RTL dongles with at RTL2823U or R820T chipset make great low cost ADS-B aircraft tracking receivers.
The following is required to set up your RTL aircraft tracker:
Connect Your RTL
Plug in your USB dongle - ignore and abort all driver installation messages!
It is very important that you do not use the CD or any software supplied with your dongle. This is best consigned to the bin!
Note - some of these things can run hot so take care how you position it.
Driver Installation
You need to install the Zadig driver installation package. This is available here:
http://zadig.akeo.ie
Or use these direct links to the driver downloads:
Windows Vista, Windows 7 and later
http://zadig.akeo.ie/downloads/zadig_2.1.0.exe
Windows XP
http://zadig.akeo.ie/downloads/zadig_xp_2.1.0.exe
(The same drivers are good for 32 or 64 bit installs).
Run your Zadig download:
When complete you will see the following screen:
Select Options and select List All Devices:
Then from the list select Bulk-In, Interface (Interface 0) as shown below:
(Make sure that WinUSB is shown on the right side)
Then install the driver (I re-installed on these screenshots but it is the same).
They aren't joking with the message below - It does take a little while - especially if using an old netbook as I did!
Once done though that is it!
You are now ready to install your preferred software such as ADSB# or RTL1090.
The following is required to set up your RTL aircraft tracker:
- Driver installation – not those included with your RTL dongle
- Installation of your preferred RTL software - Such as ADSB# or RTL1090
- Your preferred plane tracking software - PlanePlotter, Virtual Radar Software, Plane Finder client etc
Connect Your RTL
Plug in your USB dongle - ignore and abort all driver installation messages!
It is very important that you do not use the CD or any software supplied with your dongle. This is best consigned to the bin!
Note - some of these things can run hot so take care how you position it.
Driver Installation
You need to install the Zadig driver installation package. This is available here:
http://zadig.akeo.ie
Or use these direct links to the driver downloads:
Windows Vista, Windows 7 and later
http://zadig.akeo.ie/downloads/zadig_2.1.0.exe
Windows XP
http://zadig.akeo.ie/downloads/zadig_xp_2.1.0.exe
(The same drivers are good for 32 or 64 bit installs).
Run your Zadig download:
When complete you will see the following screen:
Select Options and select List All Devices:
Then from the list select Bulk-In, Interface (Interface 0) as shown below:
(Make sure that WinUSB is shown on the right side)
Then install the driver (I re-installed on these screenshots but it is the same).
They aren't joking with the message below - It does take a little while - especially if using an old netbook as I did!
Once done though that is it!
You are now ready to install your preferred software such as ADSB# or RTL1090.