Ten days later

[paagats]

G'day all from Peter in Sydney (AU)

I have been using the RadarBox for 10 days and generaly speaking I find it quite good.
As an AirNavSuite4 and AirNav Decoder user I mainly wanted the RadarBox (or SBS-1) so I could log those aircraft that don't use acars. This means I can now log Virgin Blue, Virgin Atlantic, British AW, Cathay, R.Brunei MasKargo etc., and the commuter a/c plus the odd military.

I have already posted a few 'gripes' these being the Report Generator and Contact times (UTC). These are both caused by the system using UTC times (we are 10 hrs ahead of GMT).
When generating a report it picks up 'today' as anything from midnight (UTC) so all the logs for the 'previous' day are not picked up. I get round this by producing 2 reports then editing them into one so I can post reports to spotters groups.

It would be nice to be able to set the time as local.

Other problems I am finding is that not all a/c that appear on My Flights end up in My Log, not many, but probably 10 a day in my case.

The refresh problem mentioned in in other posts needs looking at as some a/c stay in My Flights well past the time set by me (5 mins) moving the mouse over to the map jogs it sometimes but not always. (clicking Show All usually fixes the problem)

I have moved the aerial about 10 times with mixed results. The best results were on day 1 when it just sat on my desk.
I stuffed up by having to 'splice' an extension (lack of SMA connnectors locally) so probably have a slight loss in signal strength but still only get a/c that are within 20-30 miles from home. (sorry, used to acars with a big VHF aerial)
It now sits in the gutter (on the plate provided) as I was missing out on the early morning arrivals for some reason so tomorrow morning will be the test.

Hopefully the upgrade will fix most of the major issues raised in this forum.

Cheers
Peter

[AirNav Support]

Hi Peter,

We have noted your issues and are working on them

Regarding your antenna position. Try and place it as high as possible and you should get an improvement in reception.

[paagats]

Thank you

Actually I have removed the extra cable and now have the antenna on the window sill.
A runway change at SYD has seen a big improvement to number of movements plus the reception greatly improved once I had the antenna indoors. (Still too far away from the actual airport (50 km) to get stuff heading east (Pacific area/NZ/USA etc)

I tried for a higher position but could only attach to a mast but antenna was horizontal (90 degrees) so not ideal.

Apart from the other issues, looking forward to a reasonable amount of hits today.

[Brisbane]

Following an earlier posting, I placed my supplied antenna on a small uptuned metallic dish, this has improved the reception quite a bit. Has anybody tried an HBA1090 aerial from Airband online? Thinking of getting one as they do a clip-on version that you can place virtually anywhere, window frame etc.

[paagats]

Thanks "Brisbane" I'll suss it out.
Got a new laptop on the weekend waiting to get it hooked up to the internet so I can use the RadarBox on the move.

My mothers' place is in a good position up high and airport approach is basically line of sight and 15km closer than me.

[Allocator]

Following an earlier posting, I placed my supplied antenna on a small uptuned metallic dish, this has improved the reception quite a bit. Has anybody tried an HBA1090 aerial from Airband online? Thinking of getting one as they do a clip-on version that you can place virtually anywhere, window frame etc.

My RB antenna came with a black metal disk about the size of a CD with the words "place antenna here" in the middle - so I did and it works a treat!

Didn't you get the disk (groundplane) or did you thow it away with the box?

[Roadrunner]

I tend to use a tin tray about 14 inches diameter under mine and that is god except it wont fit on the window sill

[Brisbane]

I did get the groundplane which I used initially, but heard that if you place this on anything metallic it would improve reception. Whilst it's not startling, I did notice an improvement in range. My antenna is just sitting on my desk, which is upstairs with only a velux window, so no clear view. Suppose I'm getting about 80 mile pick-ups with this set-up. Thought about extending the lead from the aerial, but support advised against this. Have now bought a 5m USB extension lead so that I can run the box in another room with a proper window, so will see how that goes.     

[paagats]

I use the ground plane without any problem.

I tried a 5m cable extension which didn't do too much but as stated previously I had to splice the cable.
I looked up the Airband site and thought  GBP75 a bit steep for an antenna.

Ordered an SBS-1 5db antenna locally for $A48 which I will only use if I'm away from home. Just needs a BNC to SMA connector. Just stick on the roof of the car if at an airport.

With my current setup, antenna on top of the built-in wardrobe, I am now getting a/c up to 40 nm plus depending on a/c height and position, big improvement - over 200 a/c a day instead of 170/180. (Over 220 today already with a few more before curfew) Not much compared to European/USA airports but I still miss out on a/c near the airport that don't come this way (West of Sydney Airport). This compares to 300-400 acars flights a day.

We have hardly any flyovers in Sydney only a few going between Asia & NZ but these vary daily as they sometimes go further north or south. They can be tracked for quite some time as they basically track to Sydney Airport then turn. On a good day a maximum of about 7 each way.

[paagats]

I finally got my laptop working with the RadarBox.
Bought a router this morning, set it up and made sure laptop was getting through to the Internet.
Then able to 'register' RadarBox and running beautifuly, probably better than the PC.
Moved whole set up to garage with antenna halfway up tin roof (limit of cable).

Now picking up lots more a/c and from a greater distance (80nm+) so very impressed with plenty of room for improvement. Next test is to take it to an airport and have fun.

I think the laptop is working better because it is a) new, and b) nothing else running.

Pc was running wacars, AirNav4 and Radarbox plus Norton/Windows updates coming through etc.

Will keep you updated.

cheers Happy Pete!

[Roadrunner]

I had to dedicate my laptop to my Radarbox and took almost everything else off it. Only then did it start to perform but still not as well as the desktop PC although there is not a lot in it. Have been using SBS1 all day on PC with radarbox running alongside on laptop. Anything that came within 20 miles of me was picked up and the data was same as on the SBS1. However, the refresh rate seemed different which makes RB more jerky. Still both are very impressive and I still cant believe that the China airways dot on my PC sceen corresponds with the 747 just going over my house at FL360 !

[paagats]

Thats great

Yep it's great to watch the map and then go outside and see the a/c on top.

Left my laptop running all night but it must of gone to sleep as this morning it had picked up virtually nothing (at 0615); once I touched the mouse pad it was okay. Will have to find out what goes on. Usually between 0430 and 0600 most of the internationals start arriving but only got G-VATL out of all of them.

Today very cloudy in Sydney (still winter here) and laptop is in (warm) lounge room but is on track for a good day.

[Roadrunner]

Left my laptop running all night but it must of gone to sleep as this morning it had picked up virtually nothing (at 0615); once I touched the mouse pad it was okay. Will have to find out what goes on.

Your laptop probably went into hibernation. You need to disable (Turn off) all the power saving tools when using Radarbox. There are laptop specific settings that tell the USB sockets to stop after a certain amount of inactivity (keystrokes). Have a look and switch them off then it should go a lot longer.

Mike

[Brisbane]

Following on from my posting on 25th, tried my supplied aerial with a 5m USB lead so that I could run it from a proper window. Did'nt improve much so repacked it and back to Maplins.
As I have only got a velux window, could'nt place it on a flat surface. Last night  I thought I try opening the window and placed the groundplane and aerial carefully on it then close it, did'nt slide down. Wow, what a difference. Now picking stuff up 150+ miles away. Now got to wait for the patch so that it'll run for more than 30 minutes, and I'll be well chuffed.

[piper-pilot]

You need to turn off all powersaving and screen savers and the problem should be resolved.
Also check in power saving on a note book that the hard drive and usb ports are set to stay on always.
btw where are you?

Chris