Sheet 4 · The written guides
Build it
yourself
What to buy, what to build, and what to do with it if you want a station of your own. Each guide is intended to be a complete walkthrough for each discrete aspect of the station, with a complete station setup guide covering everything I did.
You can print a guide, or give its plain-text file to a coding agent. Every guide ends with a list of what I did not run or could not confirm. Read that list before you trust a step.
Series 01 · The Listening Station
One guide for each episode| Episode | Guide | What it builds |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | ADS-B | A step-by-step guide to receive ADS-B aircraft positions on 1090 MHz at home with one antenna, one USB dongle and one small computer, and to see them on your own live map. |
| 02 | Planefence and Plane-Alert | A step-by-step guide to get an alert when an unusual aircraft flies in range of your own ADS-B receiver, with planefence, plane-alert, a community watchlist, Discord and Home Assistant. |
| 03 | AIS | How to receive AIS ship positions at home with a marine-band antenna, a USB radio, one small computer and AIS-catcher, and see the ships on your own map. |
| 04 | ACARS and VDL2 | A step-by-step guide to receive the text messages that aircraft send, ACARS and VDL Mode 2, with one antenna, USB radios and free software. |
| 05 | Shortwave | A build guide for one receiver that hears all of shortwave, 0 to 30 MHz, at the same moment. An RX-888 Mk II, a small active loop and ka9q-radio on an x86 PC serve many channels to many programs. |
| 06 | HFDL | A step-by-step guide to receive HFDL, the shortwave data link of aircraft over the oceans, with dumphfdl. One band with one tuned radio, or every band at once with a wideband receiver and ka9q-radio. |
| 07 | WSPR and FT8 | A build guide to receive the slow amateur radio modes WSPR, FT8 and FT4 on shortwave, with one receiver and WSJT-X or with a wideband receiver and ka9q-radio, and to report what you hear. |
| 08 | Weather Fax | Receive marine weather charts (radiofax, or weather fax) and NAVTEX text warnings at home with a shortwave receiver, a wire or loop antenna and the free program fldigi. |
| 09 | Distress Calls, Beacons, and HFGCS | A walkthrough to receive three shortwave signals at home with free public programs. Ship calls (DSC), the 18 beacons of the NCDXF/IARU International Beacon Project, and US Air Force voice broadcasts (HFGCS). |
| 10 | VLF and Solar Flares | A build guide for a sudden ionospheric disturbance (SID) monitor. A wire loop antenna, a sound card and the free program SuperSID log the strength of very low frequency navy transmitters, to show solar flares. |
| 11 | Antennas and filters | A build guide for the radio-frequency chain of a receive-only station. It covers antenna, cable, filter, splitter, limiter and amplifier, and a method to measure each change. |
| 12 | The Station Monitor | A guide to put every feed of a home radio listening station on one web page, and to know when a feed has stopped, with free public programs or with a small program of your own. |
| 13 | Numbers Stations | A walkthrough to listen for numbers stations at home and record them on time from Priyom's public schedule, with one SDR radio or a wide shortwave receiver. It also covers the Russian navy's letter beacons and the Buzzer. |
| 14 | Radiosondes | A step-by-step guide to receive the radiosondes that weather balloons carry, 400 to 406 MHz, with one USB radio, a small computer and the free program radiosonde_auto_rx. |
The whole station
One guide, every part| All | Build the station | A printable build guide for a home radio listening station. A bill of materials, then the steps to receive aircraft, ships, aircraft messages and shortwave signals with free software. |
SpurThese guides are for building a real station in the real world. To explore the ideas and concepts that underlie radio, there is the lab: little machines that run in your browser. Check it out.