Who (what) is tbg?

thebaldgeek is, well, a bald geek that stokes the dumpster fire of ACARS.

This is his personal blog site.

tbg has a lot of nothing to say about non-ACARS topics now and then.

I've moved house 35 times. Mainly in Australia, but 3 times in the USA.
The song "I've been everywhere man" hits a little too close to home.

Loved electronics and radio since my pre-teens. I first took my ham radio license test when I was 12. I failed it the first time, but I got it later in life. VK3TOP. VK3GR. K6TBG.

Collected hobbies for a long while. Too many to list, but built and flew RC gliders, electric aircraft, and helicopters for a good while. Custom-built and repaired racing and photography drones. All kinds of photography, film from way back, and digital when it became a thing. Built a few laser light shows. Video and audio production / editing. Of course, all sorts of electronics, building, repairing, and computers of all kinds in that mix as well.
However, for the past seven years, I have primarily focused on the ACARS project, as it seems to encompass many of those other hobbies that I've pursued over the years. RF, satellite communications, networking, software, websites, and aircraft - no wonder I've stuck with it all this time.

Run the Grand Canyon twice. Hiked it 6.5 times, rafted it once, and flew in a helicopter out of it once (at the end of the rafting trip, NOT due to running it).

Driven a Range Rover across the Simpson Desert. Climbed Arys Rock before it was a thing not to climb it. Got bogged on the side of a mountain in Tasmania. Blew up a transmission on the top of the aptly named Mt Terrible in Victoria.

Spent many cold nights staring into the eyepiece of a telescope and hours in a darkroom developing astro photos of all kinds.
Was a docent at the Palomar Mountain Hale Telescope for about four years - it seemed like the right time to hang up my astronomer's beanie when Caltech decided they did not like public tours.

Married the most amazing gal on the planet - not a single other person would put up with me for 37 years and still make me laugh.
Two kids. One grandson.
Sadly, I lost my mum too early in her life to cancer.

Most of my working life has centered around a company called Opto22 and industrial automation. 18 years of programming Opto hardware to run the Ballarat hospital in Victoria, Australia, and 17 years working at Opto22 HQ in Temecula, California.

Listen to all sorts of music, not a big fan of country or opera (can't hear the words or follow the story), but by far and away, the thing that lights up my brain is electronic music. Moog synthesizers - old school analog ones - are my thing (I built more than a few back in the day).
Huge Solarstone pure trance fan. Andy Blueman knows how to carry an uplifting, pure trance track that can rewire my brain.

For some (serious) fun, here is what Grok 4 thinks of me in August 2025....

Ben Orchard, known online as @thebaldgeek, is an Australian expatriate who has lived in Southern California and more recently relocated to Idaho around 2024-2025, based on personal blog entries detailing home projects like roof work, basement renovations, and irrigation tweaks in a new house.

His background appears rooted in IT and industrial automation, with interests in Linux, home automation systems (including Opto 22 hardware), and programming Node-RED.
Orchard’s expertise centers on aviation communications decoding, where he has built a niche as an OSINT practitioner specializing in ACARS (Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System), ADSC (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Contract), Satcom (including Inmarsat and Iridium), and related protocols like VDL2, HFDL, and ARINC622.
He operates as a hobbyist-turned-community-leader, running public tools for real-time aircraft tracking and data sharing, with a focus on open, collaborative networks over proprietary ones.
His online presence spans X (12,315 followers, blue-verified), GitHub, Reddit, and a personal blog, where he blends technical deep dives with personal rants on AI limitations, home improvements, and electronic music (trance mixes).

Potential professional ties include industrial automation (Opto 22), but no formal career details are public; his work suggests self-taught engineering skills honed through years of hardware-software integration.

Capabilities and Potential Background
Orchard’s capabilities are deeply technical and interdisciplinary, patterned around signal interception, data processing, and RF centric fields of practice.
He excels in building ground stations using software-defined radios (SDRs) like RTL-SDR or Airspy, Raspberry Pis, and low-code tools like Node-RED for automating data flows—skills demonstrated in his GitHub repositories, such as setup guides for ACARS decoding and dashboards for Satnogs (satellite ground station networks).
His systems decode aircraft positions over land (via VHF/VDL) and oceans (via C-Band/L-Band Satcom), aggregating data from global feeders into public maps like http://tbgmap.airframes.io, which plots non-ADSB positions in real time.
This extends to Iridium and Inmarsat monitoring, where he has onboarded stations and visualized coverage rings, highlighting gaps in commercial tracking like ADSB.
Patterns in his work show a preference for open-source ecosystems: he critiques closed networks (e.g., private AIS/ADSB groups) and promotes inclusive communities, and his emphasis on data sharing via https://airframes.io.

Communication and Coalition-Building Skills: Leads a broad, online OSINT coalition through transparent, inclusive engagement. Communicates complex setups via GitHub guides, X threads, and community forums (Reddit ACARS, airframes Discord), onboarding feeders and soliciting feedback globally.
Patterns of advocacy: Critiques closed networks, promotes data sharing on https://airframes.io, and resolves disputes with persistence and empathy. Supports avgeeks via DMs, chats, and blogs, building trust in a distributed network of hobbyists and professionals—evident in 12K+ X followers and collaborative idea sourcing.

Background-wise, Orchard’s trajectory reveals a pattern of geographic and technical migration.
Starting in Australia, he moved to SoCal for work reasons—before settling in Idaho for family reasons.
His Reddit activity since 2012 shows engagement in amateur radio, Garmin GPS, and satellite communities, often troubleshooting hardware sensitivities (e.g., RTL-SDR v4 vs. v3 for HF) for other posters.
Adjacent interests include wardriving (mapping WiFi networks, 1 million discoveries) and earthquake monitoring, tying into broader OSINT patterns of real-time geospatial data aggregation.
No formal education or employment is detailed, but associations with tools like DragonOS (for dumpVDL2 decoding) and collaborations (e.g., onboarding Iridium feeders) suggest informal networks in SIGINT-adjacent fields.

In-Depth Assessment: Starting with X Posts and Expanding
Orchard’s X activity forms the core of his public persona, with a consistent pattern of daily technical shares interspersed with personal commentary—around 70% aviation/OSINT-focused, 20% community engagement, and 10% rants on tech frustrations.
Recent posts (as of August 29-30, 2025) emphasize ACARS utility: e.g., mapping military aircraft globally without ADSB, decoding real-time messages on http://tbgacarshub.airframes.io, and reminders that ACARS reveals “why” behind flights (e.g., emergencies, weather diversions).
He collaborates with others and promotes open tools, aligning with his advocacy for “inclusive communities.”

Semantic searches reveal historical highlights: major Satcom outages (e.g., Inmarsat 4F1 in 2023), laser incident spikes in 2024 (94 ACARS mentions), and Starlink launch observations, showcasing his real-time monitoring prowess.
Patterns include earthquake alerts (e.g., M8.0 Drake Passage) and UAV tracking, indicating broader geospatial intelligence interests.
A recent AI Tweet critiques models like Grok for outdated data on niche topics like ACARS/Node-RED, revealing skepticism toward proprietary AI while favoring open-source alternatives.

Expanding to search engines uncovers a distributed footprint. Web searches link to his GitHub (http://thebaldgeek.github.io), a comprehensive guide for ACARS setups, emphasizing hardware like parabolic dishes for C-Band and software pipelines.
His personal site (http://thebaldgeek.net) shifts to non-aviation: trance mixes, home mods, and CLI tips, patterning a work-life balance where aviation is a “night job.”
Adjacent sources include Reddit (/u/thebaldgeek) for satellite/ADSB discussions, and forums like http://acars-vdl2.groups.io praising his relaunched sites post-2024 downtime.
Instagram (@thebaldgeek) is low-key (45 followers), with Idaho move quips, while Facebook (Ben Orchard) offers minimal profile data.
No LinkedIn presence was found, suggesting privacy preferences.
Overall, patterns show evolution from hobbyist (early Reddit posts) to influencer (X engagement, site relaunches), with resilience (e.g., 3-month site downtime recovery in 2024).

Traditional HUMINT Source Assessment
As a HUMINT-equivalent source in OSINT contexts, Orchard rates highly on reliability (A-1 scale: A for consistently accurate, 1 for confirmed independently via community feeds) for aviation technicals, given his direct access to primary signals and transparent methodologies.
Access is exceptional: His global feeder network provides unique oceanic coverage, filling ADSB gaps, with real-time data on military/UAV flights and incidents (e.g., lasers, bans).
Motivation appears altruistic—community building and knowledge sharing—evident in free tools, chat support, and critiques of closed systems, though personal frustrations (e.g., AI, relocations) introduce minor subjectivity.
Potential biases: Enthusiast optimism for open tech.
Associations (e.g., http://airframes.io, DragonOS devs) enhance credibility.

Overall, a high-value asset for aviation SIGINT, with patterns of sustained contribution since ~2012, warranting direct engagement via his site chat for deeper insights.