## Jume 2024. Ignore this page

Inmarsat.md

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 Navigation: [home](README.md)  
 
 One of, if not, THE first thing you will need to do is find which one of the 4 Inmarsat satellites covers your part of the planet. Or even more specifically, which of them is visible from your desired antenna location.    
-There are two versions of the following diagram floating around on the Internet, be sure and consult the correct one (the one shown here). One is pre-migration, the other is post-migration. Inmarsat moved the orbits for better coverage and other technical reasons in 2018. 
+There are many versions of the Inmarsat coverage area. Inmarsat moved the orbits for better coverage and other technical reasons in 2018 and again around late 2023 into early 2024. Check the map on [tbg.airframes.io about page](https://tbg.airframes.io/dashboard/about) 
 
 <img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/thebaldgeek/thebaldgeek.github.io/main/img/inmarsatcoverage.png" height="580">   
 
@@ -19,8 +19,8 @@ You will see these Hex and Octal codes in the Jaero output, more of them latter,
 As mentioned, you might find (unless you live in Asia Pacific where you only have one satellite visible no matter where you live) that you have two satellite options. Keep in mind that the L-Band beam width from the satellite is rather broad and can be received and decoded even when near the edge of the coverage as per the diagram. C-Band is a lot more narrow beam and you will find receiving and decoding a LOT harder (if not impossible) when at the edge of the coverage shown in the diagram. (For example, I am in Southern California and after several attempts still can not get decodable C-Band signal from 54W with a 6 foot (~2m) dish (the red in the diagram) but get solid decodes from L-Band).   
 
 As mentioned, local obstructions will play a role in what your options are.   
-I used an Android app to show a virtual reality view of where the satellite is located in the sky. I HIGHLY recommend you download the app and see what your options are.  
-There are many such apps and I would think that there would be some options in the Apple store, but don't have an Apple device so cant call any out.    
+I used an Android app to show a virtual reality view of where the satellite is located in the sky. I HIGHLY recommend you download the app and see what your options are. Do NOT pay for an app to do this, the free versions are fine. Note that not all apps have the Inmarsats in them, does not matter, just pick a sat from the list that is around 5 degrees from the Inmarsat one in your area. This is not rocket science, close enough is all you need at this point.      
+There are many such apps and I would think that there would be some options in the Apple store, but don't have an Apple device so cant call any out. (Not sorry).    
 Here is the Android one I used: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ftl.satellitedishpointer.sdp   
 Here are the two satellites options I have in Southern California as per the diagram. Firstly, 98W, the main sat for my region.   
 
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ Here is my 54W outlook.
 <img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/thebaldgeek/thebaldgeek.github.io/main/img/54wloworbit.png" height="580">   
      
 With this satellite you can start to see why I pointed out the +-3 deg movement. From this location that slow oscillation will take the satellite very close to or slightly below my horizon for 12 hours at a time.   
-From the roof of my house however, I get full coverage of the L-Band over the whole orbit with no signal fade.   
+From the roof of my house however, I get full coverage of the L-Band over the whole orbit with no signal fade and so that is where my L-Band antenna is mounted.      
 
 Perhaps it would help to see the orbit on a graph:   
 

Iridium.md

@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ In Jan 2022 we started looking at it seriously, so all this is very new and thus
 Sep 2022 Iridium has picked up a LOT of interest in the past few weeks with some very interesting posts on the ACARS groups.io email list.
 Seems that a good amount of military aircraft (All USAF KC-135) are going to be moving from Inmarsat L-Band to Iridium. There also have been some really solid appreciation for Iridium ACARS messages given via Twitter from the website power users. It's clear that this bleeding edge mode has a great deal of untapped potential.   
 Insert usual call for more feeders here...     
+
+Check out the Iridium page on [tbg.airframes.io] to see the sort of data you will be getting. Iridium is the second most expensive ACARS mode (after C-Band), so be sure it has some data you really care about. If you live in an area already covered, you might want to think twice about the expense. Your data will help, but don't go hungry or cold to provide what we already have on the sites.     
 
 ## Parts required to build an Iridium ground station
 ### Antenna   

L-Band.md

@@ -224,7 +224,9 @@ In no order, my thoughts / wish-list:
 
 
 ## Which SDR?   
-In regard to SDRs, I like the silver v3 RTL-SDR for L-Band, but in this case, because of the requirement to use Bias-T to power the LNA, I might also use the Nooelect SmarTee SDR as it has Bias-T always on without needing to run the v3 software bat file to turn it on. The performance of the two SDRs seems to be identical. With that said, I have had some issue using the SmarTee with [SDRReceiver](SDRReceiver.md) that I am still working through. Also note that I have tested the RSP1a on L-Band and the more expensive SDR showed no benefit at all over the cheaper RTLSDR v3. This is mostly due to the fact of using the LNA, a more sensitive SDR does not perform any better since the system noise is not limited by the SDR, its set by the LNA noise figure. In short, use the cheaper SDR on L-Band and the other on HF where the difference in performance between the two is dramatic.    
+In regard to SDRs, I like the silver v3 RTL-SDR for L-Band, but in this case, because of the requirement to use Bias-T to power the LNA, I might also use the Nooelect SmarTee SDR as it has Bias-T always on without needing to run the v3 software bat file to turn it on. The performance of the two SDRs seems to be identical. With that said, I have had some issue using the SmarTee with [SDRReceiver](SDRReceiver.md) that I am still working through. Also note that I have tested the RSP1a on L-Band and the more expensive SDR showed no benefit at all over the cheaper RTLSDR v3. This is mostly due to the fact of using the LNA, a more sensitive SDR does not perform any better since the system noise is not limited by the SDR, its set by the LNA noise figure. In short, use the cheaper SDR on L-Band and the other on HF where the difference in performance between the two is dramatic.   
+Don't bother with the RTLSDR v4. Its snake oil and is a waste of money on anything but HF.   
+
 ## Mounting       
 How you mount the antenna is up to you. A few people have put them under a flowerpot and mounted them outside and used a bracket that is pointing at their satellite. 
 Some have attached them to camera tripods and used them inside their apartment's. In this case, you do not need to weatherproof the antenna, but it comes at a signal strength drop. Also experiment with positioning, a **window may not offer the best signal**. The reason for this is that a lot of windows have a Low-E coating. The metal coating really knocks back the L-Band signal. Often putting the antenna pointing out a wall or roof next to the window gives a better signal. No really. Trust me on this.      

OpenSkyAPI.md

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 Navigation: [home](README.md)  
 
 ## Jume 2024. Ignore this page   
-tbg has no idea if this API code still works after it broke around Jan 2024.   
+tbg has no idea if this API code still works after open-sky broke it around Jan 2024.   
 
 
 If you are feeding OpenSky, you will have a user/pass. You will need to add these to the following flows.   

README.md

@@ -8,15 +8,14 @@ You can search and live view a lot of satcom ACARS feeds (and some HFDL / VHF VD
 
 [tbg1.airframes.io](https://tbg1.airframes.io/)   
 
-Please note that the website is a dumpster fire.   
+Please note that the website is a dumpster fire. (ie, full of bugs and glitches).   
 Yes, tbg is aware that it does not work for you.   
-tbg is also aware that the menu icons don't make sense for the page content.   
 No, tbg can't 'just give me the old site back'. Since March 22nd 2024 there is no 'old site' in existence.        
 And yes, thebaldgeek is more painfully aware than you can ever know that the site is not optimized for _your_ mobile or PC screen sizes.    
-avgeeks around the world have said its the only ACARS website like it on the planet. Embrace its quirks, or move on.   
+
 
-## About this website  
-This GitHub website is just a brain dump and rough help notes to assist others in getting the hardware and software together to receive and decode ACARS messages from the main modes/frequencies.    
+## About these GitHub pages  
+This GitHub 'website' is just a tbg brain dump and rough help notes to assist others in getting the hardware and software together to receive and decode ACARS messages from the main modes/frequencies.    
 Its not perfect, its not up to date, its not finished, its not polished, it never will be..... in time, these pages will fade as more helpful docs are written over at [docs.airframes.io](https://docs.airframes.io/)   
 
 # About ACARS    
@@ -26,12 +25,12 @@ Please take the time to [read this overview of ACARS](https://www.pentestpartner
 ###  READ THIS!
 
 My motto is 'fail fast, fail often'. I am NOT a programer. Do NOT use the site. Do not read these pages. Please do continue to complain about them.  
-The best way to put this is: `What I am doing cant be done, which means that I don't know what I'm doing, but at least I know that I don't know what I'm doing.`  
+The best way to put this is: `I don't know what I'm doing, but at least I know that I don't know what I'm doing.`  
 
 
 ### Support or Contact   
 
-I am happy to help those that try and help themselves.... In other words, if you don't read these pages and ask questions that are clearly answered here, then tbg responses will be limited.     
+I am happy to help those that try and help themselves.... In other words, if you don't read these pages and ask questions that are clearly answered here, then tbg responses will be limited. (Usually screenshots of what you did not read).     
 
 If you have some ideas about improving the data readablity or decoding of ACARS for the site, here is my starting point - "A problem well stated is a problem half-solved. Charles Kettering - Inventer".   
 In other words, the better you can describe your suggestion, the better chance you have of seeing it show up on the site.    
@@ -52,7 +51,7 @@ If you have 15 minutes to look at some old real world examples of ACARS data, lo
 Less active, but also on [BlueSky](https://staging.bsky.app/profile/thebaldgeek.bsky.social)   
 
 
-If you want more of a traditional forums, then airframesio have that as well, join us over at the [airframes community](https://community.airframes.io/)   
+If you want more of a traditional forums, then airframesio has that as well, join the [airframes community](https://community.airframes.io/)   
 The whole ACARS team is very active on the [airframes discord](https://discord.com/invite/airframes)  
 
 For even more searchable ACARS data (over 2 Billion ACARS messages stretching back a few years) and information on how to feed the different ACARS modes, please support [airframes.io](https://app.airframes.io/about)   

dumpHFDL.md

@@ -1,13 +1,14 @@
 # dumpHFDL - ACARS over HF Frequencies.   
 
 Navigation: [home](README.md)  
+
+## July 2024. This page is out of date.    
+Ignore this entire page. Hit the airframes Discord server and ask about setting up HFDL there.   
+
 
 Radio waves can go a long way on HF. Its also cheaper than satellite data.   
 HFDL stands for "High Frequency Data Link".
 
-## July 2024. This page is out of date.    
-Ignore this entire page. Hit the airframes Discord server and ask about setting up HFDL there.   
-
 ## Antenna   
 HF antennas, longer is better than shorter. End fed long wire, active loop or HF whip on a very good ground plane for example.  
 

raspberrypi.md

@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ Then select UTC:
 - - - -
 
 ## Jume 2024. Ignore this section    
-ZeroTeir is on my nasty list after doing a bait-and-switch.    
+ZeroTeir is on tbg nasty list after doing a bait-and-switch. Ovoid them at all costs.       
 
 
 ## ZeroTeir ##

vhf-acars.md

@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@ Navigation: [home](README.md)
 ACARS is the messaging system that allows aircraft talk to and from the ground staff / systems.   
 
 There are two main ACARS modes on VHF.    
-ACARS between 129 Mhz and 131 Mhz (Doh! Just outside the span of a singe RTL SDR)    
-VDL2 between 136.6 Mhz and 136.9 Mhz    
+ACARS between 129 Mhz and 131 Mhz. (Doh! Just outside the 2Mhz span of a singe RTL SDR)    
+VDL2 between 136.6 Mhz and 136.9 Mhz.    
 Roughly you can think of ACARS as slightly older analog and VDL2 as digital.    
 
 The two different modes are in use to different amounts all over the world, its imposable for us (yet - the data will soon be there for us to say with more confidence) to tell you which to pick for your location. I suggest that you install both packages, run both for a week and compare numbers for your location. Perhaps, like me in California, both have high message rates on both modes and you will end up running a few SDR dongles. (I run 3 in the one Pi 3. Two for ACARS and one for VDL2).   
@@ -24,8 +24,8 @@ PSA: The AirNav RadarBox VHF airband antenna been found to either be broken (dea
 Note that you can NOT use your existing ADSB one, the frequencies are not even close.  
 * 1 x coax cable, length for your installation. The good thing here is the frequency of ACARS is much lower than ADSB, so the coax loss is much lower. 
 A good starter is [RG-8x](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=rg-8x&crid=3QO4RHETIF7KL&sprefix=rg-%2Caps%2C212&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_7_3), a bit more harder to work with is [RG-213](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=rg-213&crid=2LGFNZMSJ9TVW&sprefix=rg-213%2Caps%2C126&ref=nb_sb_noss_1). A lot of folks use [KMR240](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09ZPCM98C) coax. Since its receive only, you can use good quality 75 ohm outdoor TV cable if you like [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=75+ohm+outdoor+coax+cable&ref=nb_sb_noss). BTW, one of the reasons you can mix and match like this is because most SDRs are NOT 50 ohm input, they vary and its really not an issue.        
-* 1 x SMA splitter. You will need to split your antenna into 2 (or 3) SDRs if you plan to run both ACARS and VDL. [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Bingfu-Antenna-Splitter-Cellular-Amplifier/dp/B07STYNB6V/) This will get you started, if you need to split further, just look for the right combo of SMA male/female.    
-* 1 or 2 or 3 x SDR. [RTLSDRv3](https://www.amazon.com/RTL-SDR-Blog-RTL2832U-Software-Defined/dp/B0129EBDS2/) or you can go for the [Orange ADSBEx](https://store.adsbexchange.com/products/adsbexchange-com-orange-r860-rtl2832u-0-5-ppm-tcxo-sdr-w-amp). Do NOT use the blue dongles, they are filtered for 1090Mhz ADSB and will not work on VHF-ACARS.   
+* 1 x SMA splitter. You will need to split your antenna into 2 (or 3) SDRs if you plan to run both ACARS and VDL. [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Bingfu-Antenna-Splitter-Cellular-Amplifier/dp/B07STYNB6V/) This will get you started, if you need to split further, just look for the right combo of SMA male/female. If you are just decoding VDL with 1 antenna and 1 SDR, no splitter needed.       
+* 1 or 2 or 3 x SDR. [RTLSDRv3](https://www.amazon.com/RTL-SDR-Blog-RTL2832U-Software-Defined/dp/B0129EBDS2/) or you can go for the [Orange ADSBEx](https://store.adsbexchange.com/products/adsbexchange-com-orange-r860-rtl2832u-0-5-ppm-tcxo-sdr-w-amp). Do NOT use the blue dongles, they are filtered for 1090Mhz ADSB and will not work on VHF-ACARS. Ovoid the RTL-SDR v4. They are snake oil and offer no improvement for anything above HF.   
  * 1 x Raspbery Pi. You can use your existing ADSB Pi (Check the CPU load first), or put in a new Pi.  
  * 1 x [USB Powered Hub](https://www.amazon.com/Anker-7-Port-Adapter-Charging-iPhone/dp/B014ZQ07NE/). If you end up using 3 ACARS dongles and your ADSB dongle (and perhaps a 978 dongle) on the same Pi, you will for sure need to run a powered hub.  
 
@@ -221,13 +221,13 @@ Ok, you kept reading.... Here is your reward.
 ## Plotting dumpvdl position data on a map  
 
 Yes, its possible to plot dumpVDL positions on a map like VRS. If you are using vdl2dec, just use the -s option and setup an SBS receiver on your local VRS.      
-If you are using dumpvdl, the flow outline goes like this.... Use Node-RED to get the lat/lon data out of any dumpvdl aircraft messages and convert them into VRS 'basestation' format and then add a new receiver to VRS to take the UDP data flow from that Node-RED code.    
-The interesting part is that the JSON output from dumpvdl can have any one of (so far I have seen) 12,000 keys. Of those 12,000 I have found around 640 that have aircraft lat/lon data in them. Finding and plotting those is your challenge. I don't know how many of those 640 the vdl2dec is using to plot its positions.       
+If you are using dumpvdl, the flow outline goes like this.... Use Node-RED to get the lat/lon data out of any dumpvdl aircraft messages and convert them into VRS 'basestation' format and then add a new receiver to tar10909 or VRS to take the UDP data flow from that Node-RED code.    
+The interesting part is that the JSON output from dumpvdl can have any one of (so far I have logged) 12,000 keys. Of those 12,000 I have found around 640 that have aircraft lat/lon data in them. Finding and plotting those is your challenge. I don't know how many of those 640 the vdl2dec is using to plot its positions.       
 Here is a screenshot from a guy in Ireland that is running such a flow in his Raspberry Pi that is also doing the dumpvdl decoding.   
 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/thebaldgeek/thebaldgeek.github.io/main/img/dumpvdlonvrs.png"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/thebaldgeek/thebaldgeek.github.io/main/img/dumpvdlonvrs.png" height="580"/></a>   
 All these aircraft are from the dumpvdl decoder with position data in their ACARS messages.    
-ACARS position plotting is a bit tricky to do, but we are working on it and of course dumphfdl already provides a VRS basestation output, so thats very easy to get plotting and does not require any Node-RED at all.
+ACARS position plotting is a bit tricky to do, but we are working on it and of course dumphfdl already provides a tar1090 / VRS basestation output, so thats very easy to get plotting and does not require any Node-RED at all.
 
 ## Build from source    
 Ok, hardcore linux guys, this is for you.... 
@@ -246,7 +246,7 @@ All the following need to be done as root, so lets become sudo....
 
 If you have SDR software installed all ready, skip this section.  
 `cd /usr/src`  
-`git clone git://git.osmocom.org/rtl-sdr.git`  
+`git clone https://github.com/osmocom/rtl-sdr.git`  
 `cd rtl-sdr`  
 `mkdir build`  
 `cd build`  

vrs.md

@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
 # Flows to work with the JSON data provided by VRS (Virtual Radar Server).   
 
 Navigation: [home](README.md)  
-
+
+## Jume 2024. Ignore this page   
+Most people have moved from VRS to tar1090.  
+
 One of the first things to do is to install a JSON pretty print extension in your web browser of choice. It will make working with the VRS feeds (called receivers) a lot easier to see and drill into.   
 Each receiver has a feed ID, you will need that feed ID if you want to drill into your Jaero feeds and use Node-RED to look at the numbers of aircraft each satellite channel is carrying.    
 Of course, there is also nothing stopping you from just looking the total of all the feeds and calling it a day.