[jhb] Re: Mode S dongle.
- From: "John Woodside" <fossil@xxxxxxx>
- To: <jhb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 21 May 2013 11:15:54 -0000
Fingers crossed then.
I was going to install the Zadig drivers and RTL1090 yesterday to pre-empt
arrival of the dongle but then thought it better to wait.
Good news for Gerry. In Andy's RTL1090 release notes he adds the following:
Installation (not good for upgrade to a newer build)
============
- Download the latest "Zadig" installation package from
http://sourceforge.net/projects/libwdi/files/zadig/
WIN XP-users >>> select the package named "_XP_"
So that infers that RTL1090 is also compatible with XP. At least this will
get you grabbing data and if Planeplotter or VRS also work with XP you can
display the data too.
John
fossil@xxxxxxx
From: jhb-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jhb-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Mike Brook
Sent: 21 May 2013 10:19
To: jhb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [jhb] Re: Mode S dongle.
Some good news for all you Dongle Waiters - mine arrived an hour ago! (Just
when I've started to 'reconfigure' my office, in other words I am untangling
the spaghetti and moving everything around. Aaaarrrggghhh!
MikeB
From: jhb-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jhb-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of e-mail algy.mcintyre
Sent: 19 May 2013 18:41
To: jhb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [jhb] Re: Mode S dongle.
Awaiting mine, also from China. It's on it's way.
Meanwhile, to pass the time, I bought myself one of those 'tiny' Nettop pcs
- Zotac Zbox Plus BE, with the intention of leaving it on all day - much
cheaper than the main PC. (about the size of a large paperback)
http://www.ebuyer.com/441592-zotac-zbox-nano-nettop-pc-zbox-ad06-plus-be?gcl
id=CIyygfvYorcCFVMftAodE3kAEw
Very impressive specification for the price, and it can do everying that you
could possibly need, apart from gaming, of course.
I believe that Bones has something similar running, also.
Looking forward to the 'idiots guide' for installing the RTL1090'
--
Alastair
On 19 May 2013 17:05, John Woodside <fossil@xxxxxxx> wrote:
I think the only tricky bit is installing the drivers before plugging in the
dongle. After that it should just be a matter of starting RTL1090, working
out what all those buttons do, and then seeing if aircraft start showing on
the list. Of curiosity to me is the Mode C button because that's a different
system altogether.
Planeplotter is a messy program to set up with a myriad of unintuitive
menus. I'll have to remember how to set it up myself - but I think it uses
my data files for the screen display..
John
fossil@xxxxxxx
-----Original Message-----
From: jhb-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jhb-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Gerry Winskill
Sent: 19 May 2013 15:49
To: jhb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [jhb] Re: Mode S dongle.
Mine is said to be on the way. Of course two of us will be relying on you
for a full description (idiot's guide)of how to get what JW shows onto our
screens!
Should have the missing bits, tomorrow, to display my Fire on this 23"
monitor.
On 19/05/2013 04:03, John Woodside wrote:
> I'm still waiting for my dongle to arrive but I received a further
> post from Jon today which may be of interest to those of you who have
ordered one.
>
>
>
> "Was so impressed with the first dongle I bought another one for use
> at home. I've been running it here over the last few days feeding
> Planeplotter and I'm amazed with the results considering the low cost.
> I did a bit of experimenting with aerials and found the best one (mag
> mounted on runway lighting blank fitting on roof of dormer window) to
> be the tiny 900 MHz quarter wave that came with the foresaid dongle!
> Tried higher gain aerials and it may have extended the range but I
> lost aircraft as they passed the west coast of the island, with the little
one I get them just fine.
>
>
>
> Comparison right now:
> SBS1e with outside gain aerial above roof line = 125 acft Dongle with
> small aerial on dormer = 56 acft Sounds quite a difference but
> coverage around the Irish Sea area is very much the same.
>
> Another interesting fact I discovered last night is that the RTL1090
> receive program is passing all of the Mode-S downlinked parameters to
> PP (that's actually more than the Selex system at work does!). It
> doesn't display them all dynamically on the screen but if you select
> on aircraft you get them all on a pop-up window - fascinating to get a
> readout of the OAT + others. I've attached four screen shots.
>
> Will have the portable one on at work in TWR this afternoon - helps to
> pass what will no doubt be a very quiet afternoon!"
>
>
>
>
>
> Jon mentions a couple of points I'd like to expand upon.
>
>
>
> The SBS is a serious bit of kit optimised for just one frequency so it
> will produce almost optimal results. Jon says his picks up 125
> aircraft and that compares with mine. That coverage is good because we
> both have aerials mounted on the roof for best performance.
>
>
>
> Jon says his dongle picked up 56 aircraft and I would agree that is
> also good reception for an aerial below roof level. My new SBS-3 is
> sitting here on my desktop with the aerial in the window and it also
> peaks at about 50 aircraft. Aerial location is the key. Even on a
> window I have found moving the aerial a couple of inches one way or
> another can double (or halve) reception.
>
>
>
> These little aerials also benefit from having a metal ground plane.
> Nothing esoteric is needed here - many SBS users simply plonk the
> magmount aerial onto a biscuit tin lid. It sounds daft but it works.
> For mobile users the aerial is perfect if you put the aerial on the
> roof of the car. One of my first tests will be to drive up near
> Snaefell and see the coverage I can get from up there - if I can pinch
SWMBO's laptop..
>
>
>
> The other point is about data. Aircraft send a lot of data in Mode S
> messages and it is up to the software writer to decide which data is
> decoded. For the SBS only 12 parameters are decoded - and for your
> curiosity these are:
>
>
>
> Callsign
>
> Altitude
>
> Groundspeed
>
> Track
>
> Latitude
>
> Longitude
>
> VerticalRate
>
> Squawk
>
> Alert (Squawk change)
>
> Emergency
>
> SPI (Squawk Ident)
>
> IsOnGround (Squat switch active)
>
>
>
> These are the basic parameters needed for the Basestation software and
> are fine enough but some users would like all data decoding - and it
> seems Andy's RTL1090 program does just that. I won't list all the
> parameters but they include Heading, IAS, TAS, Track Angle, Roll
> Angle, MCP Selected Altitude, Wind Direction and Wind Speed. I don't
> know the full list but it is about 50 parameters altogether.
>
>
>
> And because a picture is worth a thousand words I will include some
> screenshots.
>
>
>
> RTL1090 is the decoder program. As you can see the data is a simple
> tabulation so not exciting. Once it shows it receives data I guess
> most people will minimise it.
>
>
>
> PP shows that data being displayed in Planeplotter. Jon had transposed
> the UK CAA charts onto his but that is not default. I can't remember
> what is there by default - maybe just a blank screen - but you can get
> coastline, navaid, airports files to add as overlays.
>
>
>
> Posrep shows the full Mode S data for an aircraft highlighted. In this
> shot Jon seems to have dumped the CAA charts and is just showing
> airspace and coastline files.
>
>
>
> No more for now. Information overload limits.. ;)
>
>
>
>
>
> John Woodside
>
>
>
> bones@xxxxxxx
>
>
>
>
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