Author: Brian Lloyd

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Raspberry Pi Flight Tracking

The newest addition to my Raspberry Pi Projects, ADS-B Flight Tracking. 

With open-source software, overhead and or nearby aircraft can be tracked through the ADS-B signals the planes transmit. Currently the flight data is sent to 7 different flight Tracking websites. (Contributor ID provided when possible.)

  1. FlightRadar24
  2. adsbExchange
  3. FlightAware
  4. PlaneFinder
  5. RadarBox
  6. Opensky Network
  7. Jack Sweeney’s TheAirTraffic.com

Hardware List:

Raspberry Pi Zero W & basic case

RTL-SDR USB Receiver

Dipole Antenna base with SMA connector

Telescopic Antenna located in my Attic

USB adapters for power and SDR connection

Picture - Flight Tracking Example

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Self-Hosted Minecraft Server

My newest project was to create a self-hosted Minecraft server. This server is publicly accessible. Feel free to login and have a look around. At the moment, this is for the Desktop version of Minecraft only.

Currently has a max of 30 players at a time.

Server address is mc.brian.ws – port 25565

Plugins installed on server: EssentialsX, LuckPerms, ViaVersion, FastAsyncWorldEdit, Vault, MultiVerse, Citizens, CoreProtect, GriefPrevention

Minecraft Server mc.brian.ws
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NOAA Weather Satellite Images

My newest project during the COVID Quarantine has been focused on NOAA Satellite images.
I recently came across a Reddit article that talked about how an RTL-SDR dongle can download weather images from passing NOAA Satellites. I was very interested and had to try it. I found several articles from different people explaining their setup with Raspberry Pi units and how they automated the process.

Ending results:
My Raspberry Pi with an RTL-SDR dongle and a small (currently outdoor) antenna, captures and decodes the broadcasts from the passing Weather Satellites.

It’s still a work in progress, this is a rough working setup at the moment.

Downloaded images from Satellite passovers – Link Here

Examples and References:
Link for Guide: https://www.instructables.com/id/Raspberry-Pi-NOAA-Weather-Satellite-Receiver/

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Audio Feed provider Multiple NOAA Weather Apps

  • I am contributing an audio feed to a 3rd party NOAA Weather Radio iOS App and two Websites. To help, I started capturing the local NOAA weather broadcast in my area to stream to the developer’s server and be available on their app.
  • Radio Broadcast: NOAA Weather Radio, Gloucester, MA Marine – Frequency 162.425
    Official NOAA Station Site: https://www.weather.gov/nwr/sites?site=WNG574
    Feed: Gloucester, MA Weather (Marine Feed)
  • iOS App: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/noaa-weather-radio/id410148139
  • 1st Website: https://www.weatherusa.net/radio
  • 2nd Website: https://noaaweatherradio.org/
  • You may also listen to the feed directly here: http://wxradio.dyndns.org:8000/GloucesterMarine
  • Technology Setup:
    Windows 10 Virtual Machine on a Dell PowerEdge T620 ESXi Server using an RTL-SDR USB Tuner.
    Software is SDR-Sharp + “BUTT”
  • I do not own the iOS application, I am simply providing a feed to it as a contributor. There are instructions in the app on how to become a feed provider.

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Migrating to PFSense

For one of my tech projects during the COVID-19 world quarantine, I migrated to using PFSense as my Home & Home Lab Router. The purpose of this project was to seperate my Home Lab from my Home Network through V-LANs and to also have better Firewall control for my Internet facing services. This has worked out very well and I am happy with the network control and results of this project.

Homebrew Router Specs:

  • Dell OptiPlex 390 (Mini Tower)
  • 500 GB SSD
  • 8GB RAM
  • 1 Gigabit on-board LAN port
  • Intel PCI-E 4 port Gigabit network card.
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Broadcastify Feed Provider

I volunteer to broadcast the Gloucester, MA Police radio frequencies to Broadcastify (Radio Reference).

Gloucester Police broadcasts on digital frequency P25, 471.58750


The Police digital broadcast is captured through a virtual machine on my home VMware environment. This is using RTL-SDR USB receiver, Windows 10 and DSD+ Fast Lane Software.

You can listen to this Feed on a computer or mobile device. Either from the Broadcastify Links below, or the recommended mobile apps for iOS and Android.
App Links: iOS App & Android App

Feed Link – Broadcastify – Police Feed – Click here

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