RadarBox24.com is a flight data aggregation service similar to sites like FlightAware.com and FlightRadar24.com. They aggregate ADS-B aircraft data obtained from (mostly) volunteer RTL-SDR based feeders based all over the world and use this to power their flight tracking map and flight information database.

Last year RadarBox24 came out with a specialty ADS-B RTL-SDR dongle. This is a custom RTL-SDR which contains a built in 1090 MHz tuned amplifier and filter. We have not tested this dongle yet, but we expect that the design and performance would be very similar to the FlightAware ADS-B dongles. A network analyzer report from RB24 is provided here.

These dongles can only receive 1090 MHz and do so better than a standard RTL-SDR due to the built in LNA and filter. The LNA reduces the noise figure of the dongle leading to greater sensitivity, and the filter removes any strong out of band signals that could overload and desensitize the dongle. This results in greater reception range, and more flights tracked. Please note that these dongles cannot be used as wideband general purpose RTL-SDRs due to the filtering.

Recently in an attempt to gather more volunteer contributors, RadarBox24 has decided to sell their ADS-B dongles at a loss, pricing them at only US$9.95 + shipping (or on Amazon USA with Prime). Shipping appears to be anywhere from US$5-$8 depending where you are in the world, and shipping does not increase with two or more dongles being ordered.

ADS-B data can easily be shared to RadarBox24 with their Raspberry Pi image and RadarBox24 write that if you share data to their site, you will receive the following kickbacks: