Plane / Planes / Aircraft / Aeroplane / Airplane appreciation

These kind of routes are pretty normal. This was primarily for training but we moved some freight and passengers about as well.

There has been a lot of aerial survey action during lockdown. I wonder if the reduced amount of air traffic has made it easier for them to do it somehow?

It's a combination of the skies being quieter and the weather being decent. I know cos I asked one of them:
https://twitter.com/RavenairLJLA/status/1250067083951513610

thanks, what a great job.

Nice. I wonder who commissions these surveys? Most of the ones I have spotted were being conducted very close to Heathrow

Every few months I get a leaflet through the door, "buy a photo of your house from above!!!".

I could ask but I don't think they'd tell me that :)

Their reply did make me laugh because the weather was absolutely beautiful when they sent that tweet ('reasonably good')!

At the risk of going down a right wormhole, I am casually interested in this ADS-B stuff. Would one of these be a decent easy/budget option?
https://thepihut.com/products/flightaware-pro-stick-plus-usb-sdr-ads-b-receiver

If I get one will I finally be able to track the MI5/Met spy planes that are always flying over East London?

Also, my unused TV antenna socket is right next to my desk, could I plug it into that somehow with a suitable adapter cable?

At the risk of going down a right wormhole, I am casually interested in this ADS-B stuff. Would one of these be a decent easy/budget option?

https://thepihut.com/products/flightawar­e-pro-stick-plus-usb-sdr-ads-b-receiver

You can do it for cheaper, but that particular stick is pretty much the gold standard. Highly recommended. The Nooelec ones are pretty good but don't have a band pass filter or preamp.

Yes, you should be able to spot a lot of the weird flights in your ends.

As for antenna, its very important to use an antenna roughly suitable for the job. Yyou'd be better off putting something on a window sill than using your TV antenna. TV antennas are very directional, usually have very lossy coax and are tuned for a wide range of frequencies, none of them close to 1090Mhz. I tried our TV antenna out just out of curiosity and lost 90% of signals.

I use a home made colinear antenna like this https://www.balarad.net/

If I were you, I'd start off with an antenna like this and if you decide you want to improve reception at a later date you can throw yourself down that particular rabbit hole. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07ZH5FJBW/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_mJj9EbDFVEFMM

A word of warning, making custom antennas and benchmarking them is addictive.

There's a Facebook group/company called Broadsword Antennas. They make excellent ADSB antennas for not much money. Worth a go if you decide you want to use a more capable antenna.

You can make some really good home made ones but unless you're the sort of chap to have drums of cable, connectors and high power soldering kit laying around, it quickly becomes a false economy. For reference, my experience of home mad "cantennas" is that they do a pretty good job. https://discussions.flightaware.com/t/three-easy-diy-antennas-for-beginners/16348

@fox are you still interested in giving adsb a go? If so, I have a spare nooelec SDR dongle you're welcome to have for a modest forum donation. Not quite as good as the flightradar ones but still one of the better ones.

If anybody is interested, I've got a Uniden Bearcat BCT15x going spare. I'll be putting it on eBay next week but if anybody is interested let me know and I'd be happy to let it go for cheaps here instead. It's the least intuitive device I have ever used but once you suss it out it's great for listening to civil and military airband, passing satellites, marine radio, 2m ham and 70cm PMR etc etc

https://uniden.com/products/bct15x-beartracker-scanner-with-9000-channels

Anyone East/ Essex, 2 Spitfires are doing a tour of Hospitals:

Full timetable for Friday's flights
Morning:
10am - Duxford airbase takeoff
10.10am - Braintree Community Hospital
10.14am - Chelmsford Broomfield Hospital
10.20am - Basildon University Hospital
10.24am - Dartford Darent Valley Hospital
10.28am - NHS Nightingale Hospital
10.36am - Loughton Ambulance Service
10.40am - North Weald Essex and Herts Air Ambulance Service
10.43am - Harlow Princess Alexandra Hospital
10.48am - Hertford County Hospital
11.10am - Cambridge Addenbrooke's Hospital
11.15am - Duxford landing
Afternoon:
3pm - Duxford airbase takeoff
3.15pm - Northampton General Hospital
3.26pm - Peterborough City Hospital
3.36pm - The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King's Lynn
3.49pm - Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital
4pm - RAF Lakenheath Hospital
4.06pm - Bury St Edmunds - West Suffolk Hospital
4.15pm - Ipswich Hospital

So unfair. :oP

Both the scanner and SDR are now sold.

Nice. I wonder who commissions these surveys? Most of the ones I have spotted were being conducted very close to Heathrow

Could also be calibration flights, although if that was the case I guess that it might be obvious from the flight path.

Edit: or from the aircraft, so probably not!

Feels more appropriate to post this in here rather than the video games thread...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYqJALPVn0Y

Never been particularly interested in flight sims that didn't involve targets but this looks stunning. Signed up for the alpha back in January or whenever but never got an invite. Releases a month tomorrow. Cheeky fuckers have locked the high-detailed LHR into the most expensive version, which takes the piss since there aren't even any UK airports in the cheaper ones.

Time to level up yo.

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Only one monitor? That's entry level 🙂

'Twas but a matter of time.....
;-)

I'd say that this is the real deal.

Like I said, my preference is for shooty things...

Also, monitors are a bit old fashioned.

Based on stuff up there, I picked up an ADS-B stick.. Pretty amazing arent't they? Little 6 inch antenna by the window seems to be picking up everything in a 60 mile radius. Now I want an AIS one for ships, but that's a different group

When you say adsb stick dod you get an adsb specific one or generic SDR?

If generic, it should be able to do ais too.

The flightaware branded sticks have a band pass filter that filters out all frequencies other than adsb.

No, it is a flightaware one. I /should/ have got a SDR but I can do so next time.

I worry this is a rabbit hole :-) The people at work who get involved in radio professionally often get completely absorbed.

ADS-B is really for 'what is making noise overhead?'.. AIS I guess will be 'what is around me on the canals etc'.

Now I want an AIS one for ships, but that's a different group

Absolutely, intrigued by floating, flying and rail borne. Followed a Coal train on its way to Scunthorpe Steelworks via realtimetrains from Teeside. Then the ship it came in on from Puerto Bolívar, Columbia on an AIS feed. Then google earth to see where they are raping their native jungle and making local people homeless to save us having deep mines in this country.

Well that went downhill after starting it....

Nice set up! Do you use an IR tracker?

Think that might be random internet picture.