Airband Antenna Query

[BlinkNFG]

Hi,

I get very good reception (100-300 messages a second) reception from my radarbox antenna in my loft.  However I currently get very poor airband reception from this antenna also in the loft.  http://www.airbandonline.co.uk/scanae_codpv.htm 
I pick up planes very clearly but the controllers are very faint and there is lost of interferance.  Is there anything I can do to improve reception? 

Unfortunetly putting an antenna on the roof would be problematic (it is a three storey townhouse and nearby buildings are free of TV aerials so it would be an eyesore).  What loft based aerial would be best?  Everyone seems to rave about the D-777 but would that work inside a loft?

thanks

Jon     

[CoastGuardJon]

Hi Jon, I sspect you're getting good reception of the a/c as they're up in the air, whereas there's obstructions (hills, buildings, trees or whatever!) between you and the ground stations.    I'm lucky down here on the Lizard in Cornwall, as I pick up the relayed AM transmissions from London ATC on VHF.    The main problem is these signals are really "line of sight".   Any exterior antenna should improve the signals being received.   The Diamond D-777 is a cracking antenna, but you can only receive what's reaching the antenna - pre-amps are definitely the "panacea or cure-all" that they're portrayed to be.    Height is primary and a pre-amp can overcome the losses caused by longer lengths of co-ax, but will not necessarily improve things.    Looking at your question again Jon, you may well be able to get away with an exterior D-777 antenna, as they're not huge or very noticeable - look more like a pole............

[BlinkNFG]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

I've bought a D-777 antenna.  Just got it set up in the loft for now.  However the performance is worse than with my previous antenna.  I can only think I have either got it poorly positioned or I have set something up wrong.

I can't hear the ground stations at all - where as with my previous antenna I could but very faint with interference.  I also have a pre-amp but that just amplifies the intereference.

Jon