Antenna in the loft?

[owensy]

Hi again!!

I currently have my radar rama antenna outside on my daughters trampoline(!) and get reasonable coverage to the East towards Manchester but poor to the west.
Im not good getting on ladders but is it ok with the antenna in the loft???

Thanks,

Paul

[tarbat]

Search gives:
http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=3254.msg30725#msg30725
http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=2528.msg21836#msg21836
http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=1650.msg12949#msg12949

A lot depends on the construction type of your roof and gable ends.

[CAM]

Owensy,

I tried my aerial in the loft with USB extenders, but this did not seem to work well, as I kept on loosing communication with RB and had to unplug the USB & reconnect again, to see aircraft.

So I eventually tried extending the aerial cable and put it back in the loft, as an experiment. To extend the cable I went to Maplin and bought some cheap cable RG174 @99p a metre, an SMA coupler, BNC X2 & SMA to BNC X2. This extended my range beyond belief for £18 and it was instant.

See attached DO12 excel file to show the increase.

CAM

[bearcat]

I've put my antenna in the loft with about 16 mtrs of Westlex 103 cable an I get good results but I am quite high. From the attached screen shot you can see my polar diagram, which also shows where my gable end is cutting down the range.

[Pinza]

I've put my antenna in the loft with about 16 mtrs of Westlex 103 cable an I get good results but I am quite high. From the attached screen shot you can see my polar diagram, which also shows where my gable end is cutting down the range.

Envy your polar diagram, Bearcat!

However, what interests me more is the clarity of your flight 'tags'. I have a nice new widescreen monitor - but am squinting to read the text on the radarscreen!

Do you have any tips on how to increase the font size to make it as legible as your screenshot?

[Allocator]

File > Preferences > Change Font

You can change the type of font and the size :-)

[Pinza]

File > Preferences > Change Font

You can change the type of font and the size :-)

Thanks, once again for help, Allocator!

That worked perfectly for me. Just changed to System font size 10 - which is much easier on the eye!

I was fearful that this would also increase the text size on the 'interface' panel (which I can read easily on existing setting). Not so - I now have best of both worlds - a small font (but legible) interface with loads of fields visible on new widescreen monitor and a 'radar' window with large font.

My RB experience gets better every night!

Many thanks

[owensy]

here is my current image with my radar rama at about 3 metres off the ground

[sterigia]

of course your loft cannot be reinfoced concrete like mine, the iron in the concrete is grounded and will block radio waves, so i must put the antenna outside to get a decent reception, and far away from house otherwise it blocks too. i must have the worst polar diagram in the world. i envy yours.
ciao
frank

[knight01]

Here's a screen shot of mine: The first shot is with the supplied antenna on the window sill facing south.

The second shot is Radar-rama external antenna with 10m of westflex 103, in the loft.
 

[sterigia]

fantastic improvement. my direct views are nothing compared to yours