Last update: Feb 19, 2022OPTION-2Raspbian Lite image + dump1090-fa + Radarbox24 data feeder (1) Insert microSD Card in your Desktop/Laptop’s card slot (or use a card reader plugged into USB Port).
(2) Download Raspbian
Lite image (zip) on your Desktop/Laptop and unzip downloaded file.
Download page:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/Direct download link:
https://downloads.raspberrypi.org/raspbian_lite_latest(3) Write the unzipped Raspbian Lite image to microSD Card.
(4) After image is written, in Windows Explorer, double click the drive letter of microSD card. This will open the folder /boot and show lots of files and some folders.
- To enable SSH:
Windows: In File Explorer, double click the drive letter of microSD card. This will open the folder /boot and show lots of files and some folders. Right click in /boot folder, and create a new blank file named ssh or ssh.txt
Mac: Open terminal and give following command
touch /Volumes/boot/ssh
- To enable Wifi on first boot (if required):
Windows: In File Explorer, double click the drive letter of microSD card. This will open the folder /boot and show lots of files and some folders. Right click in /boot folder and create a new blank file named wpa_supplicant.conf. If your Desktop/Laptop does not show file extensions, configure Windows File explorer to show file extensions. If the file has a hidden extension .txt, it will not enable wifi.
Alternatively you can create this file by giving following command in Windows command prompt console, which will create file with correct extension:
C:\Windows\System32>echo > M:\wpa_supplicant.conf
(Replace letter M by drive letter of your microSD Card in Windows)
Mac: Open terminal and give following command
touch /Volumes/boot/wpa_supplicant.conf
Open the Finder program. Select the Micro SD card device labelled "boot". Open the file "wpa_supplicant.conf" in TextEdit.
Windows & Mac: In the opened blank file wpa_supplicant.conf, copy paste following text:
country=CA
ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1
network={
ssid="YOUR_SSID"
psk="YOUR_PASSWORD"
}
Replace:
- CA by two letter code for your country e.g. GB for UK, US for USA, DE for Germany, FR for France, SE for Sweden, CH for Switzerland, NL for Netherland, AU for Australia, NZ for New Zealand, etc etc. (click here for complete list)
- YOUR_SSID by your router’s wifi ssid
- YOUR_PASSWORD by your router’s wifi password.
Save file.
On boot, wifi login info will be automatically copied into file /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf, enabling wifi on first boot.
(5) Remove microSD card from card reader, insert into Pi, power up, and SSH.(6) Install dump1090-fa- It is important that first dump1090-fa is installed, and data feeders are installed after dump1090-fa has been installed.
- To see the map, type in address bar of your browser:
http://<IP of Pi>/dump1090-fa/
(a) Installation of dump1090-fawget https://flightaware.com/adsb/piaware/files/packages/pool/piaware/p/piaware-support/piaware-repository_7.1_all.deb
sudo dpkg -i piaware-repository_7.1_all.deb
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install dump1090-fa
sudo reboot
The above version (7.1) is current as on
Feb 19, 2022. To check latest version number, go to item "2 - Download and Install PiAware" on this page:
http://flightaware.com/adsb/piaware/install.
.
(b) Configure dump1090-fa: The following command will open settings file for viewing/editing.
sudo nano /etc/default/dump1090-fa
Receiver Location:To this file, add your receiver's Latitude and longitude (in decimal format) . By default these values are left blank, which I have filled by xx.xxxx and yy.yyyy as shown below.
# Receiver location, used for some types of position decoding. Provide the location as
# signed decimal degrees. If not given here, dump1090 will also try to read a receiver
# location from /var/cache/piaware/location.env (written automatically by PiAware, if installed)
RECEIVER_LAT=xx.xxxx
RECEIVER_LON=yy.yyyy
Gain: The initial gain value by default is set 60 as shown below.
# Initial receiver gain, in dB. If adaptive gain is enabled (see below) the actual gain
# may change over time
RECEIVER_GAIN=60
If you want to change gain setting, replace 60 by the gain value you desire. The possible gain value range is from 0 to 49.6 and 58.6
All gain values should be positiveAdaptive GainBy default Adaptive Gain is enabled.
# Adjust gain to try to achieve optimal dynamic range / noise floor?
ADAPTIVE_DYNAMIC_RANGE=yes
Adaptive gain automatically adjust the gain to value required according to signal strength. It starts with default value 60, tries different values and sets at a value suiting to current sinal level. It repeats this at regular intervals.
If you want to turn-off adaptive Gain Control, change "yes" to "no" as shown below:
# Adjust gain to try to achieve optimal dynamic range / noise floor?
ADAPTIVE_DYNAMIC_RANGE=no
After making changes, save file and exit
#restart dump1090-fa
sudo systemctl restart dump1090-fa
#check status of dump1090-fa
sudo systemctl status dump1090-fa -l
See Map in your browser at following address
http://<IP of Pi>/skyaware/
.
(7) Install Radarbox24 data feeder(a) Install Radarbox24 Feedersudo bash -c "$(wget -O - http://apt.rb24.com/inst_rbfeeder.sh)"
(b) Configure Radarbox FeederAfter installation is complete, the rbfeeder will automatically obtain a feeder-key and station number.
To claim your station and link to your email address, go to:
https://www.radarbox24.com/raspberry-pi/claimYour feeder-key and station numbers are stored in file rbfeeder.ini.
You can check your station number and key by following command
sudo cat /etc/rbfeeder.ini
#above command will display following text
[client]
network_mode = true
log_file = /var/log/rbfeeder.log
key = xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
sn = EXTRPIxxxxxx
[network]
mode = beast
external_port = 30005
external_host = 127.0.0.1
[mlat]
If you already have a feeder key, you can set it by following commands
sudo rbfeeder --no-start --setkey ‹your sharing key›
sudo systemctl restart rbfeeder
#check what key has been set
sudo rbfeeder --showkey --no-start
#check status
sudo systemctl status rbfeeder -l
(8) ADD TERRAIN LIMIT RINGSDump1090-fa can display terrain limit rings using data obtained from the website
http://www.heywhatsthat.com.
(a) First you have to generate a panorama for your location. To do this, follow the steps in the
first post of the following thread:
What is the Maximum Range I can Get?(b) Once your panorama is generated, look near the top left of your newly created panorama page. You will see URL of your panorama there. The URL will be
http: // www . heywhatsthat . com/?view=XXXXXXXX where XXXXXXXX is the ID for your panorama.
See screenshot below.

(c) Use following command to download the generated panorama's JSON file "upintheair.json" to your RPi, and save it in the folder "/usr/share/dump1090-fa/html" (replace
XXXXXXXX in the command below by your panorama's ID).
[/list]
sudo wget -O /usr/share/dump1090-fa/html/upintheair.json "http://www.heywhatsthat.com/api/upintheair.json?id=XXXXXXXX&refraction=0.25&alts=3048,12192"
You can create as many rings as you want by adding elevations (in
meters) at the end of URL given in the wget command above after "&alts=", separated by commas.
10,000 ft = 3048 m
20,000 ft = 6096 m
25,000 ft = 7620 m
30,000 ft = 9144 m
40,000 ft = 12192 m
Hence if you want to add all the 5 elevation rings noted above, the string at the end of wget URL will become "&alts=3048,6096,7620,9144,12192"
To keep map un-cluttered, I have used only 2 rings in the wget command above. i.e. the 10,000 feet (3048 meters), and 40,000 feet (12192 meters).
Important: Use altitude in
meters in the wget URL above.
Do NOT use feet.
(d) RESTART dump1090-fa
sudo systemctl restart dump1090-fa
Reload your browser (Ctrl+F5). If terrain rings do not appear, clear browser cache (Ctrl+Shift+Delete)