RadarDesk — Live ADS-B Radar for Windows

New in RadarDesk 1.1

More of the world.
More control of your view.

Available now

Explore what’s new in 1.1: detailed ground maps, a dedicated chart viewer, recognizable aircraft, and more ways to make RadarDesk your own.

Get RadarDesk 1.1 from the Microsoft Store and put your own view of the airspace together.

4Cached map families

VFR + IFRA dedicated chart window

YOUR VIEWHome, labels, colors, presets

2Optional hardware integrations

01 / GROUND MAPS

Put the traffic
in its landscape.

Choose USGS satellite imagery, Imagery Topo, traditional USGS Topo, or OpenStreetMap streets. Set the opacity and keep aircraft, runways, and reference detail visible with adjustable map contrast colors.

MAPS: Show or hide the chosen raster background.
GEO: Control geographic detail, airspace, and restrictions independently.
COLORS: Tune radar symbols, borders, runway geometry, and sprite colors over maps.

Cached tiles are reused, and cache activity continues when the background is hidden. Map downloads run separately from the sweep-rendering path.

RadarDesk 1.1 scope with satellite imagery, aircraft sprites, and runway detail around Centennial Airport. — ACTUAL 1.1 CAPTURE Satellite imagery beneath the scope; colors and labels are configurable.

02 / FAA CHARTS

Give the chart its own window.

A separate PDF viewer for FAA Sectional, Terminal Area, IFR Low and IFR High enroute charts. Charts are not scope backgrounds.

Four chart families. Browse Sectional and Terminal Area charts, plus IFR Low and IFR High enroute charts.
Read at your own scale. Zoom, fit, pan, rotate clockwise, and change PDF pages.
Know the edition. See current, future, expired, or unverified status.
Download once, reuse locally. Validated PDFs stay in the offline cache. Airport selection can prefetch a safely matched current Sectional in the background.
Keep your workspace. The chart window remembers its size and position and remains independent of the live scope.

Open CHARTS below MAPS on the scope, from Tools, or from Airport Details.

FAA Denver Sectional chart example. — FAA Denver Sectional document example. Supported chart families do not include approach plates.

03 / AIRCRAFT TARGETS

Recognize more at a glance.

Keep traditional triangles or choose aircraft sprites for single- and twin-engine GA, business jets, airliners, and helicopters. Helicopter rotors animate, and OPS-prefix callsigns use a compact utility pickup in sprite mode. That callsign-based visual mapping does not confirm a vehicle type or change its reported ground/airborne state.

Single prop

Twin prop

Business jet

Airliner

Helicopter

Optional motion smoothing on the main scope

Your choice. Turn smooth motion on or off in Settings → Scope without changing the selected sprite style.
One shared position. Aircraft, pointer, label, displayed trail, and followed center use the same presented pose.
Confirmed ground paths. Motion slows into the last confirmed fix and holds there when another position has not arrived; it does not extend an imagined taxi path.
Different aircraft, different behavior. Small unconfirmed fixed-wing reverse corrections are suppressed; helicopters retain maneuvering freedom and body-anchored rotor animation.

Ground smoothing intentionally adds a 1.5–4-second buffer target beyond source age; recovery can add more delay. Missing reports can still cause pauses. Airport Activity displays received snapshots and does not have this smoothing.

Runways stay readable. Zoom-aware airport and heliport markers, thinner outlines, and runway emphasis keep surface detail in proportion.

Hospital pads stand apart. Recognized hospital heliports use red crosses, including when raster backgrounds are hidden.

Ground labels stay put. Runway-end labels stay at the thresholds; nearby airport/heliport labels can stack. Traffic can overlap them without pushing them around.

04 / LABELS & FILTERS

Decide what deserves a data tag.

Settings → Scope separates the content of a label from the decision to display it.

Three content choices: callsign only, callsign + ALT/SPD/HDG, or ALT/SPD/HDG only. Callsign plus data is the default.
Selected-aircraft-only details: show automatic tags only for the selected target. With nothing selected, automatic tags disappear; symbols and trails remain. This option is off by default.
Hide stopped-ground labels: on by default for valid reported speeds that display as 000. The aircraft stays selectable; selecting it restores its tag if the target passes other filters.
Hide untyped targets: on by default, removing the entire untyped target from the scope and flight list—even if selected. OPS-prefix operations vehicles are exempt from this type rule.
Keep useful context: declutter favors selected and retained labels. Brief overlap does not immediately reshuffle tags; dense traffic can still overlap.

A smoothing hold or an unknown speed is not treated as a reported stop. These are display choices, not changes to the received ADS-B data.

05 / INDEPENDENT COLORS

Your palette. Not just a preset.

Keep a favorite theme and fine-tune how traffic and ground information stand out.

TRACK TEXTGreen on black GROUND TEXTYellow on black

Four label pickers: track text, track background, ground text, and ground background.
Every map mode: label colors apply with backgrounds on or off. Manual aircraft notes use the track palette too.
Separate map contrast: choose traffic, border, runway, and sprite colors for background-map viewing.
A clean reset: Reset label colors restores green aircraft text and yellow ground text on black without resetting the map palette. Existing saved colors are preserved until you change them.

Label colors are global preferences; recalling a display preset does not replace them.

06 / SELECTION & TRAILS

Follow the target, not the clutter.

Smaller selection circles make crowded aircraft groups less visually dominant.
Repeat-click cycling helps select individual aircraft when targets overlap.
1–60-minute live trails can use theme, altitude, or age coloring, with an on-scope legend.
Speed-aware airborne pointers show a 30-second groundspeed-based look-ahead.
No ground velocity vectors: taxiing targets retain their aircraft symbols and trails without the additional pointer clutter.

These are live-session trails, not saved-flight recording or replay. Prolonged source gaps can require a fresh acquisition and a trail break.

07 / AIRCRAFT DETAILS

A model image. A richer reference.

Fixed- and rotary-wing coverage: fields align with the FAA aircraft type-designator catalog.
A 16:9 image area checks RadarDesk's supplied, author-curated model/type catalog first.
Online fallback: when no local model image exists, the original Airport-Data lookup is used temporarily. Returned internet images are not added to the curated catalog.
Copy what you need: Ctrl+C copies a selected detail/database row; right-click offers Copy row and Copy value.
Stay with the traffic: keep using the main scope with the single Details window open. Route information opens in the embedded FlightAware viewer; Close, X, or Esc dismisses Details.

Image coverage is growing. Curated artwork represents an aircraft model, not the exact registration you selected.

08 / CENTER HOME

Look out from where you are.

Home-centered viewing is independent of your selected airport.

Home Faces: enter a bearing from 000–359 degrees and put that direction at the top.
One-click 5 NM view: CENTER HOME appears when a valid enabled Home marker exists. It does not change the selected airport.
Lock the camera: the small padlock is available while centered on Home. It preserves the current center, range, and orientation during airport selection.
Choose airports normally: scope double-click, Location/Recent, ICAO search, and Activity's Change Airport keep working.
Unlock naturally: moving the center elsewhere or following a target clears the session-only lock.

The background and weather-radar imagery stay with the Home view. Selected-airport weather readouts, details, runways, surfaces, chart prefetch, and the CENTER anchor still follow the airport.

09 / INDEPENDENT AIRPORT ACTIVITY

Home on the scope. Airport in focus.

Keep the selected airport active even when the scope is locked somewhere else.
Additional coverage when needed: a separate 10–25 NM airport-centered feed supports Activity when the main feed does not cover the entire observation area.
Know which feed is in use: status shows SCOPE FEED or the airport provider and radius, including CONNECTING or RETRYING states.
Keep views separate: airport-only aircraft do not appear on the Home scope, but can still open Aircraft Details.
Keep counts going: selected-airport collection continues while Activity is closed, supporting rolling and session movement totals.

Extra requests can increase network use. A local receiver's physical coverage does not expand. Activity displays received snapshots; its own animation smoothing is deferred to a future release.

10 / SOURCES & COVERAGE

Use your service. See its reach.

Three choices: ADSB.fi, ADSB.lol, or a compatible Local ADS-B receiver.
Switch from the scope: click the top-bar source field, or use Settings → Provider.
Personal receiver settings: save your own receiver name and URL per user. No private developer address ships with RadarDesk.
Coverage follows range: the main display supports 1–250 NM; its provider requests are at least 10 NM and grow with the view up to 250 NM.
Failover is visible: provider diagnostics report throttling and failover/failback state.

A readsb-based service needs an ADSB.fi-compatible v3 geographic API; an arbitrary aircraft.json URL is not a drop-in source. Coverage, rate limits, and availability still depend on the chosen service.

11 / ALERTS & AWARENESS

Know what arrived. Notice what matters.

Exact provider aircraft count alongside the retained and visible traffic counts—so a filter is not mistaken for missing feed data.
Current request radius, latency, and data age make the provider's behavior easier to understand.
Personal watchlists match exact callsigns, registrations, ICAO addresses, or internal track IDs.
Configurable alert rules cover emergency squawks, high/low altitude thresholds, and stale tracks.
Inference confidence can be shown for Airport Activity events, distinguishing observed data from inferred behavior.

ADS-B coverage can be incomplete or delayed. These awareness aids are not navigation, separation, or safety-critical alerts.

12 / HARDWARE CONTROLS

Put the scope controls under your fingers.

Optional integrations support the 15-key Elgato Stream Deck MK.2 and VSD Craft M18. Each can be enabled independently.

Operate the main controls: Ground, GEO, weather, Home, sweep, range, centering, orientation, tracking, and selection.
Open the next view: Details, Activity, location, and Settings are available from the device.
See the live state: button artwork and active states follow RadarDesk.
Keep your Stream Deck setup: the previous profile is restored when support is disabled or RadarDesk exits normally.
Keep your M18 scenes: other pages remain available. Select the RadarDesk scene to return to its controls; its setup failures do not block normal app use.

These integrations supplement the mouse and keyboard; neither device is required to use RadarDesk.

13 / EVERYDAY WORKFLOW

Less setup. More time on the scope.

Named display presets recall theme, range, layers, trails, vectors, declutter, and the new label-content and visibility choices. Use Ctrl+1–9 for the first nine.
Settings backup and restore moves your preferences without bundling caches, chart PDFs, screenshots, logs, or licenses. Label colors remain global, not preset-specific.
Watermarked screenshots save to Pictures\RadarDesk for easy sharing.
Keyboard shortcuts and Esc: use the compact shortcut card; Esc closes the active dialog. On the main scope, Esc retains the exit-confirmation prompt.
Per-monitor display scaling follows each screen's Windows setting—there is no separate RadarDesk DPI control.
Guided Setup, anytime: reopen the walkthrough from Help, alongside the bundled User's Guide and What's New in RadarDesk 1.1.

Settings backups can contain personal configuration. Keep them private even when a support bundle is safe to share.

14 / DIAGNOSTICS & SUPPORT

Useful diagnostics. No flight archive.

Session-only Display Log: filter, refresh, and copy the latest 500 diagnostic entries held in memory.
A privacy-scrubbed support bundle includes versions, provider state, failover information, and recent diagnostics, excluding Home-marker details.
No automatic position archives: RadarDesk 1.1 no longer writes diagnostic logs, aircraft snapshots, or position-history archives to files or SQLite.

Settings, favorites, licenses, reference data, curated images, map/chart caches, and user-requested exports still save normally. Older logs or historical database rows are left untouched until explicitly cleared. This is not saved-flight replay.

Separate tools for authors and diagnostics

These source-repository utilities are not built-in customer dialogs or bundled Store features.

Telemetry Monitor

The optional monitor connects automatically while running and writes its own detailed Downloads recordings. It can show tracking poses, camera fields, runtime events, paint timing distributions, and cache statistics; RadarDesk is not the log-file writer.

Aircraft Image Loader

The separate catalog authoring tool accepts drag-and-drop images, keeps a 16:9 editor, scales stored images to at most 640×360, and deploys saved model-image updates locally. Search counts, an images-only filter, content-width model scrolling, and remembered window placement support catalog maintenance.

START EXPLORING

Six things to try when you install 1.1.

Choose a ground map. Compare MAPS and GEO independently.
Choose your aircraft style. Compare sprites and optional smooth motion.
Open CHARTS. Try fit, zoom, rotation, and a VFR or IFR document.
Open Alerts. Compare the provider total and request radius with visible targets.
Save a display preset. Recall it with Ctrl+1.
Set Home Faces. Center Home, lock it, and select another airport.

The full procedures are included with the application under Help → What's New in RadarDesk 1.1 and Help → User's Guide.

THE COMPLETE PICTURE

Built for people who want to understand what’s overhead.

Center the scope on an airport, follow a target, inspect a route, check the weather, or explore the airspace around you. RadarDesk keeps the tools close and the radar front and center.

Actual RadarDesk runtime

From live return
to full context.

A real RadarDesk session recorded in July 2026, before version 1.1. Watch the scope update, follow a target, and move from live ADS-B traffic into aircraft and airport details. The recorded interface and source options reflect that earlier build.

35 SEC runtime capture LIVE ADS-B source WIN native desktop app

RADARDESK / LIVE SESSION READY TO PLAY

ACTUAL APP CAPTURE

REC / 2026.07.25 Live traffic around Denver

An earlier RadarDesk build showing the scope, live targets, airport context, and detail workflows. See the new features in 1.1 above for the latest capabilities.

01
ScanWatch live tracks update
02
SelectChoose a target from the scope
03
InspectOpen aircraft and weather detail

Built into the console

Everything overhead,
in context.

RadarDesk combines real-time tracking with the airport, weather, map, and reference information that makes every return meaningful.

01 / LIVE

Live aircraft tracking

Follow nearby traffic on a responsive circular scope with smooth zoom, drag panning, range sorting, target trails, projected vectors, and track-follow mode.

Traffic and altitude filters
Provider health and failover
Ground target controls

02 / WX

Live weather on the scope

Overlay smoothed NOAA/NWS radar reflectivity, follow it as it refreshes, or animate recent frames in a loop. A complete intensity legend, adjustable opacity, and current METAR/TAF keep the weather picture readable.

03 / MAP

Runways and airspace

Add runways, taxiways, airport surfaces, map landmarks, FAA airspace classes, and active TFR boundaries without losing sight of the traffic.

04 / AIRPORT

See the airport working in real time.

Open a dedicated activity window for any selected airport. Follow airborne and on-ground aircraft across runways, taxiways, and aprons while RadarDesk tracks observed arrivals, departures, runway use, and touch-and-go activity.

05 / INTEL

Know the target behind the track.

Open an aircraft to review live tracking data, registration records, aircraft specifications, airline details, route links, and the raw provider response.

06 / LOCAL

Reference data on hand

Search locally stored FAA airport, runway, aircraft registration, aircraft type, and airline reference records directly from the app.

21 visual themes

Your scope.
Your atmosphere.

Choose from 21 complete visual themes, beginning with Classic Green, without changing how RadarDesk works. Each coordinates the scope, controls, typography, and data accents as one complete system. Three examples from the collection are shown below.

21 THEMES / 03 SHOWN Three samples. One familiar workflow.

Product tour

One console.
Many layers of insight.

Explore eight views of the established RadarDesk workflow. These captures show an earlier build; what’s new in 1.1 above covers the latest capabilities.

RADAR / LIVE VIEW

RadarDesk overview from an earlier build showing live aircraft tracks, airport context, and the Flights, Alerts, Tools, and Themes tabs.

Live traffic, centered where you choose.

Set any ICAO-listed airport as your center, adjust the range, and scan live aircraft alongside runways, weather, map vectors, and airspace.

See every layer

The whole console.
Up close.

Eight views. One tightly connected desktop workflow. Select any screen for a closer look. These earlier-build captures are retained to show the broader product; source options and controls can differ in 1.1.

08Connected product views

360°Scope-centered awareness

LIVETraffic and weather feeds

LOCALFAA reference databases

Scope-first workflow

From airport to aircraft
in three simple moves.

01

Choose your center

Enter an airport code, pick a favorite, or return to a recent location. RadarDesk loads the surrounding context around your scope.
02

Shape the view

Set your range, filter traffic, and toggle the ground, map, runway, airport, airspace, TFR, and sweep layers you want to see.
03

Follow the story

Select a target from the scope or range-sorted list, track it, and open its aircraft, airline, registration, route, and live data details.

Made for the desktop

A real Windows application.
Not another browser tab.

RadarDesk is designed as a focused desktop instrument with persistent preferences, local reference databases, runtime diagnostics, and a resizable console built around the radar scope.

PLATFORMWindows desktop

DATAInternet connection for live services

INPUTMouse, keyboard, or touchpad

USEInformational and entertainment

Good to know

Frequently asked
questions.

What is RadarDesk?

RadarDesk is a themeable Windows desktop ADS-B radar console. It presents live nearby aircraft on an ATC-inspired scope and adds animated NOAA/NWS weather radar, a dedicated Airport Activity view, runways, maps, airspace, TFRs, and local FAA reference data.

Where does the live aircraft data come from?

RadarDesk 1.1 supports ADSB.fi, ADSB.lol, and a personal Local ADS-B receiver with a compatible API. You supply the local receiver name and URL in your own settings. Provider availability, coverage, delay, and completeness vary by location and service; a local receiver cannot extend its physical reception range.

Can I center the radar on any airport?

You can select airports from RadarDesk’s reference data by code or search, save favorites, and quickly return to recent locations. The Airport Activity view can then show the field layout and organize ground, arriving, departing, and inbound traffic around that airport. Available detail varies by source.

How does the live weather radar work?

RadarDesk can overlay animated NOAA/NWS base-reflectivity radar frames on the scope, with a color legend and playback controls. Weather availability and freshness depend on NOAA/NWS services and your internet connection.

What does Airport Activity track?

Airport Activity combines received ADS-B traffic with airport surface geometry. It separates airborne and on-ground aircraft, counts rolling 60-minute and per-airport cumulative arrivals and departures since launch, identifies likely runway use, and can flag touch-and-go activity when the track supports it. Events are inferred from available data. The window displays received snapshots; the optional 1.1 main-scope smoothing does not apply to Airport Activity.

Does RadarDesk work without an internet connection?

Local reference databases and saved preferences remain on your computer. RadarDesk 1.1 also reuses cached map tiles and validated chart PDFs. Fresh downloads, public aircraft feeds, weather, geocoding, and refreshed FAA data need an internet connection; a configured local receiver needs access to its network.

What is new in RadarDesk 1.1?

Version 1.1 adds cached ground maps, a dedicated FAA VFR and IFR chart viewer, aircraft sprites, customizable labels and colors, Center Home locking, personal Local ADS-B receivers, and more. Explore what’s new in 1.1 for the complete feature tour, or open the bundled guide from Help in RadarDesk.

Does RadarDesk record flights for replay?

No. Live trails and Airport Activity help you follow the current session. In 1.1, diagnostic logs stay in memory for the session; RadarDesk does not write aircraft snapshot or position-history archives. Settings, reference data, cached maps and charts, curated images, and screenshots still save normally.

Can I use RadarDesk for flight safety or air traffic control?

No. RadarDesk is for informational and entertainment use only. It must not be used for navigation, collision avoidance, operational ATC, dispatch, emergency response, or any safety-critical aviation decision.

Your window into live airspace.