AirNav Systems Forum
AirNav RadarBox and RadarBox24.com => AirNav RadarBox and RadarBox24.com Discussion => Topic started by: Canonjohns40D on April 01, 2009, 10:33:33 PM
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It's up it's up. Finally the aerial was mounted on the roof this evening. Initial thoughts?
WOW WOW WOW!!!!!!!
I have attached a screen shot of the polar diagram running for approx 2 hourss. I have had Tornados a first for me and well the polar diagram says it all. The aerial is on a 6ft pole on the chimney stack.
I can't wait for a full day of traffic. My flights would normally be showing around 10 maybe 14 aircraft on a good night late evening .This evening after it was erected I was in the 50+ mark.
Regards
John
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Great, John!
Looking forward to tomorrow night's instalment :-)
Rod
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HI ,
I have been reading all the reports on this anenna for a few nights now !
It sounds fantastic !.
Dave at DPD is a very helpful chap ...i have ordered mine tonight and look forward to putting it into service. thanks to everyone that posted the reception plots. going to be using a temp antenna mounted in the loft untill i get the dpd and install it .
cheers guys
Neil
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Hi Neil glad the info was helpful and good luck with your order. I found Dave very helpful and the product is a very good build. Mine is up just a week now and I'm thrilled with the reception. i've attached a screen shot taken just now for info, this diagram has been running since Monday this week.
The aerial has bouncing around this past few days in pretty strong winds and i'm delighted to report this has had little or no effect on the coverage. It was due to the winds etc that I cleared the polar diagram and started it afresh.
Anyhow enjoy the aerial when it arrives and get ready for plenty of long days and late nights.
Regards
John
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Hi guys, as a newbie and a non-user (for the time being - I've been told that's my b'day pressie in August), I've been watching and reading the various threads with interest. Living between BHX and CVT (equi-distance) and wondering just what I might see if I plugged a RB in -- I would want to add a "live-link" onto my general aviation website -- so these results are just what I need to aid my fellow 'spotters' when I get myself set up on-line.
Keep up the good work guys, you've got me hooked at least.
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hi john ,
Thanks for the diagram, my antenna is on its way to me and look forward to
Getting it installed. I have not got many mounting options as this house has no chimney stack and the walls are tiled 1/2 way up. So no wall brackets. Iam going to mount it on the gable end and have found a special bracket available only in the USA.
There are two TV antennas on a mast there already which I will take down so I don’t see it as a problem. I have to get myself a 3 section ladder as my current ladder will not reach.
It’s not ideal but iam limited to where I can mount antennas the reason why my dual band airband antenna is loft mounted but that works very well for me. I ran an experiment with a Radar Rama antenna from Watson loft mounted fed with 10 mtrs of w103 reception was very poor worse than the supplied RB antenna which is in the office window upstairs inside. I suspect that this is a very poor version of this antenna and pretty useless.
I will for the time being will continue to use the supplied rb antenna until the DPD antenna has arrived and has been installed. I may try something else in the loft in the meantime.
I have attached a screenshot of what iam picking up on the supplied RB antenna from inside my office with the antenna sitting in the window facing south.
Neil
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Neil,
Regarding the performance of the Radar Rama (freebie with RB from Moonraker) I have to disagree. Mounted outside on a 6ft pole (no preamp) I was getting fairly solid/continuous tracking of aircraft at 200+nm (FL350) and intermittent tracking on AC at 220-240nm. Mounting my aerial in the loft attenuated the signal somewhat and I would say 160-180nm (FL350) solid contacts. My roof is thin blue slate. I would like to change the aerial and this is based on some of the threads mentioning electrostatic discharge if mounted outside, and that is where I need to get my aerial. I monitor the threads closely for the DPD and would like to see the same for the Watson Radar Extender. For me the DPD looks like it underperforms the Radar Rama, unless I am missing something here (above pictures show network as well). Here is the Radar Rama setup and compare ranges and polar plot(no network):
http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=2437.0
Regards
Gary
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Hi Gary I have attached my DPD polar diagram minus the Network traffic. However, am I not correct in thinking that the network does not show on the polar diagram? My polar diagram I understood is recording what my aerial finds.
John
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Hi John,
Network doesn't effect the polar but not showing network makes comparisons much easier to see what the aerial alone is picking up
HTH Cheers John
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Cheers John I have attached a network free one above. I see what you mean, never thought about it before, Doh!!!!
John
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I have had my DPD antenna up and working for a couple of weeks now. I have mines mounted in the loft and as you can see with the attached polar diagram I am doing not to bad in that location. Might not be a bad idea to try it there before trying to put it up outside.
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Hi Runway 31,
I have just had a look at your polar diagram and from your plotted Home location, it looks as if you are located very close to me. I am in East Kilbride and I have a BS1100 antenna in the loft which is giving a very similar polar diagram to yours although I would appear to have further East/West coverage from my location.
Where are you located.
Cheers,
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Hi Runway 31,
Silly me ! Forgot to include the attachment.
Cheers,
Ian
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Hi EK101,
I'm in Motherwell so you will be sitting a wee bit higher than me giving the better east/west coverage. I would appear to be getting more southerly coverage so cannot complain. Where is your antenna sited?.
Regards
Alan
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Alan,
I just have it sited in the loft. As you say, I'm a bit higher up here. Still, we are both in a good area for overflights and from here I can also get arrivals and departures into Glasgow as well as some departures from Edinburgh if they are routed far enough west. You should have much the same. Good to have a fellow enthusiast close by.
Cheers,
Ian
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hi grimreaperuk ,
you must have a different version of this antenna to me , mine came from waters and stanton , badged under the watson brand but its quite clear this is not a watson antenna its just been put in a watson bag. the build quality of the antenna i have is the poorest ive ever seen in all my years of CB radio as a young lad and then onto ham radio...its very very poor. i expect there is somthing wrong with this antenna...i didnt have time to check it but i will go back into the loft and pull it out and put the meter on it......i may just get hold of the watson radar extender and put that in the loft to see how it compares...depends if i think waters and stanton are worthy of my cash...must say i was in there friday and there was no radio man to speak to...which is very poor....had to deal with young lad who didnt really know anything ....you just carnt get the service thease days........the supplied RB antenna just sitting here next to me in the window is much much better...so either the antenna is Capoot or its the coax....but thats W103 and all checks out with no shorts.......hmmmmm very strange......i did notice that the ground plane radials are different on the moonraker one....looks much better quality .... i had to scrape paint of mine as the whip wasnt making contact with the grub screw....how bad is that !! not a big fan of watson stuff goes back to my ham radio days ....diamond and comet antennas are very well made and perform ace......if diamond bring out an ADS-b antenna ill will buy one !!
for monitoring VHF/UHF air comms iuse a diamond dual band antenna and it works very well.
well enough rambling on from me Happy Easter Everyone and look forward to reading more posts !
Neil
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Hi Neil, I have the Watson Radar Extender (not erected yet unfortunately :-( ) and the build quality is excellent, also a couple of Diamond antennas, and I'd put a tenner on it, that they've all come from the same factory.
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Hi Neil, CGJon,
As for the quality of mine its ok but your not the first to comment on its quality, so i am either lucky or its early days but certainly not worth my risk getting it installed up high on the house to deteriate. As a freebie with the RB I am not going to complain as an interim fit but I have to say mine is superior to the supplied antenna.
Aerials here are the W-777(VHF/UHF), G5RV 102Ft (HF) Marine vhf 1.7m whip.
CGJon I would be interested in seeing a polar plot of the radar extender (is this a DC grounded antenna ?) and will it be with a preamp?
Regards
Gary
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Hi Gary, now we're getting some fairer weather, I'm hoping to get the twigs up outside (we're on 200' high cliffs on the west side of the Lizard peninsula, and only 200' from the edge, so rather exposed to sw gales and salty air). the Diamond D-777 outperforms the Diamond D-130 (I thought it was a Royal or Icom discone, but just checked the markings) discone when side by side in the loft, this is my selection
http://www.radioworld.co.uk/~radio/catalog/radarextender-external-antenna-radarbox-p-5965.html?osCsid=4c796aaa9584c42bf57276a168489b72
http://www.radioworld.co.uk/~radio/catalog/vx4000-diamond-2m70cm23cm-fixed-station-vertical-radials-p-5903.html?
http://www.radioworld.co.uk/~radio/catalog/d777-diamond-120300mhz-airband-fixed-station-vertical-p-4093.html?osCsid=4c796aaa9584c42bf57276a168489b72
I have a JIM M-75 pre-amp for scaners, but want to get either the Elad 1090, Wimo AS-1090 or Kuhne 1090 mast-head type
http://www.hamradio.co.uk/acatalog/Accs_Pre-amps.html
http://www.wimo.de/cgi-bin/verteiler.pl?url=sbs-1-virtual-radar_e.html
http://www.kuhne-electronic.de/en/shop/143_Vorverstaerker/article:342_KU_LNA_1090_A_TM
I haven't found a UK supplier for the Kuhne yet, so no idea of price.
What I want to is to be able to easily and quickly swap antennas to get an accurate idea of which does what. Don't hold your breath waiting for my results though, they could be some time coming if things follow my normal progress........................
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Ok Jon,
Error on my part yes i have the d-777, rather pleased with it. I look forward to seeing the results of your experimentation, fun and the expense of the hobby! The fact that you are on the coast with good views and trying the extender without preamp will be of particular interest as i am on the coast to. Fantastic location by the sound of it.
My rigs are:
Icom ic-718
AOR AR8600
UBC 785XLT
UBC 3500XLT
Also have a JIM-75 although not tried that with the RB yet.
Regards
G
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coastguard john ,
i contacted Kuhne and was quoted 163.00 euros plus 17 euros for shipment for the KU LNA 1090 A TM.
you have to email them and wait for an email for an offer price.
this was dated on the 8th april
hope this helps.
regards neil
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Hi Neil, many thanks for that info., shame the pound is so low against the euro :-(
Afterthought - Neil, does that price include the Bias-T, do you know please?
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My DPD has arrived in the uk WoooooooooHoooooooooooo
prob sit in customs for a week....lol
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hi everyone ,
just a post to say i have installed my DPD antenna in the loft just to try it out and i must say it is very good much better than the watson radar rama antenna which worked as well as a wire coat hanger ! .......
upon conntection the DPD and running the radar box i instantly picked up around 90 + aircraft opposed to the 15 or so picked up by the radar rama. the supplied radarbox magnet whip and ground plane managed about 30 just sitting in the window in the shack.
looking forward to getting the antenna outside soon
i have attached a polar diagram just to show how well its working inside the loft...note east and west is blocked by the two walls in the loft and north south is looking through the roof.
cheers
neil
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Hi Neil, many thanks for that info., shame the pound is so low against the euro :-(
Afterthought - Neil, does that price include the Bias-T, do you know please?
sorry for delay in getting back CGjohn i think it has one inbuilt and you have to run dc supply up to it ...... or if u want to feed dc via co-ax then thats extra no idea how much....i would myself just run a dc cable up to the mast as it would save on buying another bias-t.
neil