I am wanting to build an ADSB receiver but I am unable to bring a wire into the room. Is there an antenna that will transmit wirelessly so I don’t have to drill holes in my walls?
The answer is probably yes. That said, there are some factors you need to consider. How far from you wireless access point will your receiver be? Will the receiver be on the floor above/below the access point? How many walls will be between the access point and receiver?
You could get by with a tiny USB wireless with a built in antenna if the unit is close enough to your access point.
In my case my RPi and RTL dongle are housed in a plastic box mounted outside my office about 8 feet from the access point. I use a wireless USB device without an external antenna. It has no problem communicating through a concrete block exterior wall.
Everyone’s situation and configuration will be different but it is likely you can find a wireless solution. Also, Ethernet over power line may be an option for you.
TD
The Raspberry Pi 3 has built in wifi which will probably suffice if your Router/Access Point isn’t too far away.
But in any event, there are a range of USB wifi adapters compatible with the Raspberry Pi 2 as well, with varying degrees of range. If you were trying to establish a particularly long wireless link, something like this has an external antenna connection so you could hook it up to something directional.
I don’t recommend Powerline networking for this - some people have reported interference generated with their reception.
If you are referring to somehow having the receiver’s ADS-B antenna outside by itself and wirelessly relaying the antenna signals to the RTL dongle/RPi/PiAware, then the answer is no.
(actually it IS possible, but would require an RF translator setup to take the received signal in, then convert it to another frequency several MHz away, then have the RTL inside the room tune to that new frequency and treat it as if it were 1090MHz. All possible, but complicated.)
You could mount the whole thing in an enclosure and put it outside, powering it with an outside outlet, using a power over Ethernet injector and splitter, or just power it with the RPi power supply and a long USB to micro USB cable. It all would have to be weather resistant or weatherproofed if it is exposed to the elements.
I think the easier answer is to just put your antenna indoors.
I haven’t chosen to run a wire outside (or into the attic) for mine, so I’ve just been using the little extendable rabbit-ear type antenna that came with my receiver. It has a magnet in the base, and its just stuck to a window frame that faces my airport’s flight path.
I seem to have pretty good coverage within 40NM. I’m sure I could do better if I built one of the homemade antennas or put a real one outside.
I’m more of a aviation geek than a radio geek, so I don’t really care about tuning or setting up for maximum range. I just wanted to see who/what was flying by in real time.
Putting an antenna in the attic anyplace that gets snow is a bad idea. A couple inches of snow on the roof will greatly weaken any signals from an aircraft.
An outdoor can easily get aircraft to 100 NM, a good one, 200 NM. When you do that you have to somehow overcome the signal loss from a run of cable going from the antenna to the receiver, that can be substantial.