Show HN: We built the smallest dual-band aircraft tracker • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: We built the smallest dual-band aircraft tracker

#11

Post by CoolNamesAllTkn » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 7:03 PM UTC

dang wrote: post #10

Related (I think). Others? Show HN: ADSBee, an open source dual band embedded ADS-B receiver for anything - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46459195 - Jan 2026 (3 comments)

Yes, that's also us! The post you shared was from our ADSBee 1090 series of receivers, which are based on RP2040 PIO and a discrete RF frontend. Our new receiver is much smaller and optimized specifically for low power and embedded detect and avoid applications.

Re: Show HN: We built the smallest dual-band aircraft tracker

#12

Post by huhtenberg » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 7:06 PM UTC

Wasn't this exact post on the front page just few days ago?

Re: Show HN: We built the smallest dual-band aircraft tracker

#13

Post by dang » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 7:11 PM UTC

huhtenberg wrote: post #12

Wasn't this exact post on the front page just few days ago?

It might have been on the frontpage for a few minutes, but not long. We put it in the second-chance pool (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26998308), so it got a re-up.

Re: Show HN: We built the smallest dual-band aircraft tracker

#14

Post by mfrieswyk » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 8:30 PM UTC

Exciting! Picked up a dev kit to mess with and maybe build into my drone.

Re: Show HN: We built the smallest dual-band aircraft tracker

#15

Post by RachelF » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 8:34 PM UTC

Looks good. However, an RF question: Both CC1314 and LR2021 are sub 1GHz components, are you not working outside their spec at 1.090GHz?

Re: Show HN: We built the smallest dual-band aircraft tracker

#16

Post by aftbit » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 8:55 PM UTC

Wow that's incredibly cool! I've been doing ADS-B with a tracker in my window using a pair of RTL-SDRs for more than a decade at this point. This seems like it could make a nice improvement to the Stratux project (ADS-B in / poor man's TCAS for small planes) as well.

Re: Show HN: We built the smallest dual-band aircraft tracker

#17

Post by hbcondo714 » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 9:11 PM UTC

Our tenants live in our property that is in a known Airport Influence Area ("AIA")[1] but this year, they reported to us the noise associated with the airport's Instrument Approach Procedures have increased. Airplanes arriving at the airport fly less than 1,000 feet in elevation right above our neighborhood. Even worse, airplanes come in consecutively so the noise is back to back w/o much reprieve.

The Noise and Capacity Office allows to manually report[2] such aircraft but I'm wondering if this device can detect these aircrafts which can lead to report submission. Any insight on doing this is appreciated!

[1] https://lacounty.maps.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=7cb3fb165...

[2] https://viewpoint.emsbk.com/lgb7

Re: Show HN: We built the smallest dual-band aircraft tracker

#18

Post by CoolNamesAllTkn » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 9:16 PM UTC

RachelF wrote: post #15

Looks good. However, an RF question: Both CC1314 and LR2021 are sub 1GHz components, are you not working outside their spec at 1.090GHz?

Components are specced on the datasheet according to regulatory requirements (e.g. where the ISM band is). What they can actually receive comes down to the performance of the RF frontend and the firmware :)

Re: Show HN: We built the smallest dual-band aircraft tracker

#19

Post by CoolNamesAllTkn » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 9:16 PM UTC

mfrieswyk wrote: post #14

Exciting! Picked up a dev kit to mess with and maybe build into my drone.

Awesome! Would love to see you on the discord: https://pantsforbirds.com/discord

Re: Show HN: We built the smallest dual-band aircraft tracker

#20

Post by CoolNamesAllTkn » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 9:19 PM UTC

aftbit wrote: post #16

Wow that's incredibly cool! I've been doing ADS-B with a tracker in my window using a pair of RTL-SDRs for more than a decade at this point. This seems like it could make a nice improvement to the Stratux project (ADS-B in / poor man's TCAS for small planes) as well.

We make a few devices already that work as a drop-in stratux replacement! An ultra low cost version based on m1421 is definitely on our minds but we're focusing on keeping up with our preorders for Winglet first. Most of the work on sensor integration should be able to be ported to an m1421 based receiver in the future if we decide to go that route.

https://pantsforbirds.com/product/adsbee-1090u/ https://pantsforbirds.com/product/adsbee-winglet/