Blind date

On a double blind date

I'm blinded by her beauty,

She's blind to how much I love her

Upgraded outdoor kit

Did not know of the dish will reflect any signals back towards antennae, but I placed the antennae in its path, and I think it might be helping.

 

Placement on the roof

 

So the original casing was designed for 250W light, I went back and bought a 500W and it has more room for the improved wifi card.  Everything is sealed up water tight.  Its been up there over a week and has double my reception.  A previous posting shows how my station went to number one in the local standings.

Close up, so you can see the guts!

Planes follow fixed paths

In case you didn't know, most commercial airliners fly a point to point path, not just a straight line from city to city. They flight towards beacons, and there for appear to be following each other. They have guidelines like east will fly at 35000, west will fly at 32000, so they pass over each other instead of collide.

They also can land about 2 minutes apart, to clear the runway.

So I saw these 5 jets lined up, so I clicked to first one to show his path, and you get to se how everyone stay on his path. They make basically the same turn over Tomball to approach IAH from the west. I was really hoping to get what looked like a landing at the airport, but my coordinates are off a bit, or they shut down the location broadcast information during landing, because they stop west of the airport.

I though it was cool to watch, I have sped it up 4 time for you, so it doesn't last almost 8 minutes when you watch it!

on youtube @ http://youtu.be/_haa8hhrUP8

Change of heart

I really wanted to make a Raspberry Pi based touchscreen car system...think I'll change to old iPhone 3GS

My Pi just took one of the top spots in the rankings

So Flightaware.com let use report sites know some interesting performance stats. New stats came out today comparing me to nearby reporting stations (within 23 miles), and it highlights TOP SPOTS in yellow. Thanks to my high performances last few days, I have taken the top spot in average positions reported. I guessing by Monday, I'll probably take the other one for average aircraft spotted. Latest standing: CLICK

Another succesful Raspberry Pi project

I built a working PiRATE BOX

it's a wifi server that is not connected to Internet, anyone can connect, send and receive files

Mine stores in a wooden box for now with a battery - 100 portable!

PiAware Project Update

So I have a Raspberry Pi computer dedicated to monitor air-traffic, and it reports the results to FLIGHTAWARE.COM to help keep their system up to date.  You can see my results/stats here: LINK

I made a new antennae for it, and moved it to roof top yesterday, and tried to protect it from elements by having the electronics in a ziplock baggy.  It worked pretty good, started get some really distance flight, one was almost near Waco.  But didn't seem to get great local results.

When I got up this morning the system was down, went down around midnight, weather related.  Though I had lost the Pi from a short.  Got on ladder and brought everything in.  The Pi was still alive!

I had seen online a guy made a decent weather proof case for his Pi from a shop light.  I had went and picked up one last night.

I stripped out everything. I had to remove the Pi case, because things got very tight in there.  The 500W (same exact price) would have been a better fit, but it didn't have all that mounting accessories, that is why I chose this one.

I have a USB battery hanging outside the case for now.  Lets me move and test easily without loosing power.  I have ordered a Solar Charger with USB out, so I hope to hook that up and make a system that doesn't need to be plugged in.

Time to test.

Decided to elevate, so placed on top of Jeep, and ran a USB cable inside to lighter adapter (the one that is always on) so it would have power all day (until I decide to drive)

The results were OUTSTANDING!

Plane watcher

So via software and a usb antennae, I monitor 'near by' air traffic and report this via internet to flightaware.com to help them keep their website stuff accurate.  If you look at this map, it shows sites that use PlanePlotter to report data, I'm "Bu"!

Touch Screen for my Pi

I got a 7" inch display (LCD screen)

Got it working with the Pi, the added a touch screen interface and after a little bit - got it working too!

Temp and Humidty

Used this guy

 

To monitor temp and humidity.  May have to put a Raspberry Pi in my safe and have it send updates of its reading to me!

one of my first successes...

Back in December I tried working with the Raspberry Pi and external sensors.
He is the Pi controller a multicolor LED

What is a Raspberry Pi?

What is a Raspberry Pi?
Its a little naked computer that cost around $35

The new Pi 2

I ordered (well, backordered) one from http://www.element14.com/community/welcome

On of my permanent Pi projects - the one that listens to aircraft

I did this (successfully):

http://flightaware.com/adsb/piaware/build

I am working on making it a self-sufficient, by moving into a weather resistant container, and solar/battery powered, so it can be on the roof of the house!

You can seat it in action here: http://107.218.1.247:1234/

The Raspberry Pi

Recently I have been mentally stimulated with the Raspberry Pi tiny computer.  It has been designed for students to learn with, but I'm am enjoying learning too.  I am going to start posting links to useful Raspberry Pi resources and project ideas, for my future reference, but if you find them useful - GREAT!

My first one is this site I just found today:

http://www.dexterindustries.com/site/?product_cat=raspberry-pi

I like their GrovePi products

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