Excellent new antenna in the U.S.

[dudbaker]

Hi

My supllied attenna lead is maked RG-174.

[anorak]

I ordered from Rocket radio, Solid State Electronics and Westlakes on the 22/01/09 all arrived by yesterday.Total cost so far incuding 2x 20 mt of westflex w103, all fittings, etc is (don`t tell my wife, please)  £224.57. Just waiting for the guy to come and rig the 2 aerials.
Sky Scan DX V1300 Discone Radio Scanner Antenna Aerial
SSE-1090SJ mk 2 ANTENNA

[shannon]

hello.
       just a query regarding cable type i have 50 ohm cable comimg from outside antenna to my radar box inside in house.i know this has been brought up before and i have looked at websites regarding cable type and length from antenna to radar box.but the thing i would like to know is rg 213 or 214 better and how far can u go with out loosing to much recption.i am mo

I ordered from Rocket radio, Solid State Electronics and Westlakes on the 22/01/09 all arrived by yesterday.Total cost so far incuding 2x 20 mt of westflex w103, all fittings, etc is (don`t tell my wife, please)  £224.57. Just waiting for the guy to come and rig the 2 aerials.
Sky Scan DX V1300 Discone Radio Scanner Antenna Aerial
SSE-1090SJ mk 2 ANTENNA

I ordered from Rocket radio, Solid State Electronics and Westlakes on the 22/01/09 all arrived by yesterday.Total cost so far incuding 2x 20 mt of westflex w103, all fittings, etc is (don`t tell my wife, please)  £224.57. Just waiting for the guy to come and rig the 2 aerials.
Sky Scan DX V1300 Discone Radio Scanner Antenna Aerial
SSE-1090SJ mk 2 ANTENNA

ving my antenna up higher next week when weather improves and hope it will soon.

[anorak]

Hi shannon, I`m a numpty on the technicals, but try Henry at,
http://whwestlake.110mb.com
he was very patient and seems to come recommended.
The chap rigging mine has just phoned, so hope to have them up soon.

[Storm]

Quick question guys: I already have the ELAD setup, does this antenna integrate into my existing setup with the masthead preamp? Or does the cable go directly from the antenna to the box? If so, then what connection adapters do I need. My current cable is 13 meters long. Whats the best configuration for me?

[flightchecker]

Hi all of the above,

following some earlier postings here,  AirNav puts it to the customers risk, should a RB suffer from harm when opererated with another (outdoor) antenna, rather than the one supplied with RB itself.
Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) due to an outdoor antenna whose design does not consider preventive measures regarding this phenomenon supposed to be the reason for this (AirNavs)  consideration.
A proven precautionary measure against the above could be realized by an antenna design that applies “DC Grounding”. (Meaning the “radiating" / "active” element “tightened to ground” in terms of “DC” at its base [outer connector]  the RF but remaining unattenuated on its further way via the antennas inner connector / coaxial cable to the receivers input finally. Electrostatic charges developing are thus “bled to ground”, the latter of course to be provided by  connecting the antennas (metal) base / foot to an earth ground (house earth) by "proper means".

Now the specification of the antenna that this posting is pointing at unfortunatly describes :

               DC Grounded (as) : A metal ground plane is not needed with this design

just indicating, that this antenna's, others than a “groundplane-” / “discone”- antenna's design, does not require the typical “radials” or metal “ground plane” (also refered to as “counterweight”), which obviously has nothing to do with the “DC Grounding” described before.

No possibility either, to ground the antenna itself by means of its mast mounting, (as a "primary" measure against ESD) the foot / base  not being of the metal type as usually found.
Not but a problem so far, as that could be realized at the connectors (end of pigtail) plane.

Beside of the above, specs appearing very impressive concerning a “9dbi” gain. Would be worth to compare with other antennas by means of plotted diagrams if could be performed by a user ?  Personally  I do not believe in such a spec too much. (More a theoretical / calculated figure, and a lot of "believing in" as is common to antennas.)

Another link, now and then refered to in this and the “other forum” leads to an antenna, also dedicated for a 1090MHz operation, that by its specification / construction / description takes Electrostatic Discharge into account, making use of a “DC grounded” design indeed:
                           
                                http://www.ssejim.co.uk/26-sseads1090sj.htm


Would be interested to listen to AirNavs comment on the above subject, and NO: its not only me that does NOT consider lightning protectors, surge protectors, DC- Blocks and mast-preamps to be a preventive measure against ESD hits.
The protectors "firing tresholds” could be well above such a limit, that ESD already might have done harm to a receivers input circuitry (even by slowly detoriating its specs over time).
A preamp may protect its successing receiver, but be a victim of ESD itself if not protected (internally or externally).

Regards


Karl

[anorak]

Is that a yes or no then?

[bratters]

Flightchecker - I think the points you make are valid. Personally I get the impression that RB is very much a "living room" receiver. Nothing wrong with that because it's a very good one, but when you stand it beside say a Kenwood R-5000 receiver or even a Realistic base scanner, there is a vast difference in construction.

At the design stage Airnav opted for an SMA connector plus ultra light aerial and also chose not to include an SMA/BNC/PL259 adaptor in the pack.  However as there are many using outside aerials and as I haven't heard of problems I assume that the RBs are sufficiently robust.

Quote from flightchecker  "following some earlier postings here,  AirNav puts it to the customers risk, should a RB suffer from harm when opererated with another (outdoor) antenna, rather than the one supplied with RB itself"
Incidentally, where did you get that from? Not heard it myself before.

[flightchecker]

Hard to answer, Dave.

I am runing a "WIMO GP1090" antenna, NOT !!! "DC grounded" as isn't the "postings antenna", BUT its mast connected to  the "house earth" by means of an appropriate "earth wire", and the antennas (metallic) foot clamped to the  (metallic) mast mentioned. Appears to be a fairly good measure that "catches" / "bleeds" electrostatic buildup at its "point of origin".

If I hadn't the "Wimo" (running since more than two years without any problems so far) my first choice would be the "other antenna" mentioned before. (despite of its lower "gain").

Karl

[flightchecker]

Kindly have a look at this thread, bratters

http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=977.0


Regards

Karl

[AirNav Support]

Karl,

We have talked about ESD at length many times, just like in the topic you have posted so we won't go into detail but we will say the following:

 Out of the 2000+ RB sold only a handful have come back with ESD damage. That tells you its rare when it happens but yes it can happen. In certain atmospheric conditions the chances of ESD are higher.

We have recommended to those customers that a DC Block is the best way to protect from ESD. So far we have not had any return of RadarBox with ESD damage which has used a DC Block.

Just like any product which connects to an antenna you can choose what antenna you want, but you need to be aware of grounding antennas in certain conditions, not to mention have protection against lightning, a lightning strike doesn't have to be direct hit to cause damage.

Anyhow all of this and more has been said before, please use the search function forum.

[Yachtie45]

Hello to all and Airnav in particular,

 Out of the 2000+ RB sold only a handful have come back with ESD damage. That tells you its rare when it happens but yes it can happen. In certain atmospheric conditions the chances of ESD are higher.

We have recommended to those customers that a DC Block is the best way to protect from ESD. So far we have not had any return of RadarBox with ESD damage which has used a DC Block.

@Airnav
So you still leave it to the customer.
Tell us how someone using an outdoorantenna with a reasonable length of coax can judge whether the setup is
perceptible to statics or not.

The only way is to use a so called DC-Blocker in the first place already.
As a protective measure - always.

Now your recommendation implies that the customer is looking for a suitable external DC-Block,
cutting the precious coax, having both cable ends fitted with extra male plugs to accomodate that little
box with its female counterparts.

Airnav is proudly advertising RB as slim and smallest formfactor around.

Now question at Airnav

Why can you not integrate such a DC-Block inside at the antenna terminal ?

You might as well then proudly advertize the RB with a DC-protected Front End

kind regards
Klaus

[AirNav Support]

Yachtie45,

Not sure what you mean we leave it to the customer. We have provided you with an indoor antenna with the RadarBox and on our site we have an antenna kit for outdoors. Both with the indoor antenna and the external we have had no ESD failures.

Obviously if you want to purchase any other antenna its best to take precuations such ones which are grounded. High risk conditions of ESD are where there are high winds and heavy rain.

The RB does have limited protection against ESD just like any other device. Adding a DC block would mean there could be loss in senstivity and hence its not worth it considering the rarity of the events and what we provide.

[spikem]

Just a gentle reminder that the original topic for this thread was for the DPD antenna and not the suscepibility of the RB to ESD. This has been discussed at great length in another thread and topic closed.

I for one would be grateful if this thread could be left to discuss this antenna without having to sift through all this additional material that could be posted in another thread.

spikem

[flightchecker]

I for one would be grateful if this thread could be left to discuss this antenna without having to sift through all this additional material that could be posted in another thread.

Agree spikem,

most hopefully looking forward to the "experience reports"  prior being announced  in this posting.


Karl