watching planes above you with a USB RTL-SDR and and dump1090 or GNU Radio gr-air-modes
installation process
- install virtualbox 6.x
- install virtualbox 6.x usb extensions
- install xubuntu 18
- run xubuntu vm
vi /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-dvb-usb.conf and add the line
blacklist dvb_usb_rtl28xxu
install rtl-sdr
# aptitude install rtl-sdr
run lsusb you should see
$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0bda:2838 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL2838 DVB-T
DUMP1090 howto
to get dump1090 to work you need to first install pkg-config and librtlsdr-dev
# aptitude install pkg-config librtlsdr-dev
then clone and make dump1090
$ git clone https://github.com/antirez/dump1090.git
$ cd dump1090
$ make
you can then run dump1090 and you should see something like
$ ./dump1090
Found 1 device(s):
0: Realtek, RTL2838UHIDIR, SN: 00000001 (currently selected)
Found Rafael Micro R820T tuner
Max available gain is: 49.60
Setting gain to: 49.60
Exact sample rate is: 2000000.052982 Hz
Gain reported by device: 49.60
*5d48825266c9cf;
CRC: 66c9cf (ok)
DF 11: All Call Reply.
Capability : Level 2+3+4 (DF0,4,5,11,20,21,24,code7 - is on airborne)
ICAO Address: 488252
*02e1913021c8af;
CRC: 21c8af (ok)
DF 0: Short Air-Air Surveillance.
Altitude : 26600 feet
ICAO Address : 488252
*8d45d96958c912055dd13bf40ce4;
CRC: f40ce4 (ok)
DF 17: ADS-B message.
Capability : 5 (Level 2+3+4 (DF0,4,5,11,20,21,24,code7 - is on airborne))
ICAO Address : 45d969
Extended Squitter Type: 11
Extended Squitter Sub : 0
Extended Squitter Name: Airborne Position (Baro Altitude)
F flag : even
T flag : non-UTC
Altitude : 39025 feet
Latitude : 66222 (not decoded)
Longitude: 119099 (not decoded)
exit with ^C
then run dump1090 –interactive –net to see an updating list of flights
$ ./dump1090 --interactive --net
Hex Flight Altitude Speed Lat Lon Track Messages Seen .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
400685 BAW65 7475 294 51.408 -0.051 97 1624 1 sec
394a05 AFR682 32000 523 51.435 0.409 315 499 17 sec
4ca302 RYR4BJ 21275 347 51.403 -0.396 167 1759 0 sec
45d969 VKG442 39025 431 51.427 -0.329 222 1746 0 sec
400efb EZY65AG 37000 425 51.486 -0.963 155 1215 1 sec
4064a1 TOM496 11450 315 51.222 -0.004 78 578 22 sec
45d963 VKG1502 32425 417 51.435 -0.614 218 2726 0 sec
398699 DJT100 34000 482 51.673 0.000 320 1481 1 sec
4ca9ea RYR993W 29000 404 51.469 0.315 101 4319 13 sec
4cc270 ICE6H 11700 313 51.237 -0.620 136 1800 27 sec
485873 KLM14N 33000 451 51.693 -0.156 74 3548 46 sec
or goto http://localhost:8080/ to see them plotted on a map


GNU RADIO gr-air-modes howto
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