EBay is Trustable

So much for that tablet. The one I ordered never showed up. The seller had pictures of the Blackberry Tablet on that auction, and when I sent questions to the seller, I got no response. After two weeks, I gave up, and filed a claim on ebay buyer protection program. After a week, they got me my money back.

So I started shopping again. Sunday there was a Galaxy Note 10.1 listed. The price was really good, not the same as the Galaxy Tab, but I thought what the heck. The Note is the tablet I really wanted, so I got it. It was a whole different experience. The seller contacted me after coming back from the post office telling me about their experience. It should show up tomorrow.

I've also started a new blog. The Flying and Technology blog will be more about education related to the technology and flying. Opinions will slip in, just like this blog.

I am not really keeping up on any building of this or any other projects. I've been fixing my pool, and working hard at my real job.

Life is good, lets  keep things that way

I Ordered a New Tablet.

I wasted a bunch of time shopping on eBay last week. I finally decided it is time to get a mainstream tablet. I mostly want it for work, but think it would be good for doing ADS-B in on the cheap!

I ordered a new Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1. I didn't get the note, it cost too much. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is still a dual code 1.6GHz device, and ought to be enough power for now, and is less than a year old. It has everything I want; bluetooth, GPS, WiFI and a big screen. I think I'll have to buy an OTG adapter since it uses a proprietary USB connector (just like the iPad).

How can I do ADS-B for under $100 with this? Well, the SDR folks have been working overtime. One guy at least, Martin. He has the RTL2832u dongle talking to the Android devices. It was only a matter of time, since both the Android stuff and the rtl2832 SDR software are all open sourced. It doesn't do ADS-B decoding out of the box, but what the heck, that is only a little more software.

The FAA while  threatening to charge for the charts, still gives them away. It doesn't really matter, for me using old charts on this, since it will probably be just a toy for now. If I were to ever fly with this relying on the tablet for navigation, then I would want the most current charts. If needed, I would pay for them.

I think I could do the development of the ADS-B decoding, and try to use someones mapping software to get the data to display on the screen. If nothing else, decode the TIS-B and FIS-B data.

Yea, I know Garmin and FreeFlight and everyone seems to think anything under $5000 is the a cheap price for ADS-B, but here I am suggesting a $300 tablet, and a $20 receiver it all I need for ADS-B (plus some cables, and software). Imagine if this would run on a $79 Android tablet, then the whole mess is under $100!. That ought to shock those other guys. Sure they are doing it the hard way, separate receivers and all the work to get "certified" ADS-B receivers, but trust me, you don't need to have a receiver "certified".

Since it is GA in the USA, I am convinced the UAT frequencies are the right ones. The FAA will put the same data out on both the 1090MHz ES, and the 974MHz
UAT frequencies. 


Can we make it happen? Want to help? Lets do it!!

Let me know if I forgot something...