diff --git a/C-Band.md b/C-Band.md index 22c89a5..e82aaec 100644 --- a/C-Band.md +++ b/C-Band.md @@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ Navigation: [home](README.md) C-Band is the most difficult aspect of setting up and running a full satcom ground station, but because of this and the rich data it can provide, if you have the space, time and patience its probably the most rewarding of all the AERO frequencies that are in use. -I have seen many examples where having both C and L band data from the same Inmarsat has proven very effective, to the point of exciting, to see both sides of the avionics or aircrew / dispatch is just thrilling when it all comes together and works seamlessly. +I have seen many examples where having both C and L band data from the same Inmarsat has proven very effective. Here is a random screen shot of the aircraft that my dish can pick up over the course of a day - you get an ebb and flow in the traffic you will see depending on the time of day and year. The mix of military vs civil will also change just like it does with ADSB. @@ -14,24 +14,24 @@ To see what Inmarsat satellite(s) are over your location, review the [Inmarsat]( ## Start slowly. It can be overwhelming and seem impossible to build a high performance C-Band ground station, but the truth is, you can start simple and just solve each issue as you feel the need. You don't have to do everything outlined on this page in a week. The other nice thing about this page is that you don't have to re-invent the wheel. You can just check things off the list as you go. Lets break it down.... -1. Find your satellite and make sure you have a good spot on your property to place the dish. -2. Get some basic (Node-RED) graphing of the satellite orbit running. -3. Buy a dish. -4. Buy a feed (LNB), LNB power supply, some TV grade coax cable, SDR, computer. -5. Get planes on a map. -6. Get aircraft ACARS messages. -7. Move the dish twice a day (for example, once before work, once after work). Get a feel for where you need to point the dish for each part of the satellite orbit, ie, top and bottom. -8. When you are sick of retuning your SDR frequencies for hot/cold (ie, day/night) cycles, buy a GPSDO and modify the LNB so you no longer have re-tune the SDR frequencies. Or ensure you buy an external LO LNB from the start and never have this issue. -9. When you are sick of manually moving the dish, put a linear motor on it to track the satellite automatically. -10. Done. Sit back and enjoy the data. (Be aware, this last step could take a few years to get to - no, not kidding). +1. Find your satellite and make sure you have a good spot on your property to place the dish. +2. Get some basic (Node-RED is just one option) graphing of the satellite orbit running. +3. Buy a dish. +4. Buy a feed (LNB), LNB power supply, some TV grade coax cable, SDR, computer. +5. Get some planes on a map for a few hours a day. +6. Get aircraft ACARS messages. +7. Move the dish twice a day (for example, once before work, once after work). Get a feel for where you need to point the dish for each part of the satellite orbit, ie, top and bottom. +8. When you are sick of retuning your SDR frequencies for hot/cold (ie, day/night) cycles, buy a GPSDO and modify the LNB so you no longer have re-tune the SDR frequencies. Or ensure you buy an external LO LNB from the start and never have this issue. +9. When you are sick of manually moving the dish, put a linear motor on it to track the satellite automatically. +10. Done. Sit back and enjoy the data. (Be aware, this last step could take many many months to get to - no, not kidding). ## Dish size matters. -You will need the space for a minimum of a 6ish foot (2.4 meter) dish. Some people will tell you that you can get away with a smaller dish, but the signal is going be so marginal that its hard to justify the time and money to setup something might only just work or will be frustrating to use. You may even end up either giving up, or buying a bigger dish, ie spending needless money on the smaller dish. -I also feel that most people will want a large enough dish that _all_ signals from the satellite can be recovered around the clock. If you are close to the equator (ie, under the satellite) then yes, perhaps something smaller might work. +You will need the space for a minimum of a 6ish foot (2.4 meter) dish. Some people will tell you that you can get away with a smaller dish, but the signal is going be so marginal that its hard to justify the time and money to setup something that will only bearly work or will be frustrating to use. You may even end up either giving up, or buying a bigger dish, ie spending needless money and time on the smaller dish. +I also feel that most people will want a large enough dish so that _all_ signals from the satellite can be recovered around the clock. If you are close to the equator (ie, under the satellite) then yes, perhaps something smaller might work. Do your research, ask lots of questions from those that insist a smaller dish will 'work just fine', qualify their data quality. Be sure and read this entire page before making the final decision of the final dish size, there are _three_ types of AERO Data from C-Band (10500, 1200 and 8400) and most people with smaller dishes only can pick up one (10500), they dismiss the other two with a wave of the hand 'There is nothing interesting using those weaker signals' ... You need to make that decision, not them .... -Having free and easy physical access to the dish is also important, you will be spending a lot of time working on it and adjusting it for the setup / commissioning period at all hours of the day and night. If it is on a roof where access is uncomfortable or dangerous in the dark, that is a no-go in my mind. You will need also run a coax and a few command and control cables to the dish and lastly some sort of power outlet or stable low voltage outlet will be required somewhat close to the dish. +Having free and easy physical access to the dish is also important, you will be spending a _lot_ of time working on it and adjusting it for the setup / commissioning period at all hours of the day and night. If it is on a roof where access is uncomfortable or dangerous in the dark, that is a no-go in my mind. You will need also run a coax and a few command and control cables to the dish and lastly some sort of power outlet or stable low voltage outlet will be required somewhat close to the dish. @@ -53,8 +53,8 @@ This can be hard to visualize and keep track of, so a more conventional graph is This is the graph that you will be spending a lot of time looking at. The period of the graph at first should be pretty corse, at least 1 day, 2 at the most. If you want to track long term (monthly or longer) or short term (say a few minutes) you can, but be sure and have two versions of this graph, short and long period. I would not go less than a day since that is the orbit period and you will need some reference of time around that window. In this image, the red plot is the elevation and the green is azimuth. Note the double dip in the azimuth. We will come back to this shortly. - My hope is that seeing the '8' graph and this graph next to each other will help you visualize the pattern your dish needs to track over the course of each daily cycle. - This graph will also help you understand that if the top of the orbit is around 11am, then it will be at the bottom of its orbit around 11pm, but only for a few weeks at at time, because its over a 23 hour 54 minute orbit, it will slowly drift, and so in a few months you will see the top/bottom time of the orbit move an hour or so. +My hope is that seeing the '8' graph and this graph next to each other will help you visualize the pattern your dish needs to track over the course of each daily cycle. +This graph will also help you understand that if the top of the orbit is around 11am, then it will be at the bottom of its orbit around 11pm, but only for a few weeks at at time, because its over a 23 hour 54 minute orbit, it will slowly drift, and so in a few months you will see the top/bottom time of the orbit move an hour or so. I highly recommend you spend some time setting up this graph in either Node-RED or some other stable graphing software. You will need it running around the clock. This graph is critical to the ADSC ground station operator as it will show when the satellite is at the top of its orbit and at the bottom of its orbit and when the satellite is at the most left part and right part of its orbit. These are two very critical points of the orbit and you will be adjusting the dish at these points, so knowing ahead of time that you will need to setting an alarm for something like 3am and 3pm is very important. @@ -63,10 +63,10 @@ Optional, but to give you an idea of how important this whole orbit data is, her ## Auto update TLE -Before we leave the graph / where is the satellite topic, its also critical that you are working with fresh TLE (Two Line Element) data for your satellite. By fresh, I have found that updating them every 24 hours is about right. I was doing it monthly for a while, but feel I have better 'lock' on the sat with 24 hour TLE. I have an example flow to get you started on this auto-update via Node-RED on the [autoTLE](autoTLE.md) page. +Before we leave the graph / where is the satellite topic, its also critical that you are working with fresh TLE (Two Line Element) data for your satellite. By fresh, I have found that updating them every 24 hours is about right. I was doing it monthly for a while, but feel I have better 'lock' on the sat with 24 hour TLE updates. I have an example flow to get you started on this auto-update via Node-RED on the [autoTLE](autoTLE.md) page. ## Hardware BOM (Bill of materials) -1 x 2 meter (6 foot) C-Band satellite dish (Can be larger, but not smaller) Try and find a used C-Band TV dish. They can be found 2nd hand cheap from places like Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist in USA and places like that in other countries. [eBay](https://www.ebay.com/b/c-band-dish/bn_7024908961) I'd love an 8 foot if I was going to do it again and if I had the space, 10 to 12 foot. More than that would be beyond the point of diminishing returns. +1 x 2 meter (6 foot) C-Band satellite dish (Can be larger, but not smaller) Try and find a used C-Band TV dish around 7-8 foot (Bigger has more problems than its worth). They can be found 2nd hand cheap from places like Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist in USA and places like that in other countries. [eBay](https://www.ebay.com/b/c-band-dish/bn_7024908961) I'd love an 8 foot if I was going to do it again and if I had the space, 10 foot. More than that would be beyond the point of diminishing returns. 1 x 75 ohm TV coax cable. Triple or quad shield, length for your installation. [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=75+ohm+outdoor+coax+cable&ref=nb_sb_noss) @@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ norsat 3.4Ghz to 4.2Ghz with external 10Mhz LO. There are different models (N ty 1 x power cable for motors and 5v DC supply for GPSDO - length for install [something like this](https://www.amazon.com/Multi-Core-Shielded-Anti-Interference-Control-Signal/dp/B09639HGN9) -1 x Linear motor with resistance position feedback. Stroke length as per instructions [4'' example from Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NVI5RII/). +1 x Linear motor with resistance position feedback. Stroke length as per instructions [4'' example from Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NVI5RII/). Another similar motor with feedback: [linear actuator with potentiometer](https://www.robotshop.com/products/4-stroke-150-lbs-force-linear-actuator-w-potentiometer) (Do NOT buy the actuators with the pulse output!!) 1 x Microcontroller with 5 amp H-Bridge relays [Example from Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=h-bridge&ref=nb_sb_noss_1). @@ -114,13 +114,13 @@ Don't secure the dish to the ground yet, you will need to pivot it to find the m It should go without saying, but clearly don't do this initial setup on a windy day and be sure to have a plan to mount the dish to the motor and mounted with enough cement to survive your once every 100 year wind storm. -I put a tent peg in the ground and used a marker to show the edges of the orbit. Just use any method that works for you setup. You just want to be able to have top bottom left right marks for each of the 4 parts of the satellite orbit clearly defined so any mechanical limits / hard stops can be avoided.... This is more important than it first seems. The satellites do have a very long period drift. It takes a lot of fuel to keep them on station, so they ballance the life the satellite fuel with performance. That means how you set up the dish this week might be different in a month, in 6 months, in a year. You want to ensure you have plenty of free movement beyond just where the satellite is located right now. +I put a tent peg in the ground and used a marker to show the edges of the orbit. Just use any method that works for you setup. You just want to be able to have top bottom left right marks for each of the 4 parts of the satellite orbit clearly defined so any mechanical limits / hard stops can be avoided.... This is more important than it first seems. The satellites do have a very long period drift. It takes a lot of fuel to keep them on station, so they ballance the life the satellite fuel with performance. That means how you set up the dish this week might be different in a month, in 6 months, in a year. You want to ensure you have plenty of free movement beyond just where the satellite is located right now so you can follow its drift in the year ahead. ### SDR software. This is a bit of a thorn in our side at the moment. In time we will move to [SDRReceiver](SDRReciver.md) but for now the quickest way to get going is to use SDR# or SDR-Console. Download it, unzip it and run the bat file to set up the SDR. -Then run zadig as admin and install the driver for the SDR. +Then run zadig as admin and install the driver for the SDR. (If you have alreay done this, you don't need to do it twice). Now run the SDR software. Next, finding the right frequency. This has been pretty hard in the past since its hard to find an image of what you are looking for on the web. I am trying to get screen shots of all the Inmarsats so people know where to look and what they are looking for. Here is 98W 10500 burst waterfall. All the Inmarsats ADSC look just like this. Just the frequency changes by a little. You should be able to see a pattern like this on every sat pretty close to this downconverted frequency. Note the small chirpy R and T channels on the left, they are of some value, but the bulk of the interesting data is in those big fat 10500 bursts, so focus on finding them for now. @@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ Even if the dish is not perfect on sat, you can still try and peak the LNB, then ## Azimuth Alignment Now is when the graph starts to come into play. We are first going to look at the graph and find the time when the azimuth is at its peak. We will then go outside with a laptop or computer that can view the waterfall and move the dish side to side and ensure the signal is peaked up left to right. Tip, move the dish right till you just lose the signal, mark it, move it to the left, mark it. Now you know where the azimuth is located for the left (or right) for that part of the orbit. Now wait 12 hours when the satellite is at its right (or left) most and do the same again, move till loss of signal, mark, move the other way till loss, mark and find the middle. -Now move the dish to the middle of those two master marks. +Now move the dish to the middle of those two master middle marks. Congratulations your dish is now azimuth aligned. Don't lock it down too firm, but well note and roughly fix the dish to the ground at that position. ## Elevation Alignment @@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ With the dish roughly on signal you need to find a yardstick or stable measureme You will need to be as accurate as possible here. Depending on your look angle to the satellite will determine how much your dish will need to pivot up and down to track the sat. It could be as small as an inch (25mm) or up to 3-4 inches (75+mm). Thus you need to be as accurate as possible in your marks. (The angle and movement are based on your location in relation to the satellite - for example, the closer to the equator you are, the more your dish will be looking up - if you live closer to the poles, your dish will be looking more at the horizon.) ## Find top and bottom of the orbit on the dish -Over 48 or more hours, look at the graph and pick times when the satellite is at the top and bottom of the orbit. +Over 48 or more hours, look at the graph and find the two times when the satellite is at the top and bottom of the orbit. This is critical and not optional. Mark the dish position with a marker on your yardstick, note the top of the orbit position and 12ish hours latter, the bottom of the orbit position. Yes, this means you will be going outside in the dark more than a few times. Hence my comment about having free easy access to the dish. @@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ Now you need to link Node-RED to the actuator. Here I used an industrial microcontroller, but you could use an Arduino that has a Cat 5 network port. Write some code that takes the Node-RED position (Sent every 15 minutes) and compares it with the current resistance value. Move the dish via relays in a H-Bridge in the correct direction with a small dead-band so that the arm does not hunt continuously around the required set point. -Thus every 15 minutes the dish motor will receive a new position from Node-RED NORAD TLE and will move the arm to the new location. +Thus every 10 to 15 minutes (quicker is NOT better) the dish motor will receive a new position from Node-RED NORAD TLE and will move the arm to the new location. Now, to sync all this up, put the arm on your desk on some paper marked with the length you measured off the yardstick on the dish. You now have a mark for the top of the orbit and bottom of the orbit. You can simply wait ~12-24 hours watching the actuator on the desk and your graph and make slight adjustments to your microcontroller code and the Node-RED rescale node to ensure the graph to actuator arm match. diff --git a/Inmarsat.md b/Inmarsat.md index 9a8be70..53e376f 100644 --- a/Inmarsat.md +++ b/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) @@ -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. 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: diff --git a/Iridium.md b/Iridium.md index dbf5d78..c3bfb38 100644 --- a/Iridium.md +++ b/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 diff --git a/L-Band.md b/L-Band.md index 26246c0..ed0b477 100644 --- a/L-Band.md +++ b/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. diff --git a/OpenSkyAPI.md b/OpenSkyAPI.md index 247f8a8..030e7f6 100644 --- a/OpenSkyAPI.md +++ b/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. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index 9520610..78cd51f 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/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) diff --git a/dumpHFDL.md b/dumpHFDL.md index 31fb66c..aa100cf 100644 --- a/dumpHFDL.md +++ b/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. diff --git a/raspberrypi.md b/raspberrypi.md index 79a22ea..a60b978 100644 --- a/raspberrypi.md +++ b/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 ## diff --git a/vhf-acars.md b/vhf-acars.md index aefbfc6..511eeeb 100644 --- a/vhf-acars.md +++ b/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. 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` diff --git a/vrs.md b/vrs.md index 4636258..6c0060e 100644 --- a/vrs.md +++ b/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.