Hi all,
I recently purchased the FlightAware ADS-B antenna and want to mount it outdoors on a mast. All well and good. I also purchased a set of pigtail adapters that will allow me to connect more or less any type of connector to my NooElec SDR dongle. Based on the location of the mast and where I can place the Pi (even with a USB extension cable for the dongle), I’ll probably need 5-10m of cable from the antenna to the SDR dongle.
The problem is that I live in Bern, Switzerland, and I’ve had some difficulty finding shops (either local or online) that sell weatherproof cables with N type connectors. Local consumer electronics shops stock a bunch of short (~1-5m) RG58 cables with F-type adapters, such as one would use to connect to the TV, but that’s not really useful. There’s not really any RadioShack (for US reders) or Maplin (for UK readers)-type shops that stock various electronic components, cables, etc. for hobbyists. If there’s anyone in Switzerland that can recommend any particular shop, I’d be happy to buy you a beer.
Next week I’m traveling to the UK (London, in particular). Does anyone have any particular recommendations for good places to get the necessary cables and connectors? Ideally, I would like to get a 6-10m reasonably low-loss cable with pre-fitted N-type connectors, though N-to-F or N-to-SMA is fine. Alternatively, I can get cable by-the-meter and connectors separately and attach them myself.
It looks like Maplin sells a variety of cable by-the-meter, including RG58, RG6, and RG213, as well as clamp-on type N plugs that can handle cables with either 5mm or 10mm outer diameters.
What would be a suitable cable to use? To my admittedly-inexperienced eye, RG213 looks pretty ideal: 10mm OD, reasonably priced, 50 ohm impedance, and low loss. The SDR dongle has an impedance of 75 ohms, but the loss due to a single mismatch should be quite small.
How about connectors? Would the clamp-on connectors be suitable for use in an outdoor environment? If not, where else might I look for suitable ones?
At present I don’t have an in-line amplifier. Would this be a problem with 6-10m of cables and the FlightAware antenna? If so, what amplifier should I use? If it’s to be mounted to the antenna, it’d need to have N connectors and be weatherproof.
While not critical, time is somewhat of a factor: I’ll only be in the UK for a few days so I won’t be able to order anything to be shipped once I’m there. Ideally I’d like to order things in advance for delivery to a local shop (or perhaps to the hotel where I’ll be staying) so I can see it in person first.
Many thanks!
P.S. If there’s any London or Swiss-based readers here who’d like to meet up and get a pint somewhere, that’d be outstanding.
