Tail number to hex converter
Paste a tail number and get the 24-bit address the aircraft broadcasts. For N-numbers and about twenty other countries the address is an arithmetic encoding of the registration. Other countries require a database lookup.
One or a whole list. Any separator works.
Or click an example
Paste a tail number above, or try one of the examples. Going the other way? Convert an ICAO address instead.
How this works
- What the address is for
- ADS-B software uses the address, not the tail number. dump1090 and PiAware filters match on it. History sites index by it. An alert for a specific aircraft asks for six hex characters. The tail number appears on the airframe. The address is what the aircraft broadcasts, several times a second.
- In the US there is nothing to look up
- N1 is address A00001. Every N-number after it increments the address by one. Canada, Japan, South Korea, France, Germany and others use the same kind of arithmetic with their own ranges.
- When the marks tell you nothing
- The UK, Australia and most of the rest of the world assign addresses from a register. The tail marks do not encode the address, and there is no sum to run. A database lookup is less reliable: a miss means no available database has that aircraft, not that the aircraft does not exist.
Country address blocks
ICAO allocates a hex range to each country. The first one to three hex characters identify the country of registration. Countries that use arithmetic encoding let you derive the tail number from the address with a formula. Register-based countries assign addresses from a list.
| Country | Prefix | Hex range | Method |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | N | A00001–ADF7C7 | Arithmetic |
| Canada | C- | C00001–C3FFFF | Arithmetic |
| United Kingdom | G- | 400000–43FFFF | Register |
| France | F- | 380000–3BFFFF | Arithmetic |
| Germany | D- | 3C0000–3FFFFF | Arithmetic |
| Japan | JA | 840000–87FFFF | Arithmetic |
| South Korea | HL | 718000–71FFFF | Arithmetic |
| Australia | VH- | 7C0000–7FFFFF | Register |
| China | B- | 780000–7BFFFF | Register |
| Brazil | PP/PR/PT | E40000–E7FFFF | Register |
| India | VT- | 800000–83FFFF | Register |
| Russia | RA- | 100000–1FFFFF | Register |
Frequently asked questions
- What is an ICAO hex address?
- An ICAO hex address is a 24-bit number that uniquely identifies an aircraft worldwide. The transponder broadcasts this address in every ADS-B and Mode S message. Receivers, tracking sites, and air traffic control use the address to tell aircraft apart.
- How do I find the hex address for an N-number?
- For US-registered aircraft, the hex address is a direct arithmetic encoding of the N-number. Enter the full tail number (for example, N12345) into the converter above. The tool calculates the address without a database lookup.
- Can two aircraft share the same hex address?
- No. ICAO assigns each 24-bit address to exactly one aircraft at a time. When an aircraft leaves the register, ICAO can reassign the address to a different airframe. At any given moment, no two aircraft share the same address.
- Does the hex address change when an aircraft is re-registered?
- It depends on the country. In the US, the tool calculates the address from the tail number, so a new N-number produces a new address. In register-based countries like the UK, the address stays with the airframe and does not change when the operator updates the tail marks.
- What is the difference between Mode S and ADS-B addresses?
- They are the same address. Mode S introduced the 24-bit address for radar replies. ADS-B reuses it for position broadcasts. Every aircraft with a Mode S transponder has this address, whether or not it broadcasts ADS-B.
- Why do some countries use arithmetic and others use a register?
- Arithmetic encoding lets you derive the address from the tail number with a formula. Register-based countries assign addresses from a list. The method depends on how the country chose to implement ICAO Annex 10 when it adopted Mode S.
You just turned one tail number into the address it broadcasts.
A SkyPath print is composed from millions of them — real ADS-B position reports over a single airport, chosen and composed by hand, colored by altitude, then printed on aluminum.