Build a receiver. Put your coastline on the map.

Ships broadcast their position on marine VHF radio (AIS), and aircraft on 1090 MHz (ADS-B). A small receiver hears them, and your station sends what it hears to Voydar. Ships help keep ship tracking free for everyone; aircraft appear in the Voydar Terminal. Either one earns you free Pro.

Three ways to join

Each works for ships (AIS), aircraft (ADS-B) or both. You register one station either way; one computer with two radio dongles feeds both.

Build it

About 1 hour · about US$60–150

A USB radio dongle, a Raspberry Pi (or any always-on computer) and an antenna. Our installer does the software, for AIS, ADS-B or both.

Ships · AIS Aircraft · ADS-B Both

Plug and play

No building, no radio tuning

A ready-made receiver from its maker, connected with one command. A Voydar SD-card image for the Raspberry Pi is being prepared.

Ships · AIS Aircraft · ADS-B

Bring your own

About 5 minutes

Already feed MarineTraffic, AISHub, FlightAware, Flightradar24 or ADS-B Exchange? Keep them, and add Voydar with one line.

Ships · AIS Aircraft · ADS-B

On a boat? Share what your AIS hears, even offshore: Beacon at Sea.

Build it

Everything below is sold by the maker or an official reseller. Links are plain: no affiliate codes, no tracking. Voydar sells no hardware.

Prices vary · links last checked Sep 24, 2026

1. USB radio (SDR dongle)

RTL-SDR Blog V4Our pick
The standard AIS dongle. Their buy page lists the official stores (Amazon, AliExpress and others). Genuine units only: clones decode AIS poorly.
about US$30–40
RTL-SDR Blog
Nooelec NESDR SMArt v5
A good alternative if the RTL-SDR Blog V4 is out of stock.
about US$30–45
Nooelec

2. Always-on computer

Already have a Raspberry Pi or a spare Linux, Windows or Mac computer that stays on? Use it: skip step 2.

Raspberry Pi 5 (2–4 GB)Our pick
Plenty for AIS. Official Raspberry Pi resellers.
about US$50–85
PiShop.us CanaKit The Pi Hut Adafruit
Raspberry Pi 4 (2 GB)
Also fine, and uses less power.
about US$45–55
PiShop.us The Pi Hut
Official 27 W USB-C power supply (Pi 5)
Use the official supply: a weak one causes USB dropouts.
about US$12–15
PiShop.us The Pi Hut
Official 15 W USB-C power supply (Pi 4)
about US$8–10
PiShop.us
microSD card, 32 GB
Any good A1/A2 card works.
about US$10–15
PiShop.us

3. Antenna

RTL-SDR Blog dipole antenna kit
Budget starter. Set each arm to about 46 cm for 162 MHz and put it outside, vertical.
often bundled with the V4
RTL-SDR Blog
Marine VHF/AIS antenna (162 MHz)Our pick
The biggest upgrade. Any well-known marine AIS or VHF antenna, mounted as high as you can.
about US$50–150
Shakespeare

4. Cable and adapters

SMA male to SO-239 adapter
Connects a marine antenna's PL-259 coax to the dongle. Use low-loss coax and keep the run short.
about US$10
Wegmatt

5. Filter or preamp (optional)

Uputronics filtered preamp (AIS 162 MHz version)
Filters out strong nearby signals and boosts weak ones. Needs bias-tee power (-gr biastee on) or its own supply.
about US$50–70
Uputronics
Nooelec SAWbird filter and LNA modules
Choose a module whose passband covers 162 MHz.
varies
Nooelec

6. Aircraft (ADS-B, optional)

For aircraft add a second dongle made for 1090 MHz and a 1090 MHz antenna: one Raspberry Pi runs both. Aircraft only? Skip the AIS antenna and dongle and use these instead.

FlightAware Pro Stick PlusOur pick
RTL-SDR dongle made for 1090 MHz, with a filter and amplifier built in. The installer recognises it.
about US$46
FlightAware The Pi Hut
FlightAware 1090 MHz antenna
Outdoor antenna tuned for ADS-B. Mount it high with a clear view of the sky.
about US$50
FlightAware
FlightAware 1090 MHz band-pass filter
Only needed with a dongle that has no filter (the Pro Stick Plus already has one), near strong transmitters.
about US$29
FlightAware

Put it together

1
Register a station on Voydar. You get a station key and a one-line install command with the key already in it.
2
Put the antennas up high, with a clear view of the water (AIS) or the sky (ADS-B). Height matters more than anything else: a roof or a mast beats a window.
3
Connect each antenna to its USB radio with coax (and the adapter it needs). Add a filter or preamp between them if you bought one.
4
Set up the Raspberry Pi with Raspberry Pi OS Lite (64-bit) using Raspberry Pi Imager, turn on SSH, and plug the USB radios in.
5
Paste the one-line command from your station page into the Pi. With one dongle it sets up AIS; add --adsb for aircraft only, or plug in two dongles for both.
6
Watch your station page. It turns green when the first ship is heard, and shows ADS-B live when the first aircraft is heard.

What we use

Placeholder

Voydar's own reference station in Tampa Bay was built from a kit, an antenna and AIS-catcher. We will publish its exact parts list and settings here once they are written up. Until then, the parts above are the ones we recommend.

Software: the easy way

On a Raspberry Pi, Debian or Ubuntu, one command does everything. It downloads our installer, checks it against the fingerprint below, and runs the decoders in Docker so they restart on their own after a power cut. The decoder images are pinned to exact versions.

YOUR_STATION_KEY is filled in for you on your station page after you register. The key is shown once, so the page is the place to copy it from.

One-line install, ships (AIS) on one dongle (Raspberry Pi, Debian, Ubuntu)

curl -fsSL https://www.voydar.com/api/beacon/install-v4.sh -o seadar-install.sh && \
  echo "44db46fba422390e29dc3609e5f9a0a236fbafce08b4dafd6c0ff322bdcc1678  seadar-install.sh" | sha256sum -c - && \
  sudo sh seadar-install.sh YOUR_STATION_KEY

Aircraft (ADS-B) only, on a 1090 MHz dongle

curl -fsSL https://www.voydar.com/api/beacon/install-v4.sh -o seadar-install.sh && \
  echo "44db46fba422390e29dc3609e5f9a0a236fbafce08b4dafd6c0ff322bdcc1678  seadar-install.sh" | sha256sum -c - && \
  sudo sh seadar-install.sh --adsb YOUR_STATION_KEY

Ships and aircraft on two dongles

curl -fsSL https://www.voydar.com/api/beacon/install-v4.sh -o seadar-install.sh && \
  echo "44db46fba422390e29dc3609e5f9a0a236fbafce08b4dafd6c0ff322bdcc1678  seadar-install.sh" | sha256sum -c - && \
  sudo sh seadar-install.sh --both YOUR_STATION_KEY

Read the installer before you run itInstaller fingerprint (sha256): 44db46fba422390e29dc3609e5f9a0a236fbafce08b4dafd6c0ff322bdcc1678

With two dongles the installer uses the one whose serial number contains 1090 (or a FlightAware Pro Stick) for aircraft. If it cannot tell, it lists them and asks you to rerun with --adsb-serial <serial>. To label a dongle for good, plug in only that one and run rtl_eeprom -s 1090 (from the rtl-sdr package), then replug it. Optional: --lat and --lon give readsb your antenna position for its range checks; it stays on your computer.

Other options: --ais or --adsb to choose, --ais-serial to name the AIS dongle, --private for a private AIS feed (ADS-B is public only), and an AIS gain such as 33.8 after the key.

Docker, on any Linux computer with a USB radio

docker run -d --name seadar-beacon --restart unless-stopped \
  --device /dev/bus/usb ghcr.io/jvde-github/ais-catcher:v0.70 \
  -H https://receiver.seadar.io/v1/beacon/ingest USERPWD seadar:YOUR_STATION_KEY INTERVAL 10 GZIP on

AIS-catcher installed by hand (Windows, Mac or Linux)

AIS-catcher -H https://receiver.seadar.io/v1/beacon/ingest USERPWD seadar:YOUR_STATION_KEY INTERVAL 10 GZIP on

Prefer to do it by hand?

Install AIS-catcher by following its installation guide (Raspberry Pi steps).
On Linux, stop the TV-tuner driver from grabbing the dongle: put blacklist dvb_usb_rtl28xxu in /etc/modprobe.d/rtl-sdr.conf and reboot.
Check it hears ships: run AIS-catcher on its own. It prints each message as it arrives (-v 10 adds statistics every 10 seconds).
Add the Voydar output from your station page to the command, and run it as a service so it starts on boot.

Free, open-source software does the decoding: AIS-catcher by jvde-github (GPL-3.0), and for ADS-B the sdr-enthusiasts ultrafeeder container (GPL-3.0) with wiedehopf's readsb (GPL-3.0-or-later). Many PiAware users run FlightAware's dump1090-fa (GPL-2.0-or-later), which works too. Voydar only adds an output.

Plug and play

No building: ready-made hardware, then one command to connect it. Voydar sells no hardware and earns nothing from these links.

Voydar Beacon SD-card image

Coming soon

A ready Raspberry Pi image: write it to a microSD card, plug in the dongles and power, and a setup page on your own network asks for your station key and Wi-Fi. It is being prepared and will be downloadable from Voydar itself, never from a third-party store. Until then, the one-line installer does the same job.

Ready-made receivers

These receivers decode by themselves. Each links to its maker's own product page; how it connects to Voydar is next to it.

Ships (AIS)

dAISy HAT
Dual-channel AIS receiver that sits on a Raspberry Pi.
USB or serial: AIS-catcher reads it and forwards to Voydar
about US$70–90
Wegmatt
dAISy-catcher
High-performance receiver, designed with the AIS-catcher author.
USB or serial: AIS-catcher reads it and forwards to Voydar
about US$100–150
Wegmatt
dAISy 2+
USB receiver with NMEA 0183 output.
USB or serial: AIS-catcher reads it and forwards to Voydar
about US$80–110
Wegmatt
Digital Yacht AIS100PRO
Dual-channel AIS receiver with USB and NMEA 0183 outputs.
USB or serial: AIS-catcher reads it and forwards to Voydar
about £250
Digital Yacht
Comar R250
Dual-channel AIS receiver with USB, NMEA 0183 and Wi-Fi.
USB or serial: AIS-catcher reads it and forwards to Voydar
see the maker
Comar Systems
Comar R550Ni
Network AIS receiver for shore stations, with Ethernet and Wi-Fi.
Network NMEA output: a local AIS-catcher relay forwards it
see the maker
Comar Systems
Quark-elec A024
Network AIS receiver with WiFi: AIS-catcher reads it over TCP.
Network NMEA output: a local AIS-catcher relay forwards it
about US$150–250
Quark-elec

Aircraft (ADS-B)

FlightAware FlightFeeder Pro
A ready-to-run PiAware (Raspberry Pi, Pro Stick Plus, indoor antenna and touchscreen) from FlightAware's own store.
SkyAware aircraft.json: seadar-adsb-feed posts it
about US$200
FlightAware

The commands

USB or serial receiver (dAISy, Digital Yacht, Comar): AIS-catcher reads the port (dAISy HAT: /dev/serial0; USB: usually /dev/ttyACM0 or /dev/ttyUSB0) and forwards

AIS-catcher -e 38400 /dev/ttyACM0 -H https://receiver.seadar.io/v1/beacon/ingest USERPWD seadar:YOUR_STATION_KEY INTERVAL 10 GZIP on

Network receiver serving NMEA over TCP (Quark-elec, Comar R550Ni): AIS-catcher reads it (replace RECEIVER_IP and the port) and forwards

docker run -d --name seadar-relay --restart unless-stopped \
  ghcr.io/jvde-github/ais-catcher:v0.70 -t txt RECEIVER_IP 10110 \
  -H https://receiver.seadar.io/v1/beacon/ingest USERPWD seadar:YOUR_STATION_KEY INTERVAL 10 GZIP on

If your receiver sends UDP instead, use the UDP relay under Bring your own.

FlightFeeder or PiAware: install the feeder on it, or on any Linux computer on the same network, reading its SkyAware data (replace PIAWARE_IP)

curl -fsSL https://www.voydar.com/api/beacon/adsb-feed-v1.sh -o seadar-adsb-feed && \
  echo "94f11ba5244bd3cefaffe48b3e5265fd51e91e92347f0e18bf6299d192620fa1  seadar-adsb-feed" | sha256sum -c - && \
  sudo sh seadar-adsb-feed --install http://PIAWARE_IP/skyaware/data/aircraft.json YOUR_STATION_KEY

Bring your own

Keep everything you run today. Voydar is one more destination, and our contributor terms allow multi-feeding: feed Voydar alongside MarineTraffic, AISHub, FlightAware, Flightradar24, ADS-B Exchange and others, as long as it is data your own antenna receives.

Bring your own: AIS

Register a station first: the station page gives you these lines with your own key filled in. Your other feeds keep working.

AIS-catcher: add this to your command (outputs repeat, so nothing else changes)

-H https://receiver.seadar.io/v1/beacon/ingest USERPWD seadar:YOUR_STATION_KEY INTERVAL 10 GZIP on

docker-shipfeeder: add one line to your environment

AISCATCHER_EXTRA_OPTIONS=-H https://receiver.seadar.io/v1/beacon/ingest USERPWD seadar:YOUR_STATION_KEY INTERVAL 10 GZIP on

rtl-ais, dump-ais, AIS Dispatcher, OpenCPN or a network AIS receiver (they send UDP): run a small local relay and point their UDP output at 127.0.0.1 port 10110

docker run -d --name seadar-relay --restart unless-stopped -p 127.0.0.1:10110:10110/udp \
  ghcr.io/jvde-github/ais-catcher:v0.70 -x 0.0.0.0 10110 \
  -H https://receiver.seadar.io/v1/beacon/ingest USERPWD seadar:YOUR_STATION_KEY INTERVAL 10 GZIP on

Plain UDP cannot carry a password, so Voydar does not accept it from the internet. The relay adds your key and sends over HTTPS.

Raw TCP (advanced): send KEY <your key> as the first line, then NMEA lines, to receiver.seadar.io port 5631. IPv6 only for now.

Bring your own: ADS-B

seadar-adsb-feed is a short script (sh, curl and gzip) that reads your decoder's aircraft.json or SBS output and posts it to Voydar every 5 seconds. --install sets it up as a service that starts on boot. It opens no ports.

readsb, dump1090-fa, PiAware, dump1090-mutability or the ADS-B Exchange image on this computer: the feeder finds aircraft.json by itself

curl -fsSL https://www.voydar.com/api/beacon/adsb-feed-v1.sh -o seadar-adsb-feed && \
  echo "94f11ba5244bd3cefaffe48b3e5265fd51e91e92347f0e18bf6299d192620fa1  seadar-adsb-feed" | sha256sum -c - && \
  sudo sh seadar-adsb-feed --install YOUR_STATION_KEY

PiAware or FlightFeeder on another computer on your network: read its SkyAware data (replace PIAWARE_IP)

curl -fsSL https://www.voydar.com/api/beacon/adsb-feed-v1.sh -o seadar-adsb-feed && \
  echo "94f11ba5244bd3cefaffe48b3e5265fd51e91e92347f0e18bf6299d192620fa1  seadar-adsb-feed" | sha256sum -c - && \
  sudo sh seadar-adsb-feed --install http://PIAWARE_IP/skyaware/data/aircraft.json YOUR_STATION_KEY

Flightradar24 feeder images that run dump1090-mutability (port 8080)

curl -fsSL https://www.voydar.com/api/beacon/adsb-feed-v1.sh -o seadar-adsb-feed && \
  echo "94f11ba5244bd3cefaffe48b3e5265fd51e91e92347f0e18bf6299d192620fa1  seadar-adsb-feed" | sha256sum -c - && \
  sudo sh seadar-adsb-feed --install http://127.0.0.1:8080/data/aircraft.json YOUR_STATION_KEY

Anything with SBS / BaseStation output on port 30003 (for example fr24feed with BaseStation output switched on)

curl -fsSL https://www.voydar.com/api/beacon/adsb-feed-v1.sh -o seadar-adsb-feed && \
  echo "94f11ba5244bd3cefaffe48b3e5265fd51e91e92347f0e18bf6299d192620fa1  seadar-adsb-feed" | sha256sum -c - && \
  sudo sh seadar-adsb-feed --install sbs:127.0.0.1:30003 YOUR_STATION_KEY

docker-adsb-ultrafeeder: read tar1090's aircraft.json (port 8080 in the usual compose file)

curl -fsSL https://www.voydar.com/api/beacon/adsb-feed-v1.sh -o seadar-adsb-feed && \
  echo "94f11ba5244bd3cefaffe48b3e5265fd51e91e92347f0e18bf6299d192620fa1  seadar-adsb-feed" | sha256sum -c - && \
  sudo sh seadar-adsb-feed --install http://127.0.0.1:8080/data/aircraft.json YOUR_STATION_KEY

Beast output only (a Radarcape, a Mode-S Beast or a remote readsb): run readsb in network-only mode to turn it into aircraft.json, then feed that (replace BEAST_HOST)

docker run -d --name seadar-adsb --restart unless-stopped \
    -e ULTRAFEEDER_CONFIG=adsb,BEAST_HOST,30005,beast_in -e TZ=UTC \
    -v /run/seadar-adsb:/run/readsb \
    ghcr.io/sdr-enthusiasts/docker-adsb-ultrafeeder:latest-build-965@sha256:39d0eb3b2307caaa3653367327aecb4b1ad87f485d6d7713686f12adc75bea7d && \
  curl -fsSL https://www.voydar.com/api/beacon/adsb-feed-v1.sh -o seadar-adsb-feed && \
  echo "94f11ba5244bd3cefaffe48b3e5265fd51e91e92347f0e18bf6299d192620fa1  seadar-adsb-feed" | sha256sum -c - && \
  sudo sh seadar-adsb-feed --install /run/seadar-adsb/aircraft.json YOUR_STATION_KEY

Read seadar-adsb-feed before you run itFeeder fingerprint (sha256): 94f11ba5244bd3cefaffe48b3e5265fd51e91e92347f0e18bf6299d192620fa1

Only what your antenna hears counts. Voydar drops MLAT results (positions other networks calculate for you) and anonymous (~) tracks, so running MLAT for FlightAware or ADSBx is fine: it simply is not sent on.

ADS-B works on public stations. Private feeds are AIS only for now.

Beacon at Sea: share your boat's AIS

Your boat already hears ships that no shore station can: offshore, in remote anchorages, along coasts nobody covers. Beacon at Sea forwards what your AIS receiver or transponder hears to Voydar, keeps it on board while you are out of reach, and uploads it when you are back online. Receive-only: Voydar never transmits and never writes to your instruments.

Add your boat

What you need

An AIS receiver or transponder on board, plus one way to reach its data:

a NMEA 0183 Wi-Fi gateway or multiplexer (many transponders have one built in), read by the Voydar app or a small computer on board;
or a Signal K server (often on a Raspberry Pi or a Victron Cerbo GX), with the Voydar plugin;
or a USB AIS device plugged into a laptop running Chrome or Edge, while the page is open.

Gateways and software that work

A few common ones, linked to the maker's own page. Any device that outputs standard NMEA 0183 AIS sentences (!AIVDM) over Wi-Fi (TCP or UDP), USB or Signal K works; this is not an endorsement and we earn nothing from these links.

NMEA 2000 Wi-Fi Gateway (YDWG-02)Gateway
Turns an NMEA 2000 network into NMEA 0183 over Wi-Fi, AIS included.
Yacht Devices
NMEA 2000 Wi-Fi Router (YDNR-02)Gateway
A router and gateway in one, for boats that want their own Wi-Fi network.
Yacht Devices
NMEA 0183 Wi-Fi Gateway (YDWN-02)Gateway
For an AIS receiver or transponder with an NMEA 0183 output.
Yacht Devices
Smart WLN10Gateway
NMEA 0183 to Wi-Fi, a small box next to your AIS.
Digital Yacht
Smart WLN30Gateway
NMEA multiplexer with Wi-Fi.
Digital Yacht
iAISTX transponderAIS transponder
Class B transponder with Wi-Fi built in.
Digital Yacht
A026 AIS receiverAIS receiver
AIS receiver with GPS, multiplexer and Wi-Fi.
Quark-elec
A032 gatewayGateway
NMEA 2000 and 0183 gateway with USB and Wi-Fi.
Quark-elec
W2K-1 gatewayGateway
NMEA 2000 to Wi-Fi gateway.
Actisense
em-trak AISAIS transponder
Transponders and receivers, several with Wi-Fi.
em-trak
Signal KSoftware
Open marine data server. Install the Voydar plugin on it.
Signal K
Signal K serverSoftware
The server software, for a Raspberry Pi or any Linux computer.
Signal K
OpenCPNSoftware
Free chart plotter; can pass its NMEA data on to a gateway port.
OpenCPN

How to connect

First add your boat on your stations page to get its station key. Then pick one:

The Voydar app

On a phone or tablet on board: Account, then "Share my boat's AIS". The app reads your Wi-Fi gateway (TCP or UDP) and keeps a buffer while you are offline. Simplest if you already carry a device on board.

Signal K plugin

If your boat runs a Signal K server, install the Voydar plugin on that computer. It forwards the AIS targets Signal K already sees and keeps its buffer on disk, so it runs whenever the boat's electronics are on.

Raspberry Pi or Linux computer

For an always-on boat: one command installs a small forwarder as a service. It reads your gateway over the network (or a USB receiver), buffers on disk and uploads whenever there is a connection. Read the script first; its SHA-256 is below.

This browser

Chrome or Edge on a laptop with a USB AIS device, or any browser with a Signal K server reachable over https. It only runs while the page is open. Browsers cannot reach http:// or ws:// addresses on your boat's network from an https page; use the Signal K plugin for those.

Raspberry Pi or Linux on board (reads a Wi-Fi gateway at 192.168.4.1:10110; change it to yours)

curl -fsSL https://www.voydar.com/api/beacon/install-boat.sh -o seadar-boat.sh && \
  echo "399b8215a7c599613c421d9418b523cffe0ac9b8eb87868b4f08e673a3b862dd  seadar-boat.sh" | sha256sum -c - && \
  sudo sh seadar-boat.sh --tcp 192.168.4.1:10110 YOUR_STATION_KEY

Signal K plugin (run on the computer that runs Signal K)

curl -fsSL https://www.voydar.com/api/beacon/install-boat.sh -o seadar-boat.sh && \
  echo "399b8215a7c599613c421d9418b523cffe0ac9b8eb87868b4f08e673a3b862dd  seadar-boat.sh" | sha256sum -c - && \
  sudo sh seadar-boat.sh --signalk YOUR_STATION_KEY

Read the boat installerSHA-256: 399b8215a7c599613c421d9418b523cffe0ac9b8eb87868b4f08e673a3b862dd

Offshore without internet: store and forward

Everything your AIS hears is kept on board with the time it was received, corrected by your GPS clock when one is available.
When Starlink, Wi-Fi or 4G comes back, the buffer uploads automatically, newest data first while it is still live, then the rest.
Late data goes into vessel history with its original times. It never shows as a live position.
The buffer is capped and nothing older than 14 days is kept, so it never fills your device.

Your privacy on board

Receive-only: nothing is ever sent to your AIS or gateway.
Your own boat is never sent unless you turn on "share my own boat's position" (off by default). Its reports are dropped on board and again on our side.
Your boat's location is used only coarsely (about 11 km) for quality checks and a track that only you see.
Boats are never listed publicly and never appear on the public coverage map.

Rewards

The same as a shore station: any usable signal earns free Pro after 7 days. For a boat, online time and vessels per day are counted over time at sea (at least 12 hours in 30 days for Connected, 72 for Station), not the calendar. Unique vessels you hear more than 40 nm from land, checked against their own track, count double toward Station level.

Add your boat

Troubleshooting

The dongle is not found

Run lsusb and look for RTL2838 or 0bda:2838. If it is missing, try another USB port or cable, and use the proper power supply (a weak one starves USB). If it is listed but AIS-catcher says it is busy, the TV driver has it: blacklist dvb_usb_rtl28xxu (the installer does this) and reboot.

Few messages, or lots of garbage

The gain may be wrong. Try a fixed value: -gr tuner 33.8 (the installer takes it as a second argument: sudo sh seadar-install.sh <key> 33.8). Near strong transmitters (pagers, broadcast masts) lower it, or add a 162 MHz filter. rtlagc off sometimes helps too.

It runs, but no ships

Almost always the antenna. Mount it higher, outdoors, with line of sight to the water, and use an antenna made for 162 MHz. Check there are ships nearby: AIS-catcher's own map (-N 8100, then open http://<your computer>:8100) shows what it hears.

Behind a firewall or proxy

The station only needs outbound HTTPS (port 443) to receiver.seadar.io. Nothing comes in, so there is no port to open or forward.

The log says 401

The key is wrong or was rotated. Rotate it on your station page and paste the new command. Old keys stop working within a minute.

The log says 429

Your station is sending faster than its limit. Use INTERVAL 10 (or more) and don't run two copies with the same key.

ADS-B runs, but no aircraft

Check the decoder hears anything: sudo docker logs --tail 30 seadar-adsb shows its message rate, and journalctl -u seadar-adsb-feed -n 30 what the feeder sent. Use a 1090 MHz antenna mounted high with a view of the sky, and a dongle with a 1090 MHz filter near strong transmitters. The feeder reads /run/seadar-adsb/aircraft.json, which should change every second.

Two dongles: the installer asks which one is for ADS-B

Rerun it with --adsb-serial <serial> (it lists the serials). If both dongles report the same serial, label one: plug in only that dongle, run rtl_eeprom -s 1090 (package rtl-sdr), replug, and run the installer again.

The ADS-B feeder says 403 or 409

403 with a licence message: stations registered before ADS-B was added accept the updated contributor licence once, on your station page; then run sudo systemctl restart seadar-adsb-feed. 409: the station is private, and ADS-B needs a public station.

Do MLAT aircraft count?

No. MLAT positions are calculated by other networks, not received by your antenna, so Voydar drops them, together with anonymous (~) tracks. Everything your antenna decodes directly counts.

What happens to your data

You keep the right to share what your station hears with anyone else. You give Voydar a non-exclusive licence to use it, ships and aircraft alike, as set out in our terms.
Your station's precise location and your identity are never shown publicly. If you choose to list your station, only its name and a location rounded to about 1 km appear.
Aircraft your station hears appear only inside the Voydar Terminal, never on public pages. We honour FAA LADD/PIA blocks where the lists are available and owners' opt-out requests, and we never name individual aircraft owners.
Receive-only: we never transmit. If you feed from a boat, your own vessel's reports (!AIVDO, or your MMSI) are dropped on board and again on our side, unless you choose to share your own position (off by default).
Every message is checked (impossible positions, impossible ranges, clock errors). Anything suspicious is set aside, not published.

What you get back

Any station that sends a usable signal, ships or aircraft, earns free Pro, measured automatically over the last 30 days. It adds to anything you pay for.

Connected: at least 50% uptime and 10 ships or 25 aircraft a day. Free Pro.
Station: at least 85% uptime and 25 ships or 50 aircraft a day that no other Beacon station hears. Free Pro, plus a free Developer API plan once organisation accounts exist.
Anchor: a station we pick in a gap that matters, with at least 85% uptime. Free Pro, plus more once organisation accounts exist.

Uptime counts every hour your station sends ships or aircraft, so one computer with two dongles is one station. Rewards start after 7 days, and a level is kept for 14 days if your station has a bad patch.

Chokepoints need you

A station near one of these passages would see some of the world's busiest and most watched traffic.

Suez Canal
No Beacon station yet
Transit monitor
Panama Canal
No Beacon station yet
Transit monitor
Bosphorus
No Beacon station yet
Transit monitor
Strait of Hormuz
No Beacon station yet
Bab-el-Mandeb
No Beacon station yet

Build a receiver. Put your coastline on the map.

Three ways to join

Build it

Plug and play

Bring your own

Build it

1. USB radio (SDR dongle)

2. Always-on computer

3. Antenna

4. Cable and adapters

5. Filter or preamp (optional)

6. Aircraft (ADS-B, optional)

Put it together

What we use

Software: the easy way

Plug and play

Voydar Beacon SD-card image

Ready-made receivers

Ships (AIS)

Aircraft (ADS-B)

The commands

Bring your own

Bring your own: AIS

Bring your own: ADS-B

Beacon at Sea: share your boat's AIS

What you need

Gateways and software that work

How to connect

The Voydar app

Signal K plugin

Raspberry Pi or Linux computer

This browser

Offshore without internet: store and forward

Your privacy on board

Rewards

Troubleshooting

What happens to your data

What you get back

Chokepoints need you

Ready?