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readsb

Efficient Mode S and ADS-B decoder — the maintained dump1090 successor

What it does

Decodes Mode S, ADS-B and TIS-B from an SDR and serves the results: a built-in web map, Beast and raw output for other software, SBS format for older tools, and JSON for anything else. It drives RTL-SDR, bladeRF and dedicated Mode S receivers, and it is written to be efficient enough to run continuously on a Raspberry Pi.

Why you would want it

ADS-B is the most immediately rewarding thing to do with a cheap dongle: aircraft appear on a map within a minute of getting the antenna outside. readsb is the maintained line of that software -- dump1090 forked several times and this is the fork that is still developed -- and its decoder recovers more messages from weak signals than the original.

Before it will work

An SDR that reaches 1090 MHz, and an antenna for it. Antenna matters more than the receiver: a proper quarter-wave or collinear outside will multiply the range over a stub on a desk, and 1090 MHz is line of sight, so height is everything.

How it installs

  • apt: readsb
  • Present on Debian 13, Ubuntu 26.04, Kali and Parrot; absent on Linux Mint 22.3 (measured 2026-08-28). Debian 13 does NOT carry dump1090-mutability, which Ubuntu and Mint do -- so on Debian the older name is not a fallback and this is the ADS-B decoder available.

Known problems

It wants exclusive use of the dongle; anything else holding the device means it will not start. Feeding aggregator networks is a choice with a privacy dimension -- you are publishing what your receiver hears, and where it is, to a third party -- and it is off unless configured. The web map binds locally by default; exposing it publishes your receiver's location.

Keeping it current

  • probe: apt policy
  • strategy: apt_upgrade

Where to get help with the software itself

The adsb.fi fork is what Debian packages and what this cites. Several readsb forks exist with different feature sets, which is worth knowing when reading advice found online.

Source: catalog/packages/readsb.yaml