Over on the Tech Minds YouTube channel Matt has posted a video tutorial that shows how to build a cheap quarter wave ground plane antenna tuned for 1090 MHz. This is the frequency of ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast), which is a signal broadcast by aircraft that can be used to track their GPS location.

The antenna is created from an SMA chassis mount socket, one copper wire for the receiving element, and four copper wires for the ground plane. They are soldered directly onto the socket. An LNA is added to improve reception.

Make Your Own Aircraft Tracking Antenna With RTL SDR