Day: November 28, 2016

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Virtual Radar

A while back I wrote about setting up an ADS-B detector in the loft. There are six communications I think.

And this one makes seven.

What’s the point in having an ADS-B receiver if you aren’t going to use it when you are out of your house? So, I managed to set up some wizardry on parts of my home network and now I can see the display from outside the confines of my wireless network. I’ve done some port forwarding and other lovely stuff which is easy enough if you are adept at googling, which I am.

So, I now have a Virtual Radar Service for the area around my house that I can log in to from anywhere in the world. I did have to set up a Dynamic Domain Name Service for my modem as I am not lucky enough to have a fixed IP from my broadband supplier. My router even informs the DDNS service what its new IP is whenever it restarts and because this just seems to work it makes me happy.

I did have some minor issues with the radar service as it uses Google Maps to provide a nice background and because I was using this outside of my home network I needed an API key to make this work. That was reasonably easy to set up but then it turns out that Google recommend you secure the key to a particular site so that other people can’t use your key and steal your Maps data, which would then mean Google would charge me.

It took a little while to get the formatting of this securing correct but I think I finally managed it. I guess I’ll soon find out if Google send me a massive Google Maps API bill soon!

So, I can log in to my radar server from anywhere and view it on a desktop or mobile device. That way I can see what my home system sees. It doesn’t catch all planes because some won’t be broadcasting position, see the MLAT communication. Below is a picture of a browser with my radar server running.

Virtual Radar Server
Virtual Radar Server

If you want access I can allow it to you. Just let me know and I’ll arrange a login and password and also give you the URL.

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Weekend Musings

It was a weekend of many happenings. I usually try to keep weekend happenings to a minimum and then I can use all the spare time to see a film, exercise, mess around with technology of various forms and play the PlayStation.

This weekend was the end of my relationship with the Beast. But, it was also the start of my relationship with the Not-Beast, which has yet to be named.

Not The Beast
Not The Beast

There’re a lots of differences between a diesel turbo six speed manual and a petrol hybrid automatic! I will probably bore you with these over time so I won’t go into the detail here. My main current issue is that I don’t know how to hill start this car. Oh, and sometimes I forget to take the “handbrake” off because in this thing it’s a “parking brake” and operated by the left foot.

The new car isn’t named yet, but will be soon. Suggestions welcome to @iparish. This purchase does now mean that the only manual driving experience I will get is either the school minibuses [limited to 100kph] or my Playstation. I’ve upgrade to a six speed manual stick for the PS4. I had been pretty good at heel-and-toeing and matching engine revs to new gears when selected. Now I’m worried my left foot will whither away through lack of use in the new car.

I spent some time in Essex this weekend and I can never be sure if I feel like I am home or whether Kent is now my home. I’ve been down here mostly since 1996 and so while not all of my life it certainly consists of quite a bit of my life. I don’t think I identify as an Essex-boy any more, but I’m not sure I was to start with.

I had a very nice run along the A1060 while in Essex.

It was good until the last mile when my left knee decided it didn’t really want to run and all I could do was hobble along keeping that leg straight. While it continued to ache through the day it turns out that a day later the upper part of my right foot hurts a lot climbing stairs. It is quite possible that my body is starting to fall apart due to age and wear and tear.

While running I spent some time directly under the flight path for the approach to Stansted Airport and I have to say I stopped twice to watch the aircraft fly overhead. It’s a lovely sight. I’m not sure why I like planes but I do.

EGSS Approach
EGSS Approach

Since I got home I have learnt of an update to No Man’s Sky. I am looking forward to seeing what that is like. I really enjoy a good hour of time exploring planets. I’ve tweeted a few things from this game, it’s nicely relaxing [as long as you don’t die].

So I am currently waiting to decide a new name for the car and enjoying the knowledge that I should get 70mpg, because, you know, the planet is fucked.

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