best antenna

[Rooster]

thanks for that very helpful, will i still be able to tune to air traffic tower etc?

and to add yes antenna will be outside, i live on the top of hill no obstructions.

You will still be able to tune to the tower - but as the antenna is not designed for those frequencies, signals will be much lower... in fact marginal signals wont be heard at all.
Having said that, I use my 1090 coco and still receive local 2 Metre signals, so give it a go !

[sdcserg]

thanks for that very helpful, will i still be able to tune to air traffic tower etc?

and to add yes antenna will be outside, i live on the top of hill no obstructions.

[sdcserg]

Welcome. I have not been doing this for very long either. I have however had quite a bit of experience with antennas and telecommunications in my past professional life.

The short answer to your question is that there is no best antenna in the sense that one size fits all comers. There are however some fairly simple basic rules for antennas and their placement or installation.
- If you can put your antenna outside.
- Put your antenna so that as far as possible it has a high and clear view of the entire sky.
- Keep the cable running between your antenna and receiver under about 30 feet.

The above said, you can now look at the antenna itself. In this very thread there are some simple and some very technical posts on home antenna construction. If you are able and have the time look at posts and Google searches on the construction of Franklin antennas and of coaxial collinear (CoCo) antennas. I use an 8 element CoCO that I made myself following details in this thread. My first one worked really well and all others have performed less well. My Franklin antenna worked OK-ish but not as well as the CoCo. Bear in mind that these are just my own experiences.

If you do not want to build an antenna there are several purchase options.

All this, of course depends on how much you wish to spend. I recommend that you Google and read reviews on any antenna you are considering before you buy in order to avoid buyers remorse.

Lastly please look at abcd567's excellent post on making and modifying antennas

ADS-B reception is, on the surface, very simply. The more you get into it, the more you want and the more complicated (in my case fascinating) it becomes.

I hope you enjoy your new hobby as much as I am doing. Please continue to post your experiences as there are many people here who will help you and many others who are also starting and are looking at similar issues to you. Finally, do not be afraid to ask for help. Most of use have fallen down our own potholes and have broken our own fingernails getting out. That's one way we learn.

Hi and thank you very much for the informative reply, yes i can put it outside by my sky dish tha is near the roof, and yes the cable would be very short,
i can spend around £70 on a antenna.
im new to this so see how it goes :-)
thank you.

[rederikus]

Welcome. I have not been doing this for very long either. I have however had quite a bit of experience with antennas and telecommunications in my past professional life.

The short answer to your question is that there is no best antenna in the sense that one size fits all comers. There are however some fairly simple basic rules for antennas and their placement or installation.
- If you can put your antenna outside.
- Put your antenna so that as far as possible it has a high and clear view of the entire sky.
- Keep the cable running between your antenna and receiver under about 30 feet.

The above said, you can now look at the antenna itself. In this very thread there are some simple and some very technical posts on home antenna construction. If you are able and have the time look at posts and Google searches on the construction of Franklin antennas and of coaxial collinear (CoCo) antennas. I use an 8 element CoCO that I made myself following details in this thread. My first one worked really well and all others have performed less well. My Franklin antenna worked OK-ish but not as well as the CoCo. Bear in mind that these are just my own experiences.

If you do not want to build an antenna there are several purchase options.

https://www.amazon.com/1090MHz-ADS-B...+ads-b+antenna

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antenna-ads-b-collinear-great-gain-for-usb-dongle-flightbox-SBS-Radarbox-microAD-/201858111026?hash=item2effae5632:m:mbbye9kPfGqN-3NOXaZFQcw

http://www.dpdproductions.com/page_vhf_air.html#adsbout

All this, of course depends on how much you wish to spend. I recommend that you Google and read reviews on any antenna you are considering before you buy in order to avoid buyers remorse.

Lastly please look at abcd567's excellent post on making and modifying antennas http://discussions.flightaware.com/post168941.html

ADS-B reception is, on the surface, very simply. The more you get into it, the more you want and the more complicated (in my case fascinating) it becomes.

I hope you enjoy your new hobby as much as I am doing. Please continue to post your experiences as there are many people here who will help you and many others who are also starting and are looking at similar issues to you. Finally, do not be afraid to ask for help. Most of use have fallen down our own potholes and have broken our own fingernails getting out. That's one way we learn.

[sdcserg]

Hi everyone, im using a rtl sdr and i live about 15miles from the airport, can anyone recommend a good antenna also i live under a busy stretch of flight path. i want to listen to air traffic etc.
many thanks

[rederikus]

Here's an update. I had my RPis up in the attic in a fireproof steel box. All the power supplies were in there too. It looked nice but I never thought it would withstand the heat up there. Having done some testing and playing around up there I have now put in a 50 Ohm feeder that's 25-feet long, kept a powered 10dB gain LNA and 1090 MHz filter in the attic and have moved the RPi down to my workshop one floor below. There was no discernible difference in performance. I have disconnected T-KCLT19 forever and have now learned enough of the software to build a test system that just has dump1090-mutability on it.

My site now feeds both FR24 and FA. I used the script that abcd567 posted and it has worked well several times. Today T-KCLT3 is now number two in CLT on FR24 and is number 2 in CLT on FA on both counts aircraft seen and positions. I still use my original - the first one I built - 8 element CoCo. I have never built one better. I just got lucky I guess.

Thank you for all your help.
Untitled.jpg

[abcd567]

Why not buy them and test for yourself? They're low cost and ship from the USA.

Having looked at the postings, I personally wouldn't waste my money, they would probably be no better than the rubbish supplied with the dongle after it has been trimmed to the correct length.
Save your money and build one of the ground plane antenna that abcd567 promotes all the time, it would save money and perform better.

Hi F-EGL1,
Thank you very much for the on point answer.
Yes abcd567 does great antenna testing. That's why I was asking

2016-05-22
Trial Run Results for Three Types of Whip Antennas

.

[SoCalBrian]

Hi F-EGL1,
Thank you very much for the on point answer.
Yes abcd567 does great antenna testing. That's why I was asking

[F-EGLF1]

Having looked at the postings, I personally wouldn't waste my money, they would probably be no better than the rubbish supplied with the dongle after it has been trimmed to the correct length.
Save your money and build one of the ground plane antenna that abcd567 promotes all the time, it would save money and perform better.

[Anmer]

That wasn't the question and your answer wasn't very helpful to others.

I thought it was a helpful suggestion. That's what I'd do for a small outlay of under $20. What they call a no brainer.

[Anmer]

Quick 1090 antenna question.

Why not buy them and test for yourself? They're low cost and ship from the USA.

[abcd567]

It's not at the expense of nearer signals, it's compressing of the radiation that would otherwise go upwards and downwards. The more elements you add (if done optimally), the smaller opening angle towards the horizon you will get.

An isotropic antenna is a theoretical point from where radiation goes exactly equal in a sphere. This is referenced as 0dBi.

A 1/4-wave GP has 2dBi gain in it's sweet spot (normally towards horizon and slightly upwards), most of that is "taken" from what would have been the lower half of the spehere.
A 1/2-wave dipole has 2.15 dBi gain, taken equally from top and bottom of the sphere.

Collinears vary in gain depending on how they are built, but they all just compress the "sphere" further and further into a horizontal "disc".

/M

Exactly... at the expense of vertical signals !!!! Adding elements magnifies this effect...
Point taken over the hemisphere - wasn't meant as an English experiment, I only used it as an example - 360 degrees around and some up ! lol

[Rooster]

It's not at the expense of nearer signals, it's compressing of the radiation that would otherwise go upwards and downwards. The more elements you add (if done optimally), the smaller opening angle towards the horizon you will get.

Exactly... at the expense of vertical signals !!!! Adding elements magnifies this effect...
Point taken over the hemisphere - wasn't meant as an English experiment, I only used it as an example - 360 degrees around and some up ! lol

[MrMac]

The antenna is vertical so there is no loss of signal anywhere in the hemisphere. There is an effect wheregenerally the more elements you introduce, the larger your hemisphere becomes at somewhat the expense of nearer signals. Thus an antenna of this type can pick up signals from further away than a simple ground plane antenna with just one receiving element. This is expressed as dBi (decibels relative to isotropic radiator). An isotropic radiator is (I think) considered here as a point source and I assume carries a value of 1. The multiple element signals are additive and, naturally since bigger numbers are easier to sell the marketing people tend toward using dB instead of dBi as a "gain" figure.

It's not at the expense of nearer signals, it's compressing of the radiation that would otherwise go upwards and downwards. The more elements you add (if done optimally), the smaller opening angle towards the horizon you will get.

An isotropic antenna is a theoretical point from where radiation goes exactly equal in a sphere. This is referenced as 0dBi.

A 1/4-wave GP has 2dBi gain in it's sweet spot (normally towards horizon and slightly upwards), most of that is "taken" from what would have been the lower half of the spehere.
A 1/2-wave dipole has 2.15 dBi gain, taken equally from top and bottom of the sphere.

Collinears vary in gain depending on how they are built, but they all just compress the "sphere" further and further into a horizontal "disc".

/M

[MrMac]

There is really little need for building (or buying) antennae with "gain" Aircraft fly in essentially a hemisphere over your head... so a 1/4 ground plane is the best for overall coverage IMHO - antennae with "gain" dont actually have ANY gain whatsoever...

Completely untrue, all of it.

The definition of antenna gain is passive re-distribution of radiation pattern. Every dB that can be won from a direction where you don't need it, is added link margin for detection of weak signals, or overcoming feeder loss.

A 5dBi antenna is often optimal. It will outperform your 2dBi GP every time, and still have enough gain straight up not to lose a/c above your head.

Gain is not amplification, but it's most definitely real, and beneficial.

/M