[planeplotter] Special Seasonal Offer on PP registration.

FlightAware ADS-B Flight Tracking
1

I am inserting a shameless plug for planepotter here.

When I first found Daniel Baker’s Flightaware some years ago and wanted to give something back for the information I received, there were only a couple of ways to do so. One was the flightfeeder which was just beginning to come online. Another was planeplotter which got me into this. Since Mr. Baker released the flightfeeder code as piaware ground stations have mushroomed. My earliest station is 407, latest is 27519. It isn’t free- initial registration is 25 Euros (discounted to 15 and FlightAware used to, and may still, spring for) with a master-user (ground station) annual fee 15 Euros (waived if you provide data more than half the time). Their Rpi program ppup1090 enables you to feed from a Rpi. I could use more ground stations in N. Calif to capture U-2 aircraft from Beale AFB with MLAT (Same problem w/ flightaware- you need a minimum # of ground stations).

Whether you do or don’t, have a Merry Christmas, or light a Hanukkah candle tonight.

I received this at the Yahoo Planeplotter group:
*Hi all

PlanePlotter is celebrating [over] ten years of tracking by offering a
reduced registration fee to new users during the Christmas and New Year
period.

How can you help?

There are many and varied aviation groups worldwide.
I have posted the offer details on the “Milscanners” ," Mode S " Yahoo
groups plus Fighter Control and Kinetic [Trilby] Forums.

However if you are a member of any of the other aviation Groups/Fora and
would like to “spread the word” , please feel free to re-post the
details below…between the :::::::
Please “do not” change any of the wording.

Thanks and Best Wishes

John

PP Support

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

During the Christmas and New Year period , to celebrate over ten years
of PlanePlotter , COAA is offering the software at a reduced
registration fee of just 15 Euros plus tax normally 25 Euros pt ]

PlanePlotter offers not just ADS-B tracking but much , much more.
It can be configured to be as simple , or complex as you wish and comes
with full support via the built in “Wizard” the Yahoo Group…

groups.yahoo.com/group/planeplotter/

…the dedicated wiki…

planeplotter.pbworks.com/….

… and Nic Storey’s excellent tutorials at…

nicstorey.co.uk/planeplotter/Home

As many group members will be aware PlanePlotter is used by amateurs and
professionals alike and is the only software to offer ADS-B tracking ,
ADS Oceanic tracking , Mode A/C
Beamfinder ] Multilateration* , Direction Finding [DF] ACARS , HFDL,
VDL2 and HF Selcal , all in one package.
You will be connected to the PlanePlotter network via the software on
your own PC , not a web page and become part of an extensive aviation
community.

PlanePlotter can be configured to work with all the mainstream
Mode-S/ADS-B receivers including Kinetic products , “BEAST” and
derivatives , RTL Dongles plus FlightAware , PlaneFinder and most other
badged devices.

To download the latest version head over to
coaa.co.uk/planeplotter.htm#download.

After downloading the software be sure to run the “Wizard” to complete
initial set up then register and authorise your own personal copy to see
network data.

Best wishes

John

PP Support

  • A small annual fee of 12 Euros pt applicable if not supplying “raw”
    data to the network

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
avast.com/antivirus

.,._
Posted by: Satcom john@satcom.freeserve.co.uk *

2

We can get a free copy of plane plotter from flightaware.
flightaware.com/planeplotter

3

If you are in an area where they deem coverage is needed. That’d be very few places in the US. With that said, I paid for the Planeplotter license myself. I rarely use it because I just haven’t had the time to invest in figuring out what all it can do.

Mike

4

Does this have to run on a PC with a receiver connected directly? I have a couple of Pi3s with receivers attached and an old XP box with VRS. If this can run on the XP system and take a feed from my two receivers (on the same network) then I could be tempted.

5

Yes --It will run on XP and can be used with remote receivers. Now, I don’t know how many receivers you can tell it to connect to at once. I know you can have it connect to at least one. If you want to feed more than one receiver into it, you might have to use something else (like modesmixer or VRS or something) to consolidate the incoming data before it goes into Planeplotter.

I am 99% inexperienced with planeplotter, so it may do a lot more than I have been able to verify.

mike

6

OK, I’m trying to get my head around the reasons/benefits to use PlanePlotter.

From what you said, Mike, I can set it up so it takes a feed from one (or both) of my existing receivers and can then upload that data to FlightAware, FR24 and Planefinder.

I do all this anyway, direct from the receivers.

So is there any reason to even consider this?

I’m not being awkward, just trying to understand it.

Keith.

7

My site #407 is a laptop running dump1090-win with attached dongle feeding planeplotter as ‘xm’
My site #2394 is an rpi 3 feeding flightaware using dump1090-fa and planeplotter using ppup1090 as ‘XM’. It also feeds my planeplotter instance on a desktop as ‘zn’.

If you want to run ppup1090, you need to install Malcom Robb’s version of dump1090 to compile it successfully. It can then use that verision of dump1090, dump1090-mutability, or dump1090-fa as you want.

8

Keith,

I’ll defer to somebody else to provide you with an appropriate answer. I simply haven’t used PP enough, nor have I delved into all it can do. I do the same thing as you, and outwardly it seems that PP isn’t going to accomplish anything for me that I can’t already do. But, that may simply be because I’m ignorant of what it can do. I’m very interested in MLAT results. If you feed any of the places supported by planeplotter, to my knowledge you aren’t going to be getting any MLAT results back for display on a local screen. So I’d never give up my PI3 solution (which feeds ADSB to Flightaware and ADSBExchange and gets MLAT results back from both of them).

To me, using receivers as you and I are, along with VRS, seems more interesting and eye-appealing to me.

Again I plead ignorance though. Let’s see what other, PP-knowledgable people have to say.

Mike

9

I believe Planeplotter was developed in the UK a decade or so ago with an interest in tracking military flights. Many of its users are in it as a hobby or vocation. It is one of several organizations doing similar things. In addition to Planeplotter, I know of Planefinder, Flightradar24, and Radarbox24, VRS, and I sure there is more. Flightaware seems to be the preeminent player at the moment.

I’m using planeplotter because after $25 one time fee sunk cost it’s free, it has shows real time location (FA has a 5 min delay), and for the psychic benefit of providing cost free information to the community where others can benefit.

10

Joel,

I understand what you say - Sort of.

So the Planeplotter program feeds info to Planeplotter themselves, correct? All the others are optional (I wouldn’t select them as I’m already feeding them).

When I go to the main Planeplotter website, I don’t see an option there to view traffic anywhere. That’s assuming this is the main site.

So where does this upload go? Who gets to see it?

I don’t know if I’m in an area which entitles me to a free version of Planeplotter or not, I suspect that being in a very busy location on the east coast of the UK, I’m probably not so I’m just trying to decide why this should interest me. I’m quite happy to provide my data but I’d like to know where it goes and who gets to see it.

Like I said, not trolling but genuinely interested to know more before I commit. Looks like Mike wants to know more as well.

Keith.

11

Keith, first of all you are not trolling, I could point you to a couple real ones but they are suspended at present.

The data does not display on the server. The map you are displaying provides boundaries the server uses to select aircraft to download to you. If you zoom out, you will get more a/c showing. You can refresh the map after zooming using the options/chart/download chart option.

Are you running on the 21 day trial license? If you haven’t already, check the YAHOO planeplotter group at
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/planeplotter/info

Look at the map of sites at the planeplotter website and see if there are sites near you in the UK
Joel
Calif. UTC-8

12

Only just spotted this thread. Four years ago when I first registered my copy of PlanePlotter, it was the only way to see those aircraft not transmitting positions since it used MLAT. Basestation connected to an SBS-1 would list everything it received but there was a lot not plotting :cry:

Data is fed from individual PCs to the central server and the MLAT data is fed back to show on PlanePlotter running on your PC. There is no central web server to view the data. In today’s online radar spotting environment with readily available MLAT data (Flightaware, FR24, PlaneFinder, etc), PlanePlotter may not seem a big deal but it was then.

There is criticism of how difficult some of the features of PP are to find and understand - it even includes its own conditional expression language.

I guess it depends what you want it to do. Personally I like the display and the ability to customise colours, fonts, backgrounds - all of the things that people ask about for the Piaware web display.

I feed PP from my SBS-3 and Piaware from a Pi. There are probably more Piaware feeders around me (Nottingham , UK) than PP feeders since I see a lot more low level MLAT aircraft on Piaware.

If you are happy with what you get from Piaware, you probably don’t need PlanePlotter.