I have setup the Piaware as per the guide here. I would like to upgrade my antenna with this one from flightaware:
amazon.com/dp/B00WZL6WPO?tag=fligh01-20
The problem is that I’m a little lost on what else I will need to make this work, if someone can point me to a list of all the other components needed would be awesome… Thx in advance…
It shouldn’t be too difficult…
You’ll need enough low-loss coax with “N” male connectors to reach from the outdoor antenna to your receiver.
The closer you can get the receiver to the antenna, within reason, the better.
You’ll also need an adapter to go from the indoor end of the coax to your receiver. Most receivers have a female MCX connector, so that means a female “N” to a male MCX. Remember the gender refers to the electrical fitting, not the threaded fitting.
I prefer the type that has a short coax between the connectors as opposed to the “solid” connection type.
In addition many people like to add a high-pass filter like the Mini-Circuits SHP-1000 (or roll your own!), which will require a slightly different combination of coax-to-filter-to-receiver combination.
Of course, you’ll need a nice high spot to mount the the antenna and some form of pipe or pole to attach it to.
Good luck, and please be careful if you’re working on the roof or at any heights!
You also need something to fix the antenna to … Ideally above roof / chimney height.
A pole and some brackets?
Needs care with choice of cable esp. it it’s a bit of a run.
I just got the basic flight aware antenna and the little dongle with 6" of cable and N jack on one end and MCX on other and physically moved my Pi closer to the peak of my attic.
Change in range was incredible!
Is that the FA antenna as being sold on amazon?
Is it outside?
Unless you have hills, trees or buildings in the way you should be able to get planes two more rings on the Pi chart out - over 200nm/400Km
I went from few even in the second ring to multiple beyond 240 miles with the antenna swap from the crappy little one to the flight aware branded one on amazon for $60…Amazing difference.
Gained a little more range today when I swapped from v 1 to v2 of the dongle.
Annoyingly the Pi chart now works in Kms for me (even shows yours to me in Km … I wish I could choose the units)
It might be worth getting a range plot using virtual radar on a PC, and comparing the map to the one from heywhatsthat.com to what you should see ‘in the air’ at 38000 ft.
You can - see under “account” in the top left (flightaware.com/account/manage)