Random Wire Review 87: April 26, 2024
Featured: Flight tracking with a Raspberry Pi
I am getting much more enjoyment than I thought I would as I monitor air traffic near me and in other parts of the country. This project is a keeper for me. Below is a screenshot of air traffic over Washington State at 9:15 am Pacific on April 23, 2024.
Contents
1 – A note about product links
2 – Flight tracking with a Raspberry Pi
3 – Disappointment with WIRES-X
4 – LinkStar tiny router
1 – A note about product links
I will be including Amazon Affiliate links, but not in the newsletter. They will be published on my Random Wire support page for some items discussed in the Random Wire newsletter.
I continue to not see the value in asking you to pay to subscribe. I think there is more value in providing opportunities for you to purchase some of the things presented in this newsletter. This helps to keep this newsletter free of charge.
If you do purchase a product through an affiliate link, I will receive a very small commission. The price you pay for the product is the same as the price without an affiliate link. This is an easy way to help support the Random Wire newsletter at no additional cost to you.
2 – Flight tracking with a Raspberry Pi
I enjoy watching what is going on up in the sky. During my February trip to San Diego, I spent some enjoyable hours using my Yaesu VX-6R to monitor radio exchanges between various aircraft and the San Diego Airport tower.
Now I’ve upped my game by pairing an ADSBExchange SDR dongle with a nice CanaKit Raspberry Pi 4 kit to watch air traffic around Portland, Oregon. (These items are listed on the Random Wire support page.)
With a Raspberry Pi and the ADSBExchange dongle, you’re set to monitor local air traffic. By linking your data feed to ADSBExchange, you also get global access to air traffic. In their terminology, you become a “feeder.”
You can use FlightRadar24.com to monitor air traffic but access is rather limited unless you pay for a license. I like FlightRadar24, and honestly, the low subscription cost is less than what I spent for the Raspberry Pi and ADSBExchange dongle. But I also like fiddling with the technology, so I went with ADSBExchange.com. The map (as shown above) isn’t quite as nice looking as FlightRadar24’s map but it suits me just fine.
The CanaKit kit is a good one, complete with a power supply, heat sinks, and a fan.
My one complaint about the CanaKit kit is the black case. The shiny surface attracts fingerprints and smudges. Since I’m not handling it very often, I can live with that. The fitment of the case pieces is very good. The included cooling fan snap fits into the case lid.
Getting this set up couldn’t be simpler:
The microSD card comes with the software you need already loaded. You simply insert it into the card slot on the Raspberry Pi, attached the ADSBExchange USB stick and antenna, and plug the power in. After a little bit of easy configuration, your device is actively picking up local air traffic.
Note that my device is not located outside — it is inside on a corner table. While I would undoubtedly get better performance if I could get the antenna outside, it seems to be working fine placed inside, near an exterior wall.
A most informative page explains how ADS-B Exchange works: https://www.adsbexchange.com/how-it-works/
I did do the sudo apt update / upgrade dance on this unit. It had 130 packages ready to be upgraded, so I proceeded with upgrading. During the upgrade process, I noticed that rendering of air traffic was a bit jumpy.
Then I installed Tailscale so I can look in at my local data while I’m traveling. Directions at https://tailscale.com/download/linux/rpi-bullseye.
I’ll close with one feature of ADS-B Exchange: you can filter for kinds of air traffic. In the image below, I filtered for just Military aircraft and noticed a couple of fighters flying in the southwest United States. Very interesting stuff.
3 – Disappointment with WIRES-X
I write this note hoping that just like getting your car washed sometimes seems to stimulate rain, writing about it will create the magic that help my registration come through.
I am frustrated with the very slow registration process for a WIRES-X account from Yaesu. I submitted my registration on March 29 and as of this issue of the Random Wire, four weeks have passed. I’ve received no acknowledgement that my registration was received. Last week, I submitted a request for information through their contact form but received no reply.
I try to log into the WIRES-X page every morning in case the registration has been processed without notice to me, but the popup I get each time says “Not a valid member ID or password.”
I do like my Yaesu radios. I like how they feel and function. However, the incredibly slow processing for a new WIRES-X account is disappointing. Part of my frustration stems from my wish to write a simple “how to get started with WIRES-X” article, but I’m stymied by the slow processing of my WIRES-X registration. I need to experience it before I can write about it.
4 – LinkStar tiny router
This little guy is on order. I’m pretty excited to give it a try, either in the travel trailer or in my business travel kit. While I do have some small devices from GL.iNet that are quite capable, I like the idea of getting my hands dirty with OpenWRT.
I’d include a picture of this device except for one thing: every site that has a picture of it also has copyright notices posted. I’ll wait until I get it in hand and can take my own photographs for photos to share with you.
The LinkStar H68K-V2 is a 4-port router with two Gigabit Ethernet ports, two 2.5 GbE ports, and support for WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2. It’s also a tiny device that measures just 80 x 60 x 40mm (3.15″ x 2.36″ x 1.57″).
I ordered the device on April 20, it was shipped from China on April 22, and arrived in California on April 24. It just might show up this weekend!
If you connect your ADS-B Pi to flightaware24.com they will give you a full business plan for free, $500/yr normally. I've got two in my upstairs north PDX windows for good east and west coverage.
https://www.flightradar24.com/build-your-own
They also provide some nice graphs and ranking.
-w7com
I followed the links on your #87 issue for #2 - Flight Tracking with a Raspberry Pi 4, and the links to the products - the Canakit product link points to the ADSBExchange SDR. product link I wanted to follow the proper link to the Canakit you mention so that you could get your commission. Thank you!
John