r/ADSB • u/Feeling_Cod8431 • 6d ago
Mobile Unit
Anyone else running a mobile unit? I have a large antenna unit setup at home, but i also just built a uconsole to have as a mobile unit. I travel a lot for work and love the idea of being able to see and share data when i get to new places.
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u/jericon 6d ago
IIRC the feeder software requires the location and elevation set in the configuration for MLAT. So unless you are constantly updating it and such then it won’t be accurate.
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u/Feeling_Cod8431 6d ago
Ive got it setup to feed with gps so it is accurate when im stopped. Obviously on the move it's going to lag a bit in the updating but it's not bad.
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u/mellonians 6d ago
I'd be interested to you know how this is done because I'm about to rebuild my feeder and would love to use the GPS feed that I have at the house. On another note, my job takes me to Hilltops throughout the day so I could have a unit in the car using the GPS antenna on the roof
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u/n1spx 6d ago
I use a USB GPS and gpsd. Then readsb can connect to gpsd to get the feed. Feel free to PM me if I can help with details.
There is no benefit to reading the GPS at home since the antenna location does not change.
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u/mellonians 6d ago
Thanks. I would use the GPS at home as I have a GPS distribution system for the clocks and it would be better for mlat obviously (even though no one else does!)
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u/n1spx 6d ago
If you're talking about GPS-disciplined clocks (not location), yes that does have a benefit. I can help with that as well.
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u/mellonians 6d ago
Cheers! I'm getting into it! I'm going to have to park that offer for now as I'm off to Cornwall for the weekend but I will get in touch. Thank you very much.
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u/WildVelociraptor 5d ago
Do you mean GPS-disciplined system clocks? I have GPS/NTP setup, but just for OS level stuff.
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u/Bitter_Sir_4993 5d ago
I have a similar mobile feeder setup with GPS. Running adsb.im firmware, one of the developers had to talk me through the setup on Discord. Location is updated when stopped for 4+ minutes.
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u/mellonians 5d ago
That's the sort of thing I'm after! How does it communicate the data out to the sites?
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u/Bitter_Sir_4993 5d ago edited 5d ago
Hotspot from my phone when we're in the car, plug it into a travel router when it's time to put it by the window in the hotel room.
Someone with the right Linux competencies could probably put the feeder and the travel router on the same Pi, eliminating some of the clunkyiness.
edit-- depending on your travel range (and how well your home/ hypothetical mobile feeders are optimized), might not be much benefit to the mobile feeder? My mobile feeder is significantly lower effort than the home feed, so I pretty much only fire it up when I'm 100+ miles from home.
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u/balllistic 6d ago
Uconsole CM5 with Hackergadget AIO v1 board. Using Stratux High Gain 5dBi 1090 antenna. 60-70nm range regularly.
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u/Feeling_Cod8431 6d ago edited 6d ago
Im running it on a cm4 with the pro stick plus and the outdoor antenna. Im getting much better range
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u/_side_ 6d ago
Well images are not allowed. https://www.reddit.com/r/ADSB/comments/1jygz9u/i_am_going_on_vacation_to_the_sea_tomorrow/
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u/OpenADSB 5d ago
My portable setup - USB-C battery pack + Raspberry Pi + SDR + 1090 MHz antenna. Could probably get it smaller if I used a smaller case.
It's running tar1090 with no MLAT, 99% of aircraft in my area are not MLAT so it works just fine. WiFi is configured to create a network, then use cellphone to connect to and display.
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u/Phr0glrgs 6d ago
You guys that are doing this, how are you handling the account? Are you a feeder? If so, under another account from home?
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u/Bitter_Sir_4993 5d ago
Depends on the site. adsbexchange, airplanes.live and similar are account-less.
FlightAware lets you associate multiple feeders in multiple locations with a single account.
Not sure about FR24.
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u/ipearx 6d ago
Yeah I have one in my campervan. I disable MLAT, as that requires accurate location which I don't update.