digital_magi
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Posts posted by digital_magi
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These were commercial airliners. I was tracking them both visually overhead and on the dump1090 browser tracker. I looked around and tried to match them up and noticed that several that I could plainly see showed no transponder on the screen.
I'll do some research. It's a super-busy airport, maybe they use multiple frequencies due to congestion or something. The output from the dump script was flowing furiously, just tons of traffic on the channel.
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I got dump1090 up and running on a Kali laptop and took it on the road today. Everything seemed to work fine, but not every plane was tracked. I'm not sure why. I parked in easy view of the airspace over a huge international airport and started scanning with the dongle antenna roof-mounted.
At max count I only had 11 aircraft on screen, yet I could easily count many more that in the sky just using my eyes.
I am a beginner at this, so I am sure there is something I am missing. Do all airlines use the same protocol or are there competing systems and this software only decodes one version or something?
Either way it's cool, and fascinating to watch. See a plane in the sky and know just what it is and where it's going, etc.
BTW, thank you for this thread and the helpful tips on dependencies :) Made it a breeze to install on Kali.
Watching Planes on Linux
in SDR - Software Defined Radio
Posted
Thanks Karit! Very informative. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge and clearing up that little mystery for me. I can see there is much more to learn and explore. Never knew much about aviation digital modes before now, mostly limited to listening to the ATC and voice chatter with a scanner or ham radio.
These cheap SDR receivers have opened up a whole new area of exploration with the digital modes and I am having a lot of fun. Again, thanks for the reply. Cheers!