ADS-B decoding with PP and Virtual Radar

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KA2ZEY

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I've just gotten everything set up to decode ADS-B using RTL1090 and either Plane Plotter or Virtual Radar. I've been told that not all planes are required to use this mode til 2020. With the ones that I do see (I"m on the 15th floor of a co-op right under the LGA flight path), there is rarely any LON/LAT info so nothing on the map of PP or VR. Am I missing something or is this just the way it is for now. I'm not sure what the point of purchasing PP is unless this info is there.
 

737mech

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I've just gotten everything set up to decode ADS-B using RTL1090 and either Plane Plotter or Virtual Radar. I've been told that not all planes are required to use this mode til 2020. With the ones that I do see (I"m on the 15th floor of a co-op right under the LGA flight path), there is rarely any LON/LAT info so nothing on the map of PP or VR. Am I missing something or is this just the way it is for now. I'm not sure what the point of purchasing PP is unless this info is there.

How many planes are you tracking? Most of the airbus types have full adsb, maybe ckeck your antenna? Have you run sbsplotter to check your range? Also double check the options in VRS make sure you haven't selected something that restricts the display for example "show only military".
 

KA2ZEY

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I'll check all of that. I modified my RTL by taking off the stock antenna and using an SMA cable to a tri-band handheld scanner antenna. I would think being that high up that the reception would be great.
 

kma371

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I've just gotten everything set up to decode ADS-B using RTL1090 and either Plane Plotter or Virtual Radar. I've been told that not all planes are required to use this mode til 2020. With the ones that I do see (I"m on the 15th floor of a co-op right under the LGA flight path), there is rarely any LON/LAT info so nothing on the map of PP or VR. Am I missing something or is this just the way it is for now. I'm not sure what the point of purchasing PP is unless this info is there.

Aircraft with no position are Mode -S transponders.

Aircraft with positions are ADS-B equipped.

So what you are seeing is normal. Common aircraft with ADS-B include most foreign carriers as well as FDX, UPS, VRD and a few others.
 

KA2ZEY

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Ok yes, so I was using a 2M/220/70cm Ham antenna. I replace it with my stock uniden scanner antenna and also moved close to the window. Much better. There's still a lot of flights w/o LAT/LON and not sure where the Mil Plane only is on PP but yes, a lot more aircraft.
 

kma371

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Ok yes, so I was using a 2M/220/70cm Ham antenna. I replace it with my stock uniden scanner antenna and also moved close to the window. Much better. There's still a lot of flights w/o LAT/LON and not sure where the Mil Plane only is on PP but yes, a lot more aircraft.

It's obviously best to use an antenna tuned for 1090MHz. DPD makes a few ADS-B antennas that are very good. There are some indoor ones as well. You should check them out.

Military planes have a ICAO ID that starts with an "AE." There are some that start with "AD," but there are not very many. This is the first column in PlanePlotter for reference.
 

freqhopping

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I used to have a Radarbox and used a DPD antenna. This week I finally got around using my SDR dongle, RTL1090 and Plane Plotter. It's connected to my DPD antenna. I think I'm getting better range than I did with the Radarbox. Currently tracking about 130 planes right now and it's not a peak time.
 

davenlr

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freqhopping: What is your range with the DPD antenna? Im using an ST2 right now, and getting about 40 miles radius. Was hoping to get a little farther out.
 

freqhopping

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freqhopping: What is your range with the DPD antenna? Im using an ST2 right now, and getting about 40 miles radius. Was hoping to get a little farther out.


Over 220 miles to the south where terrain isn't an issue. About 150 miles to the north since I'm near the bottom of a ridge that runs W-E on the north side of my house.
 

davenlr

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OK, I built two of the homebrew ones so far, and neither one worked any better than the ST2, so looks like its time for a DPD. How long is your coax run? Mine will need to be about 75' What height is your antenna mounted at? Any trees at the same level?
 

davenlr

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Wow, by the time I get the antenna, coax, and adapters, its way over $200. Ill keep that one on the short list. Ive got one more homebrew to try before I give up and fork over that much cash. Appreciate your info though. Im at 436', but the ridges all around me at 1 to 2 miles are 550', which I think has a lot to do with the short range Im getting. The design of the DPD would let me get it way up above the roof though, on a tripod, without having to worry much about wind loading.
 

737mech

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Wow, by the time I get the antenna, coax, and adapters, its way over $200. Ill keep that one on the short list. Ive got one more homebrew to try before I give up and fork over that much cash. Appreciate your info though. Im at 436', but the ridges all around me at 1 to 2 miles are 550', which I think has a lot to do with the short range Im getting. The design of the DPD would let me get it way up above the roof though, on a tripod, without having to worry much about wind loading.

My setup is a homemade j-pole in the attic, a very short jumper then the RTL dongle, then I run 50 feet of a powered usb cable downstairs to the pc. No long coax run loss. I usually track 150 miles NE and SW depending on altitude of the aircraft. NW and SE are somewhat shorter range because of mountains. On average 50-70 aircraft. The 50 ft usb is at monoprice.com less than 30 bucks.
 
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davenlr

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A J-pole or super-J was the last homebrew I was going to try before going commercial. The idea of putting the Dongle up in the attic is a great idea. Just have to think how Id get the USB cable through the walls from the attic to the shack.
 

nr2d

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A J-pole or super-J was the last homebrew I was going to try before going commercial. The idea of putting the Dongle up in the attic is a great idea. Just have to think how Id get the USB cable through the walls from the attic to the shack.

I think I read somewhere, on Wikipedia I think, that the longest length for USB 2 is 15'.
 

737mech

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I think I read somewhere, on Wikipedia I think, that the longest length for USB 2 is 15'.

Not sure where you heard that, maybe true for a "non-powered" cord? I bought one from monoprice.com and it works great. I think they even make a longer version? The cord has a inline dongle for amp or something, but like I said it works great.
 

nr2d

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Not sure where you heard that, maybe true for a "non-powered" cord? I bought one from monoprice.com and it works great. I think they even make a longer version? The cord has a inline dongle for amp or something, but like I said it works great.

Cabling[edit]



A USB twisted pair, where the "Data +" and "Data −" conductors are twisted together in a double helix. The wires are enclosed in a further layer of shielding.
The data cables for USB 1.x and USB 2.x use a twisted pair to reduce noise and crosstalk. USB 3.0 cables contain twice as many wires as USB 2.x to support SuperSpeed data transmission, and are thus larger in diameter.[59]
The USB 1.1 Standard specifies that a standard cable can have a maximum length of 5 meters with devices operating at Full Speed (12 Mbit/s), and a maximum length of 3 meters with devices operating at Low Speed (1.5 Mbit/s).[60][61]
USB 2.0 provides for a maximum cable length of 5 meters for devices running at Hi Speed (480 Mbit/s). The primary reason for this limit is the maximum allowed round-trip delay of about 1.5 μs. If USB host commands are unanswered by the USB device within the allowed time, the host considers the command lost. When adding USB device response time, delays from the maximum number of hubs added to the delays from connecting cables, the maximum acceptable delay per cable amounts to 26 ns.[62] The USB 2.0 specification requires that cable delay be less than 5.2 ns per meter (192 000 km/s, which is close to the maximum achievable transmission speed for standard copper wire).
The USB 3.0 standard does not directly specify a maximum cable length, requiring only that all cables meet an electrical specification: for copper cabling with AWG 26 wires the maximum practical length is 3 meters (9.8 ft).[63]"

From Wikipedia :USB - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 

freqhopping

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I used to use a USB extender with about 50ft of CAT5 so I could put my Radarbox and antenna in my attic. The problem with that was interference from turning on/off the fluorescent lights in my kitchen would cause my computer to lose it's connection with the Radarbox.
 

davenlr

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This sounds like a winner: 65ft 20M USB 2.0 A Male to A Female Active Extension / Repeater Cable (Kinect & PS3 Move Compatible Extension)
Due to its design, USB cable has a normal maximum length of about 5 meters (16.4 feet), but you can get longer distances by using an active USB extension cable from Monoprice!

Apparently, it "answers" the computer within the required time, then resends the request without the restrictions. Worth a try.
 
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