After weeks of preparation, testing, and building — the Lisbon Finals station is officially operational outside.
Today was a big day.
The laser-engraved plexiglass enclosure, built at FAB LAB Lisbon with Alexandre, left the workshop and was installed in its final position. Every sensor inside: the RTL-SDR ADS-B receiver, the Raspberry Pi, the GAIN EXPRESS 130dB sound meter wired to an ADS1115 ADC, the PMS5003 air quality sensor, and the MPU-6050 vibration detector.
The migration was not without drama. The RTL-SDR crashed in a restart loop after the move — the USB device was detected but the decoder could not hold it. A manual restart broke the deadlock. Crisis averted.
The bigger upgrade: we retired the camera microphone (dBFS estimates, indirect conversion) and connected the PRO sound meter directly into the pipeline. The ADS1115 reads the DC OUTPUT voltage of the GAIN EXPRESS and converts it to real dB SPL — no approximation, no calibration table. 30 to 130 dB, physical scale.
First real-world validation came at midnight. TAP94KM on approach, 500 ft, 123 kts. The meter peaked at 87.4 dB SPL. The system detected, logged, and triggered — exactly as designed.
The station is alive. Cruzamos os dedos. 🛬