Interesting Observations

[Edwards]

Hi Everyone,

First time poster on this forum, but I have been viewing it since December when I got my Radarbox. The Radar box is located just south of BHX by 40-50miles and gets good coverage of England and wales and works very well now its running V1.4. Typically 400msgs/second.

Just a few points that I was wondering if anyone else noticed or had any ideas about.

When an aircraft is giving lat/long information I am able to track it on the map to the edge of my range diagram until it times out, as you would expect it to as thats the reception limit.

But after 30seconds to a mintue later it comes back again on the flight list with altitude information etc, but no map plot. Is this because its so far on the edge of recception limits that the signal from aircraft is too weak to for the radar box to successfully decode Lat/Long position or is it down to something else? I have noticed that the aircraft stays in the flight list with updating information for a further 5 minuntes before it eventually disappears.

Another point is when viewing other aircraft such as general aviation and military aircraft.

Sometimes when looking at a PA28 for example I get a height reading of 33000ft. Unless this PA28 has one serious engine Im guessing somethings not quite right there either? Is this also likely to be down to the fact the aircraft is on the edge of reception limits?

Finally, has anyone else noticed that sometimes the information in the flight list can be incorrect? For example, the description of the aircraft would be an A330 in the actype list when infact its a B738 and the picture shows it to be a B738 aswell? I have noticed this information to sometimes correct itself aswell.

I know these are only minor points and happen very rarely but they have got me interested in finding out what the cause is.

Sorry for the long post, I look forward to the replies you guys have

P.S. The radar box is left running 24/7 whether this has an affect I dont know

All the best

Edwards

[AirNav Support]

Hi Edwards,

Firstly running RadarBox 24/7 should have no adverse affect at all.

You need good reception to get the lat long position as they require more data to be shown and hence can be degraded when an aircraft is further away. Hence you will only get the Mode-S replies.

The PA28 example, may be due to a transponder malfunctioning.

Lastly we haven't seen the aircraft type changing as you mentioned. Was it a particular aircraft?

[Edwards]

Hi Support,

Thanks for getting back to me. Thanks for confirming that the map plot is down to degraded signal reception.

As far as the aircraft types go, I have seen it happen with more than one aircraft, sometimes two at the same time can be displaying incorrect aircraft type information in the myFlights list. I will keep an eye out and try to get a screen capture of it so you can see what I am referring to as I haven't explained it very well.

All the best.

[Allocator]

PA28 for example I get a height reading of 33000ft. Unless this PA28 has one serious engine Im guessing somethings not quite right there either? Is this also likely to be down to the fact the aircraft is on the edge of reception limits?

Finally, has anyone else noticed that sometimes the information in the flight list can be incorrect? For example, the description of the aircraft would be an A330 in the actype list when infact its a B738 and the picture shows it to be a B738 aswell? I have noticed this information to sometimes correct itself aswell.

Hi Edwards,

Have you checked the GAS database manually to see if the error is there, rather than the RadarBox Database?

There are sometimes errors with GAS, although these are usually corrected fairly quickly, as I'm sure there are errors in the RadarBox database.  Remember that the RadarBox database will be autopopulated from GAS when you are working with an internet connection.

Type the Mode S Hex code you see in the aircraft list into the GAS search here:

http://www.gatwickaviationsociety.org.uk/modeslookup.asp

You can then manually update the RadarBox database if you like using the Database Explorer in the File menu - it all depends how serious you are and how many records you want to edit :-)

[tarbat]

Remember that the RadarBox database will be autopopulated from GAS when you are working with an internet connection.

I didn't think it worked like that.  I though the Radarbox database gets populated from the Airnav servers, and the Airnav servers can get data from GAS.  I don't think Radarbox ever does a direct lookup to GAS.

[Allocator]

Remember that the RadarBox database will be autopopulated from GAS when you are working with an internet connection.

I didn't think it worked like that.  I though the Radarbox database gets populated from the Airnav servers, and the Airnav servers can get data from GAS.  I don't think Radarbox ever does a direct lookup to GAS.

tarbat, you are absolutely correct - poor phrasing on my part.  When I say "Gas autopopulate" I do of course mean populated by the AirNav server which queries the GAS server.  Quite how this works I don't know.  I think that tha AirNav server only looks at the GAS server when it detects a new aircraft.  Maybe this is where to non-populate problems are occurring?  We don't know enough about the logic here to say really.

[Edwards]

Hi Allocator,

Thanks for that, didn't occur to me to check the GAS database next time I see an example of what looks like incorrect information I'll run it through there first to see if thats at fault.

In the mean time I have gotten some example screenshots of various aircraft giving high (impossible) altitudes. Seems to display the altitude from another aircraft above in the list in the one example.





All the best.

Edwards

[Allocator]

Edwards, yes, these 3 Mode S codes do show these aircraft in the GAS database.  They also show the same in the airframes.org database.

So, either the aircraft are wrong, or the altitudes are wrong.