Tower Hunt: ADS-B Ground Stations Map Game
A free retro map game. Find the ADS-B ground stations that feed your Stratux.
How to play
- Fly near ADS-B towers to log them. Climb for more range: high-tier towers reach farthest, low-tier towers need a flyby. Fog hides towers, and a question mark means one is close.
- Steer with the arrow keys or WASD, or hold and drag on touch. Press E to climb and Q to descend, or use the ALT buttons.
- Climbing burns fuel. Descend over an airport to refuel, because an empty tank means a forced landing.
- Dodge weather cells and red TFR boxes. Log towers quickly for coverage combos up to x5, and complete a whole state for a 500 point bonus.
- You have three minutes. The Daily Challenge gives everyone the same weather each day.
About ADS-B ground stations
In the United States, ADS-B Out aircraft transmit on 1090 MHz or 978 MHz UAT. A network of FAA ground stations receives those broadcasts and relays them, and the stations also uplink FIS-B weather on 978 MHz, and TIS-B and ADS-R traffic on both 978 and 1090 MHz.
Tower Hunt uses the real station locations so you can see how coverage fills the map. Low-altitude coverage is thinner in mountains and remote areas, which is why altitude matters for what your receiver can hear.
Learn more about how ADS-B works.
Questions pilots ask
What is an ADS-B ground station?
It is a receiver and transmitter site that receives aircraft ADS-B broadcasts and sends traffic and weather information back to aircraft that are in range.
Is the tower data real?
The station locations are based on the public FAA ground station list. The game is a simplified map, so ranges and tiers are for fun.
Why does altitude matter?
ADS-B is line-of-sight. The higher you are, the farther you can hear a station and the farther it can hear you.
Is Tower Hunt free?
Yes. It runs in the browser on phones and computers with no install or account.
More games
- SQUAWK 1200, an airplane side-scroller
- Lightning Command, protect airports and towers from storms
- Balloon Launch, a near-space flight
- Light Gun, ATC light signals quiz
- All of Stratux Arcade