ADS-B flight tracking

[balou]

Hi guys, I have a little boy who is in love with aviation. He has a flight simulator in his room. Now my question (being in northern Ontario) is there a good flight tracker I could set up? I'm actually starting to enjoy this as well. What exactly is needed? I've been reading, but it's out of my league a bit. Any help/info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[doctordialtone]

is there a good flight tracker I could set up

Have you tried this:

ADS-B Exchange - track aircraft live

ADS-B Exchange - track aircraft live - aircraft flight history

globe.adsbexchange.com

 

[balou]

I'll check it out, thanks.

 

[PDXh0b0]

If you are wanting to build your own
Nooelec NESdr smart v5
(Just the dongle, the antenna & coaxial isn't worth it)

Amazon.ca

Build a 1/4 wave ground plane

1/4 Wave Ground Plane Antenna Calculator – M0UKD – Amateur Radio Blog

Software
Dump1090(inside the source download it a file dump1090-win.1.10.3010.14.zip / extract and put folder in c drive)

Virtual radar Server
(When installing it gives you an option to change the port, default is 8080, I would change it to avoid conflicts later on)

Download - Virtual Radar Server

A stand-alone .NET application that displays output from an SBS-1 ADS-B receiver on a Google Maps web page.

www.virtualradarserver.co.uk

Side note; the nooelec NESdr v5 or the RTL-SDR blog v3 are great if you guys later want to explore other rtl-sdr projects.
If ads-b is the only intrest , I personally like & use the

AirNav RadarBox ADS-B FlightStick - AirNav RadarBox - Global Flight Tracking Intelligence | Live Flight Tracker and Airport Status

The all-new ADS-B FlightStick is RadarBox’s latest ADS-B receiver USB dongle. - AirNav RadarBox - Global Flight Tracking Intelligence | Live Flight Tracker and Airport Status

www.radarbox.com

With this I just use rg6 quad shield coaxial cable, and adapters f-type to sma and f-type to what ever connector use may use in your 1/4 wave gp build

 

[balou]

Wow! thanks. I'm not looking to build. Mainly like to have it on computer and see what's above, what is it, and where they are going. Other info for now, I don’t need. It's more for my little boy to enjoy.

 

[wtp]

Live Flight Tracker - Real-Time Flight Tracker Map | Flightradar24

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.

www.flightradar24.com

I use this one also to see where they came from, where they are going, and who owns it. You can never have enough information.
For more fun, run them both on two monitors.

 

[balou]

Thanks wtp. I'll message you when I get home next week for more info. I work in a remote mining camp 7 in, 7 out

 

[morfis]

If your lad has a computer (or is interested in such things) then the Nooelec RTL device idea covers a lot more possibilities than just ADS-B.

General scanning, airband listening etc.
Making his own antenna - very, very easy and also an area you can both experiment with.
Use of single board computers like the Raspberry pi and a big rabbit hole of fun stuff awaits there!

 

[IdleMonitor]

Wow! thanks. I'm not looking to build. Mainly like to have it on computer and see what's above, what is it, and where they are going. Other info for now, I don’t need. It's more for my little boy to enjoy.

Here's what I use to host mine. FlightFeeder - ADS-B Receiver - FlightAware

 

[balou]

If your lad has a computer (or is interested in such things) then the Nooelec RTL device idea covers a lot more possibilities than just ADS-B.

General scanning, airband listening etc.
Making his own antenna - very, very easy and also an area you can both experiment with.
Use of single board computers like the Raspberry pi and a big rabbit hole of fun stuff awaits there!

Thanks. We do quite a bit of Air Band scanning already, but not sure I have the time to take on a project right at this moment, but I will check it out.

 

[gary123]

You can feed your data to several sites. ADSB and Flightradar24 are two of the most popular.
See this thread in the military forums.

ADSB Exchange SOLD

ADSB Exchange SOLD! JETNET, a leading provider of aviation data and market intelligence, announced today that it acquired ADS-B Exchange, one of the world’s largest networks of ADS-B/Mode S/MLAT feeders and providers of real-time and historical flight data...

forums.radioreference.com

Military monitoring is great. There is a lot of activity in the arial refueling areas as well as Military aircraft heading for airshows and exercises.

 

[Aviator747]

I have been feeding to Fr24 for 8 years now. I signed up and have a kit from them. I use virtual radar to see what my setup is seeing in my area. I reach out 200 NM or so.