Number of flights picked up

[b744]

Had the radarbox a week or so now and have a question that needs answering. I have both it and my SBS side by side with their respective aerials co-located in the loft.
Why does the sbs pick up a larger number of hits, especially at very busy periods and then my little blue lights flicker their last and go for a time out while my SBS keeps on going ??
I asked a similar question about the differences last week when both units picked up the same contacts but read the callsigns differently, sadly with the Radarbox doing the misreading ie: BAW6 instead of BAW632 etc.
I realise you're working on a fix but why is it needed as from the outset you mentioned the great data handling features the Radarbox offered over certain other products.
Look forward to your response.

[DaveG]

I'm suspecting my RB is not picking up the same amount of live traffic, not posted details yet as hard to do mirror test my end.  Waiting for proper splitter so I can have one ariel to both boxes

[Protzenalp]

Already posted same problem. SBS seems more sensitive. Is it a box problem or an antenna problem?

[b744]

Box not aerial as they've been tried with each other (sbs aerial to RB and vice versa)

[Roadrunner]

Already posted same problem. SBS seems more sensitive. Is it a box problem or an antenna problem?

I have used a SBS1 bog standard aerial on it and the Airnav with its aerial at the same location (windowsill in bedroom). The SBS1 picked up more traffic and held it for longer. I then put a spare SBS1 aerial on the RB via a BNC to SMA connector and this did not increase the number of hits.  I have found a few overflights at FL360 right above my house have not been picked up by RB even sitting in the garden with the aerial in the clear.

[AirNav Support]

Hi B744,

Regarding the light going out. Does the software indicate the hardware has been disconnected, do the flights on the screen all timeout?

Secondly you have topic already on the subject of callsigns. As mentioned in that topic we need to see some screenshots as we have not experienced that problem. Please send them to support, with out details its hard for to rectify any issues (this relates to your issue as well RoadRunner)

Independent testing has been done on external antennas using splitters and RadarBox picks the same or in most cases slightly more than the SBS.

Hope that helps.

[b744]

lights go out and the hardware connected box turns from green to red and says not connected.
How can I send a sreen shot to illustrate my sbs picks up more contacts and for longer without freezing/disconnecting ? As for the callsigns if that crops up again, sure I'll forward you the screen.
What I would very much like to know is why the radarbox is not working as well as your independant testers found and when you will fix the problem that has left some users with a product that is not working as advertised .
I'm sure you'd agree if you'd bought any product which stops working without known cause, then you might be a little unhappy and ask for a minimum of a full explanation to the cause and then the steps that are and will be taken to get the product at least upto the advertised standard.
rgds

[AirNav Support]

Hi b744,

Yes thats the hardware disconnect issue, hence why you are seeing less flights when it stops. Take the screenshot and contact support and they will advise you where to send them.

So far we have sold delivered over 65 RadarBoxes and the network is filled with customers who are logged in 24/7. This hardware disconnect bug is only affecting a small amount of users and hence this is why it wasn't caught in the beta stages.

Obviously the bug is serious issue and we apologise for any inconvenience for those customers who are experiencing it andwe are doing our upmost to have a a patch in the next few weeks or earlier. We postive this will rectified soon.
The issue is related to a software bug not a hardware issue.

Hope that helps.

[b744]

its not just when the box disconnects that I see less flights.
When its operating normally,there are 5-10% of flights that the sbs picks up that RB dosent. Only a guess from a layman, but surely its down to the individual box's ability to process the data that the aerial picks up...hence the wrong callsign problem. Airnav made the claim that the processing ability would be second to none....I hope it will be when the fix is released, because thats not the case at the moment.

[Allocator]

I've got RB and Basestation (BS) running side by side now, as RB runs without any hardware dropouts on the laptop and BS is on the desktop.  I've set the timeouts on both to more or less the same and I can't really see much difference in performance between the 2 boxes.  With the RB network data off, RB is picking up some traffic that BS isn't and vice versa.  I've got the external antenna for the SBS-1, but I'm sure that the length of cable overcomes the height advantage, as the RB hit rate didn't really improve when I connected it.

Of course, it's the RB network data that really makes the difference, although it takes a bit of getting used to the mixed live tracks and the delayed network data.  I'm really looking forward to getting the "trails" rather than the leader lines (which I hate and have switched off) in the next version.

I must admit that I was a bit hacked off with the disconnects on the desktop, and I have no idea why the laptop should run without this problem (he said looking sideways at the laptop - still OK), but I hope that the error logs that have been sent in allow an early fix for the problem.

[AirNav Development]

Before the release of AirNav RadarBox, as you may imagine, all the beta testing team has made direct comparisons with our competition. After the release the same has been done.

The result has always been that due to RadarBox Hardware increased sensitivity it receives usually more flights than SBS-1. Usually at a rate of 10 flights for RadarBox and 6-7 for SBS-1. This is caused by the way the hardware has been developed and the hardware architecture AirNav Systems decided to implement.

We have received some messages stating that some users are experiencing unscheduled hardware disconnects and others, with some kind of amplifiers, start to receive 1-2 msgs per second only on extremely busy periods. We are investigating the two problems deeply and a patch will be released soon. As you may imagine these tasks involve a lot of work and investigation (specially on hardware/driver related problems).

Expect great news in the next coming days.

[Protzenalp]

At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter what the independent testers reported, if the perception in the market place (and that is certainly MY perception) is that RB picks up less than SBS, then you have an issue that needs to be addressed.

I'm not being argumentative, so please don't construe it that way. I spent good money on the RB, despite having an SBS, so I have no interest in badmouthing it for the sake of it, but I (as well as all RB owners) do have an interest in seeing improvements that make my investment worthwhile.