External Antenna

[BESWICK]

Hi everyone,

I just thought  I would like to share my views on the recent upgrade to installing an external antenna.
After taking advice from a couple of helpful people on the forum I finally opted for a 1090SJ MK2 Antenna from Solid State Electronics (UK) The owner Jim is very knowledgably and helpful . And with his recommendation I purchased the cable, connectors and patch lead from Henry Westlake who was also most helpful.

When they both arrived I went about the installation process. I still felt in the back of my mind that due to living right on top of Canary Wharf  with its high buildings I was not going to have any real significant increase in aircraft numbers.

I placed the antenna on top of a 6 foot antenna pole for a little extra height and this was attached to the facia board on the roof. I had only ordered 5 meters of Westflex 103 cable so as to try and keep any loss to minimum. The connectors were pre installed by Henry for a couple of pounds more to insure a good connection. The box sits on my bedroom window seal and then I have a 10 meter active USB lead connector to my PC downstairs and at a stretch I can get away with just using one 5 meter lead but using both together gives me more flexibility and I can hide it behind the curtains so as to appease the wife.
The Westflex is connected to a patch lead which it turn connects to the Radar box.

Anyway to cut a long story short once everything was installed and connected with some trepidation I booted up the Radar Box. My usual  ADS-B count with the old supplied antenna was about twenty on a good day and all aircraft might hit thirty if I was lucky. After about five minutes my ADS-B count was in the seventies and my all flight list was showing 124 aircraft. As you cam imagine I was totally knocked back as I genuinely thought living where I do in East London the results were going to be disappointing.

Oh Ye of little faith

All the Best

Beswick

[anorak]

Try going to the top of Canary wharf, cheers  Dave.

[BESWICK]

Funnily enough, I actually work in the Canary Wharf Tower

Cheers

Beswick

[bratters]

Good stuff Beswick.

Very little loss incurred using the ratio of minimal coax to maximum USB cable. Apart from re-siting and adding more height, I reckon that's about the best you can do.

Enjoy.

[eyeinthesky]

Beswick.
I had the same feeling, it must be emphasized your airnav is "only as good as your aerial", and forget about airnavs old shared data that cost £70 a year.

[FL350]

Beswick,

I'm following in your footsteps and live in the east end as well - east end of Long Beach, NY. No Bow Bells or DLR 'round here... ;-)

I currently have my stock aerial mounted just above my JFK-facing window at the lowest point of the roof. I scouted a relatively higher spot on the rooftop (laptop, box and all - I can only imagine what sort of mad-hatter my neighbours took me for) with the stock aerial and increased my polar diagram significantly, so I'm anxious to determine the effect of a tuned aerial with an additional 3m or so of height.

I have a DPD ADS-B vertical aerial to be mounted atop approximately 6.5m of mast and very little cable run beyond that to the box. I have high hopes that the end result will provide (and of course share via network) a much better view of the airspace serving KJKF, KLGA and KEWR, our major airports!

I'm going to leverage CAT 5 extension for the USB connection (about 15m or so) and would be grateful if anyone could advise on what sort of adaptors I should use to transition USB to CAT 5 in light of that length.

1) Do I risk USB attenuation with this setup? I'm scouting just a simple adaptor on each end of the CAT 5 but am somewhat uncertain if I should consider a more elaborate setup for the extension????
2) I cannot find any documentation as to whether I should use only USB 2.0 compatible adaptors as well...???

Best,

FL350

[CoastGuardJon]

Hi FL350, without any hesitation, I would advise you use the active Lindy USB extension kit, it's expensive, but mine works superbly.   I found I got even better results using the extension kit's usb power supply to power the RB rather than the lap-top's.

http://www.lindy.co.uk/12m-usb-2-active-extension-pro-4-port-hub/42783.html

I've got the 15m version, and if I can find the stock code, will post it here for you, but a 12m with a good quality 3 or 5m USB extension cable would be fine.

Prior to getting the Lindy kit, I had a 10m Cat 5 extension lead kit (no dedicated psu) which wouldn't get enough power from the laptop to the RB to get it working at all.   A USB 2.0 or later version will be fine.  HTH

[FL350]

Cheers CGJ!

£49 isn't too bad at all!

Sorry, but for clarification, your statement 'A 12m with a good quality 3 or 5m USB extension' means 12m CAT5 and 3-5m USB cable, correct?

I am still awestruck at the times when a majority of the aircraft movements here are ADS-B. It really pays homage to ATC. When comparing network data from EU, Asia, etc., the pale ADS-B returns here also reflect upon a local system that badly needs updating.

Thanks to you and all for the consistent help and friendliness!

FL350

[CoastGuardJon]

Hi FL350, sorry, if I've confused you - what I meant is to use a 12m Lindy active USB 2.0 extension kit, Lindy part No. 42783.   Have a look at the link in my previous post.   If the 12m isn't long enough, then you can use ordinary HQ USB extension leads for a distance of up to a maximum of 56m.   Come back if you need more info.

Just had a look at Lindy USA  -  $76.00

http://www.lindy-usa.com/12m-usb-20-active-extension-42783.html