Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Aussie Feeders

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

  • YBCS2 sends a big hello to the Innisfail and Mission Beach feeders... nice to have some extra back up over the far north.

    Comment


    • Interesting feeder that I've not seen before appeared today: T-YBBN26. Interesting in that it only seems to catch planes way out to sea, like between 50km and 300km off the coast roughly between Noosa in Qld and Yamba in NSW although it hung onto one inbound ANZ plane until about 20km off Stradbroke Island. I hesitate to declare this as a new feeder since so many of them have popped up around Brisbane in recent times that are in fact established feeders making a new appearance.

      Comment


      • Originally posted by airnrail View Post
        Interesting feeder that I've not seen before appeared today: T-YBBN26. Interesting in that it only seems to catch planes way out to sea, like between 50km and 300km off the coast roughly between Noosa in Qld and Yamba in NSW although it hung onto one inbound ANZ plane until about 20km off Stradbroke Island. I hesitate to declare this as a new feeder since so many of them have popped up around Brisbane in recent times that are in fact established feeders making a new appearance.
        Yes, Looking at it now picking up the EK A380. Must have an antenna pointing out to sea?
        Regards
        Geoff

        Comment


        • And interesting that other feeders from YBBN3-YBBN26 are not "visible" due to "overlapping".
          Last edited by LDSP; 2014-01-30, 08:12.

          Comment


          • Originally posted by POR911 View Post
            Yes, Looking at it now picking up the EK A380. Must have an antenna pointing out to sea?
            Regards
            Geoff
            I wouldn't be so sure
            - I can get 400km using the tiny magmount whip antenna that came with the dongle ... if I place it inside the window of the office where I work ... on the 8th floor (Seeing planes near Amsterdam from Birmingham City Centre, UK)


            [Receiver 820 button dongle + Raspberry pi]

            Comment


            • How do you find out who is hearing what?
              I'd like to know if my setup is working ok.
              And where do you find out your designation if you're a feeder?

              Many thanks guy's.

              Jeff.
              -
              Jeff Cochrane - VK4XA
              East Innisfail, QLD, Australia
              F-YDKI1

              Comment


              • Don't worry
                I've found my details.
                Going to make some improvements on my system here soon, the coverage isn't quite as good as I had hoped for.
                -
                Jeff Cochrane - VK4XA
                East Innisfail, QLD, Australia
                F-YDKI1

                Comment


                • Originally posted by VK4XA View Post
                  Don't worry
                  I've found my details.
                  Going to make some improvements on my system here soon, the coverage isn't quite as good as I had hoped for.

                  Jeff,

                  If your call sign (VK4XA) is an indication you have an amateur radio licence, then you'll be aware that radio wave propagation is sometime still a 'dark science' more so with the higher frequencies. You can in fact have an antennae which is 'too' good and amplify the signal too much.
                  Spending a lot of loot will not help location, so if you have your own 'tower' assuming you are an radio amateur, then pick a point on the tower and mount your FR or SBS supplied antennae on a 'ground plane' and you will solve most issues.

                  For my installation I use a 12" whip supplied with SBS-1 even though I now use an SBS-3. I have about 30' feet of ordinary coaxial cable, (not low loss). I have a 1090 Mhz filter near the antennae and a regular every day TV antennae amplifier installed close to the SBS-3.

                  Weather affects all radio waves as you know, so a crappy day will give crappy results even though we are working with UHF frequencies. I'm located near a hill at Mission Beach, almost at the base, so I'm shielded out to the West and range is generally 60 miles max for aircraft above 24,000 feet. To the north I can receive aircraft 100 miles north of Cairns, when they are above 37,000' to the South I can do aircraft up to 200 miles above 37,000 feet with Townsville traffic showing above 5800 feet. Probably via TCASA re-transmit. Out to the EAST is better still with 240 miles quite the norm regardless of weather.

                  I assume you know what signal aircraft are transmitting?

                  These units pick up Mode "S" ADS-B using Extended Squitter frequencies (1090) Mhz, and the SBS will also pick up USA type signals based upon UAT frequencies. Some places have re-transmit.

                  By and large only IFR aircraft (heavy metal airliners) have ADS-B at present, although more light aircraft IFR are being retrofitted on a daily basis. As from 14th Feb all new imports into Australia must be ADS-B compliant (IFR).

                  If your looking for local Innisfail traffic, tough luck! the parachute planes generally have only Mode C Transponders but the PAC750 aircraft does have a Mode S which SBS will interrogate and display an altitude in the data but no actual position is displayed. It will be years to come before all aircraft including VFR types are required to have ADS-B installed.

                  Enjoy!

                  Cheers,

                  YDKI1

                  Comment


                  • Originally posted by VK4XA View Post
                    How do you find out who is hearing what?
                    I'd like to know if my setup is working ok.
                    And where do you find out your designation if you're a feeder?
                    Jeff.
                    If you have an FR24 supplied receiver you should have received an email which answers all these questions and inviting you to contact Support@FR24.com if you need further help or advice.

                    Comment


                    • Originally posted by FR24support View Post
                      If you have an FR24 supplied receiver you should have received an email which answers all these questions and inviting you to contact Support@FR24.com if you need further help or advice.
                      Many thanks, the email has been found and it's all sorted now.
                      The email got cleaned off of my local machine but fortunately I use GMail and I was able to check out the details on there.

                      It seems as though my receiver is hearing reliably to about 315Km to the southwest through to the northwest.
                      (The antenna is mounted on the east side of the mast)
                      At this time however I think that it should be hearing better than that, particularly when aircraft are at 45000+ feet to the south of me at very close to Mach 1 like an aircraft was today, my system didn't hear it at all, it was tracked by Townsville and Cairns though almost to New Guinea.

                      I do have to shorten the antenna feed line and that will be done in the next day or two.
                      The loss of 10 metres of the originally supplied RG58 size cable should do the system the world of good.
                      (It is currently being used as a patch lead between the feed-through connector in my shack wall and the receiver, a distance of 1 Metre!)
                      The rest of the feed line is high quality LMR400 with silver plated N connectors and the antenna is 12 metres off of the ground.

                      One question though, the connector on the back of the receiver, is that a reverse SMA or a normal SMA connector?

                      Many thanks for your assistance.
                      -
                      Jeff Cochrane - VK4XA
                      East Innisfail, QLD, Australia
                      F-YDKI1

                      Comment


                      • Female SMA
                        (reverse would have the pin in the socket on the box)
                        Posts not to be taken as official support representation - Just a helpful uploader who tinkers

                        Comment


                        • Originally posted by Traveller View Post
                          Jeff,

                          If your call sign (VK4XA) is an indication you have an amateur radio licence, then you'll be aware that radio wave propagation is sometime still a 'dark science' more so with the higher frequencies. You can in fact have an antennae which is 'too' good and amplify the signal too much.
                          Spending a lot of loot will not help location, so if you have your own 'tower' assuming you are an radio amateur, then pick a point on the tower and mount your FR or SBS supplied antennae on a 'ground plane' and you will solve most issues.

                          I assume you know what signal aircraft are transmitting?

                          These units pick up Mode "S" ADS-B using Extended Squitter frequencies (1090) Mhz, and the SBS will also pick up USA type signals based upon UAT frequencies. Some places have re-transmit.

                          By and large only IFR aircraft (heavy metal airliners) have ADS-B at present, although more light aircraft IFR are being retrofitted on a daily basis. As from 14th Feb all new imports into Australia must be ADS-B compliant (IFR).

                          If your looking for local Innisfail traffic, tough luck! the parachute planes generally have only Mode C Transponders but the PAC750 aircraft does have a Mode S which SBS will interrogate and display an altitude in the data but no actual position is displayed. It will be years to come before all aircraft including VFR types are required to have ADS-B installed.

                          Enjoy!

                          Cheers,

                          YDKI1
                          Many thanks for your post,
                          Yes, VK4XA is my Amateur Radio callsign, I'm located in East Innisfail.
                          My best reception area is to the south, where I can see and hear aircraft all the way to just past TVL.
                          To the west, like you I have the Great Dividing Range in the way which is why my antenna is on the east side of my mast, it does tend to mask signals out to the west.
                          I currently get about 160nm at the moment in any direction but with a change in the feedline that should improve.
                          According to the stats page, my receiver is hearing a lot further out than that but the signal strength is too low for reliable data.
                          So, I'll organise a patch lead in the next day or two that's about 1M long, that _should_ improve things. (It WILL be better than the current 10M long RG58 or LMR240 cable that is in line at the moment)

                          And it seems like we have the same designator, for my receiver is also F-YDKI1.
                          -
                          Jeff Cochrane - VK4XA
                          East Innisfail, QLD, Australia
                          F-YDKI1

                          Comment


                          • Jeff,

                            No one is close to Mach 1. The speed you are observing is (G/S) ground speed, (TAS +/- Wind effect) The fastest civil aircraft that you will see is a Cessna Citation X, which when pushed hard will do Mach 0.90 when OAT and aircraft weight permit. We don't have access to military codes/frequency etc, the only military aircraft you will see are those which are civilian derivatives eg: Boeing 737 BBJ, Canadair Challenger CL60, both typically Mach 0.80 cruise. Beech B350 King Air etc.

                            Comment


                            • Originally posted by Traveller View Post
                              Jeff,

                              No one is close to Mach 1. The speed you are observing is (G/S) ground speed, (TAS +/- Wind effect) The fastest civil aircraft that you will see is a Cessna Citation X, which when pushed hard will do Mach 0.90 when OAT and aircraft weight permit. We don't have access to military codes/frequency etc, the only military aircraft you will see are those which are civilian derivatives eg: Boeing 737 BBJ, Canadair Challenger CL60, both typically Mach 0.80 cruise. Beech B350 King Air etc.
                              No, it was not displaying any registration codes, they were blocked, it was at 45000 feet, its speed from the readout was about 950KMh and it left Laverton airbase and headed towards Port Moresby.
                              Playback from 04:40 and have a look over TVL.
                              The speed of sound at 45000 ft is about 1069 KMh
                              Jeff
                              Last edited by VK4XA; 2014-02-16, 10:21.
                              -
                              Jeff Cochrane - VK4XA
                              East Innisfail, QLD, Australia
                              F-YDKI1

                              Comment


                              • Jeff,

                                That's ground speed.

                                The speed you see on the display is groundspeed, nothing to do with Speed of Sound. Speed of sound is a function of TAS and temperature.

                                There is a strongly southerly today at high altitude, any modest Jet with a 100 knot tailwind will give you those readings.

                                My transmit should be T-YDKI1 as "F" is reserved for FR24 equipment so I am told???

                                Cheers,

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X