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  • Planes show for a short time, then disappear

    Hello. I'm a new user, and have this app on both my iPad and my Android phone, and just discovered it on the internet page as well. I don't bring my iPad to work, but, even if I did, it's Wi-Fi only, and we do not have open Wi-Fi at work, so it would not matter.

    I have been playing around with the web page, and notice that I can only follow many of the planes for just a few minutes, and then, they just disappear. This most recently happened with JetBlue 259 from FLL to LGB. It departed FLL at 4:01 PM EST....and I was watching it like 10 or 15 minutes after departure, it was still in Florida, and had not been in the air very long, and then, it was just gone.

    Does this happen because there is not any useres with an ADS-B receiver nearby to continue receiving the signal, or is there something else going on?

    I had the same thing happen with a flight that was out over the Pacific Ocean today also. I didn't really even have time to catch what the flight number was, or what company it was before it just vanished!

    What's happening here?

    I really enjoy this site, this one along with some others that allow live tracking are just great. I appreciate all the hard work. I would love to be able to buy a receiver and help with the live tracking, but, I'm not sure I have the funds to do so. The receivers look a little pricey! Plus, I would have to have an inconspicous antenna since I live in an HOA area, and the only kind of antenna's we can have are the small dish antennas for TV.

    Thanks in advance.

  • #2
    Hi Glen,
    You're suggestion is correct. Once an aircarft flies out of range of a ground based reciever it will dissapear from the screen. It will reappear once it flies back into range of another reciever.
    the reciever that is providing the feed is indicated on the left hand panel of the internet screen eg EIDW1 or NET2 etc. The FR24 folk have radars positioned at or in the vinicity of many airports, and then there is the community of planespotters who have their own devices. Some of these feeds are singular radar devices, whilst others are networked - so appear to have much greater range.
    Finally the range of the reciever is limited by the location that it is positioned in, particularly for flights at a lower altitude. If you want to learn a bit more about this aspect of the hobby, try having a read of this page

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    • #3
      Hi Glen (again)

      There are a couple of units on the market which range in price. The radargadget one is the cheapest and appears to get very good press from the user community. There's lots of posts on all the available units so take time to read all these and decide what you will want to be doing with it. There's also aan ecellent comparison guide available for download. Be warned though once you start you can become quite hooked.
      With regard to antennae, depending on your location an internal magmount aerial on your window ledge or up in your loft (if you have one) can give really good results. Usually these are supplied by default with the device. In fact the radargadets website gives an example of this. I started with the basic magount one but my wife got fed up with its presence on the window ledge - and you think your HOA are tough! So now I have an external antenna but its still up in the loft.
      Also if you scour this website I think you may find a post on how to convert an internal aerial into an external one with a piece of guttering (which may serve to cameoflage it)!! Alternatively I think there are photos where ceilings have been cut up to accomodate quite large antennae internally - which maybe a bit extreme.
      Have fun!

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