I have ADS-B using a Raspberry Pi and I use Flight Aware software and then I also added Flightradar24 and everything is fine and working.
I wonder if it is possible to download the Virtualradar server and run it without any technical problems. And how does it work? Is there a video or website explaining these steps because my technical background in computers is simple?
What are the pros and cons of using a virtual radar server?
Can Virtualradar Server be downloaded on MacOS?
VRS is basically a Windows application. They have a version that can be run on Linux, using what amounts to an emulation mode called Mono (sort of similar to WINE, if you are familiar with that) - it’s still a Windows app, it’s just running on Linux.
It appears, looking at the Mono project’s website, that it is possible to run Mono on later versions of MacOS, but it won’t be plug n play, and you will probably have to figure most of the VRS part on your own because ADSB is fairly niche and you aren’t likely to find a bunch of people who have already tried it and figured it out.
VRS is a freestanding application that collects data from your dump1090 instance and allows you to do other things with it. A lot of people seem to like its ability to write the received data to a database so that they can use it in other ways.
I run it on a Debian Linux virtual machine and use it for its map views that are slightly different from tar1090 and the default FA maps, and use the data that it collects to feed PlaneFinder. If I was starting from scratch with ADSB and know what I know now, I doubt I would set it up again unless I had already completed every other project that competes for my time.
I run VRS on an RPi 4 and it works fine but you should be aware that it won’t be much to you unless you intend leaving your mac running 24/7 because, as already stated, it gathers information from DUMP1090 or similar.
Thank you for your help 
Well I’ll have to think about whether it’s worth leaving the computer running 24/7.
Thank you
Well, it depends what you are trying to achieve. If you wanted to see what traffic your Pi has captured while you were away from it, there are couple of great add-ons developed by members of this Forum. One is Timelapse, which allows you to replay the day’s flights and another is Heatmap, which shows an aggregated view of where the 'planes your RPi has ‘seen’ that day were and finally, someone here developed a method of logging data to a SQL database so that it can be inspected later.
These are fairly low power things that run on the same RPi.
In addition to what @technodevotee mentioned, there is this project: http://cactusprojects.com/logging-dump1090-fa-to-local-database/
You will need to modify the code in that project somewhat to make things work correctly. If that’s not your bailiwick, just ignore.
On the other hand after you get something like this working, if you’re like me you’ll think – Oh great I have a database of planes that I received. So what – and then just turn it off since all it does is consume power on the RPi !
Hi, you mentioned a couple of add-ons for VRS but did not provide any links. I’ve been looking for them in google but I have not been able to find them, do you have a link to the heatmap and Timelapse add-ons?
Thanks!
They aren’t for VRS, they work in conjunction with Dump1090fa and PiAware.
The post about Heatmap is here: https://discussions.flightaware.com/t/signal-strength-heatmap/53109
and the post about Timelapse is here:https://discussions.flightaware.com/t/timelapse1090/50630
hi, i know its been awhile since this has been started but i am looking for help from anyone willing to lend a hand, i am trying my hardest to be able to access my VRS from my iphone away from home. i have ZeroTier installed- is it even possible? anything i do doesnt seem to work. i even tried port forwarding. please any help would be great.
Have you tried connecting via the Internet address VRS gives you?
It will be http:// YOUR IP /VirtualRadar
yes, its the only one that doesnt work. which i think is very weird
When you first set up VRS, did you open the port in the set-up screen, or did you set it after the initialization?
i honestly cant remember but i did add VRS to inbound and outbound rules. how would i go about deleting VRS and reinstalling it
Just redownload which ever version you use and reinstall, then ensure you enable firewall and match the port to what you have open in your router.
i uninstalled it , and in the process of reinstalling it, im at the part where i choose what port i want to use, its set for 80 right now, but when i go to the canyouseemenow site it says 80 is closed. i tries to port forward 80 and a few other ones and nothing seems to open. i found only 1 open port
Yeah, on that screen, change it to what you have open in your router
the last option to select was for windows firewall to be configured. it works now thank you so much. i can even access it on my phone now - even on data plan, this is a game changer thank you. on another note i am on windows 11. is there a way to keep track of every plane that my VRS catches
so i can come back later to see all the aircraft?
No problem.
You could set up the database writer to log your movements, but it only provides a basic start and finish point track line.
As gavin wrote, use the database writer plugin. It created a SQLite database and store information about the flights and the aircraft in it.
If you are downloading route information seperately and import it, you can get a full flight history for flights tracked by your VRS.
But this would require some sort of SQL skills.