Virtual Radar

[davenlr]

Ive got 16 planes being tracked right now, but only one on the map. They have to be carrying the specific type of transponder (or whatever its called) to show up on the map. So far, only FedEx, UPS, foreign planes, and a couple American Airlines planes have shown up on my map. The rest just show up in the box on the bottom right. Are you getting nothing there either?

 

[freqhopping]

I've followed all of the options in this thread, Configured proper paths, set map to display my area, see the statistics of the messages being received from the adapter, but still no planes being displayed on the map.

Can anyone help?

OS - Windows XP

NooElec R820T SDR DVB-T NESDR Mini adapter - confirmed to be working

telnet test to localhost on port 47806 displays messages being received.

What are you using for an antenna and where is it located?

 

[nr2d]

Ive got 16 planes being tracked right now, but only one on the map. They have to be carrying the specific type of transponder (or whatever its called) to show up on the map. So far, only FedEx, UPS, foreign planes, and a couple American Airlines planes have shown up on my map. The rest just show up in the box on the bottom right. Are you getting nothing there either?

You know I have windowed about that also. I'll show 10 or 15 aircraft being tracked but will only show 4 or 5 on the map. I have even tried zooming lout till only add about 2 or 3 additional aircraft.

 

[ATCTech]

You're seeing Mode-S transponder data in your list. Position reporting requires the addition of the ADS-B (or newer) function in the aircraft..Without it, or the use of multilateration which requires multiple receivers on the ground, you won't get a map plot..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviation_transponder_interrogation_modes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_dependent_surveillance-broadcast

 

[davenlr]

Thanks ATCTech.

Now that its dark, Ive been going outside to physically spot the planes flying over. When they go behind the ridge (Im on a little hill, but inside a valley) they disappear from site, and also pretty quickly drop off the computer screen as well. Since raising the antenna another 20 feet on my end would only extend the horizon about 2 miles for a plane at 30000 ft, I was wondering if it was even worth investing time or money trying to get a higher gain antenna? I would think regardless of how much gain the antenna has, once the plane has gotten out of site, its gone from the screen as well. There are a couple places with a low spot in the ridge, I can get the planes out to about 70 miles, in other direction(s) they drop out about 20 miles away. My guess is it wont help to even mess with the antenna system. You all's thoughts?

 

[ra7850]

Solved Problem

Thanks for the questions and support. I managed to solve the problem. Originally and still do had a problem with the installation and running the Virtual radar software. The installation of the Virtual Radar software was successful but when I try to start the program I get unhandled exception errors.

The screenshot below shows the error.

Here is what I have working now.

R820T Adapter installed in laptop running Windows 7 Ultimate

ADSB# running on the laptop

Same laptop running VMWorkstation with a Windows XP virtual machine. The Windows XP Virtual machine is running the Virtual Radar software.

Virtual radar software pointing back to the physical laptop running ADSB# software

All is working.

Left to do, figure out what is causing the error on the laptop when I start the Virtual Radar software.

Thanks everyone. In anyone needs any assistance or more information on this setup I'll be glad to help.

Robert

 

[rbm]

It looks like your Gdiplus.dll may be missing or corrupt.

It should be in your 'C:\Windows\System32' folder.

This is what is on all of my XP machines:

09/05/2001 09:00 PM 1,700,352 gdiplus.dll

Rich

 

[davenlr]

Is anyone using an Austin Ferret antenna for their system? Just curious how it compares on 1090 Mhz to the other antennas people usually use.

 

[reconrider8]

i would say that you would need a different antenna that is just for 1090 since its such an out of band frequency

 

[davenlr]

i would say that you would need a different antenna that is just for 1090 since its such an out of band frequency

OK. I tried to build the collinear mentioned in the article, but my spool of coax must be old or hard. After cutting through the jacket and insulation, I couldnt even slide it off the center conductor. After breaking three pieces in a row, I just threw the rest in the trash. I'll try to find an antenna I can buy that will work. Im getting to old for this home brew excitement.

 

[ra7850]

Brian,

Can you share the setup page for your Virtual Radar Server? I'd also like to know where your silhouettes and flags came from. I don't see military acft often in my area but even when I do the flags are missing so I know I must be using an older not as completed flag and silhouette folder.

Thanks,
Robert

 

[ra7850]

Mine does that too, this is what I'm seeing right with the antenna that came with the dongle

Brian,

Can you share the setup page for your Virtual Radar Server? I'd also like to know where your silhouettes and flags came from. I don't see military acft often in my area but even when I do the flags are missing so I know I must be using an older not as completed flag and silhouette folder.

Thanks,
Robert

 

[davenlr]

Download the file at this site: SBS-resources - Helping to personalise your Kinetic Avionics SBS-1 and run the install program. After that, point your virtual server to the directories it creates which default to C:\SBS-resources\Files\

You will have to copy all the logos from the various folders into the main folder, then point the silhourettes to that directory, and you should be good to go.

I just found the frequency the center uses to direct traffic over my area, and interestingly, I can hear the planes as well as the controller...so now I can listen to them and watch them on the virtual radar at the same time. Way to interesting for a $27 investment.

 

[N1SQB]

Install issue!

Well here goes!

A friend of mine who is already into this dongle stuff, got me interested.His dongle is a few years old. Before I discovered this thread, I purchased this dongle:New USB DVB T Rtl SDR Realtek RTL2832U R820T DVB T Tuner Receiver MCX Input | eBay
After I got it,I have not been able to even get it to work. The unit did not come with a driver CD. The link the ad gives you is confusing as heck, and the link I tried to download that looked like it was the one (top left one) turns out to have a virus according to my Symantec anti-virus software. I don't have a clue what is wrong here.
I have the latest version of Zadig for Windows XP. It just shows it as a "Bulk-In Interface ( Interface 0 )"
When I try to download a driver, it gives me a "driver installation failed" message then Symantec comes up
saying it sees it as a suspicious AD and begins to quarantine it. Im at a loss here.

Manny

 

[rbm]

Well here goes!

A friend of mine who is already into this dongle stuff, got me interested.His dongle is a few years old. Before I discovered this thread, I purchased this dongle:New USB DVB T Rtl SDR Realtek RTL2832U R820T DVB T Tuner Receiver MCX Input | eBay
After I got it,I have not been able to even get it to work. The unit did not come with a driver CD. The link the ad gives you is confusing as heck, and the link I tried to download that looked like it was the one (top left one) turns out to have a virus according to my Symantec anti-virus software. I don't have a clue what is wrong here.
I have the latest version of Zadig for Windows XP. It just shows it as a "Bulk-In Interface ( Interface 0 )"
When I try to download a driver, it gives me a "driver installation failed" message then Symantec comes up
saying it sees it as a suspicious AD and begins to quarantine it. Im at a loss here.

Manny

Manny, you don't need or want the CD that comes with the dongle. That's intended to be used only for European Digital TV and it will not work in the US.

There are two other requirements that will need to be met.
.net framework 3.5 is required
A USB 2, port is required

Rich

You 'may' have to disable your antivirus software to install the zadig driver.
Two sources of information:

Zadig - USB driver installation made easy

And the Yahoo Newsgroup here:
https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/SDRSharp/conversations/messages

 

[N1SQB]

Manny, you don't need or want the CD that comes with the dongle. That's intended to be used only for European Digital TV and it will not work in the US.

There are two other requirements that will need to be met.
.net framework 3.5 is required
A USB 2, port is required

Rich

You 'may' have to disable your antivirus software to install the zadig driver.
Two sources of information:

Zadig - USB driver installation made easy

And the Yahoo Newsgroup here:
https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/SDRSharp/conversations/messages

Thanks for the info! I'll get working on this! The link you posted for the Zadig is the same one I used to download it, so at least I'm good there! My USB ports are 2.0 so I'm good there as well. The .Network 3.5 framework keeps giving me a set up error. It downloads ok but the set up part keeps saying error.

Manny

 

[rbm]

I don't know if this will help you, but at the very bottom of this page is one procedure to install the zadig driver on Windows.
Near the bottom is a section marked in red. "FAILED INSTALLATION:"
That procedure 'may' help you.

http://home.comcast.net/~k7rld/SDRDongle.html

Also, the image below shows the driver as it appears when it's installed on one of my WinXP machines.
(I've been running that for more than a year so your driver date may be newer.)
In the past, it wasn't unusual for people to get a failure message but the driver still was installed.

Rich

 

[N1SQB]

I don't know if this will help you, but at the very bottom of this page is one procedure to install the zadig driver on Windows.
Near the bottom is a section marked in red. "FAILED INSTALLATION:"
That procedure 'may' help you.

SDRDongle

Also, the image below shows the driver as it appears when it's installed on one of my WinXP machines.
(I've been running that for more than a year so your driver date may be newer.)
In the past, it wasn't unusual for people to get a failure message but the driver still was installed.

Rich

Rich,it helped out tremendously, thank you! That is exactly the way it comes up on my XP machine. I finally got it to work. I had to disable the antivirus software. Once I did that,the driver installed no problem. I was listening to my local radio station just for testing purposes. Not very good outside the 88-108 radio bands though. Must be the antenna! Now to tackle this radar stuff! I need some java, it's gonna be a long night! LOL!

Manny

 

[rbm]

Rich,it helped out tremendously, thank you! That is exactly the way it comes up on my XP machine. I finally got it to work. I had to disable the antivirus software. Once I did that,the driver installed no problem. I was listening to my local radio station just for testing purposes. Not very good outside the 88-108 radio bands though. Must be the antenna! Now to tackle this radar stuff! I need some java, it's gonna be a long night! LOL!

Manny

Glad to hear you got it working.

I've attached an image showing some typical settings for NOAA Weather Radio reception.
You can zoom in to see the high resolution image.

I don't know why they chose to do it, but the SDR# RF Gain is set to zero on initial installation.
It makes the dongle almost completely deaf!

So, you'll want to make sure to un-check the two AGC boxes and set your RF gain somewhere in the middle of the range.

If you haven't yet done it, you'll also need to 'calibrate' the ppm offset for your dongle.
Each one will vary. I have ten of them and they run all the way from 11 ppm to 82 ppm.
You can refer to my earlier post here for a quick and easy way to do it.

http://forums.radioreference.com/software-defined-radio/285020-sdr-sharp.html#post2136932

It takes 20-40 minutes for the dongle to stop the worst of the drifting after you power it on.

 

[N1SQB]

So far so good! Your images were extremely helpful! I was able to calbrate it pretty good too, using the same 162.400 NOAA weather signal. It happens to be the strongest one we get around here!
Now I think I'm ready to try out the fun stuff!

Manny