ADS-B Aircraft Tracking

What is ADS-B?

Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) is a surveillance technology used in aviation where aircraft automatically broadcast their position, altitude, speed, and identification. Unlike traditional radar, which requires a ground station to actively interrogate aircraft, ADS-B is transmitted continuously by the aircraft itself using GPS-derived position data. This makes it a more accurate and reliable method of tracking aircraft in real time.

ADS-B is becoming the standard for air traffic surveillance globally, and in Canada, Transport Canada has mandated ADS-B equipage for aircraft operating in designated airspace.

The Radio Side

ADS-B transmissions occur on 1090 MHz, which falls in the UHF (ultra-high frequency) band. Aircraft equipped with ADS-B Out transponders broadcast these signals roughly twice per second. Ground stations equipped with a simple antenna and a software-defined radio (SDR) receiver can pick up these signals and decode the aircraft data.

This is a great intersection of amateur radio and aviation, as the same skills and hardware used in amateur radio, such as antennas, coaxial cable, RF fundamentals, and SDR, apply directly to receiving ADS-B. Many amateur radio operators run ADS-B receivers as a way to experiment with SDR technology and contribute to community flight tracking networks.

Our Receiver

RAM operates an ADS-B receiver at our Hadashville site (VE4EMB). This site feeds position data to FlightAware, one of the world’s leading flight tracking services.

Our Hadashville receiver is the only FlightAware feeder for a significant area around it, making it a meaningful contribution to flight tracking coverage in rural Manitoba. Without community-operated receivers like this one, large stretches of the province would have no ADS-B coverage on public tracking networks.

You can view our receiver statistics and coverage on FlightAware:

RAM on FlightAware

Future Expansion

We are exploring the idea of deploying additional ADS-B receivers, particularly at our sites further north. Coverage in northern Manitoba is very sparse, and our remote repeater sites are well positioned to fill those gaps. If you are interested in this initiative or have ideas about potential receiver locations, we would love to hear from you.