Advice On A Setup

[djnixy]

Hello I was wondering If anyone could give me some advice on a cheap but effective setup, I live just out side Manchester city centre. I want the setup to have a high pickup range also for it to actually see the planes landing at Manchester airport as they get past my house around 2000ft they dissapear thanks!

[djnixy]

-Bump-

[RodBearden]

Hi djnixy

Just remember that the aerial is line-of sight, so the higher and less obstructed the better. Try for something like the photos in this thread: http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=7121.0

Beyond the hopes of most of us, I'm afraid.

Rod

[djnixy]

Hello, Rod would this get a good signal and if you know what range? http://www.airbandonline.co.uk/viradac_radarcom10_20.htm

[RodBearden]

Well, yes, but the general advice is don't bother with a pre-amp unless you really need to - they seem to amplify the noise more than the signal.

I got my aerial from the same place ( http://www.airbandonline.co.uk/kapl_sbs1_aerial.htm ) an I'm very pleased with it, using 15m of Westflex with no pre-amp. It's been up for over 4 years now.

Rod

[djnixy]

What would the range be of the one you have also will I be able to see the planes actually landing at EGCC as they dissapear when they go past my location when they are on final.

[RodBearden]

Well, here's my polar - I've got Winter Hill directly to the east, and Parbold Hill to the west, stopping me seeing Dublin!

As to whether you will see aircraft landing at Manchester, that purely depends on whether your aerial will be able to see the tarmac directly. If you can stand on your roof and see the runway, then if you can get an aerial up there, it will be able to as well!

If there are buildings in the way, then forget it. If there are trees in the way, then it will vary according to the season - and wet leaves are much worse than dry leaves, not that the leaves are often dry round these parts! The dent in my polar to the south is due to a big old oak tree.

From here in Chorley I get EGCC traffic down to about 1400 ft.

Rod

[djnixy]

Thanks for that so would you reccomend this instead of spending all that on that package?

[RodBearden]

I would certainly recommend trying to do without the pre-amp, unless you intend to run more that 20m of cable between the aerial and the RadarBox.

The guy at Airbandonline was very helpful to me. You will find a lot of people on the forum are fans of the DPD aerial, but I'm perfectly happy with my setup.

Rod

[djnixy]

Ok Rod thanks for the information it really helps.

[GreekSpy2001]

JUst to add a bit of competion on the aerial stakes. ;-)

  I'm using a SSE JIM aerial.  recommendation of a previous thread on this forum.  Been ontop of my house come rain and shine for over three  3 years now.  Houses and trees stop in certain directions  but I get enough coverage for my needs.   

http://ssejim.co.uk/26-sseads1090sj.htm

see attachement for polar dia. 
HTH

Graham

[CYYZGUY]

Best advice you can get is mount it as high as possible.........Dont worry about a slightly longer cable.   The results will be much better..  Antenna up 35 Meters (115 Feet)


6PM EST Sept 11 by CYYZGUY, on Flickr


DSC_0690 by CYYZGUY, on Flickr

[djnixy]

Thanks everyone!