000 tuner for ADS-B.
    And.... that the RTLSDR R820T mini even more better working than the big version.
    http://x264.nl/dump/rtlsdr_big-mini.jpg (bottom one)
    The mini has a lower noise floor and much less spikes.... 1090MHz reception skyrocketed with the mini.
    Compare: http://x264.nl/dump/rtlsdr-r820t-big-sdrsharp.jpg vs http://x264.nl/dump/rtlsdr-r820t-mini-sdrsharp.jpg

    And then there is the antenna, you can buy a "ADS-B" antenna for nearly 200 EURO (which is just a piece of coax cable) or you can actually do some testing and find out a proper GP works so much better.
    Like so: http://x264.nl/dump/ads-b-antenna-gr...ane-proper.jpg

    But let's have the results speak for themselfs: http://x264.nl/dump/rtlsdr-mini-virt...1.1-record.jpg (yes this is my reception, all planes on the map are from my setup)

    Leave a comment:


  • Jarod
    replied
    Originally posted by Mike View Post
    We have now published a guide how to setup a DVB-T USB-stick with FR24
    The world’s most popular flight tracker. Track planes in real-time on our flight tracker map and get up-to-date flight status & airport information.


    We have some extra DVB-T sticks (including antenna) in the office that we'll send out for free to the first 50 applications we get from locations where we currently don't have coverage (check map on Flightradar24.com). If you want to apply, please send an email with your name and full address to fredrik@fr24.com
    Why on earth would you recommend rtl1090?
    ADSB# has much better reception and runs much simpler. (Also a lot of code has been "borrowed" from ADSB# as it's open source. Still the DSP is much better than rtl1090.
    You can simply test yourself. But the true colours or commercialism always are shown when it comes to money, so one could only guess why a lesser product is endorsed instead of testing and using the best.

    I am picking up much more planes on the ground from Amsterdam Schiphol (EHAM) then those professional tuners.
    Or my location is just very good, or this setup is working very well.

    Edit:
    Never mind on the not promoting adsb# .... they of course have their own hub which could be considered "competition" for FL24. (However i know it's creator wouldn't mind FL24 linking up to that hub.)
    If FL24 and it's members are truly interested in having the best reception, it might be possible a none hub function could be made especially for FL24.
    I would have to ask it's creator.... but only if you guys are interested...
    Last edited by Jarod; 2013-04-22, 21:19.

    Leave a comment:


  • Kpin
    replied
    I can't get my dongle to work. Problem installing drivers.

    People are trying to help over here: http://radarspotting.com/forum/index...ic,2498.0.html but so fare not luck.

    Any suggestions welcome!

    Knud

    Leave a comment:


  • Mike
    replied
    We have now published a guide how to setup a DVB-T USB-stick with FR24
    The world’s most popular flight tracker. Track planes in real-time on our flight tracker map and get up-to-date flight status & airport information.


    We have some extra DVB-T sticks (including antenna) in the office that we'll send out for free to the first 50 applications we get from locations where we currently don't have coverage (check map on Flightradar24.com). If you want to apply, please send an email with your name and full address to fredrik@fr24.com

    Leave a comment:


  • drina_pd
    replied
    Thanks Jarod!

    Good work! You have really wide range.
    Today we have local HAM radio FM contest and i will make some test with ADSB# which you recommend and J-pole antenna from new contest location. I saw now trough my windows that weather is pretty stormy and it is really dangerous to be on the top of the Mountain . I will post new pictures here after all test would be completed.

    Leave a comment:


  • Jarod
    replied
    Originally posted by drina_pd View Post
    Hi everyone!

    Here is my testing report of RTL8232 820t DVB-T USB dongle+ original antenna supplied with stick and 1090 software + Plane plotter trial . Antenna mounted on the car roof. It was very funny finding ads-b signals on the spring day in northwest part of Bosnia and Herzegovina .

    [ATTACH=CONFIG]1980[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]1981[/ATTACH]
    drina_pd, try using ADSB# it picks up even fainter signals and therefor you get a longer range. Today i broke my own record as well:


    You can grab adsb# from here: http://sdrsharp.com/index.php/downloads

    RTLSDR mini ( http://x264.nl/dump/rtlsdr_big-mini.jpg bottom one ) + ADSB# ( http://sdrsharp.com/downloads/adsbsharp.zip ) + a proper antenna ( mine http://x264.nl/dump/ads-b-antenna-gr...ane-proper.jpg ) = seems to give the best results. Other testers have also confirmed these findings .... http://www.rtl-sdr.com/adsb-aircraft...-with-rtl-sdr/

    Leave a comment:


  • drina_pd
    replied
    Hi everyone!

    Here is my testing report of RTL8232 820t DVB-T USB dongle+ original antenna supplied with stick and 1090 software + Plane plotter trial . Antenna mounted on the car roof. It was very funny finding ads-b signals on the spring day in northwest part of Bosnia and Herzegovina .

    Planeplotter1.jpgPlaneplotter2.jpg

    Leave a comment:


  • Zorba
    replied
    I have the same problem with the newest 2013 adsbox version on my RPi, but the previous version (2012 something) works quite good.

    Leave a comment:


  • nzradar
    replied
    Although I did manage to compile dump1090 I gave up with it because the pre-requisite of rtl-sdr seemed to want to install sdr# and I could not find any where the ability to just install the driver for the dongle. I have no requirement for sdr# on my raspberry pi. However, I may have to revisit this and see how it goes as adsbox is too unstable (keeps stopping after a few minutes or a few hours). The author of adsbox is aware of this but there is no time frame to fix so I will see what becomes necessity.

    Leave a comment:


  • tucco
    replied
    Originally posted by nzradar View Post
    When I downloaded dump1090 onto my Ubuntu distro and typed 'sudo make' I get all sorts of errors about missing files from the PKG_CONFIG_Path all to do with librtlsdr. Are there any pre-requisites for dump1090?
    If you are root user, type: apt-get install pkg-config
    If non root user type: sudo apt-get install pkg-config

    Perhaps could be pkg_config, I don't remember.

    Enviado desde mi GT-N7100 usando Tapatalk 2

    Leave a comment:


  • jestemradek
    replied
    Do you have already compiled rtl libs?



    git clone git://git.osmocom.org/rtl-sdr.git
    cd rtl-sdr/
    mkdir build
    cd build
    cmake ../
    make
    sudo make install
    sudo ldconfig



    Regards
    Radek

    Leave a comment:


  • nzradar
    replied
    When I downloaded dump1090 onto my Ubuntu distro and typed 'sudo make' I get all sorts of errors about missing files from the PKG_CONFIG_Path all to do with librtlsdr. Are there any pre-requisites for dump1090?

    Leave a comment:


  • Oblivian
    replied
    Hey lads,

    I combined your posts into a new thread and will get Mike to move it to its own area perhaps.

    Editied them to clarify the processes the best it looks. Feel free to edit them yourself and adjust accordingly if SW has been updated/paths changed etc. We will try and keep it a clear concise How-To thread and then anyone with issues can still use this for support.

    Sound fair?

    Alternative receivers, antennas, amplifiers, connectors, adapters and general technical matters. No Flightradar24 issues.

    Leave a comment:


  • Jarod
    replied
    A few little updates:
    a) ADS-B# ( http://sdrsharp.com/index.php/downloads ) has been updated many times, the algorithm has improved quite a lot since my last post.
    b) The RTLSDR mini ( http://x264.nl/dump/rtlsdr_big-mini.jpg bottom one ) also seems to improve the range drasticly. The moment I start ADSB#/VRS/FL24feed I always instantly "take over" all aircraft shown very low above Schiphol or on the ground, including a lot of ground signals. ( Also Schiphol people taking their cars home, like http://x264.nl/dump/td9.jpg )

    New result: http://x264.nl/dump/rtlsdr-mini-virt...1.1-record.jpg

    Very soon I will be testing a special made LNA (Low Noise Amplifier/Preamp) for the RTLSDR, at first wideband 0-2000 MHz, later if needed adjusted to 1090 Mhz.
    After those results I am very curious how it will stack up against the receivers from FL24. ( http://forum.flightradar24.com/threa...rease-coverage! )

    Keep you posted!


    Originally posted by Jarod View Post
    Hello all!

    I am using:

    - Hardware:

    Receiver:
    RTLSDR RTL2832U with R820T Tuner: http://x264.nl/dump/rtlsdr_antenna.jpg
    For 1090MHz of course not using RG58 coax, but in my case some white tv/dvb-t/satellite coax. (Still could do better.)

    Antenna:
    Homemade groundplane antenna: http://x264.nl/dump/ads-b-antenna-gr...ane-proper.jpg
    Calculator: http://www.csgnetwork.com/antennagpcalc.html
    Design: http://ketil.com/la2dna/antenner/PMR...ne_antenna.htm
    (Setup cannot be used 24/7 due to mast not being permanent and only up when the wind is calm. And there is so much else to do with the RTLSDR.)

    - Software:

    ADS-B decoder:


    A new gui version has been released: http://sdrsharp.com/downloads/adsbsharp.zip
    This decoder is still in heavy development, but first tests make it better than rtl1090.

    - Virtual Radar Server and Flightradar24 Feed
    http://www.virtualradarserver.co.uk/ version 1.1.2 ( http://www.virtualradarserver.co.uk/...RadarSetup.exe )
    http://feed.flightradar24.com/ beta 26 (2.26) ( http://feed.flightradar24.com/updates/226/fr24feed.exe note I changed 225 to 226 which is not on the page )

    a) run adbs.exe (runs on tcp port 47806)
    b) run virtual radar server, connect data source to tcp port 47806
    c) run inside virtual radar server via options: rebroadcast server, format BaseStation, port 30003
    d) run fl24feed.exe and connect to tcp port 30003

    Result: http://x264.nl/dump/adsb-flightradar24.jpg
    T-EHAM7 is me!

    Leave a comment:


  • pete318
    replied
    Originally posted by jestemradek View Post
    The USB port has a slight delay, that rtl's devices are useless to the service MLAT.

    MLAT need ADS-B receiver hardware-integrated with GPS.
    Only this can guarantee a very precise time of received frames.
    Having just dug out my old RTL2832 dongle and set up a basic indoor antenna feed. I'm quite impressed with the range that can be achieved with such a setup. I did wonder about the viability of MLAT provision, since I can see lots and lots of LCY Mode-S traffic from this location. It'd be nice to be able to contribute to the MLAT effort.

    But, I fear this is correct. Well, not quite correct but any workaround would be hard to set up. I've had a few ideas though.

    It seems to me that the problem is that if you have GPS time set from some external source (Serial/USB/Bluetooth) there is an inherent delay in that system. But, if the delay is predictable it can be worked with. If there's ANY unpredictability in the delay at all. It's useless for this purpose.

    Likewise the ADS-B signals have to have a predictable delay. Not a delay that varies.

    If you have both of these provided technically, you could have MLAT capability. You'd just calibrate for the delays by working out MLAT for items of known locations. That is, ADS-B traffic. If the system can begin to reliably show ADS-B traffic to be in the same area of the sky as the transponder is reporting, it can perhaps be fairly trusted to do so with Mode-S traffic. Of course when collaborating with other stations, all with unknown delays (and unknown whether they are predictable or not) things get interesting.

    However, in theory.. So long as there is ADS-B traffic in the same area that all units can receive to calibrate your clocks against. It's possible the GPS requirement could be irrelevant. All theory of course. I'm not doing any of the work to do with MLAT. It's just a thought I had in my head while thinking about how I could be helping contribute to the MLAT effort. This method would use a fair bit more traffic, as every ADS-B ping would probably be verified with current timings. Over time, individual machine timer error could begin to be predicted I guess? I'm not sure. I suspect just like in radio, these things vary with temperature and thus time from initial switch on. Probably someone here knows a lot more than me about this.

    Of course moving away from the technical aspect, looking at some of the Mode-S traffic I've seen (Met Police helicopter for example). I wonder how long European authorities would allow FR24 to be reporting Mode-S positions before making their objections known?

    Sorry for rambling on. Just my random musings.

    Leave a comment:

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