radio RTL-SDR | NOAA / ADS-B Help

[TheUncannyScrub]

Hey!

 

I have an RTL-SDR and although its good for viewing some stronger signal TV shows and the local radio stations, Ive noticed there are some quite interesting frequencies within the spec of the RTL-SDR.

Mainly to name the two bigger ones would be NOAA Satellites and ADS-B Boxes on planes. This is kind of a two parter as I would like to know if either there are cheap antennas out there already or What is the best DIY solution for both frequencies. There is so much conflicting or outdated evidence for many things out there on these topics, im not even sure what software to use to get ADS-B Pings onto a map and so on. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks - Scrub

[Julian5]

On 10/6/2018 at 9:36 PM, TheUncannyScrub said:

Hey!

 

I have an RTL-SDR and although its good for viewing some stronger signal TV shows and the local radio stations, Ive noticed there are some quite interesting frequencies within the spec of the RTL-SDR.

Mainly to name the two bigger ones would be NOAA Satellites and ADS-B Boxes on planes. This is kind of a two parter as I would like to know if either there are cheap antennas out there already or What is the best DIY solution for both frequencies. There is so much conflicting or outdated evidence for many things out there on these topics, im not even sure what software to use to get ADS-B Pings onto a map and so on. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks - Scrub

I was about to post about this, I own a bunch of those RTL DBT USB units and they work great, however, the range is limited with the default whip antenna, I recommend a Yagi antenna with a low noise amplifier for listening to satellites and as far as the ADS-B frequency range I recommend a J-pole or a Dipole antenna.

[FoxPro]

For recieving the NOAA satellites I made a Double Cross Antenna (http://www.qsl.net/py4zbz/DCA.pdf) and other than the leads getting corroded because I forgot to weatherproof it, it's worked great , given it's high enough off the ground and has a good view of the horizon with few trees. Plus, it's omnidirectional, so no need to build a Yagi and have to follow the satellite manually, all you'd have to do is check the frequency to keep it centred due to the doppler effect.

 

For all intensive purposes there is no perfect antenna, just one that works better than others, hell a copper wire thrown into a tree would work, just the DCA is specifically built to the frequency that the satellites use.

 

One thing I can highly suggest you check out no matter what antenna you get/make, is https://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/Signal_Identification_Guide. You'd be surprised how much you can pick up with your RTL-SDR.

 

I've put all that I've recieved so far on my Google Drive here. I'm surrounded by trees where I am so they tend to be difficult to get for me.