AirNav Systems Forum
AirNav RadarBox and RadarBox24.com => AirNav RadarBox Screenshots => Topic started by: WAL 2T on April 22, 2009, 10:50:44 PM
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Just a couple of before & after shots from my location 6 miles East of EGGP. I'm about 150ft asl with various buildings and tall trees in the immediate vicinity and a 300ft asl hill blocking signals to the South.
First one is with the supplied RB antenna sitting just above the gutter. Second screen shot is with the Watson radar extender/ELAD 1090 combination on a temporary mast 20ft agl which clears the roof of the bungalow. RB has been left running for a few hours to populate the range indicator.
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WAL 2T
That is a very noticeable improvement.
Any out side Pics?
Thanks
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Hi, yes here you go. Currently in it's temporary home. Going to mount it on a new, slightly taller mast next week. The mounting brackets in use at the moment are from one of my 2/70 co-linears as the supplied U bolts didn't have enough thread.
Coverage over Ireland has filled out quite nicely after leaving it running through the mornings when a lot of the transatlantic stuff is coming in and out. Will post another screenshot when I logon from the PC.
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Pretty shot.
The bend in the pigtail looks like it hurts. Ha!
New pic when set. OK
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Hi WAL 2T,
I thought I would post these examples, as I seem to have the same kit as yourself, the Watson/Elad setup.
The first picture is the supplied aerial sitting on the window-ledge in the upstairs spare room, the second being the newly-installed Watson after 1 day of use.
Here in Dublin, on the northside of the city centre, I am lucky to be on quite a height compared to some other areas, hence the good-reception.
Cheers.
(http://homepage.eircom.net/~squad701/AirNav%20RadarBox%202009%20Shot%20at%2020090421%200905%20UTC.gif)
(http://homepage.eircom.net/~squad701/AirNav%20RadarBox%202009%20Shot%20at%2020090428%200751%20UTC.gif)
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Massive improvement there Squad, seems to be a well balanced coverage with no nasty fade areas. It makes all the difference being in a decent location.
cheers
Chris
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Hi 701, As Chris says, a fantastic improvement, you can see south almost to my location!
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Hi 701, As Chris says, a fantastic improvement, you can see south almost to my location!
How far south are you CoastGuardJon ?
I guess I'm just lucky I'm in a good location :-)
But it's all about length - oop's I mean height !
I'm sure if you put the supplied aerial on a 20ft pole,
you'd also get great results.
Thank god my range just stops short of heathrow,
or I'd have to spend all day scrolling through the lists.
But having said that, most of the aircraft at great distances,
are high level only.
It's also a curse on the military stuff, nearly have to revert back
to the original aerial to make sure they are in range, before I run
out into the back garden with the camera :-)
Cheers.
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Well it's been up for a few weeks now and the polar diagram has had some time to flesh out a little bit. There's an annoying null behind Snaefell which knocks out some of the Belfast inbounds and en-routes tracking towards BESOP. Not bad considering the antenna isn't really up that high yet. Going to mount it on a new mast when this wind and rain clears off.
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Hi Chris,
What is blocking your signal to the south-east ?
Sorry not too familiar with the British-midland countryside !
Some interesting spikes going south, it might be a good indication
of whats possible, when you get a bit more height.
Cheers.
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Hi, there is a hill directly South of the house which pretty much renders my coverage in that direction negligible. Unfortunately I would need a 150ft tower to clear it.
On average I'm logging 1200 flights over a 16 hour period, heaven only knows what it would be like if I had the 180-200nm coverage to the south.
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Today's fine weather has helped me get a foothold into France from Dublin :-)
(http://homepage.eircom.net/~squad701/AirNav%20RadarBox%202009%20Shot%20at%2020090524%201910%20UTC.gif)
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Not bad going at all to get that gap through the Welsh mountains. Your airband coverage should be pretty impressive too.
Put my antenna up another 10ft on Friday and it doesn't seem to have made much difference, in fact coverage over Scotland and NE seems to have dropped off a bit but it is a bit close to another antenna and I may have changed the orientation of the radials.
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I have just invested in the ELAD masthead amp and my typical 'MyFlights' has gone from 40 to 140.
Range max has been upto 275 miles, some preliminary screenshots are elsewhere on this forum.
All other things being equal if it's range that you want and there is nothing physical in the way, I would thoroughly recommend this piece of kit.
At the moment I have purely physical blockages(in my loft) but as soon as I get my (homebrew) antenna outside and at chimney height I will post some before and afters.
I have yet to use 'proper' low loss coax, so I am looking forward to that day.
I would also say if you are a tiny bit practical, a homebrew antenna will perform equally as well as the bundled one, the amp merely lets you realize the full potential if you are that way inclined.
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Hi 701, As Chris says, a fantastic improvement, you can see south almost to my location!
How far south are you CoastGuardJon ?
I guess I'm just lucky I'm in a good location :-)
But it's all about length - oop's I mean height !
I'm sure if you put the supplied aerial on a 20ft pole,
you'd also get great results.
Thank god my range just stops short of heathrow,
or I'd have to spend all day scrolling through the lists.
But having said that, most of the aircraft at great distances,
are high level only.
It's also a curse on the military stuff, nearly have to revert back
to the original aerial to make sure they are in range, before I run
out into the back garden with the camera :-)
Cheers.
Hi 701, only just seen your reply above. I'm approx. 2½ miles north of the most southerly point of mainland UK - Lizard Point. I'm actually on top of the cliffs at Mullion Cove 50º 1' 00" N - 5º 5' 24" W and actually within your later polar diagram at reply #11
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I have yet to use 'proper' low loss coax, so I am looking forward to that day.
Have you tried the 'grown-up coax yet t1mb0?
I think you might be infor a pleasant surprise if your experience is anything like my friend Terry who lives close by.
He uses an external BS100 or something with the ELAD pre-amp and has been using RG58 or similar coax since he installed.
When we were out one day I 'treated' him to a nice new piece of Westflex 103 and he actually got round to fitting it about a week ago.
What a difference - his usual 300-400 MyFlights has gone up to around 600-700.
Hopefully he will stop by and correct my facts & figures but he has found the Westflex 103 has given his RB a new lease of life.
I knew it would make a difference - I had no idea of just how much difference.
Regards,
-=Glyn=-
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westflex 103 yes, all done
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Not bad going at all to get that gap through the Welsh mountains. Your airband coverage should be pretty impressive too.
Put my antenna up another 10ft on Friday and it doesn't seem to have made much difference, in fact coverage over Scotland and NE seems to have dropped off a bit but it is a bit close to another antenna and I may have changed the orientation of the radials.
does altering the dirrection of the radials make much difference ?
the only reason I ask is that I have a similar antenna [radarmax] that has the same style construction.
location location location .........means everything ! I live in a bungalow in a dip on top of a shallow hill ...like living in a saucer my set allows me to see from the humber to the bristol estuary in a 100nm swaith across the midlands ....wondering if altering the ground plane spike orientation will change things ....but its a pain getting up to the antenna to try it on the off chance .
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There's not much you can do about seeing through hills.
As you can see from my last posted screenshot I have an unobstructed clear view practically to northern Spain, but relief to my north/north east prevents the same luxury in that direction.