View antenna effectiveness on Apple

FlightAware ADS-B Flight Tracking
1

I’m very new to this and very much a non-techie. I am learning and willing to try. Thanks to everyone that has made this possible.

I see all of these interesting screen shots of aircraft and ranges. On my FA web view, I only see a very basic map screen. A couple of questions.

  1. Can I see the other views with rings, varied colors of aircraft? I use an Apple computer, but I do have a PC on the same network. My Piaware is connected by Wifi, but I can move it and connect by ethernet if that is better.

  2. I am so new to this I don’t know if you can access the Raspberry Pi through the wifi connection or do I need to put the SD card into the computer slot.

I will gladly follow any links, but I don’t know what questions to ask at this point. Thanks.

2

Hi gnuse,

Like you I am fairly new but have found it relatively easy to make the changes you want. This is because of the amazing help and advice on these forums.

You can access your pi through the network using SSH with a program like putty. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html

These two links cover most of the changes you want to make.

http://discussions.flightaware.com/post180667.html#p180667
http://discussions.flightaware.com/post185906.html#p185906

Have a read through and then come back with any questions you still have.

Kind regards

Phill

3

Thank you!

4

To see colored aircrafts, you have to install dump1090-mutability v1.15~dev. The method is described by mgunther in this post (Click Here). I do this through SSH client like PuTTy on my Widows laptop / desktop, and through SSH App “JuiceSSH” from my Android Phone.

Note: First uninstall the current version of dump1090 before you install dump1090-mutability v1.15~dev by command:

If you have dump1090 (Malcom Robson fork) use following command to uninstall it:
sudo apt-get remove dump1090

If you have dump1090-mutability installed, use following command to uninstall it:
sudo apt-get remove dump1090-mutability

5

Will do. Thanks to Phill and Google I have accessed by Piaware through “Terminal” on my iMac.

Now, lets talk about these posts that show antenna effectiveness. Unless I had two Piaware’s running side by side with different antennas, I don’t know how they are doing.

BTW, I built an 8-legged Spider antenna last evening. What an exercise in soldering and patience. Of course now I am waiting on a cable to try it.

Thanks.

6

Hi gnuse,
Firstly, welcome to the “wire benders club” 8) As you have found out, making an antenna is a bit of a challenge but very satisfying.

To get back to back comparisons you do have to have 2 identical setups with the antenna on test being the variable. To spot any differences in performance of an antenna you may have to leave it on test for several days then swap the 2 antennas to eliminate differences in the feed line, dongle etc. It is best to do these tests without an amplifier in the feed line.

Ask as many questions as you like as we are all here to learn and pass on experience.

7

OK. I will work towards that end. I should have a second setup complete next week, connectors, and antennas.

Once there, I guess I will need to learn the step about setting up multiple PiAwares on same account and also how to view them.

Thanks.

8

I’m using vSSH for that. It’s available in the App Store. I see there is also a free lite version but I’m not sure what the restrictions are.

9

I use Server Auditor app on my iPhone. Work’s pretty good.

10

+1 But mine works pretty well! :slight_smile:

11

again another good tip from you. used to use terminal and was always to cheap to spend money on a ssh app - this works perfect, macros save typing and sync with app is great. thanks!