Before/After Extender & ELAD 1090

[WAL 2T]

Just a couple of before & after shots from my location 6 miles East of EGGP. I'm about 150ft asl with various buildings and tall trees in the immediate vicinity and a 300ft asl hill blocking signals to the South.

First one is with the supplied RB antenna sitting just above the gutter. Second screen shot is with the Watson radar extender/ELAD 1090 combination on a temporary mast 20ft agl which clears the roof of the bungalow. RB has been left running for a few hours to populate the range indicator.

[kdt1]

WAL 2T

That is a very noticeable improvement.
Any out side Pics?

Thanks

[WAL 2T]

Hi, yes here you go. Currently in it's temporary home. Going to mount it on a new, slightly taller mast next week. The mounting brackets in use at the moment are from one of my 2/70 co-linears as the supplied U bolts didn't have enough thread.

Coverage over Ireland has filled out quite nicely after leaving it running through the mornings when a lot of the transatlantic stuff is coming in and out. Will post another screenshot when I logon from the PC.

[kdt1]

Pretty shot.

The bend in the pigtail looks like it hurts. Ha!

New pic when set. OK

[Squad 701]

Hi WAL 2T,
I thought I would post these examples, as I seem to have the same kit as yourself, the Watson/Elad setup.
The first picture is the supplied aerial sitting on the window-ledge in the upstairs spare room, the second being the newly-installed Watson after 1 day of use.
Here in Dublin, on the northside of the city centre, I am lucky to be on quite a height compared to some other areas, hence the good-reception.
Cheers.

[WAL 2T]

Massive improvement there Squad, seems to be a well balanced coverage with no nasty fade areas. It makes all the difference being in a decent location.

cheers
Chris

[CoastGuardJon]

Hi 701, As Chris says, a fantastic improvement, you can see south almost to my location!

[Squad 701]

Hi 701, As Chris says, a fantastic improvement, you can see south almost to my location!

How far south are you CoastGuardJon ?
I guess I'm just lucky I'm in a good location :-)
But it's all about length - oop's I mean height !
I'm sure if you put the supplied aerial on a 20ft pole,
you'd also get great results.
Thank god my range just stops short of heathrow,
or I'd have to spend all day scrolling through the lists.
But having said that, most of the aircraft at great distances,
are high level only.
It's also a curse on the military stuff, nearly have to revert back
to the original aerial to make sure they are in range, before I run
out into the back garden with the camera :-)
Cheers.

[WAL 2T]

Well it's been up for a few weeks now and the polar diagram has had some time to flesh out a little bit. There's an annoying null behind Snaefell which knocks out some of the Belfast inbounds and en-routes tracking towards BESOP. Not bad considering the antenna isn't really up that high yet. Going to mount it on a new mast when this wind and rain clears off.

[Squad 701]

Hi Chris,
What is blocking your signal to the south-east ?
Sorry not too familiar with the British-midland countryside !
Some interesting spikes going south, it might be a good indication
of whats possible, when you get a bit more height.
Cheers.

[WAL 2T]

Hi, there is a hill directly South of the house which pretty much renders my coverage in that direction negligible. Unfortunately I would need a 150ft tower to clear it.

On average I'm logging 1200 flights over a 16 hour period, heaven only knows what it would be like if I had the 180-200nm coverage to the south.

[Squad 701]

Today's fine weather has helped me get a foothold into France from Dublin :-)

[WAL 2T]

Not bad going at all to get that gap through the Welsh mountains. Your airband coverage should be pretty impressive too.

Put my antenna up another 10ft on Friday and it doesn't seem to have made much difference, in fact coverage over Scotland and NE seems to have dropped off a bit but it is a bit close to another antenna and I may have changed the orientation of the radials.

[t1mb0]

I have just invested in the ELAD masthead amp and my typical 'MyFlights' has gone from 40 to 140.
Range max has been upto 275 miles, some preliminary screenshots are elsewhere on this forum.
All other things being equal if it's range that you want and there is nothing physical in the way, I would thoroughly recommend this piece of kit.
At the moment I have purely physical blockages(in my loft) but as soon as I get my (homebrew) antenna outside and at chimney height I will post some before and afters.
I have yet to use 'proper' low loss coax, so I am looking forward to that day.
I would also say if you are a tiny bit practical, a homebrew antenna will perform equally as well as the bundled one, the amp merely lets you realize the full potential if you are that way inclined.

[CoastGuardJon]

Hi 701, As Chris says, a fantastic improvement, you can see south almost to my location!

How far south are you CoastGuardJon ?
I guess I'm just lucky I'm in a good location :-)
But it's all about length - oop's I mean height !
I'm sure if you put the supplied aerial on a 20ft pole,
you'd also get great results.
Thank god my range just stops short of heathrow,
or I'd have to spend all day scrolling through the lists.
But having said that, most of the aircraft at great distances,
are high level only.
It's also a curse on the military stuff, nearly have to revert back
to the original aerial to make sure they are in range, before I run
out into the back garden with the camera :-)
Cheers.

Hi 701, only just seen your reply above.    I'm approx. 2½ miles north of the most southerly point of mainland UK - Lizard Point.    I'm actually on top of the cliffs at Mullion Cove   50º 1' 00" N  -  5º  5' 24" W  and actually within your later polar diagram at reply #11