{"id":8104,"date":"2024-12-06T11:04:56","date_gmt":"2024-12-06T19:04:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/watermanatwork.com\/blog\/?p=8104"},"modified":"2024-12-06T11:04:56","modified_gmt":"2024-12-06T19:04:56","slug":"sdr-antenna-for-aircraft-tracking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/watermanatwork.com\/blog\/sdr-antenna-for-aircraft-tracking\/","title":{"rendered":"SDR Antenna for Aircraft Tracking"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Here we are building a cheap SDR antenna for aircraft tracking. I’m rounding up the parts to start building some basic antennas, but for now, we can start with the antenna that came with the RTL-SDR v4 kit and $10 worth of PVC pipe and a few fittings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This setup will be similar to one I build for a Slim Jim antenna<\/a><\/strong> for use with my mobile ham radio. I cut a 10′ piece of 3\/4″ PVC to fit a 3\/4 x 1\/2″ tee so I could attach it to 1\/2″ PVC tubing stuck inside the racks on the camper shell of my truck.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"PVC<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

One part of the 3\/4″ pipe reaches from the roof rack tee to the ground. This is support. The remainder of the pipe goes on top. The antenna is going to be roughly ten feet above the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"PVC<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This is an example of what you can do with a 10′ piece of PVC and a couple fittings. You can do something outside a window or clamped to a fence. You want to get the antenna as high as possible, but as you will soon see, the first ten feet up are big ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I took the small dipole antenna that came with the RTL-SDR receiver and stuck a tripod leg into the PVC pipe. I did not have an SMA adapter, so I used the LNA filter to connect the antenna cable to an SMA male – SMA male RG58 cable that goes into the camper and connects to the RTL-SDR dongle.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Dipole<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

What does ten feet of antenna elevation do for us? Since we are testing the antenna setup, everything else we use should be in working order so we can pinpoint any problems that might arise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The RTL-SDR receiver is plugged in the Windows 10 laptop computer running SDR++. I went over to the FM broadcast band to check out the antenna. Happy to see strong signals from Mexican(L) and American(R) FM radio stations.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"FM<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Since we are looking for aircraft tracking, I dial in 1090 MHz, the ADS-B aircraft tracking frequency. As you can see, there is plenty of traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"ADS-B<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Since SDR++ does not have an ADS-B plugin at this time, I switched over to SDRangel. Having saved the ADS-B configuration from my previous effort with SDRangel, it was easy to get up and running with the new antenna.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"ADS-B<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The crappy desktop antenna, already broken, on top of a ten foot piece of PVC pipe, was pulling in ADS-B aircraft data from over 1300 km(800 mi) away!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was planning to build some antennas and I have a PBC antenna I haven’t checked out yet, but if a broken $5 antenna can go 800 miles, I’m not sure how much I can improve on that. Or maybe I can reach the International Space Station. That’s part of the fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking closer at SDRangel, there is a Map plugin with Street and Terrain features. This is a terrain map with civilian and military aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"SDRangel<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The PVC antenna doing a good job of bringing in the signals and SDRangel with plenty of tools to explore aircraft tracking. There is also a 3D map plugin available. It’s a 1 Gig download, so I haven’t installed it yet. Soon, because it looks good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I just got a shipment of pre tariff electronics from China, so there is definitely more coming up. Stay tuned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here we are building a cheap SDR antenna for aircraft tracking. I’m rounding up the parts to start building some basic antennas, but for now, we can start with the antenna that came with the RTL-SDR v4 kit and $10 worth of PVC pipe and a few fittings. This setup will be similar to one … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sdr-software-defined-radio"],"yoast_head":"\nSDR Antenna for Aircraft Tracking<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Building a cheap SDR antenna for aircraft tracking\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/watermanatwork.com\/blog\/sdr-antenna-for-aircraft-tracking\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SDR Antenna for Aircraft Tracking\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Building 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