Going outside with your radar box...

[Johnn]

Hey There,
Has anyone tried taking their car out with the RB + Laptop, do you find that you get better signal when you are on a high hill, with only the standard antenna?, or does a external antenna beat everything?
Also, how much range are you getting?


Thanks again
John

[Allocator]

I put the standard antenna on my car outside the house - in the clear - and I got better coverage than using my external antenna on the house with 15m of cable!

There is a thread on using RB portable - I'll try and find it and post the link.

Edit: Here it is:

http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=746.0

[tarbat]

Sitting in the car with the standard antenna on the roof of the car next to Inverness airport runway gives excellent coverage.  As ever, line-of-sight, clearance from obstructions, and height are far more important than the antenna itself.

I keep the standard antenna for mobile use, and have my permanent loft-mounted antenna and pre-amp for at-home use where reception conditions are more challenging (in the loft, surrounding hills, etc.).

I even have a nice hard briefcase that holds my netbook (NC10), Radarbox and antenna for mobile use.  It greatly adds to the hobby of dot-spotting, and I plan on getting out-and-about even more this summer with my Radarbox.

[CoastGuardJon]

Hi John, I went up on Westbury White Horse Wilts (map ref ST898516 about 725' asl with a good horizon) a couple of days after Christmas (29/12) with mine - too many aircraft to count on screen.  I've just gone down through My Log and counted 98 a/c in under 10 minutes recorded with just the standard twig stuck on the roof of our 306.    It has to be said, it's an ideal location!

[Jez]

I put the standard antenna on my car outside the house - in the clear - and I got better coverage than using my external antenna on the house with 15m of cable!

There is a thread on using RB portable - I'll try and find it and post the link.

Edit: Here it is:

http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=746.0

I noticed this when I took my RadarBox up to Manchester the other week. I'd get around 25 contacts or so when at my Parent's house (which is about 4 miles from the airport), but that jumped to over 60+ at the Aviation Viewing Park with the antenna attached to the car roof.

Is it down to the antenna being attached to a large metal object rather than a CD-sized disc?

[Allocator]

No, the size of the metal plate that comes with the RB antenna is the right size to act as a groundplane for the frequency being detected - 1090 MHz.

It's just a case of getting the antenna out in the open - it's better to have the antenna 5 feet above ground in the clear, than at 30 feet in the air with a long cable run and other buildings all around.

[robbieinderry]

No, the size of the metal plate that comes with the RB antenna is the right size to act as a groundplane for the frequency being detected - 1090 MHz.

It's just a case of getting the antenna out in the open - it's better to have the antenna 5 feet above ground in the clear, than at 30 feet in the air with a long cable run and other buildings all around.

i love taking my airnav out in the car, if i take it 6 feet a way from my house and walls of next neighbors house there a great change on my receive,out in the car near water is the best,and up hills are great,i think there should be a competition only using small aerial short lead and laptop only, in amature radio we call it Summits On The Air (SOTA) just a though,all the best robbie

[GlynH]

Hey There,
Has anyone tried taking their car out with the RB + Laptop, do you find that you get better signal when you are on a high hill, with only the standard antenna?, or does a external antenna beat everything?
Also, how much range are you getting?
Thanks again
John

Hi John,

There was a great example from testmonkey some time back;

http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=1324.0

Kind regards,
-=Glyn=-

[Bigyun2000]

Hi all.

I take my RB2009 to Manchester Viewing Park regularly and stick the original antenna on top of my Vauxhall Zafira.

Usually North is very poor but generally my range is southern Ireland thru to Hull and down into France on a good day.

I have now got the external antenna which i am thinking of putting on a small telescopic pole with just about 3 meters of cable and the JIM M-75.

Will let you know how i get on.

[Fenris]

Hi all.

I take my RB2009 to Manchester Viewing Park regularly and stick the original antenna on top of my Vauxhall Zafira.

Usually North is very poor but generally my range is southern Ireland thru to Hull and down into France on a good day.

I have now got the external antenna which i am thinking of putting on a small telescopic pole with just about 3 meters of cable and the JIM M-75.

Will let you know how i get on.

I suspect that the JIM will find the RF environment at Manchester rather difficult to cope with, it's too wide band to work well. I would not advise using it.

[jgrloit]

When using Radio Broadband - AirNav will currently still show your location as their understanding, from the IP address, "from their documentation".
Could Airnav consider adding a flag to the preferences to show Radio Broadband is being used.
Whould they also consider accepting the users location from a GPS receiver, via NMEA input - over either a Serial or USB port ?
It would help IF non-positional Aircraft data is ever passed over the AirNav Network!!!