My concern is what is the tower seeing? Do they see the same thing that Flight Aware flight tracking displays? I have had times when the tower says that they are not receiving my ABS-B signal. They will inform me when it is being received. The altitude that the tower reports receiving my signal is the same altitude that Flight Aware first picking up my signal.
I just setup a 978 receiver at my home airport (KCRG) with the intention to improve coverage for 978 traffic. I can follow departing aircraft on the ground on SkyAware from the time the ADS-B is turned on and follow the plane many miles. When checking the FlightAware track most planes are picked up at between 800 feet to 2500 feet. The first station to report the departing plane is a station 20 miles away. My station starts reporting in 20 to 30 seconds later and continues to be the predominate reporting station until out of range. The first reporting altitude is not an improvement from the reporting altitude before installing my receiver. Landing aircraft is a completely different story. Flight Aware tracks down to 100 feet or less. Before my installation flight aware would drop 978 aircraft at 300 to 800 feet. The antenna is located outside on a pole 5 feet above the ridgeline of the hangar and there are no higher buildings around. Any ideas?
I check my performance report regularly. It always shows a good signal. The times on the report match my takeoff and landing times within a minute or less. It is not just my plane. Planes that have 1090 ADS-B are picked up and dropped at 100 feet or less. Planes equipped with 978 ADS-B consistently are not picked until 600-2000 feet. 978 planes are now picked up all the down to 100 feet or less. That part is an improvement. They used to be dropped at 300-900 feet. I can see that my unit is picking up the signals on planes while taxiing and take off. I cannot figure out why the delay on reporting departing aircraft.
Some interesting observations. I have been tracking several school planes that use 978Mhz ADS-B for a couple of weeks. I wanted to have a data base to compare before and after performance. The Pi Aware receiver was fully setup and receiving on 12/23. The planes I was tracking did not show much difference before the receiver and after the receiver was setup. I took a flight on 12/24 and I was disappointed in the difference in the altitudes that FlightAware pick up and dropped my plane compared to before the receiver. On 12/27 I started to notice a difference. By 12/28 my station was being used more by FlightAware and the first and last reported altitudes were coming down. By 12/29 978 planes were being monitored by FlightAware at 300 feet or less on takeoff and down to 100 feet or less on landing. Planes doing pattern work were being tracked down on the runway. That did not happen with the data base planes before the receiver was operational. I flew my plane today and FlightAware picked me up before I got to 300 feet and less than 100 feet on landing. I have never had that happen before. I am now satisfied and feel that my receiver is making a difference. No changes were made to any settings. I am not too sure what is making the difference. I guess I needed to have patience.
