ADS-B Hardware - curiosity

FlightAware ADS-B Flight Tracking
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On the choice of hardware:

  1. Are the FA-branded Pro sticks (Pro Stick® and Pro Stick® Plus - FlightAware's USB ADS-B and MLAT receiver - FlightAware) better than the RTL-SDR Blog V3 (Amazon.com) ?? If yes, how?

  2. On antennas, and without the need to invest in an antenna other than the ones you get with certain hardware, is it enough to use an indoor antenna for tracking?? If not, why not, yet most adsb dongles come with that indoor antenna?

  3. I have purchased the RTL-SDR Blog V3 to replace my Nooelec NESDR Mini dongle. I am currently running dump1090-fa. Will there be need to reconfigure or I can simply turn off the Pi4B, switch the dongles and reboot and everything will just run??

Thanks.

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some short answers (all question have previously been asked (and answered)).

  1. you will have read for yourself the properties of the prosticks
    image
    The V3 does not have an amp or a filter. The V3 is a very good general purpose receiver and when coupled with the complimentary filter/amp, outperforms the prostick plus. Without the (a?) filter/amp, it’s not much different to a generic dongle.

  2. the common mag base antenna is a PoS and only serves to get you going. Depending on your interest, it may be perfectly adequate, but most people find a decent antenna mounted outside suits them better.

  3. the V3 needs no extra/different config. when swapping between R820t/t2 dongles.

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Thank you very much for the response.
Could you please point me to that “complimentary filter/amp” on AMZN, if possible?

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You can see it here
https://www.rtl-sdr.com/buy-rtl-sdr-dvb-t-dongles/
scroll down to: RTL-SDR Blog ADS-B Triple Filtered LNA (Bias Tee Powered)

I believe the amp chip has been discontinued and this unit is undergoing a redesign.
The official word is it will be released Q1/Q2 2023, so shouldn’t be too long
https://www.rtl-sdr.com/new-product-rtl-sdr-blog-1090-mhz-ads-b-lna/

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Very interesting. I will wait for the new release. Thank you once again.

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I am using the Uputronics filtered Preamp and get very good results to the max. at my location.

In combination with an Airspy Mini it might be an unbeatable pair.
I have the preamp connected to my Airsquitter, even there it improves the reception

1090MHz ADS-B Filtered Preamp (uputronics.com)

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How do you find the ASM v. Airsquitter? I have both and an R2… Trying to decide on what to use. I do love the A!S.

Off-topic but… any idea on how to feed MLAT from the AirSquitter to tar1090? I have the commercial license but I’m still not sure it is possible. I can feed it with all data but MLAT… from what I’ve heard for ADSBx you need to use their MLAT client, but never saw if anyone figured that stuff out.

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I’d rather wait for the RTL-SDR Blog ADS-B Triple Filtered LNA because of the “Bias Tee Powered” aspect - and cost.

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The Uputronics is a great pre-amp/filter. Can be powered via Bias Tee or USB-C.

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I am using the Uputronics on my Jetvision Airsquitter. The USB-Port of that device has enough power for the Uputronics filter. A short USB-Cable is enough

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That’s not possible. MLAT is not coming from the device, but through the MLAT network fo Jetvision. Therefore it is not shared across the port which are opened by the professional license.

I would say that works as expected.

The Airspy “squeezes” a bit more compared to the Airsquitter, but there is no significant difference.
Also the Airspy is almost “blind” without amp/filter due to the wide frequency range.

But this goes now really off-topic :slight_smile:

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