Dump1090 Shopping Guide

What’s needed

What is necessary to build an mobile “to go” ADS-B receiver with your Android phone, tablet, TV-Box.

In this post I will show you buying links to components like USB Cable, RTL-SDR Dongle, Antenna.

Estimate total costs from 20€ to 50€ with good hardware components from Aliexpress. Could be the half if you already have some components.

1. Android hardware

• Android Phone, Tablet, TV-Box with USB OTG functionality (almost all devices have that).
  App to check OTG function
• Recommended minimum Android version 7
• I recommend minimum 1 GB RAM

INFO:
If you use the app to have a live view and the app is in foreground this is not a problem. Stop reading now.

If you want to use the app as ADS-B receiver running in the background and share data to your PC or other devices, then this info could be important.

Some tablet / phone manufacturer have a very strict battery saving policy which even breaks Android specifications. For example the just kill a App running not in foreground after x minutes.

My apps are running as foreground services (status bar notification symbol) . If you encounter such problems have a look at https://dontkillmyapp.com/ which provides several options to avoid killing a app for different manufacturer.
On my Android 11 Samsung Tab S7 i had to put both apps Dump1090 and RTL SDR Driver on the exclude battery optimization list. see https://dontkillmyapp.com/samsung#android-11
maybe read this too –> Dump1090 Export

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2. USB OTG cable

Connectors

Depending on your device you need an USB Micro OTG OR USB C OTG cable.
Note: A USB 2.0 rate cable is sufficient enough

2.2 USB-C/Micro OTG with external power supply

General note about – external power supply.
Normally the external power supply only powers the connected USB device – not the phone / tablet itself.
On some older devices OTG function for the USB device AND charging was possible.
Samsung Galaxy S3/S4/NOTE2/NOTE3, Nexus 7/8/10.
For current models this is normally not possible. Have a look at this blog
Alternatives would be to charge your phone / tablet by inductive charging or some tablet still have a separately power DC jack

Aliexpress

Budget Store – Worldwide Shipping (up to 3 weeks)

Please not buy the cheapest cable you can find. I had some problems with very cheap cables where the connection between the dongle and the device was very unstable

Amazon Deutschland

Ugreen USB-C-Hub auf Amazon.de
USB-Micro Y cable

Note to all links: All product links (Amazon and Aliexpress) are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

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3. RTL-SDR Dongle

Search for RTL2832U / 820T / 820T2 or RTL-SDR USB dongle.
I recommend high quality dongles which are more expensive but PPM is fix and stable around 0 or 1 . (0,5 PPM TCXO)

3.1 High quality 0,5 ppm

RTL-SDR.COM

Original RTL-SDR BLOG V3 Dongle

Aliexpress

Budget Store – Worldwide Shipping (up to 3 weeks)

Amazon Deutschland

RTL-SDR Blog V3 Dongle auf Amazon.de
RTL-SDR Blog V4 Dongle auf Amazon.de
RTL-SDR Blog V3 Dongle Bundle ( mit Antenne ) auf Amazon.de
RTL-SDR Blog V4 Dongle Bundle (mit Antenne) auf Amazon.de

Note to all links: All product links (Amazon and Aliexpress) are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

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4. ANTENNA

Depending on your dongle you have different connectors. The high quality dongles usually have a SMA female antenna port. The cheap dongles have usually a MCX female port.

You can build your DIY Antenna or take the Antenna shipped with your dongle.

Or you can buy some Antenna.

Aliexpress

Budget Store – Worldwide Shipping (up to 3 weeks)

Note to all links: All product links (Amazon and Aliexpress) are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

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5. Software

find a tutorial here

Questions ? look here