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@raldred
Last active July 29, 2022 16:20
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Getting RTL SDR and dump1090 running on OSX El Capitan
# =================================================================================================
# RTL SDR & Dump1090 installation for OSX El Capitan
# =================================================================================================
# This is written as a guide for those wanting to install RTL SDR and Dump1090 for OSX El Capitan
# It may work on other versions of OSX
# I am using a R820T from Jetvision.de
# http://bit.ly/1QynTts - without antenna
# http://bit.ly/1O60IUV - with small indoor antenna
# -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# To follow this guide you will need to use the Terminal app
# You will need Homebrew, a package manager for OSX.
# Follow the installation instructions for it here: http://brew.sh/
# In terminal run the following commands
brew install cmake
brew install libusb
brew install pkgconfig
brew install sox
cd ~/ # or another suitable place you'd like to keep the repos
git clone git://git.osmocom.org/rtl-sdr.git
cd rtl-sdr/
mkdir build
cd build/
cmake ../
make
sudo make install
rtl_test -t
# You should see the following output if you're using the same USB device I am from Jetvision.de
# Found 1 device(s):
# 0: Realtek, RTL2838UHIDIR, SN: 00000001
#
# Using device 0: Generic RTL2832U OEM
# Found Rafael Micro R820T tuner
# Supported gain values (29): 0.0 0.9 1.4 2.7 3.7 7.7 8.7 12.5 14.4 15.7 16.6 19.7 20.7 22.9 25.4 28.0 29.7 32.8 33.8 36.4 37.2 38.6 40.2 42.1 43.4 43.9 44.5 48.0 49.6
# [R82XX] PLL not locked!
# Sampling at 2048000 S/s.
# No E4000 tuner found, aborting.
# OK that basically means it's working :D
# Now let's install Dump1090 so we can see the data
cd ~/ # or another suitable place you'd like to keep the repos
git clone git@github.com:antirez/dump1090.git
make LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib
# it will compile the executable
# Then you can run
./dump1090 --interactive
# You'll see the output like this
Hex Flight Altitude Speed Lat Lon Track Messages Seen .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4cab05 EIN03X 34000 413 53.415 -1.716 316 42 1 sec
400fba 24000 0 0.000 0.000 0 45 1 sec
4ca4e6 RYR5MH 7250 291 53.598 -2.309 95 268 0 sec
405a48 SHT86U 36325 385 53.369 -1.963 301 298 0 sec
40650b 37000 0 0.000 0.000 0 170 0 sec
405b6a EZY41JL 36000 432 53.642 -1.431 330 231 1 sec
4054a7 TOM31H 3975 178 53.471 -2.019 266 555 0 sec
4008fb 26000 0 0.000 0.000 0 25 1 sec
8961b9 ETD22 12800 337 53.431 -1.904 108 1673 0 sec
4ca61f RYR1HA 34000 347 53.292 -2.272 292 1212 1 sec
405d13 EZY12EG 38975 403 53.130 -2.026 156 1596 0 sec
400c5d 19900 0 0.000 0.000 0 1730 0 sec
@lambercy
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Forked into https://gist.github.com/lambercy/065aba1ed81ffa1758fee359ce0c1b5c to add the library path to make - feel free to take this over.
Thanks for this gist.

@raldred
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raldred commented Dec 24, 2020

Thanks for the update, i'll drop it in mine so people don't miss it.

@lambercy
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lambercy commented Dec 24, 2020 via email

@coolbox13
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OSX home-brew lib needed to make it working on Menterey, apple M1 is:

make LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/homebrew/Cellar/libusb/1.0.24/lib

Home-brew installs itself in /opt
I did get this working on a apple m1.

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