Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

My first collinear antenna

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • #16
    Forget it.. I found it.. Now i can see it.

    Comment


    • #17
      After a day with the new antenna i can see a big improvement, from around 20-50 nm to 80-100. I have to let VFR run another 24 hrs to see the range plot with some data, because i accidently restarted VFR :/.

      Comment


      • #18
        Finally i was able to install Virtual Radar on my windows server, but now i need to open a lot of ports at PI (home) and server to start getting info.

        what im trying to do is to show all the antennas i have in the same map.

        maybe i can do something for other users who wants to check the same with their antennas.

        Comment


        • #19
          My first collinear antenna

          Good job there.
          I'm pretty satisfied with the increase of range (~25-30%) with my new antenna. I will try to tweak it more, maybe do a longer one with more sections. And I will probably try to do a ground plane antenna like this to http://www.atouk.com/wordpress/?wpdm...nna&wpdmdl=397
          Last edited by FR24-BB8; 2016-06-04, 17:31.

          Comment


          • #20
            Hi again.

            IŽve just mounted a new 8 segments collinear antenna, intended to do it 9 segments, but my pvc-pipe i had at home was to short. :/ IŽll let you know if i increase my range further.

            Comment


            • #21
              Originally posted by FR24-BB8 View Post
              Hi guys.

              I'm new at this forum, and new to FR24 to. I've just set up my Raspberry 2 to feed FR24 with data, and with the stock antenna that came with my USB-dongle I get signals from approx. 20-50 nm. Tonight I built an collinear antenna with five segments, unfortunately I can't test it until tomorrow cause I miss some connectors. Anyway, how much do you think I will increase my coverage with my 5 segment collinear vs my 67 mm stock antenna?

              Here is a my antenna assembled
              [ATTACH=CONFIG]7580[/ATTACH]
              I tried collinear on my 1st attempt, but achieve better receive on it, but i switched to ground plane and for me its way better and better coverage.

              Comment


              • #22
                Yeah, maybe for me to. I will build a ground plane later this week. I hope to get better coverage than 100 nm cause i have clear sky all the way but to the south where i live.

                Comment


                • #23
                  Well I can tell right away, that something must have gone wrong with my 8 segment antenna. Did not cover planes 40 nm away. Switched back to my 5 segments and they all starting to show up.. IŽll guess my next project will be a ground plane...

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    What dimensions (diameter/mm2) should i use on the copper lines when i build my ground plane? skyspotter? abcd567?

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      have you tried with the normal antenna cutted as the image i posted before?

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        My first collinear antenna

                        No. I have not tried that yet. Maybe I'll try it today. Best would be if I could mount it at the same place on the roof, but i do not have adapters for the cables.
                        Last edited by FR24-BB8; 2016-06-06, 08:27.

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Originally posted by FR24-BB8 View Post
                          Well I can tell right away, that something must have gone wrong with my 8 segment antenna. Did not cover planes 40 nm away. Switched back to my 5 segments and they all starting to show up.. IŽll guess my next project will be a ground plane...
                          Welcome to the world of collinear voodoo, they are frustrating things to get right, you must know the correct velocity factor for the particular coax that you are using so you can get the segments cut to the right length, then trying to tune the sleeve balun is almost impossible without an antenna analyser or spectrum analyser and noise source, and the tuning of the top stub can make a huge difference. even then it is still a lot of trial and error to get it right, I have made a couple but it would be a lot easier and probably cheaper just to buy one in the long run.
                          Ben.
                          FR24 F-EGLF1, Blitzortung station 878, OGN Aldersht2, PilotAware PWAldersht, PlanePlotter M7.

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            Hi Ben.
                            Thanks for the information. The first one I built I'm pretty satisfied with. I get up to 100 nm, but I just maybe got lucky on that one. What about diy ground plane antennas? Do you think it's worth a try?


                            Sent from my iPhone with Tapatalk

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              I use a groundplane (Cantenna & Spider). My range is 200nm+ without amplifier, but my RG6 Coax length between antenna & DVB-T dongle is short, 12 ft / 4 meters. Groundplanes are easy & sure and success rate is nearly 100%, but because of their low gain (2 to 1.5 dBi) they cant sustain long lengths of coax without an amplifier.

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Ok. Thanks. I have about 3 meter coax between antenna and dongle. I will give it a try.


                                Sent from my iPhone with Tapatalk

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X