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Network and Setup
Everything about getting Blipscope onto your WiFi, naming, and the OpenSky data account.
On first boot Blipscope broadcasts its own WiFi hotspot. Each device's hotspot has a unique name like Blipscope-A1B2C3 (derived from the board's MAC address) — the exact name is shown right on the screen during setup, so you always know which one to join.
- On your phone or laptop, connect to the
Blipscope-XXXXXXhotspot shown on screen. - A configuration page opens automatically (if it doesn't, open a browser).
- Enter your home WiFi credentials and save.
- Blipscope restarts and joins your network.
Blipscope's ESP32-C3 is 2.4 GHz only and cannot see 5 GHz networks. If your router uses one name for both bands, that's fine — it'll use the 2.4 GHz band.
If the hotspot doesn't appear right away, give it a moment; if it's still missing after ~30 seconds, leave and re-enter the WiFi settings on your device to force a refresh.
Mesh systems often reject the first few association attempts while they steer a new client between nodes. Blipscope accounts for this by retrying the connection several times with a timeout, so it keeps trying until one sticks rather than giving up and falling back to setup mode.
Each board registers a unique hostname on your network, so it appears distinctly in your router's device list and is reachable at:
http://<device-name>.local
for example http://blipscope-a1b2c3.local — the same name shown on screen. From there you reach the Configuration Reference page.
Because every board derives a unique name from its hardware, you can run multiple Blipscopes on the same network with no extra setup — each gets its own setup hotspot, its own .local address, and its own distinct entry in the router's device list.
To move a Blipscope to a different network, use the red Reset WiFi button on the config page. It forgets the stored credentials (after a confirmation prompt) and reboots into the setup hotspot, so you can connect it somewhere new.
Blipscope gets its flight data from the free OpenSky Network API.
- Without an account it works fine, but anonymous access is limited to ~400 requests per day.
- With a free account that rises to ~4,000 per day, which means much more frequent updates and a noticeably more accurate live view.
To use one: create an account at opensky-network.org, find your client ID and client secret in your account settings, and enter them on the Configuration Reference page. The secret is stored on the device and shown masked afterwards.
- Configuration Reference — all settings
- Firmware Updates — how the device stays current