Advice Required

[DemonLee]

I have a stock FR24 Kit that is giving excellent results for my location, but it is their kit and so unable to experiment with it or provide any other website with the Data, so looking to invest a little bit of time and money with my own device.

I am ok at making my own antenna, been experimenting with a 8, 6 & 4 element collinear units, all giving reasonable results at various heights... I have a 9m Mast with the FR24 Antenna at the top and the three home made ones are fitted on the mast with 'stand off' arms differing heights.

What I would like to do with a Combiner/Splitter is take the signals from the 3 Home Made antenna into a receiver, but here is the issue, what do I use?

I have a spare laptop with 3x USB ports, so in theory could use 3 devices, however I would prefer just the one and looking for recommendations on which route to go. Also, I note when posters are referring to their kit, I see no mention of how the GPS Receiver is connected into the system...

So, for all you that have built your own, what are your recommendations?

Many thanks for any input you may have.

[Oblivian]

The FR24 box is the only one that accepts a GPS signal integration. RPi etc can run them, but it won't help much more.

If you like to tinker, a raspberry Pi is a good option. As it doesn't just end with ADSB decoding. You can also get a multiplex unit to feed all the antennas into and end up with 1 output if you so chose. But it won't be cheap, likewise it would be hard to drive 3x USB dongles at once. Quite a lot of processing power as its all software driven

[DemonLee]

Hi Oblivion, thanks for the response....

OK, understood about the GPS, not so much worried about the cost of the Initial Set up, DIY Antennas were about 12€ to make, a Raspberry PI is not expensive either, will just have to buy one and learn some LINUX to get it all set up and running.

As I want to keep the unit on the Antenna Mast in a watertight IP55 Box and run long CAT5 Cable as I have done with the FR24 Box, I can keep the Cable very short and as the Laptop is running nothing except Windows 10 (64bit) and 16GB Ram, I think that can hand the processing of the software OK.

There are no doubt going to be some learning curves, but hey, thatīs half the fun of experimentation is it not?

Do you think the Raspberry PI is capable of running the FR24 Receiver Software or do I have to install something else?

[Amper]

There is sw for Raspberry PI and very easy to install. More info HERE

[DemonLee]

Thanks Amper, I have now ordered my Raspberry PI Starter Kit that includes:

Raspberry Pi 2
Your choice of Pibow (Ninja)
8GB Raspbian microSD card
Chiclet Keyboard
Optical Mouse
Official Raspberry Pi 2A PSU
HDMI cable

From your link it gave me the information about the OS to download (Debian) that I have done in anticipation of delivery... and the software installation instructions for creating the feed.

Well just a waiting game for it to be delivered now, I may came back to you both if I hit any issues - thanks for the assistance.

Any preference of USB DV-T to buy?

Also, I found this for the RASPi when searching for information - GPS on RASPi https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-...i/introduction

[SoCalBrian]

The above Raspberry Pi 2 also does very well sharing.

The Radarcape receiver is another great box and you can share with other sites.
The Radarcape will also do GPS signal integration.

http://modesbeast.com

http://wiki.modesbeast.com/Radarcape:Contents

[abcd567]

Thanks Amper, I have now ordered my Raspberry PI Starter Kit that includes:

Raspberry Pi 2
Your choice of Pibow (Ninja)
8GB Raspbian microSD card
Chiclet Keyboard
Optical Mouse
Official Raspberry Pi 2A PSU
HDMI cable

From your link it gave me the information about the OS to download (Debian) that I have done in anticipation of delivery... and the software installation instructions for creating the feed.

Well just a waiting game for it to be delivered now, I may came back to you both if I hit any issues - thanks for the assistance.

Any preference of USB DV-T to buy?

Also, I found this for the RASPi when searching for information - GPS on RASPi https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-...i/introduction

You wasted your money ordering some items which are not essential, and you can do away with these if you install a SSH client software on your laptop or desktop or phone . I use free of cost SSH client software PuTTy from my windows desktop, and juiceSSH from my Android phone.

Raspberry Pi 2 - OK
Your choice of Pibow (Ninja) - OK
8GB Raspbian microSD card - OK
Chiclet Keyboard - Not Required
Optical Mouse - Not Required
Official Raspberry Pi 2A PSU - OK
HDMI cable - Not Required

[DemonLee]

You wasted your money ordering some items which are not essential, and you can do away with these if you install a SSH client software on your laptop or desktop or phone . I use free of cost SSH client software PuTTy from my windows desktop, and juiceSSH from my Android phone.

Raspberry Pi 2 - OK
Your choice of Pibow (Ninja) - OK
8GB Raspbian microSD card - OK
Chiclet Keyboard - Not Required
Optical Mouse - Not Required
Official Raspberry Pi 2A PSU - OK
HDMI cable - Not Required

Hi, thanks for the info, I am going to feed this through my server that already runs SSH, but thanks for the info, as I may want to change it at some point and will go away and look at PuTTy now and store it for reference.

Ha Ha, thanks, it was just easier to order the starter kit at an offer price and I can always make use of the Keyboard and Mouse elsewhere, same with the HDMI Cable, but I do appreciate your concern about my project pocket money ;-)

[DemonLee]

The above Raspberry Pi 2 also does very well sharing.

The Radarcape receiver is another great box and you can share with other sites.
The Radarcape will also do GPS signal integration.

http://modesbeast.com

http://wiki.modesbeast.com/Radarcape:Contents

Hi, thanks Brian, I did look at the Radarscape and the Mode-S Beast, was not sure however if the prices could be justified when you consider what is inside the box. I know their Antennas have a good rep and will be purchasing one of them in the new year, not sure yet if I need the standard one or the one with the Low Noise Amp, need to get the setup running and testing before making a decision.

Their Dongles are very reasonable however in comparison to some websites I have been looking at.