Gliders in Plane Finder

Mark Daniels

Mark Daniels

Administrator
Staff member
Glider G-CKDF.jpg

You may have noticed more and more gliders appearing in Plane Finder apps and on planefinder.net

These are coming to us courtesy of the great team at glidernet.org
We added some cool glider icons too!
Plane-Finder-Screenshot.png

The gliders shown in that screenshot are equipped with FLARM transponders (the name is derived from "Flight Alarm"). FLARM devices are relatively cheap to install and help improve safety for glider pilots by alerting them of potential collisions.
 

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I don't think we have any glider fields close enough to hear in the Boston area..
When I went to check out the tech details at http://www.rtl-sdr.com/receiving-decoding-flarm-tracking-gliders-helicopters-etc-using-rtl-sdr/
I saw it looked like 'weak signal work' and would be very difficult in this noisy RF environment.

Then, I saw the link to view gliders being tracked-live.. http://cunimb.fr/live/3D/
Since it's late in the evening here, I figure it's very late in Europe..
But, there were still two gliders on the display! Brave night flyers?? So, I zoomed in on them..
First one in the UK,

Regist.: e5f9b652
Flarm Id: hidden
Type: Glider/MotorGlider
Last time: 02:23:22
Latitude: 51.189499
Longitude: -1.034500
Altitude: 197 m
G.Speed: 0 km/h
Track: 0 °
Vz: –0.1 m/s
Receiver: EGHL

and the second somewhere near Italy.. (Graz airport)
Regist.: 2a06f153
Flarm Id: hidden
Type: Glider/MotorGlider
Last time: 02:22:58
Latitude: 46.996498
Longitude: 15.432000
Altitude: 349 m
G.Speed: 0 km/h
Track: 0 °
Vz: +0 m/s
Receiver: LOWG


Humm, no ground speed.. Zoomed in close.. Both are parked inside hangers at glider fields! :)
I think a couple of folks might be testing their battery packs.. ;)



Edit many hours later:
Glider or radio (at Graz airport) has been moved..
CN: _53
Regist.: 2a06f153
Flarm Id: hidden
Type: Glider/MotorGlider
Last time: 21:02:17
Latitude: 46.157700
Longitude: 15.432000
Altitude: 348 m
G.Speed: 0 km/h
Track: 0 °
Vz: +0.1 m/s
Receiver: LOWG
 
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Hi Richard,
Brilliant detective work there!
I'll keep a look out for those nocturnal gliders now too!
Cheers,
Mark
 
They are both still transmitting (or so it seems)..

That glider port in the UK has a strange looking airport across the runway.. Weird looking jets,
with gliders and tow planes parked nearby.. Very odd.. No way a jet could taxi without blowing some gliders away..

upload_2014-7-21_0-17-57.png
 
Hi Richard
Yes it DOES have assorted jets 727s & 737s .
The airfield is Lasham and there is a maintainence refurb company A.T.C. on site
 
Wow! The gliders are out today at Lasham.. Looks like a half dozen are airborne..
One glider out up at PORTMOAK glider port..
 
Hi Richard,
Lasham is a VERY active glider field ( possibly THE most active in the U.K.), during the summer months there are a great variety of championship events, and we are having a nice warm summer (for a change), so you can expect to see plenty more about.
(it's 20.45 and just about dusk, a bit overcast where I am, 25 ish miles (east) of Lasham 6 miles ish (south) of Heathrow.
have fun
Terry
 
Hi, just installed a GliderTracker (FLARM) on one of my Pi's and waiting for the season to open (May)
ENHS where I'm close to is a popular glider area and I have been told that they use FLARM in many of the gliders
I found all info on how to set up the Pi here: http://wiki.glidernet.org/links
 
Hey... It's working :)
I see one glider live here http://live.glidernet.org/#c=59.77062,10.17026&z=11 and on https://planefinder.net/flight/FLRDDC201 :)

Raw data from it looks like this in the Pi's live log page
105336: [ +59.82438, +9.84597]deg 1277m -0.3m/s 28.7m/s 156.5deg +0.1deg/sec 5 02x04m -5.7kHz 4.8dB 0e 14.0km 310.7deg +4.5deg *
105340: [ +59.82344, +9.84675]deg 1269m -3.4m/s 28.1m/s 158.2deg +0.1deg/sec 5 02x04m -5.5kHz 7.5dB 1e 13.9km 310.5deg +4.4deg *
105341: [ +59.82321, +9.84695]deg 1266m -3.1m/s 28.5m/s 159.1deg +0.1deg/sec 5 02x04m -5.5kHz 7.2dB 0e 13.9km 310.4deg +4.4deg *
105351: [ +59.82075, +9.84898]deg 1232m -1.8m/s 29.7m/s 153.7deg -0.7deg/sec 5 02x04m -5.5kHz 8.8dB 0e 13.6km 309.9deg +4.4deg *

Next project now is to get a better antenna designed for the freq. they use
 
I wonder if you could find a GMS 850 antenna? I see them for sale online.
What are the TV bands in Norway? Maybe you could hook up to an existing TV antenna?
 
Looks like you read my thoughts :)
Then GSM net is at 900MHz but we have digital tv working from approx 470MHz to 856MHz (Channel 21 to 68) so I'm looking for an omnidirectional antenna and maybe with an built in amplifier

btw. seems like the glidernet have some problem with the feed to livemaps, I have installed a APRS Map client on my own computer (Xastir and APRSIS32) and there is better feed on my own local map when I connect to one of the glidernet's aprsis servers
 
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hmm, don't see any gliders at https://planefinder.net/ today but I see them on my local APRS map client connected to the glidernet server..

Is there a place to upload photos of gliders and other small plains, I have a few new with "Reg. ID"
 
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