AirNav Radar FlightStick - ADS-B USB Receiver with Integrated Filter, Amplifier and ESD Protection

I got the RadarBox to replace my old RTL-SDR TV dongle where the range was poor compared to a failed competitor stick I used a few years back. I have it plugged into an Intel NUC computer that I had lying around and run with a few different software packages to upload the data (and get the benefits of feeding those sites). Unfortunately, I am unable to feed RadarBox as they do not have a way to feed from an X64 platform and only ARM based ones. For the stick, it is not much bigger than a larger USB pen drive and has a USB plug on the one end and a SMA connector on the other for connecting to your aerial. I use a homemade co-linear aerial (there are instructions on the web but use the right cable and accurate cut elements) as when I started feeding ADSB data 9 years ago, ready-made kit was in short supply. This is then mounted above my roof line to give as clear a view of the sky as possible (although I live in a slight dip so it doesn't have quite a clear a view of the horizon as it otherwise would have). I found the stick was a drop-in replacement for the old TV tuner-based stick I was using, and I just needed to replace the original dongle pigtail with an F-type to SMA convertor. Immediately there was a huge increase in range, and I can now cover virtually all of England & Wales (just missing the tip of Cornwall and the Scottish border area) along with parts of Ireland and France. This is a range of around 150 Nautical Miles and peaks at around 200NM in places. Previously I was struggling to get much above 75NM. Since the core chipset is the same, this is most likely down to the better built-in filters and amplifiers. I am very happy with the dongle and would recommend this to anyone looking to either start ADSB feeding or replace aging kit. For new starters, go for the kit that includes the RadarBox aerial too unless you want to try your hand at building your own.

I liked, especially, the fact that raw data are provides for further processing. What is more cumbersome, though, is that to obtain a full account on the company's website one needs to operate the receiver stick continuously, something which is not possible with e.g. a normal computer and needs, for instance, some expertise to operate it with devices such as Arduinos and Raspberries. If this is done, then sky is the limit for building advanced projects!

I wanted to improve my ADS-B reception, I had a tuned antenna on my roof and a bog standard RTL-SDR with a PI 3 and Piaware and I used to get fairly decent performance. I wanted un uplift in performance without spending a lot, With this I got at least 30-40% improvement in my amount of received aircraft and and 10% improvement in range.. The maximum range of a ground based station with aircraft around the 30-40000 feet is about 250nm due to the curvature of the earth and line of sight. If you are running a standard RTL-SDR 2832 and you want an improvement, than for not much outlay this is a decent upgrade bang for buck. Also you can use your existing sdr for other fun projects :-)

I feed a flight information service. The range is good considering it's attached to an airband antenna on the roof. ADSB 111nm. I have no idea if this device or my feeding software or even hosting device has a problem, but about every 12 days my feeding software app tells me there's no data. I just reboot the host. I'd love to know definitively what's going on.

really like the product, setup i used it inside house and got a range of up to 78 nautic miles, now after software installation and near a window i get exactly the double range - 150-160 nautic miles. i am near to an airport and see always more then 20 aircrafts, even the grounded ones :) will order a flat cable to be able to put an antenna outside to have better range

Does not work spent 1 hour on it but still does not work

I did a 24hr side by side comparison against a pro+ on identical laptops with exactly the same software and auto-gain settings and also sharing the same Airnav antenna. Unfortunately the Airnav (green) dongle failed heavily. It failed to record 1200 flights less than the Pro+ in a single 24hr period. It failed to see many aircraft both local and distant and was consistantly showing 20-25 aircraft less than the pro+ at peak times, reception coverage was also 60-70km less than Pro+ in all directions. Software used was Dump1090 & VRS on Win10. Conclusion - A good buy if you're on a low budget but if you are serious about ADSB then there are better 'all in one' alternatives out there. **For those of you unable to get this dongle to function at all due to no drivers please search for "ZADIG RTL-SDR" and follow the instructions on how to install drivers for RTL-SDR dongles.

After getting windows 11 to acept it, it is very good but only on wndows 10.

Excellent upgrade for ADS-B reception I bought this to replace a basic NooElec SDR on my Raspberry Pi ADS-B / FlightRadar24 setup, using the same outdoor antenna. Installation was straightforward — I just swapped the USB stick and connected the existing SMA antenna cable. The improvement was very noticeable, especially at longer range. My 150 NM contacts increased by around 69%, and 200 NM contacts increased dramatically compared with the old stick. I also started seeing some >200 NM contacts that I wasn’t really getting before. The built-in filter and amplifier seem to make a real difference. It did not hugely change close-range aircraft numbers, but it clearly improved distant aircraft reception, which is exactly what I wanted. Very pleased with it — a simple, worthwhile upgrade for anyone running an ADS-B receiver or Raspberry Pi flight tracking setup.

Nie działa na windows

I bought this to use with a Raspberry Pi Zero W + cantenna for sharing data with FlightAware / RadarBox / Flightradar24. It works perfectly. Very occasionally I run into a problem where the Pi will stop receiving data due to it not being able to detect the stick, but I'm not sure if this is due to the FlightStick, the Pi itself or the USB adapter cable. It resolves itself after a reboot and I can go for months without having an issue so haven't felt a need to investigate too much further.

Fonctionne bien mieux qu’une simple clé. Le filtre SAW et le LNA font vraiment la différence.

An absolutely amazing bit of kit. I went from an RTL-SDR V4 to a Nooelec NESDR Mini 2+ to this and all I can say is... WOW! I use a home made "Cantena" and when compared side by side with the others due to the the built in filter and amplifier I get at least a 40% increase with no other changes. You can easily see the day I installed this. An average of 60,000 to 100,000 positions per day! Great value and great coverage! 😊