Updating my ADS-B setup (First Time)

[Saint]

I have decided to update my ADS-B setup in my apartment, I have a couple of questions. This is my new setup come Monday.

AirNav ADS-B 1090 MHz Outdoor Antenna with SMA Connector

ADS-B Dual 978 MHz + 1090 MHz Band-Pass SMA Filter

FlightAware Pro Stick USB ADS-B Receiver

DUMP-1090-WIN- 1.10.3010.ZIP

Is my copy of DUMP-1090-WIN- 1.10.3010.ZIP the most up-to date and best to use for my setup

Also I was using Virtual Radar before, is there other software out there that does a better job with my new setup.
Any information you can provide is Appreciated, This is really my first time setting up a ADS-B setup so I have a lot to learn.
Steve

 

[gcopter1]

Have you tried PlanePlotter?

 

[Saint]

Have you tried PlanePlotter?

No I have not used any software except Virtual Radar,

 

[Saint]

I just noticed several youtube videos on planeplotter I will take a look at them thanks

 

[vagrant]

Your equipment list looks okay, but try it without that inline filter first. See below for more of that. I am not sure what you are going to use for coaxial cable or how and where you intend to mount that antenna. Much depends on the results you are happy with and making adjustments as needed. (Spending more money)

I previously used PlanePlotter and stopped a few years ago. I think it was due to some fools on their forums as well as an older computer trying to run everything. The forum jokers may be gone now. Still, there are advantages to using PlanePlotter and sharing data with others such as tracking a U2 aircraft cruise across most of the U.S. around 60k feet, plus MLAT. (Hmm...maybe I'll give it a go again.)

I have been using Virtual Radar since then with Windows machines and it works quite well. I push two feeds and I like that VirtualRadar allows me to also remotely view (via web) the data by forwarding a port on my router. VirtualRadar also allows user/pass authentication. Works well on computers, tablets and phones using whatever web browser with plenty of customization.

I don't use Dump-1090 and just use VirtualRadar with two different receivers. I have that FlightAware stick and I'm not sure I have ever used it. Thus, I am unsure if it works with VirtualRadar directly. I will tell you to avoid using that inline filter right off. It introduces loss on the received signal and you may be better off without it. Try it without for a week and see what your map plot looks like and take a snapshot. Then install it for another week and take another snapshot at the end. You'll probably notice a difference one way or the other. If someone installs a cellular tower next door, then use it.

Here is a snapshot of a map view using Virtual Radar Server and the plots for different altitudes. One does not necessarily need to have that kind of coverage, I cannot see that far , but I push feeds to a provider for others to enjoy. My ADS-B Coverage Map

There are others I'm sure with more/better knowledge of ADS-B that may chime in.

 

[Saint]

Thanks for all the information, I will leave the inline filter off as you say and see what the difference is with and without the filter, I have been using Virtual Radar (and it's free but no real help files) to see how it works for two days and it gives me the information I want to see, I really don't need a whole lot of bells and whistles just the basics I want to see the planes in my area, right now I have a cheap dongle and the small antenna it came with and sitting inside I get between 10 miles/15/ and some time 40 miles. I am in a apartment on the fourth floor and I also have a Discone antenna on the fourth floor balcony and it does about as good as the dongle antenna, so it's going to be interesting to see the difference with the new gear. I hope for some improvement.

 

[Saint]

I have decided to update my ADS-B setup in my apartment, I have a couple of questions. This is my new setup come Monday.

AirNav ADS-B 1090 MHz Outdoor Antenna with SMA Connector

ADS-B Dual 978 MHz + 1090 MHz Band-Pass SMA Filter

FlightAware Pro Stick USB ADS-B Receiver

DUMP-1090-WIN- 1.10.3010.ZIP

Is my copy of DUMP-1090-WIN- 1.10.3010.ZIP the most up-to date and best to use for my setup

Also I was using Virtual Radar before, is there other software out there that does a better job with my new setup.
Any information you can provide is Appreciated, This is really my first time setting up a ADS-B setup so I have a lot to learn.
Steve

Well I received all my stuff today instead of Monday, I plugged in the FlightAware Pro Stick USB ADS-B Receiver and hooked up the AirNav ADS-B 1090 MHz Outdoor Antenna with SMA Connector and started DUMP-1090, started Virtual Radar, I can't tell you how pleased I am with the difference in tracking aircraft. Before with the old dongle and the antenna that came with it or the Discone antenna the most aircraft I tracked at one time on a good day was two or three aircraft at one time. The farthest distance I received was 40 miles , most times I was lucky to get 15 miles.

I put the antenna out on my fourth floor balcony facing North and the most aircraft it has tracked was 45 so far and the longest distance so far is 228 miles I still have to position the antenna properly. Just watching Military Aircraft flying around and tracked a Mercy Flight Helicopter out of Western NY. Did not think that there were so many aircraft in the air at this time because of the Covid 19 virus but there all over. Anyway I just wanted to share this with you.
Steve

 

[vagrant]

Fantastic! I review it almost daily and it is interesting for some of us. Probably crazy boring for others.

 

[Saint]

Fantastic! I review it almost daily and it is interesting for some of us. Probably crazy boring for others.

I have been learning how to use the Virtual Radar Program, just stumbling around, found the logs that are saved so I can review the aircraft that I'm logging, set it up so it tells me by audio when it picks up an aircraft farthest away from me so I can see how it's preforming, I'll just keep clicking on the menus and figure out how things work.

 

[vagrant]

Oh hell, I did not know it could tell us via audio the furthest aircraft. Thanks for that. I am definitely not a Virtual Radar server expert. I will need to play with it more myself.

 

[Saint]

Oh hell, I did not know it could tell us via audio the furthest aircraft. Thanks for that. I am definitely not a Virtual Radar server expert. I will need to play with it more myself.

Yea I have it set up for the last 15 minutes a lot easier to figure out the longest distance I'm picking up, the audio works real good. This is a screen shot I did when I first set it up.

 

[737mech]

There’s another route if interested? I have a pi3b with both 1090 and 978 sdr’s. I use a program on the sd card called Stratux. The pi3b sends out WiFi. You basically hook in to the Stratux WiFi network and can use many apps like pilots do. My favorite is flightplango works great on iPad.

 

[Saint]

Yea I'm still trying to figure out the logs, I can look at yesterday log of all the aircraft I picked up but everytime I try and look at today's log it say's,
NO RECORDS WERE FOUND FOR THE CRITERIA SUPPLIED. Does anyone know how to use this. I have had the program running all day and no records, but it did save records for yesterday ???
Steve