[Noel White]

Hello NickN, the Kinetic SBS-1 unit processes the ADS-B and ModeS radio transmissions from those aircraft so equipped and places the info into a Kinetic software program called BaseStation. BaseStation then displays the aircraft's position, altitude, direction and speed on an outline of the area of your interest. You can download or draw up outlines and waypoints to suit your own needs. Theres are a number of SBS-1 users located around Australia who, I'm sure, will be willing to help you out with maps of your area.

PlanePlotter is a separate program that takes that same info from the SBS-1 and again displays the information on a satellite image or Google Earth. There is no real advantage running BaseStation along side PlanePlotter because you see the same details. However, what is so great about PlanePlotter that you can share your plots with other sharers around the world and in turn see their plots.

While the SBS-1 unit is not cheap, BaseStation is free and is under further development with many add-on program which makes it a fascinating hobby. PlanePlotter costs a one off fee of 25 Euros and the developer, an Australian, working from Portugal is constantly updating the program 2 to 3 times a month.

There are group of Australian PP sharers feeding their plots covering the populated areas from far North Queensland right around the coast (including Tassie) all the way to Perth. Depending on their locations and how high their antennas are, could have a range as good as 200nm. The ADS-B transmissions are in the 1090Mhz band and are very line of sight so hills, trees buildings etc., tend to block some of the data.

So if you don't want to part with your hard earned dollars for a SBS unit, you only need to download PlanePlotter, pay your licence fee and watch the world's sky open up from of the comfort of your lounge room.