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ADS-B receiver recommendation for Android

J

Joe

Well Known Member
Based on actual, firsthand experience, can anyone recommend an ADS-B receiver that will work with my Nexus 7 tablet and Avare? I'm mostly interested in NEXRAD and METARs; traffic is not a consideration.

Thanks,
Joe
 
my installation

I have a flight data systems pathfinder remote adsb receiver and last weekend I bought a nexus 7 while visiting our kid in NH. I installed avare and flew back to TX on Monday and Tuesday and was able to view the adsb radar okay. Since I am new to avare I did not figure out how to view metars until after I got home so need another flight to check on merars.
 
another comment

If you checkout the link below to our Spot tracking map you will notice that we
did not take a direct path home because of all the stormy weather across our route.
So we had alot of weather on the adsb radar to view on the Nexus 7. I was impressed with the Nexus 7 for use in the RV7a.
 
Joe, I say hold off on buying an ADS-B receiver for use with Avare. I have been in the very early stages of testing the use of a RTL2832 software defined radio for use with Avare. This USB device is $10. So far its working well and soon Avare will have support for connecting to this device to receive traffic. Eventually weather will be a part of this.

But if you have to have one now, the Dual is what works with Avare.
 
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rocketbob said:
Joe, I say hold off on buying an ADS-B receiver for use with Avare. I have been in the very early stages of testing the use of a RTL2832 software defined radio for use with Avare. This USB device is $10. So far its working well and soon Avare will have support for connecting to this device to receive traffic. Eventually weather will be a part of this.

But if you have to have one now, the Dual is what works with Avare.
Click to expand...
Very interesting! When I come out from under my rock, I sometimes learn good things. Like this other ADS-B receiver, Dual. Thanks, Bob!
 
tommylewis said:
... flight data systems pathfinder remote adsb receiver ...
Click to expand...

I had not heard of that ADS-B receiver, did not know it worked with Avare/Android, and appreciate the pointer. Thanks for sharing your experience with it, Tom. I'd be interested to hear more when you've used its METARS (and TFRs too for that matter). And yes, I did notice your "curvelinear" track.

The company's web site leaves plenty of unanswered questions so I'll really be interested in your further reports.

Thanks,
Joe
 
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rocketbob said:
... in the very early stages of testing the use of a RTL2832 software defined radio for use with Avare ...
Click to expand...
That would be wonderful, Bob. $10 is a good price <g>.

But I'm a bit of a skeptic: I used a similar DVB-T SDR to do ADS-B tracking on an old XP PC and it brought the processor "to its knees" with the CPU-intensive software. (IIRC the PC needed to do DSP on the output of the DVB-T.) My Nexus 7 processor seems even less capable.

But I hope it flies and can't think of a better innovation for EAB avionics. I'd appreciate hearing more about it, Bob -- maybe even participating in the test.

Thanks,
Joe
 
Joe said:
T
But I'm a bit of a skeptic: I used a similar DVB-T SDR to do ADS-B tracking on an old XP PC and it brought the processor "to its knees" with the CPU-intensive software. (IIRC the PC needed to do DSP on the output of the DVB-T.) My Nexus 7 processor seems even less capable.
Click to expand...

The SDR Touch app I use on Android runs just fine for doing SDR, no lag whatsoever even when doing waterfall. I was just showing it to a guy in my office playing around tuning FM stations. There are no processor issues of any kind running the experimental RTL/ADSB code for Avare. This is on a 2013 32GB Nexus 7.
 
SDR devices/Pathfinder ADS-B

Just wanted to add my 2 cents here.

The $10 USB SDR units work great, however, they are not capable of receiving any ADS-B weather (text or graphic) since they only work at 1090MHz. All they will receive is an incomplete traffic picture of a few aircraft equipped with 1090 Mode ES transponders (mostly big iron and a small but increasing number of GA panes).

All ADS-B weather products are transmitted on the UAT frequency of 978MHz which will not work with the inexpensive SDRs.

@Joe Dubner, Please call or email us any time if you have questions about the Pathfinder ADS-B receiver.

Chuck Newman
Flight Data Systems
VAF Advertiser
831-325-3131
 
chuckwn said:
The $10 USB SDR units work great, however, they are not capable of receiving any ADS-B weather (text or graphic) since they only work at 1090MHz.
Click to expand...

Please help me to understand this. The SDRs using that RTL2832 DVB-T tuner boast a range of 24 to at least 1700 MHz which nominally covers the 978 MHz UAT frequency. Of course, software is required (no small task) and there may be other issues.

chuckwn said:
@Joe Dubner, Please call or email us any time if you have questions about the Pathfinder ADS-B receiver.
Click to expand...

Thanks for piping up, Chuck. I may phone next week (my '8A is going to the paint shop on Monday) and ask those questions. Some of them are no longer necessary since I discovered the link to the manual but the FAQ's "Supported Devices" does not list Avare for Android (or the Pathfinder Remote for that matter). Neither does the manual for that matter.

--
Joe
 
pirep

Joe, I made a Fathers Day flight for lunch today and was able to again use the Avare app on a Nexus 7 to receive ADSB info from a Flight Data Systems Pathfinder remote adsb receiver. The results were GREAT because I was able to see ADSB weather radar and metars, traffic, TFRs, PIREPs, and Winds. So the data stream must be the same as the Dual ADSB receiver that Avare says they support.

A couple comments about the Avare app. You need to also install the Avare External I/O Plugin. Activate the Avare app first, then the Avare External I/O Plugin app. View the Status page on the External I/O app and you should see "Connect to GPS/ADSB units on WiFi" with second line reading "43211 a box and Listen" check the box and the data steam will start displaying below. It is readable but moving so fast I was not able to pick out the details, until I stopped and then the last page on data was readable. There is also a third line to enter a location to save the data and a save button. If I were more familar with this Nexus 7 device I could save the data and forward to someone smarter than I to decode. Anyone with instructions on how to do this?

I installed the Flight Data Systems Pathfinder remote adsb receiver in both my RV7a and RV10 this spring when GRT announced that it was supported. This receiver works great with the GRT HX units and also with Wing X on an iPad. We made a trip to New Hampshire in our RV7a and back in the last 3 weeks and had alot of weather to deal with so we got alot of use out of this system and it worked exceptional well.

So I purchased a Nexus 7 tablet during our last 3 days in NH for access to some other apps, and then discovered by accident the Avare free app. We are leaving for some summer travels next week so will have some flight time to continue to use Avare.
 
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GDL 39 is working for me

I purchased GDL 39 with Nexus 7 and Garmin Pilot this past weekend. Bluetooth pairing was good for the Nexus 7 on a couple of test flights. No more paper charts for me. ADS-B reception is good for both weather and traffic. Five more years to decide what to do about ADS-B out.
 
rocketbob;888270... the Dual is what works with Avare.[/quote said:
I've narrowed my ADS-B IN choices down to either the Dynon (for use with my SkyView) or that Dual (XGPS170). The much higher cost of the Dynon isn't the only issue; it's the fact that my single 10-inch screen is already max'd out and I don't have room for anything except an additional 7-inch portrait-mode display (my Google Nexus 7 2013 tablet).

The Dual XGPS170 seems like a reasonable single-band portable solution although I want a permanent installation (and eventually, dual band). Dual Electronics' web site is rather vague and the company doesn't seem to have much of a telephone presence.

Thanks,
Joe
Click to expand...
 
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It sounds like you've already made your decision but I wanted to give you another PIREP on the GDL 39. It works great with the Garmin Pilot on either Android or Apple. I will say that I'm very impressed with the GDL 39 picking up ground stations very soon after take off. Personally I have it Bluetooth to my Garmin 796 but also can utilize my tablet if needed. Garmin continues to hit the nail with their products. I'm so glad that they decided to focus on the experimental market as well.
 
Haven't totally made my decision but I never seriously considered the Garmin GDL-39 due to its requirement for the Garmin subscription-based app and failure to work with Avare. Garmin makes excellent products but I'm not willing to endure the "Garmin tax" for the life of my airplane and have been steering toward something I can buy and pay for only once.

--
Joe
 
rocketbob said:
Joe, I say hold off on buying an ADS-B receiver for use with Avare. I have been in the very early stages of testing the use of a RTL2832 software defined radio for use with Avare. This USB device is $10. So far its working well and soon Avare will have support for connecting to this device to receive traffic. Eventually weather will be a part of this.

But if you have to have one now, the Dual is what works with Avare.
Click to expand...

Bob, I'm glad to hear you are on the Avare bandwagon. I've been using it for some time (I think more than a year now) and it keeps getting better and better due to folks like yourself.

While I do not have my Samsung tablet connected to ADS-B yet, I am idly thinking about adding a wifi or Bluetooth transmitter to the ADS-B output of my Navworks unit because the older GRT Horizons don't show TFR data.
 
Navworx WIFIdongle to Avare (RV7A)

(or anything else android!). I've been trying for two weeks to get my Navworx ADS600BG to talk to my Samsung Note 3 using the Navworx WIFI dongle. I understand that Avare requires the use of Avare I/O to link WIFI ADSB data into an android device running Avare. Unfortunately Avare I/O is asking for a port number to monitor, but none is suggested for the Navworx box. Neither the Avare IO forum, nor Navworx support seems to have any insight at to which port to use.

I've also tried IFLY for Android. Really like the ap, and they have a selection for Navworx in their setup, but still no joy.

Has anyone been able to get a Navworx ADS600 with the WIFI dongle to talk to ANY android ap?

Thanks in advance...
 
Not sure this will help but I use port 4000 with avare and the Freeflight wifi.
 
For those using FltPlanGO on an Android platform, there are several big enhancements to that app being released over the next couple of weeks. An email to FltPlan support revealed they will be releasing a new load capable of textual METARs (METAR, TAF, NOTAM) next week followed in a couple of weeks by Nexrad graphics via ADS-B.

Additionally, work is being done on the Android version of the user manual so things will hopefully be getting better in that department within the next two weeks as well.

BTW, the Flight Data Systems Pathfinder is one of the development/test platforms used by the FltPlanGo team so it seems likely to be a good fit with the app.
 
I'm not very well educated when it comes to the subject of ADSB, so I thought I'd ask here. Have there been any ADSB advancements using Avare on a Nexus 7 tablet? Last I heard was that 1090MHz IN was available. Have they added 978MHz IN? Any word on the future possibility of both 1090 and 978 IN, and OUT?
 
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