Author Topic: "Other" devices, sensors, etc.  (Read 2365 times)

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Offline WeatherHost

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"Other" devices, sensors, etc.
« on: March 12, 2017, 09:18:58 AM »
So, what else do you have or would you think about hosting outside of weather station related devices?

We've seen things on lightning and flight tracking and I've applied for both of those.  I'm not sure a seismograph would be useful with the quarries around me that blast.  Maybe.  Do they distinguish?

I've though about NOAAPort, but I don't want a big-ish dish and can't really foot the bill for the receiver.

What else is there where sensors might be provided by the company in exchange for data?


Offline Jáchym

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Re: "Other" devices, sensors, etc.
« Reply #1 on: March 12, 2017, 10:25:32 AM »
I only have a very basic station.

Seismograph would be useless because there are no EQ nearby.
Lightning detecotr - also useless because I live in city center, surrounded by many rail roads, wires etc. and lot of interference

So for me, if I was to buy something extra, then what would be interesting for me is air quality sensors (levels of CO2, NOx etc.)

Offline vreihen

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Re: "Other" devices, sensors, etc.
« Reply #2 on: March 12, 2017, 05:01:27 PM »
I am feeding flightradar24.com from a Raspberry Pi and a USB SDR dongle running DUMP1090.  Living near the final approach of a large (but low traffic) International Airport, I usually have an ADS-B signal to upload before a departing plane's landing gear are even retracted.  There is plenty of overlapping coverage nearby for the higher altitudes that have better sky views than my receiver, but I feel it worth contributing my data to FR24 since it fills in the low-level gap in their coverage.  As a benefit, FR24 gives me a free business membership just like WU does for PWS contributors.

Through DUMP1090, I discovered that I live along the "great circle route" between northern Europe and most of the USA's east coast (NYC, Washington DC, Atlanta).  In the past few minutes, my receiver has tracked Air France and JIA (Japan) outbound from NYC, and WOW (Iceland) and British Airways inbound to Baltimore/Washington.  At 5:00 AM, half of the planes in the air locally are FedEx and UPS flights.  There have been ties when I've had three Airbus A380's on the screen at the same time, and I wonder what percentage of the entire production run that represents.

I also discovered that our airport is frequently used for touch-and-go training flights for some mysterious government airlift program that operates a small fleet of 757 and 767 jets in plain white livery.  FR24 seems to filter them out on their site, but my local receiver is seeing them on ADS-B and I have collected a slew of their transponder addresses.

I'm in for well under a hundred bucks for my complete setup, and it is slightly more interesting than watching grass grow.....
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Offline vreihen

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Re: "Other" devices, sensors, etc.
« Reply #3 on: March 12, 2017, 05:12:40 PM »
There is a similar crowd-sourced receiver/data setup for marine traffic.  The building that I work in has a good 10-mile view of the Hudson River, and I thought about putting up two yagi antennas to track barge/tug traffic along our local stretch of the river.

I also live close enough to an Interstate highway to get access from my home wifi with some directional antennas.  Somebody pointed out that rtl_433 can read some brands of car/truck tire pressure monitors, and I had a silly thought to put together a crowd-sourced network of stationary and vehicle-mounted (w/GPS) TPMS receivers to track vehicles as they move around the country.....
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Offline ocala

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Re: "Other" devices, sensors, etc.
« Reply #4 on: March 12, 2017, 05:13:50 PM »
Was thinking of getting a FR24 receiver a while back. I contacted them and they seemed interested in sending one but I never pursued it.
That stuff fascinates me. I'm about 55 miles NW of Orlando so the traffic here is continuous.
Have several apps to observe the targets. Both with augmented reality and google maps.
Even have a receiver I plug into my phone with a small antenna that picks up the ADS-B signal as far away as 60 miles.
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Offline Scalphunter

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Re: "Other" devices, sensors, etc.
« Reply #5 on: March 12, 2017, 05:52:29 PM »
No sure what your going to track on the water traffic as  ships  don't use transponders in the sense as aircraft does.  everything is live on radar  and traffic control that USCG uses.  If an code is supplied to an ship it done on the bridge of unit that is tracking  another vessel mainly for  collsion avoidance.

John

Offline CW2274

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Re: "Other" devices, sensors, etc.
« Reply #6 on: March 12, 2017, 06:02:34 PM »
I also discovered that our airport is frequently used for touch-and-go training flights for some mysterious government airlift program that operates a small fleet of 757 and 767 jets in plain white livery. .
Maybe you have a version of "Area 51" nearby. All white 737's fly in and out of LAS taking employees there. Call sign, "Janet". :-$

Offline ocala

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Re: "Other" devices, sensors, etc.
« Reply #7 on: March 12, 2017, 06:05:55 PM »
No sure what your going to track on the water traffic as  ships  don't use transponders in the sense as aircraft does.  everything is live on radar  and traffic control that USCG uses.  If an code is supplied to an ship it done on the bridge of unit that is tracking  another vessel mainly for  collsion avoidance.

John
One of the air traffic apps I use also has a Ship Finder app. It says they use something called the AIS feed to determine position in addition to radar.
You can read the description here.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pinkfroot.shipfinder
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Offline WeatherHost

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Re: "Other" devices, sensors, etc.
« Reply #8 on: March 12, 2017, 06:07:01 PM »
I've got aircraft over me all the time.  I looked up this morning and saw at least three contrails.  I have no idea what flight level they might have been at.  I also have a lot of military, usually tankers and choppers, sometimes 4 or 5 in formation.  And then there are the private planes and medical helicopters.

I've read that there is also equipment that follows satellites, but I don't know how involved that is.






Offline ocala

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Re: "Other" devices, sensors, etc.
« Reply #9 on: March 12, 2017, 06:09:37 PM »
I've got aircraft over me all the time.  I looked up this morning and saw at least three contrails.  I have no idea what flight level they might have been at.  I also have a lot of military, usually tankers and choppers, sometimes 4 or 5 in formation.  And then there are the private planes and medical helicopters.

I've read that there is also equipment that follows satellites, but I don't know how involved that is.
If you see a contrail the jet is at 35K or above. Any lower and there is no trail.
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Offline WeatherHost

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Re: "Other" devices, sensors, etc.
« Reply #10 on: March 12, 2017, 06:43:52 PM »
I know I could see the bird and the Sun gleaming off the windows.




Offline Jáchym

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Re: "Other" devices, sensors, etc.
« Reply #11 on: March 12, 2017, 06:52:25 PM »
Some time ago I was looking at this:

airqualityegg.com

but it is way overpriced and you need separate device for each gas


Offline vreihen

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Re: "Other" devices, sensors, etc.
« Reply #12 on: March 12, 2017, 08:17:10 PM »
No sure what your going to track on the water traffic as  ships  don't use transponders in the sense as aircraft does.

Feel free to watch the ships go in/out of New York City:

http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-74/centery:40.6/zoom:10

...through the English Channel:

http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:1/centery:51/zoom:9

...or the Panama Canal, Suez Canal, or even around the Horn of Africa if you're bored.

Here's a thread on how to build a Raspberry Pi with SDR to report local AIS packets to marinetraffic.com.  Not as popular/polished as DUMP1090, but it *does* exist.....
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Offline WeatherHost

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Re: "Other" devices, sensors, etc.
« Reply #13 on: March 12, 2017, 08:35:40 PM »
^^  Wasn't there a big push to change that after the El Faro was lost in Hurricane Joaquin?


Offline vreihen

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Re: "Other" devices, sensors, etc.
« Reply #14 on: March 12, 2017, 08:36:10 PM »
Maybe you have a version of "Area 51" nearby. All white 737's fly in and out of LAS taking employees there. Call sign, "Janet". :-$

Here's a writeup that someone else did on them:

https://theaviationist.com/tag/227th-sof/

They fly under call sign POLO# or POLO## when doing the touch-and-go's here, and spend several hours at least one day per week flying around the pattern.....
WU Gold Stars for everyone! :lol:

Offline CW2274

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Re: "Other" devices, sensors, etc.
« Reply #15 on: March 12, 2017, 08:57:32 PM »
Maybe you have a version of "Area 51" nearby. All white 737's fly in and out of LAS taking employees there. Call sign, "Janet". :-$

Here's a writeup that someone else did on them:

https://theaviationist.com/tag/227th-sof/

They fly under call sign POLO# or POLO## when doing the touch-and-go's here, and spend several hours at least one day per week flying around the pattern.....
I've used all these call signs in the link (and many more) and they're normally based on the actual mission that's being conducted so we as controllers know what priority to afford them.

Offline Scalphunter

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Re: "Other" devices, sensors, etc.
« Reply #16 on: March 12, 2017, 11:19:33 PM »
Why would I feel free to watch ship on an screen after I sailed on them for 45 years.



Offline Bushman

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Re: "Other" devices, sensors, etc.
« Reply #17 on: March 12, 2017, 11:48:51 PM »
Maybe you have a version of "Area 51" nearby. All white 737's fly in and out of LAS taking employees there. Call sign, "Janet". :-$

Here's a writeup that someone else did on them:

https://theaviationist.com/tag/227th-sof/

They fly under call sign POLO# or POLO## when doing the touch-and-go's here, and spend several hours at least one day per week flying around the pattern.....
I've used all these call signs in the link (and many more) and they're normally based on the actual mission that's being conducted so we as controllers know what priority to afford them.

And so does anyone else with 50 bucks worth of tech!  I find it astonishing that such "classified" (?) data is pubicly available.
Need low cost IP monitoring?  http://wirelesstag.net/wta.aspx?link=NisJxz6FhUa4V67/cwCRWA or PM me for 50% off Wirelesstags!!

Offline CW2274

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Re: "Other" devices, sensors, etc.
« Reply #18 on: March 13, 2017, 01:50:23 AM »
Maybe you have a version of "Area 51" nearby. All white 737's fly in and out of LAS taking employees there. Call sign, "Janet". :-$

Here's a writeup that someone else did on them:

https://theaviationist.com/tag/227th-sof/

They fly under call sign POLO# or POLO## when doing the touch-and-go's here, and spend several hours at least one day per week flying around the pattern.....
I've used all these call signs in the link (and many more) and they're normally based on the actual mission that's being conducted so we as controllers know what priority to afford them.

And so does anyone else with 50 bucks worth of tech!  I find it astonishing that such "classified" (?) data is pubicly available.
If we're briefed on a particular call sign being classified as "official business only", then it doesn't leave the work place and the general public is unaware.

Offline WeatherHost

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Re: "Other" devices, sensors, etc.
« Reply #19 on: March 18, 2017, 01:15:49 PM »
No response from the FR24 contact yet.