A pretty major FAIL, asking for some suggestions!

FlightAware ADS-B Flight Tracking
1

OK, I finally got the FA antenna on the roof.

Basic setup RPi3, FA3.1, with FA filter and Pro Stick (orange)

Results were DEVASTATING. I had great expectations. Though I am picking up a few more planes, the range is minimally greater, still not tracking much past 100NM.

Here is my “test setup” using a homemade soldered 8 leg spider. As you can see the antenna was under front porch roof, and not very high. I thought results were good, given the location. Total cable run, about 15 feet.

Now I have moved a FA antenna to roof, well, I paid a crew to move it up there. Here is antenna. It is 28 feet higher than the spider, with minimal obstructions (a couple of trees only):

622×1024 499 KB

Right now, I have 15 meters of cable, coming to the suppressor. I can shorten it, a bit, if that will help. The cable was one that was recommended on forum as being high quality.

Here is terminus of cable:

1024×684 786 KB

It will be cleaned up a bit once I finalize configuration. Here is the suppressor. N fitting coming in from antenna, F coming out:

Finally, I go under the window, like this:

Inside, I have a meter of cable, then filter then Pro Stick, right into RPi.

Things I can think to do:

  1. Eliminate the coils of excess cable at the terminus. Does looping cable, regardless of length, have negative impact?
  2. Add an inline powered amp. I have that stuff. I know the prostick has an amp, but do I need more. If so, and I put the amp, and power to it, between the suppressor and prostick/filter is that going to cause problems.
  3. I ran gain optimization, and adjusted my gain per the results. I will do that again, to increase the sample size.

Any advice, suggestions, whatever, are greatly appreciated. My expectations of getting the antenna to the roof were enormous, and am disappointed at the mere incremental gain. On a positive note, the homemade spider was awesome, I guess.

Thanks for all help. I am in the process of doing a new card with the Dump Mutability option, currently I am running with Dump1090-FA. Maybe that will improve a little?

If I can provide any more info/data please let me know.

2

What’s the cable?
What’s the suppressor? (In particular, what are the specs at 1GHz?)
If you remove the suppressor from the feedline, what happens?
How did the antenna perform before it was mounted?

The “flat coax” through the window is potentially a problem too, those can eat a lot of signal, I can’t really tell from the photo what the connectors are but they may be designed for UHF not 1GHz.

3

The extra length will hurt a little but as long as you’re not coiling it so tightly that you’re going below the minimum bend radius, the coiling itself shouldn’t change much.

4

I would also check if you are using the correct N (50 Ohm) connector at the antenna.

post195232.html?hilit=50 Ohm N#p195232

5

@obj
Here is the cable (It was recommended) :
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0018PVVBS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here is the surpressor:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0018PR1H6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Before it was mounted, running it from the same position that the spider is in, the antenna performance was about the same as spider. That is, on the front porch.

I will try to connect, direct this morning, skipping the surge protector and the window deal.

@agretch:
The cable, above, has the connections

Thanks for your questions.

6

A very positive development.

I took out the flat coax under the window: Fifteen or so now, out past 100 miles, three times as many flights as ever before.
Don’t have the connectors to take out the suppressor today, but will try that next. Huge difference! Thanks for the suggestion!

7

Hi ,
Could you get another person to watch d1090 map screen while you make checks (live number of aircraft/msg rate)
I would take out the choke/coils on the coaxial near the drainpipe,and have a straight run wobble around connectors, they look like crimp types.
On the porch station, try rework spider with temporary cantenna sleeve , make a hole in a can and slide it over while second person makes checks as above to see if any improvement in range.

8

I can and will take the loops out, I need a few more ties at the top of the pipe, and some different adjusters. Good idea on having someone watch as changes are made, I can do that, too! As soon as I get sorted out, the front porch thing is going away, unless my wife beats me to it! She is not happy!

9

You are not the only one, this is universal problem :smiley:

10

Picture is worth a thousand words. Stats with the under window jumper in, then eliminated, then plugged back in. Need I say more! Thanks for the heads up, OBJ!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v63/jcinnc/screenshot1639_zpsxxuqajwz.jpg

11

What did you end up using to get the cable outside? Been thinking of doing something similar but I’m not sure I want to drill a hole in the side of my house…yet :stuck_out_tongue:

12

Right now I open window and screen, that is why I had to reconnect. Going to put hole in side when I get a box and stuff. The inside will just look like a cable outlet. There are several YOUTUBE videos on how to do this. Be forewarned, one “good looking” video has right many criticisms.

I have drilled holes in boats to mount transducers, so drilling into house is not a biggy. The stud finder is your friend.

13

Quick question - what tool are these charts generated from?

14

[quote=“vannossc”]

I installed via the scripts technique
http://discussions.flightaware.com/ads-b-flight-tracking-f21/ads-b-receiver-project-setup-scripts-t36532.html

These come from the web portal, along with many others.

Perhaps someone with more knowledge will tell you how to get ther if you are already up and running.

15

These are graphs generated by combination of two tools: rrd & collectd, using data provided by dump1090-mutability/dump1090-fa

Joe Prochazka has made it very easy to install these tools by an automated script. This script installas many components (by installer’s choice) i.e. dump1090-mutability/dump1090-fa, 4 data feeders, and web portal. The graphs are installed when web portal is chosen and installed.

Here is the link to the thread for installing these graphs. All basic instructions are in the first post of the thread:

ADS-B Receiver Project Setup Scripts

.

16

Great setup! If you still want to explore the window feed, there is another type of flat coax for window pass thru that is not ribbon cable. It might actually work for ADS-B:

This or similar: showmecables.com/product/Fla … nches.aspx

I wouldn’t recommend taking the surge protection out. Those devices are good to well over 2GHz as they are designed for WiFi applications. It is your friend.

The bit of coiled wire you have will make absolutely no discernible difference, minus using a digital power meter and finding that lost .04 dB

17

Installed…working perfectly. Brilliant!!! Thanks
Scott

18

@k5ted

Thanks for the link. I ordered one and will give it a try before I drill in wall.

19

Got the alternative under window deals. MUCH MUCH better than the initial attempt, stil not as good as straight shot, so I am gonna end up coming through the wall. But based on the performance of the two, the second ones (which are much, much cheaper) are way better. For anyone who has no alternative but to come under window, they are the way to go!

Thanks for the suggestion.