How can I contribute? What equipment do I need?

[robin]

hi Mike

I got mine last week, i am able to receive flights about 70 miles south of me & about 5 - 10 miles north of me with just the aerial on the floor laid down. (on ground floor)

On wednesday going to put it on roof with biscuit tin to see range on that.

I have ordered a 10M usb cable and will get a waterproof box to put receiver in, along with a 4M pole to put it on.

I hopefully will get a huge increase in range, but so far no complaints.

Robin..

[evilV]

Keep us informed on this Robin. I've been watching for days to see how you got on with your gadget from when you said you had bought one in another thread.

[robin]

hi, well i got it last week, it works range is ok ish (but cant compare it with anything else), Its clear that I need to mount aerial higher and outside house to improve signal so have ordered a 10m usb cable as the receiver is tuned to the provided aerial. I will mount this aerial in weather proof tube and put on a 4 m pole (so its about 6 m above ground and at least 1 m above roof line).

PP software again works but has a lot of things which are not obvious in for newcomer like myself and the help file is not organised too well but I am getting there.

Wednesday will be interesting as will mount aerial on roof as is for a while to see how I get on with that.

SO far so good, no complaints really, it was 1/2 price of other solutions and works.

cheers

Robin...

[evilV]

Yes - clear line of sight is all at these kind of frequencies as far as range is concerned. I'm thinking of experimenting by placing an antenna in my roof space as a first test. I'll certainly lose some range, but the roof material is maybe 2cm concrete tiles. That way, I don't have to climb up a quite steeply pitched roof. I used to do it, but now I'm 59 and suspect it's not the best way to go. Also, it might be a bit better protected against static from cumulonimbus rain, hail and snow clouds. I'm sure you know that it is important to try and protect the front end from static discharges in the antenna system. Some units have a degree of protection built in. Anyway, if the antenna is the highest point on your property, which it will be, and if there is a path to earth through the usb lead and laptop mains connection, you might need to think about that.

I can remember how during snow, hail and some rain storms, my old hf antenna tuner used to crackle with static. You could see sparks jumping across the tuning capacitors, and I'm talking about when I wasn't operating any radios through it. Once when there was a lightening strike about 1 km away, I saw a large spark jump from the antenna tuner to a radio that was connected to the mains. It never worked properly again and that radio wasn't even connected to the antenna system - just earthed through the mains. I replaced several semi conductors in it that were blown. My antenna hadn't been struck - it didn't need to be, to build up a huge charge relative to ground.

[Anmer]

An alternative option is to buy a "pre-loved" SBS-1, either on eBay or from ML&S - typically £250.

[robin]

I received my PlaneGadget radar today and my first impression is that there seems to be some kind of problem with reception. I didn't manage to track any flights on my office where sbs-1 and airnav can track planes without any problems. I will try more tomorrow.

How are you getting on Mike ?

Cheers

Robin..

[evilV]

It's gone very quiet here in this thread. How are the plane gadget gadgets doing?

[robin]

mine is fine, see new section on this forum.

[evilV]

Ah - thanks.