Is anyone hosting an ADS-B receiver from flightradar24.com?

P

Pimpom

Forerunner
I'm sure many of you are familiar with the flight tracking site flightradar24.com. I live in a remote hilly region and tracking of flights near the one airport in my state is very poor. Planes always disappear after they descend to 5 or 6000 ft. To improve coverage, I'm thinking of applying for their free ADS-B tracking receiver and host it.

If anyone here is already hosting such a receiver supplied by them from the US, I have a question for you: Did you face any problem with customs when the receiver landed in India?
I'm asking because I live far from any major city that serves as the point of entry for imports from the West. As such, it may not be worth it if it involves a lot of hassle with customs.
 
I'm a regular visitor on that site for tracking flights for many years now. Absolutely fantastic site!

I happen to dig this old thread up from Flightradar24's Forum:

Laws In India On Hosting ADS-B Receiver

^^ This is an old thread and maybe things have changed now in India with regards to hosting a ADS-B tracker but I still think there is a strong possibility of Customs withholding your receiver and asking for usage details from you before it is cleared. You might want to post a query on Flightradar 24's forum to get some insight into this.
 
Thanks for the reply. I've been using the site for many years too. It's not only enjoyable but also practical when some family members are travelling.
Yes, that thread is old but not too old. It needs some investigation. Ah, India. There's so much inertia.

I'm old enough to remember when a licence was needed to use a TV or a radio and the licence had to be renewed at the Post Office every year. It was stopped, not because it was not uncivilised or undemocratic, but because the government spent more money collecting the fees than what they took in.
 
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Do you happen to have an HAM license? They ask it in the questionnare you fill. I applied but had got rejected. It could be because of that...
 
My friend and I built one by buying parts from Amazon. The coaxial cable cost us the most back then.

We initially planned to get one from flight aware for free but avoided that route due to hold ups at customs et al.
(We did not know much back then)

Speaking about customs hold ups. It does exist. Last year I tried to bring in a WiFi deauther (looks like a USB pen drive) they asked me to send the details of invoice and explain what I was trying to bring in. After a satisfactory response they let me collect it and yes I had to pay custom duty.
 
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Pimpom said:
I'm sure many of you are familiar with the flight tracking site flightradar24.com. I live in a remote hilly region and tracking of flights near the one airport in my state is very poor. Planes always disappear after they descend to 5 or 6000 ft. To improve coverage, I'm thinking of applying for their free ADS-B tracking receiver and host it.

If anyone here is already hosting such a receiver supplied by them from the US, I have a question for you: Did you face any problem with customs when the receiver landed in India?
I'm asking because I live far from any major city that serves as the point of entry for imports from the West. As such, it may not be worth it if it involves a lot of hassle with customs.
Click to expand...
You replied to my sale thread, so I guess you know I hosted it. The dongle setup can track about 150 -200 km easily and further if you have line of sight. Since I am near the airport, the climbing altitude is not much for the range but around 10000 ft was common for me. The local tracking is generally a minute or 2 ahead of what you see on the web and you can of course track private and military aircrafts which are filtered out on the website.

I had applied for the free dongle on Flightaware before I purchased the setup, but they didn't respond at all. I think you have to pay the custom duty as per their valuation. At the minimum, they would also expect you to be in the line of sight of the airport and of course the flight information should be worthwhile for them.
 
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Pauljacob750 said:
Do you happen to have an HAM license? They ask it in the questionnare you fill. I applied but had got rejected. It could be because of that...
Click to expand...
No, I don't have a HAM licence but I think it's only a desirable attribute rather than an essential requirement.

I applied for a free receiver a few years ago. I have a lot of experience in electronics and they seemed to be satisfied with that. The problem at that time was that the view of the airport from my house is blocked by a hill. They did not reject my application because of that but I did not pursue it further.

I have now found much better locations at the houses of friends and relatives. So far, I have not contacted FR24 again because of possible complications due to customs and legality issues.
Here's a Google Earth view from one of the sites I have earmarked:

View from Luaitea.png editing.jpg
 
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Pimpom said:
No, I don't have a HAM licence but I think it's only a desirable attribute rather than an essential requirement.
Click to expand...
Oh ok. Makes sense as the license is only needed for transmission.

Here's an map of the recivers as of Dec 2022.

New-FR24-Receivers-Full-Year-2022.jpg

FlightRadar posts a monthly blog on the new locations of recievers. In July they added quite a few recivers in the North East.

New-July-2023-Flightradar24-Receivers.jpg
 
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I host a receiver that I got sent. No hassles with customs or duties. It is what it says - free. You have to send your Aadhaar for Kyc to the courier company before the shipment land
 
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Hey, I'm totally unaware of this tracking thing. What is the purpose here? It this a hobby or it is some work related thing?

I mean if it's a hobby and you track the flight then next? I'm not downplaying the activity but just really curious about this.
 
Thead said:
I host a receiver that I got sent. No hassles with customs or duties. It is what it says - free. You have to send your Aadhaar for Kyc to the courier company before the shipment land
Click to expand...
What is overall cost for setup. Any government regulations ? Can you explain the process please.
 
Afxal said:
Hey, I'm totally unaware of this tracking thing. What is the purpose here? It this a hobby or it is some work related thing?

I mean if it's a hobby and you track the flight then next? I'm not downplaying the activity but just really curious about this.
Click to expand...

Its both. AvGeeks use this for plane spotting, study flight patterns, type of aircraft used are a few to mention mostly to enhance knowledge. Some turn this into full time job like Airline reviewers, Plane spotters, etc.

Some use it for tracking business owners (rivals watch them to understand next move) and celebrity jets (carbon emission) and so on.
 
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kalph09 said:
Its both. AvGeeks use this for plane spotting, study flight patterns, type of aircraft used are a few to mention mostly to enhance knowledge. Some turn this into full time job like Airline reviewers, Plane spotters, etc.

Some use it for tracking business owners (rivals watch them to understand next move) and celebrity jets (carbon emission) and so on.
Click to expand...
Thanks you for explaining in simple terms. Seems like a niche hobby in my general understanding but quite interesting.
 
Afxal said:
Hey, I'm totally unaware of this tracking thing. What is the purpose here? It this a hobby or it is some work related thing?

I mean if it's a hobby and you track the flight then next? I'm not downplaying the activity but just really curious about this.
Click to expand...
I used to host one on my own cost. I am near the airport, so will not get a unit sent to me since I saw a lot of users with the official setup.

One attraction is that you get the business plan for free which allows access to a lot of historical data as well.

Other is you get real time data which allows you to plane spot as well, since the site is usually behind by nearly a minute. You can track vehicles on the tarmac. You can track private jets that are delisted on the public site.

I don't know to what extent you can modify the official unit but on your own setup with a wider tuning range, you can also listen in to approach and tower radio communications in real time. You can also access weather data from satellites that send unencrypted information. And of course FM/AM radio.
 
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Pimpom said:
I'm sure many of you are familiar with the flight tracking site flightradar24.com. I live in a remote hilly region and tracking of flights near the one airport in my state is very poor. Planes always disappear after they descend to 5 or 6000 ft. To improve coverage, I'm thinking of applying for their free ADS-B tracking receiver and host it.

If anyone here is already hosting such a receiver supplied by them from the US, I have a question for you: Did you face any problem with customs when the receiver landed in India?
I'm asking because I live far from any major city that serves as the point of entry for imports from the West. As such, it may not be worth it if it involves a lot of hassle with customs.
Click to expand...
Yes i am hosting for them .No problem with customs in India.All will handeld by DHL or Fedex.You have to just upload your Aadhar card.
 
asingh said:
What is overall cost for setup. Any government regulations ? Can you explain the process please.
Click to expand...
They send everything. All you pay for is drilling any holes and an antenna mount. On a recurring basis you pay for the electricity. No government process. Depending on the site, the sending company may ask you for additional information like photos etc. But all in all straightforward. Bear in mind there is heavy saturatiion of receivers in most parts of India and you would be lucky to have your application approved. I got mine way back in 2014 so I was perhaps the 5th or the 6th in India to host one.
 
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