best antenna

[abcd567]

I have not used the Jetvision "SCO-1090-MCX" antenna, but have used a home made Spider and the Flightaware 1090 antenna. Although the Spider is very good and simple home made antenna, the Flightaware antenna performs better than it.

The reason is simple:
Spider is a 1/4 wavelength antenna with ground plane. Such antennas have gain around 2 dBi. Commercial antennas like Flightaware and Jetvision have gain of thw order of 5 to 6 dBi, hence perform better.

[utack]

Hi,

can someone talk about the Jetvision "SCO-1090-MCX" vs a self made spider.
Currently getting a max of 60nm with the indoor antenna, and I wondered if we are talking about roughly same performance for the spider and the pro antenna or if is really amazing and worth its 70€.

Thank you!

[abcd567]

There is potentially too much noise around you. Having an LNA with this range increases also the noise where then the ADS-B signals are hidden behind it.
Reducing gain can help a bit, but a filter optimized to 1090 Mhz would be better

Do I need a Filter? - Find RF Signals In Area


.

[magnum]

Has any of you used this LNA? range from 0.1 to 2000 MHz sounds great. I just instaled it but I can see a sudden drop from eg. 100 planes to only 30 and messages from 400 to almost 0. Ive tried with different power supply from 5v to 12v and doesn't make any difference. Any thoughts?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]11215[/ATTACH]

There is potentially too much noise around you. Having an LNA with this range increases also the noise where then the ADS-B signals are hidden behind it.
Reducing gain can help a bit, but a filter optimized to 1090 Mhz would be better

[wiedehopf]

There is a reason they built a triple-filtered LNA for ADS-B: https://www.rtl-sdr.com/new-product-...mhz-ads-b-lna/

The reason is: broadband amplifiers don't work well for ADS-B unless you have your own filters to go with it and even then the above product i likely superior.

[abcd567]

Too much gain can also cause this. Reduce gain of dump1090 to 20 dB and see if it improves.

[petercr]

Amplification range is too broad and if you have any local interference (eg local GSM towers) it will more than likely make the situation worse. Dropping plane count and messages that low seems to suggest that maybe the amplifier itself is faulty or there's a bad connector on the pcb (it can happen).

[matysldn]

Has any of you used this LNA? range from 0.1 to 2000 MHz sounds great. I just instaled it but I can see a sudden drop from eg. 100 planes to only 30 and messages from 400 to almost 0. Ive tried with different power supply from 5v to 12v and doesn't make any difference. Any thoughts?

LNA.jpg

[abcd567]

Dark blue (1090 mhz) will remove both GSM800 and GSM900

https://discussions.flightaware.com/t/announcing-the-new-1090-mhz-only-bandpass-filter/45287

.

[IZ8292SWL]

I cannot read frequencies on your scan (scan image too small on my phone).
If the interfereing signal is around 900 ~950 Mhz, then you have to use FA's dark blue one. (1090 mhz only). The light blue one (978+1090) will not remove 900~950 mhz interference

I have both interference from 800 and 900 mhz!

[abcd567]

I cannot read frequencies on your scan (scan image too small on my phone).
If the interfereing signal is around 900 ~950 Mhz, then you have to use FA's dark blue one. (1090 mhz only). The light blue one (978+1090) will not remove 900~950 mhz interference

[IZ8292SWL]

Yes, i suppose....
Pretty strong GSM signal isn't it?
Do you think that the Flightaware filter will do the trick?

[abcd567]

So this afternoon i ran the test that i found in a Flightaware forum post

You dont have to go to flightaware to find this how-to. I have posted the how-to in both Flightaware and Flightradar24 forums

Do I need a Filter? - Find RF Signals In Area

and those are the results:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]11197[/ATTACH]

This test is coming from another USB stick that currently is in a box on the roof.
I left it there in order to analyze this situation...

I'm using the Flightaware PRO stick.
Alone it can't stop all the QRM coming from the GSM cell towers.

I suppose i have to buy a filter in order to use my antenna on the roof!!
What do you think?

GSM800.jpg

GSM900.jpg.

You have cell interference in both GSM800 and GSM900.
Even if you use flightaware blue stick, the filter in it is after the LNA, so the filter will save the tuner from overload by these signals, but LNA will still get overloaded. You may need another filter between antenna and flightaware blue stick.

[IZ8292SWL]

Hi @abcd567 and thanks for all your tips.
Today i tried to move the antenna on the roof.
I had to set the gain settings to about 28 db because, i suppose, i have a very bad GSM signal interference.
Result were worse than the setup on my balcony.
I also tried to listen to some airband frequencies and they were pretty noisy and a lot of QRM.
On my balcony, i can clearly ear the ATIS but not on top of my building, even with a FM bandstop filter attached....
So this afternoon i ran the test that i found in a Flightaware forum post and those are the results:
scan.jpg

This test is coming from another USB stick that currently is in a box on the roof.
I left it there in order to analyze this situation...

I'm using the Flightaware PRO stick.
Alone it can't stop all the QRM coming from the GSM cell towers.

I suppose i have to buy a filter in order to use my antenna on the roof!!
What do you think?
Cheers!

[abcd567]

IZ8292SWL:

Anybody used that grey pvc pipes?
They look ok to put the cable inside and leave only the spider outside on top.

It will be OK as the spider itself is outside the pipe, hence the grey pipe's RF attenuation wont affect the performance of Spider.

Spider by jploch.jpg