Cheap portable proximity alerter is there an interest?

[Jordan1976]

Originally Posted by vansrv8

Yes, I am building two of their units as we speak. The group is very active and the device receives 1090Mhz ADSB, can use GPS, and provides peer to peer on 868 Mhz.

868MHz is only an ISM band in Europe. Using this in North America or Australia would be illegal. 868 MHz in the USA is a public safety frequency.

[Dave_Boxall]

Originally Posted by Jordan1976

868MHz is only an ISM band in Europe. Using this in North America or Australia would be illegal. 868 MHz in the USA is a public safety frequency.

If there is a suitable transceiver it shouldn't be too hard to substitute.

[Snowflake]

Originally Posted by vansrv8

It is based on the Raspberry Pi 2 and uses a transceiver available from Wireless Things in the UK. Cost is low; think of the 'stratux' and add a transceiver and one less RDL.

Shut up and take my money already!

I went to the reddit page and saw this posted just yesterday... Metars/Tafs For Canadian Stations not included in FIS-B data

That kinda sucks, as I was hoping to get coverage in my area given how close to the border I am. I understood that you can receive the FIS-B data as much as 50 miles north of the border in the Vancouver area, if you're at altitude. But even that won't be of much use if all you can see is US stations. Don't Americans want to see Canadian stations as they fly north?

[Snowflake]

Originally Posted by Dave_Boxall

If there is a suitable transceiver it shouldn't be too hard to substitute.

It's things like this that could kill such a project. Finding an unused (and acceptable-to-use) band is critical.

[vansrv8]

Originally Posted by Jordan1976

868MHz is only an ISM band in Europe. Using this in North America or Australia would be illegal. 868 MHz in the USA is a public safety frequency.

Yes, you are correct. Different countries have different unlicensed freqs available. Here in Canada, we share the similar freqs as you do in the US.The transceiver used in this project is available in 433,868, and 915 MHz.

This peer to peer and reception of 1090 MHz ADSB makes a worthwhile project and as stated is catching on with a lot of users in Europe.

Perhaps it is a good idea here in North America also....

[n468ac]

Originally Posted by vansrv8

Yes, I am building two of their units as we speak. The group is very active and the device receives 1090Mhz ADSB, can use GPS, and provides peer to peer on 868 Mhz.

It is based on the Raspberry Pi 2 and uses a transceiver available from Wireless Things in the UK. Cost is low; think of the 'stratux' and add a transceiver and one less RDL.

I have asked them to consider adding another RDL for reception of the weather that is available from US stations; that would be icing on the cake!

Lookup aprs. My handheld yaesu fd2 and decode the aprs packets and display distance and direction.

[David-aviator]

I used this device, or one like it, several years ago on a cross country to California and Oregon. It does alert you to traffic, the challenge in finding it visually since it is non directional.

I was alerted many times and spend a lot time scanning for the traffic which I suppose is a good idea anyhow, with or without the alert.

[Vlad]

56 hours flying with "Puppy the Alerter" so far. Good experience overall. It "barks" though while sitting by a metal hangar or taxiing by a row of aircrafts but developers say it's normal. You'll get used to it.

[leos]

OK, guys, we got the parts we needed, so we will complete a few units within days. So, there were a few people who wanted to try. We have to think of how to organize this trial. Suggestions welcome.
Leo

[Vlad]

100+ hours on the unit and it performs as advertised. Consumes batteries though but the manufacturer says it's normal. Tomorrow I meet with developers and they will swap my device for a newer modernized one. I will be roaming the country for 4 days giving Puppy II an excellent workout. I will keep you posted.