Connect your ADS-B receiver alongside Flightradar24, FlightAware or anything else you already feed. Every hour of genuine coverage earns TailTokens you can spend on TailNav.
Example of the dashboard every feeder gets. Figures are illustrative.
Your receiver keeps doing what it does now. The feed client reads the decoded messages on your local network and sends a copy to us.
Create an account and add a station. You get a private feeder key that ties the data to your account.
One command on a Raspberry Pi running readsb or dump1090. Ultrafeeder users add one line to their config.
# your key is on your account page
curl -fsSL https://tailnav.com/feed.sh | sudo bash -s -- <key>TailTokens are added to your account every hour your station sends real, useful data, and show on your station dashboard.
TailTokens reward coverage, not raw volume. A receiver on a hill that sees aircraft nobody else can earns more than three receivers on the same street.
New TailTokens are checked for 14 days, then they're yours to spend on rewards in your account. A station that's online all month earns about 7,200, plus up to 2,500 in bonuses for the coverage it adds.
TailTokens have no cash value. Rates can change; any change is announced on Discord first. See the terms.
| You earn | For |
|---|---|
| 10 an hour | Each hour your station sends genuine aircraft data that passes our checks. |
| Up to 20 more an hour | 1 for every 10 aircraft that only your station heard that hour. |
| 1.5 times | When no other station is within 50 km, because you're filling a gap in coverage. |
| 1.5 times | When your receiver's timing stays in sync with its neighbours, so we can locate aircraft that don't broadcast a position (MLAT). |
| 2,000 / 1,000 / 500 | For the top three stations on the monthly leaderboard. |
| 500 | When someone you invite starts feeding. They get 250 too. |
Bonuses for unique coverage, coverage gaps and MLAT add up to at most 2,500 a month per station. Receivers within 1 km of each other share their TailTokens.
Everything is measured on our servers from the data your receiver actually sends. Nothing you type in counts towards TailTokens.
Feeds that fail these checks earn nothing, and TailTokens from a feed that turns out to be fake are removed during the check period.
No specialist knowledge needed. If you can set up a Raspberry Pi, you can run a receiver. Height matters most: an antenna in the loft or on the roof sees much further than one on a windowsill.
Ready-made images such as adsb.im set up the decoder and your feeds through a web page, with no command line.
Rough prices for new parts. Converted from UK prices at today's exchange rate.
No. The feed client only reads data your decoder already shares on your network. Your other feeds, and any rewards they give you, carry on as before.
No. We need your receiver's position to work out MLAT positions and check your coverage, but we never publish it. Public coverage maps show receivers blurred to a wide area.
Roughly 5 to 15 GB a month depending on how busy your sky is, less if your decoder reduces the message rate.
Yes, if they cover different areas. Stations close together that see the same aircraft share their unique-coverage TailTokens.
Any time, with one command. Confirmed TailTokens stay in your account.
Tell us roughly where you are and what you already feed, and we'll help you get set up. If your receiver is running, create an account and connect it now.