External / high power antenna for RPi feeding to FR24

[murtaza12]

Have had a Raspberry Pi3 Model B running a feed to FR24 for a while now, however it barely collects any data since the internal antenna doesn't do much help, it's the one that came with the NESDR Mini2+ that I bought off Amazon.

Are there any decent external antennas that I can mount outside of the house to get better signal with the same RPi setup?

[atairlines]

I suggest you search the posts about "cantenna", "spider antenna", etc... They are simple to build and works fine.

[murtaza12]

I suggest you search the posts about "cantenna", "spider antenna", etc... They are simple to build and works fine.

Errr I'm terrible at putting things together so I was thinking of something ready to buy off Amazon or something?

[abcd567]

Errr I'm terrible at putting things together so I was thinking of something ready to buy off Amazon or something?

I have 3 receivers each consisting of a RPi, with its own DVB-T and own antenna.

For one of my receivers, I use this one which I purchased from from Amazon, and am happy with it:

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00WZL6WPO

There are many other models of 1090 MHz ADS-B antennas available on Amazon and Ebay, but since I have not used any of these, and dont know how these perform, I am not in a position to recommend these. Those who hae used other makes/models can tell about these.


For other two receivers, I use DIY antennas Cantenna and Spider. Since you are not interested in DIY stuff, forget it.

[murtaza12]

I have 3 receivers each consisting of a RPi, with its own DVB-T and own antenna.

For one of my receivers, I use this one which I purchased from from Amazon, and am happy with it:

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00WZL6WPO

There are many other models of 1090 MHz ADS-B antennas available on Amazon and Ebay, but since I have not used any of these, and dont know how these perform, I am not in a position to recommend these. Those who hae used other makes/models can tell about these.


For other two receivers, I use DIY antennas Cantenna and Spider. Since you are not interested in DIY stuff, forget it.

Thanks, compared to the midget antenna that comes with my NESDR Mini 2, how much of an extra gain am I looking at?

Also, can I plug this antenna directly into the DVB-T stick or does it require some other equipment?

[abcd567]

Murtaza:
You have started this thread in wrong forum "Flightradar24 (feeding data to Flightradar24)".
It should have been in "Technical matters (hardware)" Forum.

Thanks, compared to the midget antenna that comes with my NESDR Mini 2, how much of an extra gain am I looking at?

The mini antenna is NOT designed for 1090 MHz. It is a telescopic antenna with minimum length larger than 67 mm (=1/4 wavelength at 1090 MHz). Also its base is 25 mm dia, which is too small to provide sufficient ground plane. If you fully collapse the telescopic antenna (to bring its length close to 67mm), and place it on a food can or metallic plate 100 mm dia or larger (to provide sufficient ground plane), it will improve reception, although due to antenna height not being 67mm, it still wont be optimal. An optimal 1/4 wavelength antenna has a gain of around 2 dBi. Your telescopic antenna after above tweaks, would still be less than optimal due to its length, and will have a gain of say less than 1.5 dBi.

If you read the details of Flightaware 26 inch 1090 Mhz antenna on Amazon page, it says "5dB gain", so you get at least 3.5 dB improvement

Also, can I plug this antenna directly into the DVB-T stick or does it require some other equipment?

The NESDR Mini2+ DVB-T stick has a SMX female socket, so the antenna provided with it has a SMX Male plug at it's cable end.

Please read details on the Amazon page for Flightaware 26 inch 1090 Mhz antenna. The details say "N Type Termination".

You will need:
1) A coax cable to run between antenna and DVB-T
2) The coax cable should have N-Male connector at antenna end and SMX-Male connector on DVB-T end. The telescopic antenna's cable is very thin and is easily terminated in MCX-Male plug. Normally for outdoor antennas, larger dia cables like RG6, LMR240, or LMR400 etc are used. These cannot be terminated in SMX-Male, and an adapter or pigtail is required at DVB-T end. Here is a sketch showing how to connect FA antenna to DVB-T.

NOTE:
If you live at a location where Mobile Phone or other communications signals are strong, a high gain antenna will pickup these signals also, and these signals will overload the tuner chip of DVB-T. As a result, the performance may be poor to moderate. In such cases, adding a 1090 MHz Filter between antenna and DVB-T improves reception.

First try WITHOUT Filter. if you feel your maximum range is less then possible at your location, then only go for a filter.

You can determine your maximum possible range by following the steps shown in first post of the thread linked below:

What is the Maximum Range I can Get?

[abcd567]

Murtaza:
When signal passes from antenna to the DVB-T through a length of Coaxial Cable, there is attenuation (reduction) in signal level. The attenuation depends on:
(1) Length of coaxial cable
(2) Attenuation dB per meter length of coaxial cable. This depends on type of coaxial cable.

As an example, the RG6 coax commonly used for Satellite Dish, has attenuation of about 22 dB/100 meters length. If the cable length is 5 meters, attenuation will be 22 x 5/100 = 1.1 dB, which is acceptable. If the cable length is 15 meters, attenuation will be 22 x 15/100 = 3.3 dB, which is high as every 3 dB attenuation reduces signal strength to half. In such cases, an amplifier (LNA) may become necessary.

[murtaza12]

@abcd567

I really appreciate the explanation and the diagram as well. Thank you so much man. My exams have just ended and I've got some free time so I'm going to look into this and hopefully get all the stuff by the end of this month or early June.

Cheers.

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