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If you're big into crowd-sourcing: There are super-inexpensive RTL-SDR dongles[1] that can be used to track airplanes such as this. I'm not a lawyer, but I've

If you're big into crowd-sourcing: There are super-inexpensive RTL-SDR dongles[1] that can be used to track airplanes such as this. I'm not a lawyer, but I've fooled around with these dongles and a few programs enough to discern that Gov't aircraft absolutely need to broadcast their info on the 1090MHz band. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to have a few people pop these up and see if they could monitor the airplanes that are monitoring the city! :) Just to expand a little bit: You get an SDR, plug it in and use a program like `dump1090` or FlightAware. The repurposed TV Tuner will then listen to data on 1090MHz and decode airplane's Active Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) messages. The ADS-B messages typically contain flight callsign, location (lat,lon), altitude, heading, and a few other tidbits. There's a really active community around things like this. [2] [1] http://www.amazon.com/RTL-SDR-DVB-T-Stick-RTL2832U-R820T/dp/B00C37AZXK http://www.amazon.com/RTL-SDR-DVB-T-Stick-RTL2832U-R820T/dp/... [2] http://www.rtl-sdr.com http://www.rtl-sdr.com

tobinfricke 11y ago
Also: http://www.flightradar24.com/ http://www.flightradar24.com/
rdtsc 11y ago
I have two of those dongles (there were abouto $10 each) and living by the airport don't even need a particularly good antena do dump ADS-B messages out to the console.
- tomswartz07 11y ago
  Just on a whim, I stuck the little 6" whip antenna on the trunk of my car and plopped my laptop next to it, just to see what I'd get. I was able to pick up flights taking off from DC, quite a good trip away. 100 miles? Pretty awesome.
sjm-lbm 11y ago
Since, for whatever reason, I enjoy tracking flights as a hobby, here's a couple of extra tidbits: 1) If you are in the right area, Flight Radar 24 might actually give you the equipment for free. See here: http://www.flightradar24.com/free-ads-b-equipment http://www.flightradar24.com/free-ads-b-equipment for info. 2) It is unlikely that even aircraft that the government desires to be secret will stop broadcasting ADS-B anytime soon, as one of the major usages is avoiding mid-air collisions when airplanes are in airspace shared with commercial airliners. Secret surveillance planes might be unpopular, but they'll only be headline news if they were to run into a 757. 3) ADS-B broadcasts won't be required for all commercial airplane traffic[2] in the US until 2020. As such, there's still quite a few airplanes without it, particularly those that airlines plan to retire within the next five years. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_dependent_surveillance_%E2%80%93_broadcast http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_dependent_surveillanc... [2] IIRC, the actual regulation is a requirement for ADS-B on all airplanes flying at 10K feet or above.
- nyolfen 11y ago
  genuine question, what do you get out of this hobby? i'm not trying to sneer or trivialize it, i'm sincerely curious about what makes it interesting to people who enjoy it
  - dogma1138 11y ago
    Some people enjoy tracking birds some people enjoy tracking aircraft. If you're not into that you probably won't get it I knew a guy who was a plane spotter and he would get a kick of being able to recognize a commercial jet by its sound and even estimate it's approach and altitude. I didn't get why he enjoyed that, and i don't think that you can relate to that to understand it if you didn't decide to take up that hobby in the first place.
  - sjm-lbm 11y ago
    It's just an outgrowth of the fact that I find commercial aviation fascinating, really. I'll occasionally pull up flights near where I am, but I usually use tools to track whatever flights I find interesting for other reasons (off the top of my head, for instance, American Airlines' first revenue 787 flight was today, and I watched that one this morning).
  - flycaliguy 11y ago
    Like similar hobbies, it's fun to play around with technical problem solving, numbers and data without the pressure of it being your real job. Often it's linked to a curiosity or experience from when you are young and you just find e tasks a relaxing escape from real world responsibilities. Also it's fun to belong to a community of people who enjoy technical talk.
  - fragmede 11y ago
    You ever look up into the sky and see an airplane and wonder about it? Here in the future, the answer's no further than your smartphone! Where it's going, where it's from, what it's carrying, freight or passenger? If you're near an airport, how busy is the airport? Which runway is that plane landing on? How many runways are there? What size airplane can that runway handle? Just general curiosity, really.
genericuser 11y ago
1030 mhz will give you some more info in regards to what is being sent to the aircraft.
anonu 11y ago
There is currently no requirement for airplanes to broadcast ADS-B signals.
jjwiseman 11y ago
I do this, and have checked my logs and found evidence of several surveillance aircraft. See my comment below with more details (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9508812 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9508812).
MadeUpUserName 11y ago
You miss the fact that ADS-B broadcasts are completely voluntary. Basically, these were polite "black helicopters." If they were up to something nefarious, you'd never know, no matter how sophisticated your ADS-B receiver is or what flightradar24 tells you.

tobinfricke 11y ago

Also: http://www.flightradar24.com/ http://www.flightradar24.com/

rdtsc 11y ago

I have two of those dongles (there were abouto $10 each) and living by the airport don't even need a particularly good antena do dump ADS-B messages out to the console.

tomswartz07 11y ago
Just on a whim, I stuck the little 6" whip antenna on the trunk of my car and plopped my laptop next to it, just to see what I'd get. I was able to pick up flights taking off from DC, quite a good trip away. 100 miles? Pretty awesome.

sjm-lbm 11y ago

Since, for whatever reason, I enjoy tracking flights as a hobby, here's a couple of extra tidbits: 1) If you are in the right area, Flight Radar 24 might actually give you the equipment for free. See here: http://www.flightradar24.com/free-ads-b-equipment http://www.flightradar24.com/free-ads-b-equipment for info. 2) It is unlikely that even aircraft that the government desires to be secret will stop broadcasting ADS-B anytime soon, as one of the major usages is avoiding mid-air collisions when airplanes are in airspace shared with commercial airliners. Secret surveillance planes might be unpopular, but they'll only be headline news if they were to run into a 757. 3) ADS-B broadcasts won't be required for all commercial airplane traffic[2] in the US until 2020. As such, there's still quite a few airplanes without it, particularly those that airlines plan to retire within the next five years. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_dependent_surveillance_%E2%80%93_broadcast http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_dependent_surveillanc... [2] IIRC, the actual regulation is a requirement for ADS-B on all airplanes flying at 10K feet or above.

nyolfen 11y ago
genuine question, what do you get out of this hobby? i'm not trying to sneer or trivialize it, i'm sincerely curious about what makes it interesting to people who enjoy it
- dogma1138 11y ago
  Some people enjoy tracking birds some people enjoy tracking aircraft. If you're not into that you probably won't get it I knew a guy who was a plane spotter and he would get a kick of being able to recognize a commercial jet by its sound and even estimate it's approach and altitude. I didn't get why he enjoyed that, and i don't think that you can relate to that to understand it if you didn't decide to take up that hobby in the first place.
- sjm-lbm 11y ago
  It's just an outgrowth of the fact that I find commercial aviation fascinating, really. I'll occasionally pull up flights near where I am, but I usually use tools to track whatever flights I find interesting for other reasons (off the top of my head, for instance, American Airlines' first revenue 787 flight was today, and I watched that one this morning).
- flycaliguy 11y ago
  Like similar hobbies, it's fun to play around with technical problem solving, numbers and data without the pressure of it being your real job. Often it's linked to a curiosity or experience from when you are young and you just find e tasks a relaxing escape from real world responsibilities. Also it's fun to belong to a community of people who enjoy technical talk.
- fragmede 11y ago
  You ever look up into the sky and see an airplane and wonder about it? Here in the future, the answer's no further than your smartphone! Where it's going, where it's from, what it's carrying, freight or passenger? If you're near an airport, how busy is the airport? Which runway is that plane landing on? How many runways are there? What size airplane can that runway handle? Just general curiosity, really.

genericuser 11y ago

1030 mhz will give you some more info in regards to what is being sent to the aircraft.

anonu 11y ago

There is currently no requirement for airplanes to broadcast ADS-B signals.

jjwiseman 11y ago

I do this, and have checked my logs and found evidence of several surveillance aircraft. See my comment below with more details (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9508812 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9508812).

MadeUpUserName 11y ago

You miss the fact that ADS-B broadcasts are completely voluntary. Basically, these were polite "black helicopters." If they were up to something nefarious, you'd never know, no matter how sophisticated your ADS-B receiver is or what flightradar24 tells you.