I have my Piaware setup working alongside RTL Airband. For local reasons, I want to capture as much traffic as I can.
So, how much am I missing by using 1090 only? Is it worth the extra 75 bucks to get the equipment to capture 978? How many planes are using 1090 vs 978 anyways?
If I set it up, will I be able to display the data on the same local page that show the 1090 traffic?
Thanks for any input.
Let me give you an answer from an engineer point of view: It depends. 
Are you close (10 miles) of a small airport, with lots of GA traffic? Then yes, you will see a lot of UAT flights.
Otherwise, you will see a reduced amount (close proximity to medium or bigger airports, or in the middle of nowhere), to none (if you are close of a restricted airspace for that kind of flights.
UAT flights are low altitude, and their transponders are lower power than some of ADS-B ones, so you can’t see them too far.
If you use the ADS-B Project to setup the 978, then it will “make” a dedicated map for those flights on the same Pi.
It always depends!! Thanks. You have provided the info I need to decide.
You can simply change the ADS-B Project to feed UAT978 traffic into the main dump1090 webpage (and hence on to Flightaware).
It is not the easiest thing to work with at the moment.
Hopefully it will get easier in the future.
This is my UAT978 site.
I have two dongles feeding this site.
One is a STD rtl-sdr connected to a cavity filter, hab/nevis amp and DPD 978 antenna.
The other is the FA pro dongle(amp but no filter), connected to a cavity filter and directional antenna.
I am fairly low, 50ft AMSL so don’t have great range.
I am next to the NY Hudson River VFR corridor so get a lot of GA traffic.
I was just about to ask this exact question (OP)!
@jonhawkes2030, @SoNic67 & others,
For your sites, what percentage of the tracked aircraft are 978 and what percentage are 1090? (an estimate is fine)
FYI - I have a GA airports at 5 miles, 17 miles, 25 miles. And an international airport at 14 miles.
This is my 1090 antenna:
https://flightaware.com/adsb/stats/user/thespeedycab#stats-97226
I live close to 3 major airports and see traffic on all of them (ground traffic on 2)
This is my 978 antenna:
https://flightaware.com/adsb/stats/user/thespeedycab#stats-101147
4ish GA airports close enough by that I see traffic (ground traffic on 2).
All in all, 5-10% is 978 traffic. And these are all “real” planes, not TIS-B.
Thank you! That is exactly what I needed.
What does this mean? I’ve not heard the term/acronym TIS-B. (looking it up now!)
On average my 1090 site records 4500 airplanes per day. My co-located 978 site sees about 50 aircraft.
A snapshot: Right now, on a clear VMC weekday morning I see 359 aircraft on 1090 and exactly 1 on 978. That one VFR Cessna is not duplicated on 1090.
I’m curious when/if I update things with the second dongle & second antenna…
If I go to my PiAware page at http://piaware:8080 I see all of the 1090 MHz traffic. What happens when I add a second dongle and plug it into the same PiAware box??
Is there a second PiAware page? One for 1090 and one for 978? Or one page with both?
this is where tar1090 is your friend. It has 1090 and UAT on the same page, and UAT will have a different color than 1090;
See the explanation for use and install at:
https://discussions.flightaware.com/t/customized-web-interface-for-dump1090-fa/52888
Nothing will happen, you will have to follow this guide first:
(and tar1090 won’t help if dump978-fa isn’t running correctly)
Traffic Information Service - Broadcast
This is traffic information sent by FAA ground stations that reports non-ADS-B radar targets in a format that’s compatible with ADS-B, for the benefit of aircraft equipped with ADS-B In. This happens on both 1090MHz and 978MHz.
Closely related is ADS-R, where the ground station will translate and retransmit 1090MHz ADS-B messages on 978MHz, and vice versa, again so that ADS-B In equipped aircraft have a more complete picture of nearby traffic even if they do not have both 1090-in and 978-in.
questions:
• after buying & installing the dongle & antenna, does the 978 MHz stick use a different FlightAware Unique Identifier? Or the same one as the 1090?
• Is the preferred SDR device for 978 the orange FlightAware Pro Stick? And does it have a 978 MHz filter?
The site ID / feeder ID is associated with a single piaware. That piaware can run 1090MHz only, or 978MHz only, or both at the same time. So it mostly depends on whether you’re running one Pi or two.
Any rtlsdr-style dongle that does not have a tight filter around 1090MHz should be OK (so not the blue prostick). Whether you need a separate external 978MHz filter or not depends on your local radio environment.
As an avionics installer, expect to see a lot more 978 traffic now that the more… thrifty GA owners are up against the wall with the 2020 mandate.
The tailBeacon is filling a market with these guys and seems to offer reasonable performance when coupled with a decent transponder.
The unfortunate truth is that the same owner/operators installing these are the same market that are nursing along a 30-year-old Narco transponder, which should really be thrown in the nearest dumpster, but there’s a lot of 'em and I’ve already seen a dramatic uptick in these installations since the deadline passed.
Ebay & Amazon are full of such antennas, claiming 1090mhz, or 978mhz or 1090+978mhz.
I have tried these. These are neither 1090mhz nor 978mhz. Seems sellers are selling WiFi 2.4 Ghz antennas as 1090 or 978 and 1090+978.
Has anyone got good results from these?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HQJKMBD
.
I just tried both of the ones that came with the stratux kit on a VNA, which I believe are identical to your second link, and found that it shows an SWR of about 2 at 1090 and 978 as well. The frequency seems centered between them and they just sticker them differently, since their performance was identical… The top one you linked is clearly too long to be correct for the given frequencies unless they’re using some 5/8 wave voodoo and, even then, the cantenna is better than either of them because of it’s inherent noise rejection and good SWR.
I have both 978 and 1090 on the same Pi and Monday FA started showing statistics for both.
https://flightaware.com/adsb/stats/user/zeek70706#stats-18102
What’s your setup? Are you using two different receivers or are you splitting time between frequencies on an SDR or what?
I need to add UAT to my stations asap but haven’t found a simple way, yet, to get dump978 and dump1090 working.
I use the RTL-SDR V3 with the FA 1090 Antenna for ADS-B 1090 and the Flight Aware Pro Stick (Orange) with the FA 978 Antenna; both connected to one Pi.
Not a lot of flights but the weather hasn’t cooperated either (Snow and Rain lately).