Planespotter Classic no planes seen

Question

Hi.

I'm trying to build a classic planespotter using the example code.

I've got the WiFi Scanner to work, and the WorldClock Demo so I know the Arduino software is talking to the ESP8266 OK and the wiring to OLED is right.

I've taken the example code and changed lines 85 to 86 to uncomment out the SS1306 and comment out the SSD1106Wire enties so the code matches the Worldclock setup that works, Uploaded OK and I get a Wifi signal in the bottom corner so I know the code and display side is working.

Looking in the serial monitor and I'm getting no flights despite changing the distance to 100Kms and the height from 0 to 50,000Ft..  I DO have a ADS-B receiver and I KNOW as I type this my ADB-S reciever can see at leat three flights, two in the 30K height range and one 2500Ft, so I should be seeing something .

NOTE: My Long/Lat is right i nmy code, just removed for this post.

In the log I see...

Requesting URL: /VirtualRadar/AircraftList.json?lat=xxxxx&lng=xxxxxx &fDstL=0&fDstU=100&fAltL=0&fAltU=50000

.

url=https://a.nel.cloudflare.com/report/v3?s=HKlh0dOBRcAC3PQoFr2lW9NSHQlq1yH%2BYrwMtBoUT3hHxpinq6O2erH2qUBCo0mN8uo2SOj53TfYgfkd0wmaWEV4B%2BiXOrq5tyo80fra%2Bvb03NtuovL6oR35jBH%2Ft2bsAAU1UAsEQxee

group=cf-nel

max_age=604800

Flights: 0

Flights: 0

Reading around this It looks like ADB-S Exchnge now needs an api key.   Has anyone adapted the code before I try (as I'm not a coder it will be trail and error!)?

Comments

And looking into it ADB-S now want a subscription for an API key...  I can understand why, but as a bit of fun I don't want to pay $10 for something that is just a bit of fun on my desk

Answer 1

You're quite right, ADS-B Exchange indeed requires an API key now. They give you one free of charge if you feed them - which I do (through a Raspberry PI). If you're interested here's my tutorial: https://wp.me/pzoQb-DO.

We have wanted to update the example for quite some time but keep forgetting it as hardly anybody ever asked for this. I now created a ticket at https://github.com/ThingPulse/esp8266-weather-station/issues/203 to track this. Sorry about the trouble and the disappointment.

Comments

Thanks,

I dont mind that it changed, and its an annoyance, but at least it was cleared up quickly.  Hopefully your comment will let others know its back as a work in progress at the moment..

I do feed to FlightRadar24 and Planefinder so it should be simple to add ads-b exchage as somewhere else I send data to..

Thanks