Network flights, why the big difference?

[Southwest]

Have just had a chat with Dave Reid (thanks for your time it was much appreciated) and one of the things that came about as a result was the alarming difference in the number of network flights we were both receiving.

At 20.47hrs I was showing 1033 and he was showing 1316.  Now, as I undertsand it, it wouldn't matter if I was in Bedfordshire or Timbuktoo, surely everyone should get roughly the same amount of network flights?  I can appreciate that it wouldn't be to the exact amount but the differences between myself and Dave is substantial.

Would someone from AirNav Support please advise?

[AirNav Support]

No thats not worrying. As there could be a couple of reasons why:

1.) One of you has delayed flights and the other has real time network
2.) Depends on how many aircraft you are getting locally
3.) Depends exactly when you both downloaded from the network
4.) Your network timeout settings would affect whats being display or not being

[Jeremy]

Were your timeout times the same??
J.

[DaveReid]

Were your timeout times the same??

Yes, we ensured that that was the case.  We are both on the delayed network, too.

[Southwest]

1. I certainly have delayed but in all my time with the Radarbox have never acheived that high a number in network flights ....ever!

2. We were both getting around the 30 plus mark, certainly not a difference of 300.

3. I'm being thick, don't understand the question.

4. Dave adjusted his times to meet mine and the discrepancy was still as large.

[Southwest]

Currently showing 24 My Flights and 978 nework.

If it's a question of settings would someone like to offer a best settings guide?  I'm prepared to try anything once.

[AirNav Support]

1.) Not sure what you mean by that, you just mentioned you have 1000 network flights. That is a high number.

2.) Was this both ADS-B and Mode-S?

3) The network flights change every second that passes as certain flights timeout on the server as they leave range or someone stop running there software. Hence you can easily see 100+ change in flights from one second to another. We can view the network stat live here and they change rapidly at times within a few seconds.

4) Understood

[Southwest]

1.) Not sure what you mean by that, you just mentioned you have 1000 network flights. That is a high number.

The amount dropped. It's not as high as 1316 though and I'm really shocked you offer that up as an acceptable answer.  Look at it like this, you pay for a Jaguar and end up with a Ford, it's still a nice car though....nah, didn't think so.

I'd like to know whether it's technically possible to achieve higher numbers

[Runway 31]

I went from 800 to 941 network flights in just over a minute. Now at 896, had over 1300 at one stage today. So it is possible to achieve a high number, whatever number is high as it is all relative.

[Southwest]

I went from 800 to 941 network flights in just over a minute. Now at 896, had over 1300 at one stage today. So it is possible to achieve a high number, whatever number is high as it is all relative.

When I called Dave he hadn't even switched his box on, mine had been on for nearly an hour.  Straight away he got to the 1300 number whilst I was languishing down in the low 1000's and into the 900's

[Runway 31]

I have been seeing around the 8/900 mark since around 1900, at 864 just now.  Havnt seen 1300 since around late afternoon but hen again I dont get any more than 30 in my flights.

[Jeremy]

Disconnect your aerial and just monitor network. I bet it goes up!
J.

[Allocator]

What's in a number?

If I can watch a flight all the way across Europe, then I'm pretty sure that I've got good Network Coverage :-)

[AirNav Support]

Southwest,

If two RadarBoxes download the network data the same time they will exactly the same network flights downloaded. Then it goes through processing:

1.) Flights your picking up locally through ADS-B or Mode-S (which are ADS-B on the network) are taken away.
2.) Your local network timeout settings are also applied

In your experiment the download times are not synced so a difference of 200 can easily be reached. Add the flights your picking up and he isn't you can make up that number.

Its not actually about the number. Someone with a very good system in Germany for instance could be picking up 200 ADS-B flights and another 200 Mode-S flights. He would have less on the network than someone who is based in the Artic but if you checked all the flights from network and local they would be the same (if timeout etc all matched and times when they downloaded)

You don't have anything to be concerned about :)

[DaveReid]

3) The network flights change every second that passes as certain flights timeout on the server as they leave range or someone stop running there software. Hence you can easily see 100+ change in flights from one second to another. We can view the network stat live here and they change rapidly at times within a few seconds.

As I understand it, all other things being equal (timeouts, live or delayed network, etc) then every network user should see their network flights total fluctuating around roughly the same average value, particularly when compared over a longish period to eliminate short-term time phase differences.  Only if user A is picking up significantly more (or fewer) local flights than user B should their network totals diverge by a corresponding amount over a period.

Incidentally, I may not be able to participate in this (or indeed any other) thread for much longer as I've had a helpful PM from AirNav Development in the last half hour telling me I'll be banned if I post any more database update information ...

Still, I'll have made somebody's day for them :-)