{"id":509,"date":"2026-08-06T16:20:35","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T21:20:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nathanpralle.com\/?page_id=509"},"modified":"2026-08-06T16:20:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T21:20:35","slug":"airplane-tracking","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.nathanpralle.com\/index.php\/airplane-tracking\/","title":{"rendered":"Airplane Tracking"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I track airplanes.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Traditionally, airplanes were tracked with radar.  However, radar units are large, complex, and expensive.   Years ago, the FAA (and other organizations) decided that this was not sustainable given the volume of air traffic and budgets and so forth.   What was <em>much<\/em> easier to implement was telemetry (data) sent from the airplanes to the ground stating who they are, where they are, how fast, how high, what direction, etc.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is transmitted on radio frequencies that are point-to-point in the megahertz band and are not encrypted or otherwise protected; thus, anyone with an antenna, USB module, and a small computer system can decode the signals and track the planes.   There&#8217;s numerous different software systems out there that visualize this on your screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I run two antennas on the rooftop of my house about 35&#8242; in the air; one receives signals on 1090MHz ADS-B (commercial airliners, military, and corporate aviation) and one receives 978MHz UAT (private and small aviation, drones, balloons, etc.).    These both feed downwards through antenna cable to my basement where my computer rack has systems and USB receivers that translate the signals into digital and allow me to consume that.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I log a lot of data for my own uses but I also feed upwards to plane-tracking websites such as FlightAware, FlightRadar24, AirNav Radar, Airplanes.Live, ADSBHub, PlaneFinder.net, TheAirTraffic, ADS-B Exchange, PlaneSpotters.net, etc.   I&#8217;m part of a large network of fellow geeks that do this all over the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can check out my system here and watch planes fly over my house and within about ~275 miles of it: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">2-D Map System:   <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nathanpralle.com\/tar1090\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.nathanpralle.com\/tar1090\/\">https:\/\/www.nathanpralle.com\/tar1090\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">3-D Map System:  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nathanpralle.com\/3dfly\/\">https:\/\/www.nathanpralle.com\/3dfly\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Statistics Gathered:  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nathanpralle.com\/stats.php\">https:\/\/www.nathanpralle.com\/stats.php<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Heatmap:    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nathanpralle.com\/heatmap.php\">https:\/\/www.nathanpralle.com\/heatmap.php<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"561\" height=\"518\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nathanpralle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/image.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-510\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nathanpralle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/image.png 561w, https:\/\/www.nathanpralle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/image-300x277.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 561px) 100vw, 561px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I track airplanes. Traditionally, airplanes were tracked with radar. However, radar units are large, complex, and expensive. Years ago, the FAA (and other organizations) decided that this was not sustainable given the volume of air traffic and budgets and so forth. What was much easier to implement was telemetry (data) sent from the airplanes to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"pgc_sgb_lightbox_settings":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-509","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nathanpralle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nathanpralle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nathanpralle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nathanpralle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nathanpralle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nathanpralle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":511,"href":"https:\/\/www.nathanpralle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/509\/revisions\/511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nathanpralle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}