ADS-B / Flightradar 24 setup

[Analoguesat]

Considering the antenna is hanging off the honeysuckle outside the front window Im getting decent range - just got a Luftansa well off the coast of Fife

Now I know its working I can get the antenna put up properly.

 

[Vipersan]

Welcome to the club AS ..

 

[Analoguesat]

Now Im puzzled - Im getting intermittent signals from planes to the west of the cottage. The stone built cottage is in the way of the signals so why am I getting them. The antenna is outside the living room window, the top of it is about 7 foot above the ground, with a clear view to the east and probably is far enough out from the cottage to get almost due south.

Surely 1090Mhz cant pass through buildings very well?

I got this one for a while - and the big bugger to the south as it passed out west:

 

[Captain Jack]

Signal bouncing off your shed?

 

[Analoguesat]

Signal bouncing off your shed?

It would have to be bouncing off the slope of the hill opposite - theres nothing man-made in that direction this side of the summit of the hill, just sheep!

 

[Vipersan]

Perhaps they are those electric sheep that androids dream about...???

 

[Vipersan]

Perhaps they are those electric sheep that androids dream about...???

Speaking of which ...I'd heard a rumour that Philip K Dicks masterpiece reworked for the movie screen ..is to be re-made ..
Any truth in this ?
Certainly the original will be a hard act to follow..

 

[Analoguesat]

Range out to the NE is fantastic. This must be well over 100 miles even with the badly installed antenna. It wasnt strong enough to show up on the setup so heres the FR24 plot at the time of seeing it

 

[Llew]

That's a good way out to sea I can sometimes get over the Northern French coast, not today though.

Got the RPi connected to FR24 again since earlier this year, found my sharing key, and now with the higher collinear up again.

The dump1090 Web map seems a little basic compared to Virtual Radar, airplane flags and brand icons available? FR24 site has info of course.

My FR24 Feeder Settings page shows 56 tracked aircraft, and plenty on the List page, but N/A uploaded, presumably they should be feeding to the FR24 site (?)

 

[Analoguesat]

I nipped up to BnQ after work and bought a 2m section of 15mm plumbing pipe.

So after coffee I shall see what I can lash up.

 

[Captain Jack]

I cheated... and installed a FR24 on my phone. Much easier but much less fun.

 

[Analoguesat]

The pipe is zip tied to the plastic drainpipe sticking up over the roofline with all srts of bits of cable connecting it but Im seing further out westwards.

This Whizz Air went virtually overhead and shows my west & east limits. Dead cool nipping outside & watching it fly over as well




The limiting factor here will be the hills west & east of me as Im sitting in the bottom of a valley

 

[Archive-8]

I cheated... and installed a FR24 on my phone. Much easier but much less fun.

I have it on iPhone and iPad + a few mates have also put it on there phone.

It's a great little app:-)

 

[Analoguesat]

What a pita getting virtual radar working is! However having finally found instructions for the correct connection parameters (!) [port 30005] Im now getting pretty plane pics

 

[Analoguesat]

@Llew - your high gain colinear - what sort is it? A coax one like Ive made or something else??

 

[Llew]

@Llew - your high gain colinear - what sort is it? A coax one like Ive made or something else??

Same as yours Ross, I have seven pieces of coax in a co-linear configuration slid into a piece of plastic pipe, no impedance-matching resistor at the end, as some suggest. Didn't make much difference when I first tested it.

Height of the antenna and good clearance from any obstructions seem to be the main things to aim at for best performance, but of course you know that already. And a low-noise amplifier at the antenna head gives some extra gain.

 

[Analoguesat]

Any reason why you went for 7 segments?

 

[Llew]

I think it was seven, I describe my build in a post in this SDR section somewhere, I'll have a look.

 

[Llew]

Sorry, 12 segments. Memory failure.

 

[Analoguesat]

I shall extend my antenna before I put it up properly