[ProllyInfamous]

I bought several 3b+ Raspberries a really long time ago and this seems like the perfect simple&breathtaking project for such ancient hardware. Who needs a fourth PiHole on their local network?!

"Fortunately" I live directly beneath CHA's main landingstrip, so lots of regular data available. Fortunately, I am not in the main takeoff path because that would be much worse.

[ryandrake]

I've got a Raspberry Pi 2b I've been using for probably close to a decade, with two SDRs hanging off it, pulling aircraft ADS-B locations and VHF radio transmissions out of the sky. It's a great application for this platform. ADS-B scanner averages about 25% CPU and the VHF airband receiver averages about 17% (uses hardware FFT).

[ProllyInfamous]

Thanks for the percentages – let's me know that a PiHole can co-pilot as an SDR tracker. Which do you use (via USB, I suspect..)?

I'mma slap a cheap LCD on (instead of projecting onto ceiling) and make it look like the arrival screen you'd see behind an airport kiosk (and broadcast the VHF/tower). This is a perfect front porch project (to encourage neighborhood curiosities).

[ryandrake]

Two separate USB RTL-SDR dongles. Very important if you do two receivers: Make sure you have an official Raspberry Pi 2b charger that outputs enough wattage. Cheesy bargain bin power supplies you get on Amazon are not up to the task of powering the Pi + 2 radios, and they will not work. Get some good airflow around the radios too, because they can get a bit hot.

[ProllyInfamous]

I've been really disappointed with the Cannakit power adapters which came bundled with my 3b+ units (four, total). They are definitely not able to deliver enough power to even a dongle-less Raspberry – not sure why they were paired together.

All have been replaced with beefier AC/DC bricks. Definitely thanks for the consideration and model reqs.

My own recommendation is to use a powered USB hub, immediately plugged into any Pi (so the Pi's adapter can just worry about powering only CPU board).

[thenthenthen]

Such a fan of the lower power, fanless, larger/‘regular’ connectors old school rapi’s.

[ianburrell]

Unlike models with lots of memory, the Pi3 1GB and Pi4 1GB are still cheap, but the Pi4 1GB is sold out everywhere. I think the Pi4 is sweet spot for small projects.

[ProllyInfamous]

I have many varieties of Pi, but my favorite (overall) is the Pi400 (mine has 4gb, but that built-in keyboard!). The 3b+ is great for one-task projects that don't need [much/any] local input.