Just as a general point of interest:

If you want to view the flight paths/data of planes that take off/land at Phuket airport and their flights in the Phuket region, I host the tracking receiver for the website flightradar24.com.

The current status of that receiver if offline tonight (20th May), but should be back online tomorrow after I buy a new router switch.

If you want to view the current position of ships (tankers, passenger vessels etc that are equipped with AIS equipment), I host the tracking receiver for the website marinetraffic.com

The current status is online - I am monitoring the cargo vessel CTP Fortune as it makes its way north towards Yangon.

For both receivers, the coverage will improve in the coming months after I relocate the receiving antenna to a higher antenna mast

Simon

I look at flightradar24 quite a lot and appreciate the help from Simon. I do however get a few aircraft passing overhead (I live in Patong) which don't seem to show up on flightradar24.com...... any ideas Simon?

...which don't seem to show up on flightradar24.com...... any ideas Simon?

The aircraft data is sent/received at around 1.2GHz. That's higher than a UHF TV channel signal and is essentially line-of-sight. So the distance over which the signals can be received is hugely affected by the presence of hills between the receiver and the plane, especially when the plane is at low altitude.

Also, the curvature of the earth is a limiting factor, since planes 'over the horizon' will not present a line of sight signal.

My receiver is located right next to the airport, so it's easy to follow on-ground plane movements, take-offs/landings etc ,(when the receiver is online!). But there is a big hill between me and Patong......so my receiver will be unable to track low-altitude planes...

For marine traffic, the situation is better, since the operating frequency is at VHF, which has a better signal propagation than microwave. Also, ships tend not to hide behind hills.....

To improve coverage in the Andaman Sea region for both planes and ships, I will raise the height of my receiving antenna, perhaps even install directional antennas, (since my location has a small hill blocking reception from the Gulf of Thailand)

Great. Where is MH370 please.