Recommendations for Antenna

[AliGlass]

Hi,

I am very new to all this and based in the UK, I am currently using a Raspberry Pi to upload data to Flight Radar 24 using an inexpensive mag-mount aerial sitting on my window sill to prove every is working.

As my back garden has a very steep slope, the end of it is not far off the roofline of my house. I am therefore looking for recommendations for the following,

• A very good antenna I can use either attaching to my fence or to a pole in the back garden.
• The exact and very best specification of both the cable and connectors (N-Type male to SMA male) as the will need to be around 30 metres long.

Thank you in advance for any help.

[g4ea5]

Hi,

I am very new to all this and based in the UK, I am currently using a Raspberry Pi to upload data to Flight Radar 24 using an inexpensive mag-mount aerial sitting on my window sill to prove every is working.

As my back garden has a very steep slope, the end of it is not far off the roofline of my house. I am therefore looking for recommendations for the following,

• A very good antenna I can use either attaching to my fence or to a pole in the back garden.
• The exact and very best specification of both the cable and connectors (N-Type male to SMA male) as the will need to be around 30 metres long.

Thank you in advance for any help.

Hi,
I use a raspberry pi 2 and an rtlsdr.com dongle. a pcb antenna sealed inside a plastic tube https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000863761443.html
25 meters of 50 ohm tv cable with an f connector and an f to sma adapter, fed into an inline sat tv amplifier (amplifier is 3 meters from the antenna.
if you use an amp you'll need to inject 12 to18 volts down the cable. the amp makes a massive difference (double distance) it must be close to the antenna.
Enjoy

[SD_Mark]

I started with a mag-mount on a piece of sheet steel, but just built a DIY based on abcd567 's design found here (https://discussions.flightaware.com/...nners/16348/11), and holy cow - I more than doubled my range (from ~60nm to ~150nm). Maybe the mag mount was a PoS knock off, but I'm kind of stunned by how well this seems to work. Using a RTL-SDR with a RaspberryPi4. Am going to try to migrate to a Pi ZeroW (once those are available again), and put it in a weatherproof box up a taller pole.


IMG_1435.jpgIMG_1436.jpg

[abcd567]

Just to complete the records, the how-to for DIY antenna you quoted from Flightaware forum, is also available in Flightradar24 forum

https://forum.flightradar24.com/forum/radar-forums/technical-matters-hardware/8806-3-easy-antennas-for-beginners?p=79531#post79531

[SD_Mark]

Thanks! I expected it was somewhere here, but somehow couldn't find it. My bad.
FWIW, I've now moved my DIY up to tippy top of my roof (on a stick above a weather station):
Upper_Mount_30_IMG_1439.jpg
about 30 feet above the ground. I'm very close to the coast just north of San Diego, and I'm now routinely getting planes out past 200nm (out over the pacific >FL350), and most everything in/out of LAX. Pretty amazing (IMO) for about $2-3 of scrap cables and parts.

[abcd567]

For outdoor installation, better apply some sealant like silicone over the antenna to prevent ingress of moisture & rain water. Without this sealing, after some time the antenna performance will considerably reduced due to ingress of moisture