this post was submitted on 16 Oct 2025
1033 points (94.9% liked)

Comic Strips

19879 readers
3541 users here now

Comic Strips is a community for those who love comic stories.

The rules are simple:

Web of links

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world 23 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

This is also my preferred flight tracker. It's important to understand how and why this site is available for free, and where the data come from:

  1. the FAA and others mandate that pretty much all aircraft broadcast ADS-B info automatically on every flight. ADS-B is an international standard for aircraft data to be broadcast for the purpose of conspicuous ID, locating, and other info about the craft. Only highly sensitive military flights are exempt, for obvious reasons.
  2. This particular site merely aggregates data from volunteers who have set up stations. These stations are easy enough to set up that there are enough volunteers to provide continuous, overlapping coverage in most places. If you wanted, you could set up a station of your own (requires just a cheap ~$30USD SDR, an antenna, and a laptop/raspberry pi/etc)
[–] jawa22@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

And that SDR is a hobby in and of itself. There are all kinds of interesting transmissions you can receive from around the world.

[–] some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

Oh, yeah, that's a whole rabbit hole that I've been on for 5 years and counting, and I still feel like I know nothing :)