Loss of Range

[ACW367]

Missing the point - If the outer Braid is damaged even with the aerial base on the car roof you will have no electrical capacitive connection to what you are using as the groundplane.
I had this happen here, fixed the braid and the maximum signal range went back up from 30Nm to over 100Nm  and in a bad location!!

I am not electrically minded.  Would you mind explaining what you mean by 'the outer braid', do you mean the felt on the bottom of the magnet.  I have been suffering a serious degredation of performance.  All the leads seem to be in good shape but the felt under the magnet is badly eroded and the metal of the magnet is showing through. 

Would putting some cloth underneath the magnet help or am I barking up the wrong tree??

[Allocator]

The "outer braid" is the outer part of the antenna cable (the woven silver bit made up of thin wires) as seen here in this picture.  The centre bit goes to the pin in the antenna plug, the outer is connected to the body of the plug.  It the centre cable isn't connected to Radarbox via the plug, you will get no aircraft.  If the outer isn't connected, then you will get very poor returns.

[9M-ISJ]

Check your polar diagram, it will still show what you could once get.

Save it, file, screen shot, save to file.

Then go into preffs and clear the file. It will then start replotting it. Let it run for 24 hours or so, and see if it is vastly different to our original one. (see mine above)

If nothing else in your rig, or your environment has changed contact AirNav support - you could have the same problem I have (still unknown, but very real)

9M

[QF1]

Hi there 9M-ISJ

I hope that you will let us know how the "repair" goes.  I don't hink that my RB has had the expected range right from the time I bought it.  I have tested with three separate aerials and it does not perform as well as my SBS.  I am waiting to try out someone else's RB with my aerial and his aerial, but I think I may also be returning mine for a repair, although that is a little more problematic from "down under".

Cheers
M

[defcon333]

hi all
i reported the same problem on feb 2nd. I have read all the above entries, after that i looked up the device manager and ooops NO ANRB entry!!! in the section USB all those drivers on the desktop pc and the notebook are gone. witchcraft? could anyone tell how to reinstall the correct drivers and where to get them from?
herbert

[Allocator]

They should be in the Drivers directory.  See the Utilities website page here for the RB directory structure:

http://radarbox.gofreeserve.com/html/downloads.html

Watch the USB section of device manager when you plug in your RB USB lead so you can see what it is calling itself.

Right click on it and go to the Update Drivers option and browse to the Drivers directory.

You might get the odd "File not Found" message, but just use Windows Search to find the file and browse to it and click Try Again.

If none of this makes sense, let us know :-)

[9M-ISJ]

Hi,

An interesting update to this thread.

I finally managed to stop using my 75percent down on coverage unit (I was still making numbers into LHR with it - so tough to switch off!) and sent it to Walters and Stanton for repair as instructed by AirNav.

Posted yesterday (Monday) and after speaking to W&S today they tell me all is fixed and it will be posted back to me tonight.

When I asked what the problem was, they told me that a "static filter in the unit had been overloaded" and that was causing the drop off in range. When I asked what might have caused that they told me that it can either build up (worrying) or can be a result if the unit has been placed too near the aerial in an area of high data stream (ie a busy airport).... so I am putting it down to three days of usage in a hotel room in ATL with the aerial only a foot or two away from the 'box'

Interesting and a little worrying!

Hope to get the box back tomorrow.... and hope even more than it is indeed fixed

Paul

[bratters]

Thanks for that Paul - sounds like identical synptoms. Working OK - just lost about 75% as you say. I'll give W&S a bell and se if we can get it sorted.

When you say "it can either build up" what does that mean please?

John

[flightchecker]

Hi Paul and John,

AirNav won't like, but nevertheless have a look at the posting below.

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

Looks like both of you belong to the "handfull" of users, suffering from the problem it is about in this thread. There are others covering the same subject.

Regards
Karl

[9M-ISJ]

Very interesting reading Karl,

I am certainly being told that static was to blame for my loss of RX.

However I do not own an external aerial, and the damage to the unit happened whislt I was using the unit in the US - with the standard kit aerial (sometimes in hotel rooms and some times on the parcel shelf or roof of the hire car - on the roof while stationary, on the parcel shelf whilst driving)

So,, could I have had a build up of static through the kit aerial???

Seriously concerned about how to use my RB on future trips away from home

[AirNav Support]

If it was damage by static then you are the first 9M-ISJ to have that from the default antenna and that shows how rare it is. The thread mentioned above we have posted on many times to explain to customers that they should use antennas which reduce the threat of static or by using dc blocks which many preamps have anyway.

In your case 9M-ISJ, there must have been something different in your enviroment which caused the damage or damage in transit.

[9M-ISJ]

OK, forewarned (now!) is forearmed.

Where do I get a dc block or preamp??

Please let me know the names of some suppliers and part numbers and I will order some up tonight - I dont want a repeat situation

[AirNav Support]

For the default antenna we don't recommend anything. It shouldn't pick up enough static to damage unless placed in conditions with very high static.

9M-ISJ, can you confirm you only noticed the issue when you came back to the UK, or did it occur while using the in states? Trying to deduce whether it could have got damaged during transit.

[9M-ISJ]

Hi,

Range loss only noticed on return to UK (within 5mins - couldnt see anything in the Biggin hold).

Sat in the viewing park at CLT on the second to last day of the trip we could certainly 'see' Jetblues - one of the few things to track in the US! - over the coast (much further than it was getting once back home). I do seem to recall NOT seeing any flights using the same tracks on the final day. Put that down to them using a different routing.... could be more to it.

The unit was not dropped or anything of that nature during the trip. It was transported in a padded wallet, within its own pocket in a camera bag (Crumpler)

Could TSA Xray machines have an effect??

[Fenris]

For the default antenna we don't recommend anything. It shouldn't pick up enough static to damage unless placed in conditions with very high static.

My suggestion to your hardware designers would be to place a couple of 10K SM resistors in parallel across your antenna input on the PCB, this will allow the discharge of static before the protection device fires without affecting the RF insertion loss by more than 0.1dB or so.

The problem with the various semiconductor/zinc oxide type ESD protection devices is once they have had to deal with a high energy event they often go short circuit, or low enough resistance to seriously reduce the signal level. A few cents spent on the resistors should reduce the chances of this sort of damage further still.