Palomar Amateur Radio Club STEM Experimentation Lab

The Pro Stick is a high-performance USB Software Defined Radio (SDR) dongle specifically designed and optimized for receiving ADS-B (1090 MHz) and UAT (978 MHz) signals. Unlike standard generic RTL-SDR dongles, the Pro Stick includes a built-in Low Noise Amplifier (LNA).

Key Advantages & Features

• Integrated LNA: The built-in amplifier provides significantly better signal amplification, often resulting in a 20-100% increase in range for ADS-B tracking compared to standard SDR dongles.
• Optimized Performance: While it uses the familiar R820T2 tuner chip found in many SDRs, the hardware is tuned specifically for the frequencies used by commercial aircraft (1090/978 MHz).
• Pro Stick Plus Variant: There is also a "Plus" version which includes a built-in 1090 MHz bandpass filter. This is highly beneficial in urban environments to reduce interference from strong signals like cell towers or FM radio, which can otherwise "drown out" the weaker aircraft signals.
• Versatility: While optimized for aviation, it can still function as a general-purpose SDR for other frequencies, though it is less versatile than standard, unfiltered RTL-SDRs for wide-band experimentation.
• The Pro Stick costs about $37 so making it a great option for ADSB and UAT monitoring. FlightAware also sells vertical antennas specifically tuned for ADSB and UAT reception.

More Information

FlightAware Pro Stick  🔗 FlightAware Pro Stick

Information on the STEMLab's SDR hardware can be found here. ⓘ PARC STEMLab SDRs
A Brief Introduction to Software Defined Radio (SDR) ⓘ SDR Introduction