DPD Aerial

[Canonjohns40D]

It's up it's up. Finally the aerial was mounted on the roof this evening. Initial thoughts?

WOW WOW WOW!!!!!!!


I have attached a screen shot of the polar diagram running for approx 2 hourss. I have had Tornados a first for me and well the polar diagram says it all. The aerial is on a 6ft pole on the chimney stack.

I can't wait for a full day of traffic. My flights would normally be showing around 10 maybe 14 aircraft on a good night late evening .This evening after it was erected I was in the 50+ mark.

Regards

John

[RodBearden]

Great, John!

Looking forward to tomorrow night's instalment :-)

Rod

[Neilman2424]

HI ,

I have been reading all the reports on this anenna for a few nights now !
It sounds fantastic !.
Dave at DPD is a very helpful chap ...i have ordered mine tonight and look forward to putting it into service. thanks to everyone that posted the reception plots. going to be using a temp antenna mounted in the loft untill i get the dpd and install it .
cheers guys
Neil

[Canonjohns40D]

Hi Neil glad the info was helpful and good luck with your order. I found Dave very helpful and the product is a very good build. Mine is up just a week now and I'm thrilled with the reception. i've attached a screen shot taken just now for info, this diagram has been running since Monday this week.

The aerial has bouncing around this past few days in pretty strong winds and i'm delighted to report this has had little or no effect on the coverage. It was due to the winds etc that I cleared the polar diagram and started it afresh.

Anyhow enjoy the aerial when it arrives and get ready for plenty of long days and late nights.

Regards

John

[coptercrazy]

Hi guys, as a newbie and a non-user (for the time being - I've been told that's my b'day pressie in August), I've been watching and reading the various threads with interest. Living between BHX and CVT (equi-distance) and wondering just what I might see if I plugged a RB in -- I would want to add a "live-link" onto my general aviation website -- so these results are just what I need to aid my fellow 'spotters' when I get myself set up on-line.
Keep up the good work guys, you've got me hooked at least.

[Neilman2424]

hi john ,

Thanks for the diagram, my antenna is on its way to me and look forward to
Getting it installed. I have not got many mounting options as this house has no chimney stack and the walls are tiled 1/2 way up. So no wall brackets. Iam going to mount it on the gable end and have found a special bracket available only in the USA.

 There are two TV antennas on a mast there already which I will take down so I don’t see it as a problem. I have to get myself a 3 section ladder as my current ladder will not reach.
 It’s not ideal but iam limited to where I can mount antennas the  reason why my dual band  airband antenna is loft mounted but that works very well for me. I ran an experiment with a Radar Rama antenna from Watson loft mounted fed with 10 mtrs of w103 reception was very poor worse than the supplied RB antenna which is in the office window upstairs inside. I suspect that this is a very poor version of this antenna and pretty useless.

I will for the time being will continue to use the supplied rb antenna until the DPD antenna has arrived and has been installed. I may try something else in the loft in the meantime.

I have attached a screenshot of what iam picking up on the supplied RB antenna from inside my office  with the antenna sitting in the window facing south.

Neil

[GrimReaperuk]

Neil,
Regarding the performance of the Radar Rama (freebie with RB from Moonraker) I have to disagree.  Mounted outside on a 6ft pole (no preamp) I was getting fairly solid/continuous tracking of aircraft at 200+nm (FL350) and intermittent tracking on AC at 220-240nm.  Mounting my aerial in the loft attenuated the signal somewhat and I would say 160-180nm (FL350) solid contacts.  My roof is thin blue slate.  I would like to change the aerial and this is based on some of the threads mentioning electrostatic discharge if mounted outside, and that is where I need to get my aerial.  I monitor the threads closely for the DPD and would like to see the same for the Watson Radar Extender.  For me the DPD looks like it underperforms the Radar Rama, unless I am missing something here (above pictures show network as well). Here is the Radar Rama setup and compare ranges and polar plot(no network):

http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=2437.0

Regards

Gary

[Canonjohns40D]

Hi Gary I have attached my DPD polar diagram minus the Network traffic. However, am I not correct in thinking that the network does not show on the polar diagram? My polar diagram I understood is recording what my aerial finds.

John

[EGNXR]

Hi John,

Network doesn't effect the polar but not showing network makes comparisons much easier to see what the aerial alone is picking up

HTH Cheers John

[Canonjohns40D]

Cheers John I have attached a network free one above. I see what you mean, never thought about it before, Doh!!!!

John

[Runway 31]

I have had my DPD antenna up and working for a couple of weeks now.  I have mines mounted in the loft and as you can see with the attached polar diagram I am doing not to bad in that location.  Might not be a bad idea to try it there before trying to put it up outside.

[EK01]

Hi Runway 31,

I have just had a look at your polar diagram and from your plotted Home location, it looks as if you are located very close to me. I am in East Kilbride and I have a BS1100 antenna in the loft which is giving a very similar polar diagram to yours although I would appear to have further East/West coverage from my location.

Where are you located.

Cheers,

[EK01]

Hi Runway 31,

Silly me ! Forgot to include the attachment.

Cheers,

Ian

[Runway 31]

Hi EK101,

I'm in Motherwell so you will be sitting a wee bit higher than me giving the better east/west coverage.  I would appear to be getting more southerly coverage so cannot complain.  Where is your antenna sited?.

Regards

Alan

[EK01]

Alan,

I just have it sited in the loft. As you say, I'm a bit higher up here. Still, we are both in a good area for overflights and from here I can also get arrivals and departures into Glasgow as well as some departures from Edinburgh if they are routed far enough west. You should have much the same. Good to have a fellow enthusiast close by.

Cheers,

Ian