Complete FlightRadar24 Build on Raspberry Pi and SDR Dongles. ADS-B AIRCRAFT RADAR System Part 1

[@ozbolli]

I'm just about to do this. So glad I found this and you're in the UK!

[@ralphj4012]

Impressive. Didn't realise you were into electronics at that level. You can get a 3.5 inch touch screen which is the same size as the Pi and a case which houses both, though, as you say, everything is as rare as hen's teeth at the moment. Recommend the heatsinks and mini fan for the Pi when using the TFT. Fan is a tight squeeze (but lots of room in your box) and power connections can be problematic

[@MikeMakesIt]

Hi Ralph. I seem to do a bit of everything these days. I found the 5” display a bit easier to see! I’m looking at setting up another permanent feeder so may install your idea of a fan and keep everything a tad cooler. Thanks for the comments and for watching👍🏽

[@spatt9236]

Slowly but surely am building my own ADS-B receiver, after obtaining Pi 4 model b 8GB kit from Raspberry Pi pop-up shop. have since purchased 52Pi Case and Low-Profile ICE Tower Silent Cooler Cooling Fan and a 1.2 m antenna. Also as they are practical and sturdy going to use a Masterplug outdoor box like Mike has and have made a waterproof housing for the box to be fixed under. Still to purchase antenna mast and active USB cable and ADSB dongle

[@MikeMakesIt]

Hi, sounds as if it will be a great project. I run mine fanless but extra cooling will never hurt. Good luck and thanks for watching 👍🏽

[@leandrobernardes9389]

hello. Did you have a video showing the automatic system saying which direction the plane would go in the sky? and showing some codes? thanks

[@MikeMakesIt]

Unfortunately not. Flightradar24 has recently revamped their software to making for a better experience of what's going on in any particular area and is really easy to use. With Raspberry Pi now available again hopefully more people will build a system and get a business plan free!

[@davidmorris1957]

Hi i really like your videos on ADS-B I have a few questions if that's ok with you. How do you stop your equipment from getting damp in the waterproof box and also if you have the dongle up close to the antenna how do you stop that getting damp and how do you far with the equipment getting really hot if we get a summer and also sometimes getting cold like - temps in winter Thank you David

[@MikeMakesIt]

Hi David, thanks for the comments. I was lucky and found a sheltered place for the water proof box, largely out of the rain and the sun. I do have a small heat sink on the CPU. I never seem to have an issue on my setup year round with heat, sun or damp. As for the SDR, when it was up near the aerial I put it in heat shrink and put this in a small waterproof box. The finished setup had the SDR in heat shrink in side of the aerial pole so invisible to see from the outside but also free from getting wet. I think I mentioned this in one of the videos where I made a special mast support. Thanks for watching 👍🏽

[@davidmorris1957]

@@MikeMakesIt what length of coax did you use from your dongle to your antenna

[@hotquebec]

whatsa heat shrink?

[@revadan]

you can run FR24 and Flightaware at the same time with your setup

[@MikeMakesIt]

Hi, I thought you could but stayed with just FR24 for now although may go to both in the future. Thanks for the info and for watching 👍🏽

[@brunomelorp]

Entre os 3 dispositivos, qual vc indica para comprar primeiro?

[@MikeMakesIt]

Which device are you asking about?

[@kentek3141]

So, how are you viewing the data? I don't see an HDMI cable. SSH is text only.

[@MikeMakesIt]

If you go into the Flightaware web page and log in you can look at your receivers statistics for 7days. I pulled the data for mine from there. Hope that helps. Thanks for watching

[@GateKommand]

Very interesting thanks mate!

[@MikeMakesIt]

Thanks for the feedback Gate, much appreciated 👍🏽

[@relaxlk1768]

Nice alluminium plate,😃

[@MikeMakesIt]

I’ve been lucky to be around when we have scraped machines at work. They usually have some useful parts for me. Actually quite a lot have gone into KZbin projects. Thanks for watching 👍🏽

[@technolk8221]

Hello brother,this unit could be use for another perpose.? I mean like whether data

[@MikeMakesIt]

@@technolk8221 With the correct software yes. The Raspberry pi’s are super versatile, you just need the idea and the right software and you’re away.

[@technolk8221]

@@MikeMakesIt thank you

[@nlarenas]

So you sell this ready, up and running?

[@MikeMakesIt]

No unfortunately not. I just showed how I made mine as it might help people make their own. Thanks for watching 👍🏽

[@nlarenas]

@@MikeMakesIt would be great if you sell this ready

[@stevew8614]

Hi. Are there any alternatives to using a Raspberry Pi? They still seem to be un-obtainium...

[@MikeMakesIt]

Hi Steve, the only system that I know of is the Pi but you could try this link www.flightradar24.com/apply-for-receiver Pimoroni have Pi kits at the mo shop.pimoroni.com/collections/raspberry-pi The Pi Hut have 3B kits thepihut.com/products/raspberry-pi-3a-starter-kit I've not had a chance to run up a Pi zero yet so cannot tell you if this is an option. I hope the above helps a little, thanks for watching 👍🏽

[@allenyehtw]

How to display FR24 Feeder status when start up ?

[@MikeMakesIt]

Hi, if you mean from a pi terminal take a look at the flight radar forum and search fr24 status and you’ll find a link to the command. I’m away from my computer until Saturday so don’t have it to hand. If you have no luck come back to me and I’ll dig out my notes and let you know the command line then. See below😃 forum.flightradar24.com/search?q=Fr24+status&searchJSON=%7B%22keywords%22%3A%22Fr24+status%22%7D

[@allenyehtw]

@@MikeMakesIt Thanks your reply~~ I will try it .

[@martinmcmulling1585]

can any on tell me how to get my flight radar24 sreen working on may base set up thank you

[@MikeMakesIt]

Hi, Marin, that a very difficult question to answer I’m afraid. Go back through everything I have done and it should be fine. Other people seem to be getting it to work ok so it’s possible there may be a step you have missed. Have a look and if you still are having a problem give me as much detail of the issue as you can and I’ll see what’s going wrong for you.

[@martinmcmulling1585]

@@MikeMakesIt ok thank you I've managed to get the maps working Would you know how to update the the coordinates so I can see my location on the map Thank you

[@MikeMakesIt]

@@martinmcmulling1585 Good job about getting the screen working 👍🏽 From memory it is all input at an early setup stage where location, elevation, usb stick type is entered.

[@martinmcmulling1585]

@@MikeMakesIt thanks Mike I will Go through the set up process again 👍

[@MikeMakesIt]

@@martinmcmulling1585 good luck 👍🏽 it can be a pain, I had to do it a few times. There is info on the flight aware web site that helped me through it.

[@aeroplanespotterstv6868]

Have you got one for 360radar you get free access if you setup

[@MikeMakesIt]

Hi, currently I'm only using Flightradar24 and I get a free business account as the Pi is alway switched on sending data back to them. I see with 360radar you are able to track military aircraft. With FR24 it's a little more limited. It all depends what you want to track I guess. I may look at 360radar in the future though. Thanks for watching 👍🏽

[@aeroplanespotterstv6868]

@@MikeMakesIt ok as I like to see military and I have the development server mode A as I’ve got a rasberry Pi from the owner Phil and he bought my single off me as my ram chip in Pi4 went dead and so he used that flightaware dongle for my kit for his rasberry Pi here 3B+ I buying rasberry Pi3s now and I have bought not long ago another Rasberry Pi4 and the other one upstairs to one ride the broken one need some that knows how to solider a chip on the board

[@aeroplanespotterstv6868]

@@MikeMakesIt Flightradar24 block some private owned aircraft and some military aircraft doesn’t show. They can choose what To block as say if you are a pilot you could ring up and say not to have yours to track and it would be blocked on there site alternatively if yours is blocked you could give your details and have it to track. 360radar is open source tracking site nothing blocked on there you can see civilian and military while Flightradar24 ideal for commercial flights tracking.

[@MikeMakesIt]

Thanks for the update. Good luck on getting the Pi repaired👍🏽

[@aeroplanespotterstv6868]

@@MikeMakesIt I got new Pi4 but might get other one repaired but no rush

[@jada1173]

Why have no one try to use a little usb extension cable to have the dongle outside and the pi inside the house. Not so much hassle with the big watertight box outside. Edit: didn't see the end of your video with your usb extender, think that is the way to go. But i was just thinking in general here on youtube where people are making these boxes on their roof

[@MikeMakesIt]

Hi Jada, I guess it can depend on the location you have to place the system. In my case I’m about 50m from the house so I have my system remote from the main building and the Pi at the end of the powered USB cable. I was going to place a Pi Zero up the pole with the dongle and just have a power cable going to the system but as yet not tried this. Thanks for watching 👍🏽

[@jada1173]

@@MikeMakesIt yes, your antenna setup was more advanced with a pole outside. But thinking of all the others with a Tupperware box on the roof with just 3 feet of cable and then they are inside the house, could easy just use a USB extender without the hassle with cooling and stuff in a box.. Have been there doing this myself. But then i filled out the form for a receiver just for fun, couple months later i suddenly got a package from fr24 with a receiver, no questions if i was ready for it. Got one week deadline to make it running, climbing up the steel roof on snow risking my life mounting the antenna. Has now been running since 2015. It needs some babysitting, if internet goes down or a power outtake you get a mail after some hours to check the equipment. I have changed the power brick once and had to flash the receiver firmware once but other than that it just works. Takes away little of the fun building your own diy stuff tho.

[@MikeMakesIt]

@@jada1173great you had a free receiver, I tried but I’m not in a sort after location. Good luck with yours 👍🏽

[@aishwaryap]

FlightRadar24 on my PI 5 shows 0 Aircrafts but if I connect same RTL-SDR & Same antenna to my Android smartphone through Dump 1090 App it shows plenty of Aircrafts, why is that ?

[@MikeMakesIt]

It must be the configuration on the Raspberry Pi 5. I’m not sure if there is a tutorial on their site for a 5 but there but I see no reason for a 5 not to be able to run it. I suggest you go back over the setup as I think there may be a step that has been missed. It’s been a while since I configured a Pi for this but I do remember there is a place right at the start where you enter your location and aerial height etc and this is where I went wrong a few times and needed to start again.

[@aishwaryap]

oh it might be aerial height input, Thanks for the quick reply :) @@MikeMakesIt

[@paulp96275]

Hello Mike I know electronics is your bag but I found that fascinating so does it pick up the planes code signature it’s a very cleaver piece of kit stay safe 👍👨🏻‍🏭

[@MikeMakesIt]

Hi Paul, there is a lot of information sent out by the plane such at it's altitude, speed, type of aircraft, where it came from and where its going and a whole lot more! Thanks for watching 👍🏽👍🏽

[@paulohenriquejunior1994]

Hi, which is your raspberry pi model?

[@MikeMakesIt]

Hi Paulo, in the first video I used a Pi3b and in the later video I was also using a Pi4. Both seemed to give very similar results. I have been trying to get a Pi Zero to run but no luck yet! Thanks for watching 👍🏽

[@paulsharp5473]

I didn’t see any safety gear on.

[@MikeMakesIt]

Difficult to see the head gear in the video when out of shot and gloves get pulled into the saw blade so no gloves. The saw Is too noisy without the head gear.

[@abecoulter8550]

best not to use them in a lightning storm, ive fried one, also you should get a UPS hat for it,

[@MikeMakesIt]

Hi Abe, good advice, thanks. I did think about a power backup for the Pi in case of a power outage, at least that way I'd have an uninterrupted data output. Thanks for watching 👍🏽

[@jacobcunningham2581]

Can you build me one I'm interested in one. I'm just not savy building stuff like electronics

[@MikeMakesIt]

Unfortunately the Raspberry Pis are in very short supply at the moment and at this time the channel is just a "how to do it" although when the Pi's come back on line this is something I may look at but not at this time I'm afraid. Thanks for asking and watching though.

[@noimnotarobotcanubeleiveit7024]

just plug a tv dongle in your phone and download one of the many free apps

[@bhuvanacreatives1722]

hai what is the use by building this ?? can we earn with this ??

[@MikeMakesIt]

If you are an aviation fan or just want to see what aircraft are near or overhead this is a project that will help you do this.

[@martinmcmulling1585]

Thanks mate

[@MikeMakesIt]

Happy to help, thanks for watching :)

[@noimnotarobotcanubeleiveit7024]

how long before 'terrorists' use adsb to guiude a diy missile. its pretty straightforward

[@MikeMakesIt]

Drones are my worry, they can get almost anywhere nowadays. Thanks for watching 👍🏽

[@jada1173]

You can't guide a missile with adsb, thats way to inaccurate for that to get a direct hit

[@alexislejanpasayloon9541]

Good news sir , that item youre created to navigate and locate with that aircraft , flight radar 24 also make some that project and experiment too , to make some that purpose and for such aviation , see its website and these videos, using that item as well, its safe because only tracking and receiving , want to create too as well

[@alexislejanpasayloon9541]

i want to make that , since some aircraft crossing here and airport or aerodrome here nearnour area dont have radar , instead that " adsb " equipment use , interesting how you download an swedish built " flight radar 24 " now becoming famous atc tracking system in aviation, and please want some instruction about that with raspberry pi and other item , like that video, first time to watch this videos

[@MikeMakesIt]

Hi. I’m glad you enjoyed the video. Currently I have no plans to expand it further than I’ve done so far though. Thanks for watching.

[@zoozolplexOne]

Cool !!!