How does this look to you guys?

[crab453]

I'm curious how my setup seems to be performing in comparison to what everyone else is running. While I realize it will be difficult to judge by viewing a screen shot, any insight is greatly welcome! Do you guys think my maximum range rings are typical with my combos? For some reason, I feel like I'm not receiving as far as I should.

I'm running my ANRB on my ThinkPad T61.
I have a discone antenna on a mast above my roof likely 50ft above ground level.
This runs through Belden 9913 50-ohm cable to my office (used to use it for my scanner).

I'm just west of the city of Indianapolis, Indiana.

Thanks!

http://www.crab453.com/airnav/anrb.PNG

[CoastGuardJon]

Hi Crab453 and welcome to the Forum.   First and most importantly of all, it sounds as though you're using the discone (a very wide-bandwidth design of antenna - fine for scanners and higher HF frequencies) which just will not give the RB the 1090Mhz signal that it needs.   Try getting out in a car with lap-top, RB and standard antenna, you may be gob-smacked at what you see!

With standard supplied antenna, I get up to 250nm out over the Atlantic, but I'm in the fortunate position, living on top of cliffs with clear views to the west and sw over the sea, with antenna at about 215' asl., depends whether the tide's in or out!

The third/forth screenshots have some rather gory colours, but is clearer to see the radius and distances, achieved with AN's supplied antenna which is a superb design, but let down by less than great construction quality, sorry to harp on AN, but this still needs to be addressed.

[crab453]

Very nice Jon!

This discone is rated to 1300mhz, but I cant imagine it being very useful 1ghz+. Would you agree?

I also have an AOR SA7000 (http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/wideant/3755.html) which is a nice piece, and supposed to be good to 2Ghz. I'd be more inclined to trust an AOR unit than Radio Shack. It was damaged and I installed the discone temporarily. I'm ready to hang the SA7000 finally. Do you think it may help? Of course, my plan is to eventually install the Airnav antenna and pre-amp up there.

It seems you have an interest in scanning/recieving... I have:

ICOM PCR-2500
PRO-2053
Uniden BCD996T Digital Trunker
Uniden Bearcat BC355C to a custom airband J-pole on my roof mast w/ an AOR airband 108-136mhz filter.
RS PRO-97 Handheld
Maycom AR-108 Handheld

[tarbat]

I also have an AOR SA7000 (http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/wideant/3755.html) which is a nice piece, and supposed to be good to 2Ghz. I'd be more inclined to trust an AOR unit than Radio Shack. It was damaged and I installed the discone temporarily. I'm ready to hang the SA7000 finally. Do you think it may help?

Any wideband antenna is likely to give very poor reception.  You need to use an antenna specifically designed for 1090Mhz.

[DaveG]

For Jon,

Just my polar compared to yours.  Think my west gap is because of a roof top!

[CoastGuardJon]

Hi Dave, my Box's lack of view ne - e - se is due to the n-s ridge of our gable roof, but clear view west over the Atlantic.   Is that the bog standard supplied antenna - where've you got it mounted?

[crab453]

Wanted to follow up here...

I did wind up putting in the dedicated ADS-B antenna, proper wiring and a pre-amp, and with the antenna still only in my attic, I'm seeing waaay better results already. My ultimate plan is to put it on my outdoor mast - but at three stories tall, I need some help.

Pretty good for the US!

http://www.crab453.com/airnav/airnav.gif

[AirNav Support]

crab453,

Looks very good :) Such a shame the US is far behind Europe on ADS-B aircraft.

[bratters]

Wanted to follow up here...

I did wind up putting in the dedicated ADS-B antenna, proper wiring and a pre-amp, and with the antenna still only in my attic, I'm seeing waaay better results already. My ultimate plan is to put it on my outdoor mast - but at three stories tall, I need some help.

Pretty good for the US!

http://www.crab453.com/airnav/airnav.gif

Hi crab - I may have misunderstood you but I wouldn't put the Airnav supplied antenna outdoors. It's not built for it and not only will the antenna fall apart but there's also a risk of damaging the box itself.

[crab453]

Hi crab - I may have misunderstood you but I wouldn't put the Airnav supplied antenna outdoors. It's not built for it and not only will the antenna fall apart but there's also a risk of damaging the box itself.

I'm actually using this (http://www.airbandonline.co.uk/viradac_radarextender.htm) antenna supplied in this (https://www.plimus.com/jsp/buynow.jsp?contractId=1874506) kit basically.

My radarbox is still warm and dry two stories down in my office :-)