Antenna Run

…Am I better off just finding a different location on the roof to place the antenna?..

Only if:
(1) new location results in substantial reduction in cable length.
(2) new location gives lesser obstructed view of horizon.

So the antenna location is the highest point on the house and is the same regardless of the Coax cable run. I was just trying to avoid needing to run a CAT5 cable over there as it’s a somewhat difficult place to get to… not impossible, just difficult. I’m going to tackle that on Sunday.

There are no cell phone or other antennas nearby. At least none that I’m aware of (my Verizon and AT&T cell phone get crappy service here).

Even inside, right now (for testing), I am getting responses from aircraft in the 60-120 mile range. Site 13493.

Here is my system and coverage map.

My entire installation is strictly indoor, as I live in an apartment with no balconies. The antenna is located near a wall sized glass window, at a height of about 60 feet above road level.

My Antenna (Cantenna)

My Coverage Map (My System shown in top left corner of the map)

1 nautical mile = 1.85 kilometers
1 nautical mile = 1.15 miles

abcd567,

We are helping each other with overlapping… :smiley:

I’m in Detroit so overlapping as well! How do I get those coverage rings on my map? I’m using the PiAware RPi Image from FA with no modifications.

I am running Dump1090-Mutability. The rings are in that package. There are a few posts on here about installing that. But you will need to install Raspbian on a SD card. Might be a good idea to try that on another SD card, so you can always fall back to the SD card image that works if you run into problems.

That I can do. I have a few extra RPi2’s so I’ll just try it on one of those. What version of mutability are you using? I see 1.15 in this thread.

This tread might be a good start.

ads-b-flight-tracking-f21/what-is-easiest-way-to-install-dump1090-mutability-t35431.html


?HOW TO GET ALTERNATING BLUE/RED CIRCLES IN DUMP1090-MUTABILITY

?HOW TO GET ALTERNATING BLUE/RED CIRCLES IN DUMP1090 IN PIAWARE

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Thank you everyone for the replies!

hi nick,

just one more thing. yesterday when reading your re-post i overlooked that you wrote ‘power over ethernet’.
as far as i know - please correct anybody who knows better - you need a poe splitter on the raspberry side also.
so - while the injector you have brings power to the ethernet cable - the splitter does the opposite to a micro usb cable or the raspi internal connector.

regards
tom

Best thing to do is just try it with the 130 ft run. If it works good, you are good to go.
Your flight aware antenna has a gain in the 5-6 dbw range. The 130 foot cable is going to have a loss of about 6-7 dbw - So, you will end up with an antenna physically located for good reception but with minimal gain in the system.

Good idea! Taking advantage of high gain Flaghtaware Antenna.
And if it does not work good, add an in line Satellite amplifier + Power Inserter, like these:
NOTE: These are only few examples. I suggest you search Amazon.com & eBay.com to find a heap of choices.

AMPLIFIERS:
NEW PERFECT VISION IN LINE PVLA-30 SATELLITE AMPLIFIER 30DB GAIN 950-2150 MHZ POWER PASSING 8 TO 29 VOLTS

Paladin Tools 9672 In-Line Amplifier

PCT 20 dB In-Line Satellite Amplifier 950-2150 MHZ DC Passing Fixed Slope 20dB
http://thumbs.ebaystatic.com/images/m/m8EEsO_Rh-9iGgSmQOhPWUw/s-l225.jpg

POWER SUPPLIES:
DIRECTV PI21R1-03 Power Inserter, 21V DC

Pico Macom PS10 Power Inserter with Diplexer Supply 15 VDC 15 Volt In-Line

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If you are putting the Pi by the antenna - then it’s probably worth looking on ebay.com for ‘low noise RF amplifier’ - you’l find one designed for 50ohms with SMA connectors for 10-15 dollars, and it needs 3.3 -5v supply … which is easy to collect from the raspberry Pi GPIO (just google raspberry pi pinouts).

By the way that connector has 0.1inch pin spacing … just like the cables in old PC’s for IDE disk cables, speaker connectors etc (check the junk box).

No need to do power up the wire to a satellite amp.

%between%

Both the RPi and Amplifier need power.
Option 1: For satellite amplifier, 15V DC power is sent up over coax cable (PoCx).

Option 2: For RPi+ 5V DC Amplifer, 5V DC power is sent up over eathernet cable (PoE).

Option 3: An AC wall socket wired upto the RPi/Satellite Amplifier location, and a wallwart installed there.

In any case power needs wires/cable of some kind: shared coax, shared ethernet or exclusive power cable.
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Or may be we use “wireless transmission of power” :slight_smile:

Quote from wikipedia:

A wireless power system consists of a “transmitter” device connected to a source of power such as mains power lines, which converts the power to a time-varying electromagnetic field (microwave or laser), and one or more “receiver” devices which receive the power and convert it back to DC or AC electric power which is consumed by an electrical load.


Generic block diagram of a wireless power system

Correct, I have a kit (both the side that combines and the side that splits). I also picked up an adapter to go from the 5V plug to USB Micro. Been running it using the kit since last night (not from the roof) and haven’t seen any problems as of yet.

Cat5 / Cat6 Ethernet cable consists of four pairs of conductors, Ethernet just uses two pairs - with POE you are putting the otherwise unused pairs to to use. … so you need a gizmo to inject the voltage onto the cable and a similar gizmo to take it back off at the top.

If you feed 5v into the CAT5 at the bottom of the house to feed the Pi in the roof - sure as hell it wont work due to the electrical resistance of the cable, under the load of the Pi + dongle, you’ll only get about 3.5v out at the top. The answer to this is easy - you shove (say) 12v up the cable and put a voltage regulator the far end to convert the 10v or so at the far end into the 5v needed by the Pi.


Just in case anyone is unsure about what I said regarding the Pi + Amplifier + Antenna being all physically close by each other

you don’t need the hassle or complexity of powering the amp up the wire

an amplifier like this one ebay.com/itm/181628625954 is $12 - runs of 3-5v and just drays 33mA - you can pull that power from the Pi supply or indeed from the Pi itself. It’s probably based on the MiniCircuits PSA4-5043+ amplifier, same as the well regarded HABamp

The big disadvantage is not having a case … but if you’re having to do something to keep the Pi dry, you might as well do the same with this too.

Has anyone used this?

http://www.hzo.com/raspberry-is-hzos-favorite-kind-of-pi/

http://www.hzo.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/HZO-Watersafe-Raspberry-Pi-1024x768.jpg

Does away with the need for a heat sink :unamused:

If you already have it, definitely try that one. For me, it works much better than than the Perfect Vision PVLA-30.