After much hesitation, I ordered the required hardware, and - after setting it up - installed the dump1090 software. This was not a trivial exercise, but the results are nice.
* set up the Raspberry and its Raspbian O/S was a trivial exercise, but then I am a Linux sysadmin by trade, and have a nice hardware environment running, including a DHCP server.
* attaching the RTL stick was the easiest of all - literally plug and play.
* installing the dump1090 software was a bit of work, and might be hard on some. It involved using the much-dreaded "make install" and "make" commands; but - contrary to several earlier experiences - everything went as smooth as could be. I basically followed the instructions on https://www.satsignal.eu/raspberry-pi/dump1090.html, they're not perfect but quite quite good
* the result is enchanting, even if it takes some effort to unearth the full potential. As it is, I get an http page with a little map (with Google Maps for a background) of received information, and a text-mode overview which I much prefer. But that is just me, of course, an old-fashioned command-line-oriented sysadmin
First observations:
* located more or less on a long final to EBBR 25R, I receive information from inbound planes as far away as Dendermonde or Liege; and that is with the receiver antenna in the house, though on the first floor; might get better if I can manage an outdoor location for it but it will not be for tomorrow
* remarkable how busy the skies are in early morning, and how calm otherwise; writing this at 16:16 UTC, I see only 5 planes reported; this morning there were more than 20
* some planes show up with very very little information, and I think these are the most interesting, at least to some
* for one example, I observed a BAF999 (it was not 999 but it did be BAF) which I suspect to be Belgian Air Force; it did not show up on FlghtRadar24 - I presume they filter these flights, like they filter many more
* what fascinated me most is the many occurrences of Squawk 1000 - KLM flights using this very often, but I also saw it on BEL, AUA, AFR, and several more. Is there a special meaning to squawk 1000?
ADS-B reception in the kitchen: lovely!
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Re: ADS-B reception in the kitchen: lovely!
Mode A 1000 is one of the non-discrete mode A codes (others being 2000, 7000,...) and this one can only be assigned by ATC if the aircraft is equipped with a mode S transponder and the filed route from current position until parking position at destination will completely take place in mode S operational airspace.
It makes the ATM system correlate the aircraft track and filed flightplan based on the mode S aircraft identification transmitted by the mode S transponder instead of correlating by means of a discrete mode A code. This technique has been implemented years ago because there are not enough discrete mode A codes available to manage the air traffic in Europe.
It basically goes as follows:
It makes the ATM system correlate the aircraft track and filed flightplan based on the mode S aircraft identification transmitted by the mode S transponder instead of correlating by means of a discrete mode A code. This technique has been implemented years ago because there are not enough discrete mode A codes available to manage the air traffic in Europe.
It basically goes as follows:
- Company files flightplan
- Eurocontrol processes the flightplan and checks for the necessary conditions for mode A 1000 eligibility (mode S transponder, filed route in mode S operational airspace,...)
- If all necessary conditions are fulfilled, Eurocontrol adds the flag 'IFP/MODESASP' in field 18 of the flightplan
- Eurocontrol distributes the flightplan to all applicable ANSPs
- If the flight is eligible for mode A 1000 the ATS unit giving IFR clearance at the origin will see the flag IFP/MODESASP in the flightplan and hence be able to assign mode A 1000 instead of a discrete mode A code.
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- Posts: 3059
- Joined: 24 Jun 2006, 08:34
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- Contact:
Re: ADS-B reception in the kitchen: lovely!
More questions come up as I try to decode the received data. Subject of today: flight designators. As I understand it, an ICAO flight designator consists of
* the icao identification of the operator, always in 3 characters A-Z
* 1, 2 or 3 digits 0-9
* 1 or 2 characters A-Z
The reason I ask is that there are 2 more formats possible: either the registration - as is common for smaller craft - or a mix of airline identification and (part of) registration - I've not seen this as yet. So that any flight designator received that does not match the above pattern would be a registration.
Could anyone confirm - or improve?
* the icao identification of the operator, always in 3 characters A-Z
* 1, 2 or 3 digits 0-9
* 1 or 2 characters A-Z
The reason I ask is that there are 2 more formats possible: either the registration - as is common for smaller craft - or a mix of airline identification and (part of) registration - I've not seen this as yet. So that any flight designator received that does not match the above pattern would be a registration.
Could anyone confirm - or improve?
Re: ADS-B reception in the kitchen: lovely!
Below are the regulations for civil aircraft in Belgium and Luxembourg (for detailed info please check AIP ENR 1.10 §1.5.2). Aircraft identification (maximum 7 characters) on the ATC flightplan and thus the one that shall be transmitted by the mode S transponder consists of one of the following two options:
When it comes to radiotelephony there are several options (the last format you mention being one of them):
- operating agency ICAO designator followed by minimum one and maximum four alphanumeric characters (e.g. JAF6KG)
- aircraft registration (only alphanumeric characters) (e.g. OOSFG)
When it comes to radiotelephony there are several options (the last format you mention being one of them):
- JAF6KG - BEAUTY SIX KILO GOLF (radiotelephony designator being used, most common)
- JAF6KG - JULIETT ALFA FOXTROT SIX KILO GOLF (not common, but valid)
- OOSFG - OSCAR OSCAR SIERRA FOXTROT GOLF (common, can be abbreviated to OSCAR FOXTROT GOLF on initiation by ATC)
- OOSFG - BEELINE OSCAR OSCAR SIERRA FOXTROT GOLF (not common, but valid, provided that OPR/BEL is in field 18, can be abbreviated as well by ATC)
Re: ADS-B reception in the kitchen: lovely!
Used to be way that Sabena used it callsigns for many years, even when all other airlines had long switched to flightnos.: SABENA OSCAR OSCAR SIERRA TANGO ALFA (ex. for the first of the 727 series).