Tweet
Thanx for the welcome, shall try to improve antenna height as suggested. BTW, I have installed the GPS receiver outside on the roof, is it rain proof? I may take it back inside but it may degrade sat uplink, kindly advise.
-
Roger S.
F-RPML3
CGY -
Roger, even though it might not look weatherproof it is ok to mount on the mast out in the open as long as the cable comes out of the bottom after mounting. Mine's been in the open mounted this way and it has survived several typhoons and monsoons. Just rubberized tape the exposed connections starting at the bottom of the connector wrapping up until reaching the coax then wrapping down and then finishing by continuing the wrap up to the top. This results in a 3 layer waterproof wrap.Originally posted by rog0322 View Post
The GPS receiver provided by FR24 and incorporated into the receiver software sets it apart from other tracking companies receivers. Mlat requires precision co-ordinates to be identified for each FR24 receiver and the GPS that can view the larger number of GPS satellites can be more precise in determining your co-ordinates.
Determining precise co-ordinates is just 1/2 of what FR24 uses the GPS for. GPS timing has an inherent offset with UTC. FR24 while you sleep install different variants of software that are experimental in correcting this offset. One of the latest variants attempts to correct this offset by comparing it to NTP from time to time and correcting the reported times your GPS/receiver reports producing a hybrid corrected time.
Get familiar with your receiver log and you will see the capabilities of the latest software that is loaded into your receiver.
John
F-RPVD1
DumagueteComment
-
hiOriginally posted by Zamboanga Radar View Post
can you show pic how to properly ground antenna tower?
thanksComment
-
akoni on mast/tower grounding there is no one size fits all. I see from your video you have spared no expense as your tower is professional and because of its height has not been a lightning magnet. Zamboanga Radar on the other hand has met adversity repeatedly. Some areas are prone to lightning storms and proper grounding is a must for those mast/towers. In other areas with no close lightning activity could get by with minimal grounding with just a number 10 copper wire mashed under the mounting U bolts on the antenna down to a driven copper coated 10 foot ground rod at the base of the mast/tower. Towers away from trees in the open can be lightning magnets.Originally posted by akoni View Post
There are ways to prevent lightning as this video shows and may give you some clues on how to do it. Video
For those mounting their FR24 receivers in a box attached to the mast/tower a metal box attached to the copper grounding conductor will produce a Faraday Effect protection to the electronics inside. A plastic box while water tight, provides no such protection. The FR24 antenna is passive (receive only) and will not be affected by a stainless steel lightning rod above it if one elects to use one. If you have other active (transmit & receive) antennas on the same tower or mast, incorporate them into your grounding scheme.
If you are using GI pipe sections for your mast, and just grounding at the base, you over time will just have a lightning magnet because of corrosion at the joints.
For lightning facts not opinions, I recommend this site at the University of Florida.
John
F-RPVD1
DumagueteComment
-
That would not be a complete story John. Although personally known in the past, I for one forget to ground the sensitive electronics that fried the router that fed the receiver. Interestingly, the router keeps blinking to deceive you that its working.Originally posted by paradiselost View Post
Its been known in the Philippines that lightning strike can damage your tv even when power plugged out as long as you have mast. A cabled tv was also put out of service by a lightning strike when plugged in to power line but this is rare. Personally, I learned it the hard way when TV fails the following morning. Our neighbors also got the shock of their lives when their TV likewise failed all at the same time. Its more like there was huge electromagnetic pulse discharged the night before. This is one of the reason why I don't use power-line internet and instead used the clumsy cat5.
In another occasion my PC's motherboard was fried by lightning but the AVR went fine. This prompted me to buy the expensive APC ups hoping to shield the computer. It did. After the thunderstorm the UPS was out of service. So I went back to AVR again just to use the computer. And a year later my new UPS went dead for the same reason. 1500va APC happens to be an expensive kit. Sad thing for the router is that it is far away from the protection of the UPS. Both of them died. The new one is still far away. My wifi transmitter high in the mast was blown twice before i finally decided to plug it to the UPS. Surprisingly, the receiver survived the hit. Could be the reason why F-RPMZ2 and F-RPMV1 went off line?
On this note, I have an interesting question. Could the receiver been saved by the GPS magnet that bonded to the GI sheet of the roof which could be grounded to the ground?Comment
-
Akoni's Receiver F-RPMR1 is Working!
Just saw Akoni's F-RPMR1 tracking planes. RPMR is Tambia airport, the other tracker F-RPMB1 was allocated to Tambia also during the transition from the old airport to the new. The RPMB airport is now military.
While both had the GES designation GES now refers to Tambia.
Akoni, we are watching with interest how your range plots mesh with your neighbors.
John
F-RPVD1
DumagueteComment
-
Trying to email support@fr24.com and its returning back, anybody else having issues? Below is the error:
Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:
support@fr24.com
Technical details of permanent failure:
Message rejected by Google Groups. Please visit http://mail.google.com/support/bin/a...&answer=188131 to review our Bulk Email Senders Guidelines.Comment
-
Third FR24 Receiver Online in CDO-Illigan City Area
A third receiver around the CDO-Illigan City area is online. The radar designation is F-RPML3.
Whoever it is maybe they will check in here.
John
F-RPVD1
DumagueteComment
-
Things That Happened to Your FR24 Receiver While You Slept
In recent days the software in your receiver was upgraded to the 7-21 version. In the new version FR24 is trialing a new timebase correction scheme. Previously the GPS time reported by the satellites was compared with NTP time around the world and corrections were made as necessary.
Another trial is combining T-MLAT5 (Asia) and T-MLAT6 (Australia & New Zealand) and creating a new T-MLAT7 perhaps using the new timing scheme. The MLAT reported on the FR24 map can change as the tracked flight progresses from one MLAT to another.
For the past few software iterations, your location coordinates have been truncated to two decimal places when reported to MLAT, as reported in your log. I don't know if this is a cause of flights being observed jumping backward in their track.
John
F-RPVD1
DumagueteLast edited by paradiselost; 2015-08-02, 03:45.Comment
-
Graciano, did you ever decide if your receiver is bad? A quick way to check is put the local URL in your browser and append :30003 to it. If it is working you will get a screen full of msg numbers that continues to build. If you get that you can eliminate anything is wrong with the receiver or ethernet and focus on your modem configuration.
My URL for my receiver is 192.168.254.134:30003. The 254 number can change by your ISPs basic configuration of your modem. PLDT seems to use 1 instead of Globes 254. The PLDT fiber modem, if you have one, is set by default to not allow devices connected to the ports access to the internet. There is an option in the modem setup to remove this restriction.
John
F-RPVD1
DumagueteLast edited by paradiselost; 2015-08-02, 18:30.Comment
-
Experiencing Reduced Coverage During Rainy Season?...Only To Return To Normal Later?
Here in the Philippines, really the tropics, we get rains by the bucket fulls for days on end and then it drys out for a few days. Coverages seem to decrease this time of the year and maybe we attribute it to nearby trees growing taller.
It is human nature that when the DHL box with the FR24 rig in it to get the urge to put it online....NOW rather than later and in our haste do a not so good job with the double-sided tape.
Water in the connector between the antenna and the coax is hard to detect. A few drops of water that migrate into the connector do two things. At the frequency of ADSB these droplets become a shunt and bleed off the weaker signals from aircraft farther away reducing the signal available at the receiver to below threshold but after a few days of drying out everything appears to return to normal. Over time this moisture migration coming in contact with the aluminum shield of the coax will cause the aluminum to oxidize with a non-conductive powder that reduces the ability of the shield to conduct ADSB signals.
The only way to verify that water has migrated into the connector is to have the mast climber disconnect the coax from the antenna and turn the coax down to the palm of his hand and tap on the connector. If droplets of water fall out of the connector we've found the problem. He had to destroy the double-sided tape to remove the connector so what do you do? Double-sided tape is available at the local hardware store but comes in a roll that is expensive when you just need a few cm. An alternative is plain electrical tape that will last a few years depending on its application.
The antenna coax connector is the male part and attached to the coax is the female part of the connector. Dirty, sweaty hands can make any bond fail so have the climber rinse his hands with alcohol before wrapping the connector assembly. He should start at the rubber sheath of the coax and wrapping up to the male part of the antenna coax fitting and back down to the rubber sheath and back up to the male part. This technique produces 3 layers of protection if any layer fails to stick. A bit of foil wrapped around the outside of the joint will protect the electrical tape from UV.
It is a good idea to practice the wrapping on the ground before the climber goes up the mast.
John
Dumaguete
F-RPVD1Last edited by paradiselost; 2015-08-03, 01:29.Comment
-
Yes my receiver is bad, i sent it back already but i am tired dealing with it for a replacement since all emails that i sent its returning back. i went to their support page and got a reply and saying that i need to email them which i can't since their email rejecting it and saying its a spam email.
BELOW is the email that i sent :
Hi,
Your Support reference is .
Please send me your address with your contact number on the following email. In the subject write your receiver's alias.
muazzam@fr24.com
--
Best Regards,
Muazzam
Flightradar24
On Mon, 3 Aug at 1:45 AM , Graciano Ancheta Jr. <garas@ancheta.net> wrote:
Contacting as Private person regarding Feeding data to Flightradar24.
Browser parameters: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_10_4) AppleWebKit/600.7.12 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/8.0.7 Safari/600.7.12
Account Status: Active until August 10, 2015
Account Type: Feeder
Subscription: No subscription plan
Subject:
[#] F-RPUS1 Greetings, Your email support@fr24.com not working i tried emailing it many times from my own domain and yahoo.com and still my email is returning. I sent back the defective receiver July 15, 2015. I don’t need a reimbursement as well, Please send the replacement address below: Graciano Ancheta C/O Marina Boado
Originally posted by paradiselost View PostComment
-
I forwarded your email to all the email addresses I am in contact with and your case has been assigned a Support Reference Number. Flightradar24 Support Reference 77578: Muazzam This Feeder Needs to Contact FR24 about F-RPUS1.Originally posted by GracianoAncheta View Post
Hopefully, all will turn out well for you.
John
F-RPVD1
DumagueteComment
-
Hi!
I just would like to ask because
I just installed the equipment this morning, F-RPUT1 and I wonder why i can't see my station here in Tuguegarao in radar view but I can see RPUB.
Is it normal or do I have to configure something?
Thank you.Comment
-
It takes a while for Fr24 to do their verification checks but you are now making it to the FR24 map.Originally posted by spotugue View Post
Thanks for checking in and helping with the northeast quadrant of Luzon. You join RPUB AND RPUS in the Lingayan Gulf region.
Your contribution is appreciated.
John
F-RPVD1
DumagueteComment
Comment