OnAir

Track aircraft with ADS-B and the OnAir map

Aircraft broadcast their identity, position, altitude and speed in the open on 1090 MHz.

What you need#

  • A radio that tunes 1090 MHz (RTL-SDR, HackRF, Airspy and others) and an antenna for 1090 MHz with a clear view of the sky.
  • OnAir asks for 4 Msps. It decodes from 2 Msps, but a message then needs about 6 dB more signal.

Steps#

  1. Choose ADS-B (group Aviation). The frequency is 1090 MHz.
  2. Set your receiver position in ADS-B mode (or View > Map). Distances, the range plot and bearings need it.
  3. Press Start. Aircraft appear as soon as messages arrive.
  4. Switch between the sub-views: Map, Table, Radar and Range. The table lists callsign, altitude, speed and distance; click an aircraft for details.
  5. Units switch between aviation (kt, ft, nm, ft/min) and metric (km/h or m/s, m, km, m/s) in the table, details, map labels and CSV export. The SBS and Beast feeds stay in aviation units.
  6. Use Save results... for CSV, JSON, KML or GPX, or switch on a data feed (View > Data feeds): ADS-B in SBS-1 or Beast format over TCP, which stays on this computer unless you tick Let other computers connect (LAN).

The map#

  • Click to place a marker and read distance and bearing; go to coordinates or a Maidenhead locator.
  • Online map tiles come from OpenStreetMap; you can use offline MBTiles instead (0.2.6). See Privacy.
  • The Range view (0.2.6) plots the receiver range (rolling window, CSV / PNG export).

Share your positions (optional)#

map.on-air.dev is the public live map of positions that OnAir users choose to share. It is off by default: use the Server menu to turn it on and confirm. What is sent and what never is, is on the Privacy page.

ADS-B, ACARS, VDL2, Mode S uplink, Live map.

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