Can't get range more than 80 km!


Hi,
I am newbie as feeder…here my site has ground elevation of 101 meters and antenna height is 3.6576 meters but still I can’t get more range,not as mentioned in my skyview range map…what to do??oh yes this is a totally rural region,himalaya is on north but total terrain in entire south,east and west. Please guide.

I see no planes at all on your screenshot. What led to the conclusion of this limited range? What is your setup? Can you show some plane info? On the 4th of September your range was up to 320 km?

Yes…I am using flightfeeder orange,with out filter.Yes on 4th I had more range but then i was testing the kit as I received that on the very same day.But that area is congested with tall buildings and now this area is total terrain. That’s why I am confused. Is my antenna height is ok??and also my radio gain is set at highest. My nearby airports are mostly VFR.

it seems Sirajganj is located on a flat plain.
If there is an open horizon around the antenna, then the problem is technical. Cable or connectors?
Useful topic - What is the Maximum Range I can Get?

here is the one i got about range. I reconnect it by loosening the both the connectors. Here the signal level is showing -19.0 in my receiver. Should I low the gain which is set now to highest?

I did a remote check from FlightAware side and your box is not showing any problems. You might have to check the connectors or placement of the antenna. You can email adsbsupport@flightaware.com and someone will help you with setup.

The connectors should be all be tight and the antenna should be vertical and have direct light of sight to the plane you want to track.

I also checked on http://flightaware.com/live/ and did see a few planes in your area.

My antenna height is ok or I have to increase it??

A plane 300km away is extremely close to the horizon. You want a direct line of sight to the plane you are tracking so you want to be able see as much of the sky as possible in that direction.

A good rule to use is that the antenna should be close to or above the top of trees. Once you get above the trees you don’t gain much more range.

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OK,should the gain set at max (55)or I have to set it in a lower value??

try first gain -10 this is the highest then e.g. 50 48 45 40 35 30

for most situations -10 is the best and that’s why this is default setting …

Is maximum gain bad??mine is set at 50.Or it has relation like less gain more efficiency??
I guess I have found the solution of my problem after checking the coverage pattern from my location,it’s a perfect 360 degree pattern…so I have to increase the antenna height.

Optimal gain depends on your antenna setup, distance to aircraft, other RF noise in your area.
In some environments, max gain can deafen the receiver and you will have better results with a lower gain.
You’ll just have to experiment.

Got this relationship between gain and coverage from radar book:

Higher the gain,the more highly directional it is.
Lower gain provides wide angle coverage at the expense of gain.

Thank you all for guiding me :man_mechanic:

That relationship is only for the antenna part of the system. Higher gain antennas are more directional than lower gain antennas. Larger antenna usually have more gain than smaller antennas.

The gain of the antenna also can’t be changed easily. There are some newer tech like frequency changing antenna, phase arrays, and MIMO that can change the “gain” of an antenna but those are usually very expensive at the moment.

The gain people are referring to above is the receiver gain. This is controllable through the piaware software. This controls how much amplification the antenna signal is boosted by in the receiver. Too much gain and the signal will overload the circuit. Too little gain and the signal is too faint to hear.

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I have set the receiver gain to 30 as per your suggestion. As my location is rural and surrounded by tea gardens and forests mainly,made it to optimum 30…lets see,thank you so much to clear my doubts about gain; between receiver gain and antenna gain. :airplane:

I know this problem. I guess you need a flightaware pro plus stick with filter.
I assume you have a cell phone or other strong transmitter for mobile phone in your near area that blocks other signals or overload your receiver.
Once I was on a mountain close to a cell phone transmitter I was able to receive only 70km and then I went on the backside of a house without direct view to the radio tower the range increases up to 300km.
Buy a filter and your problems will be gone - strange that nobody had this idea before in this thread.

@fk9 My experience agrees with your suggestion - I have a cell tower about 1000 feet directly east in line of sight. Without a filter, my aircraft and position numbers were very poor and short distance (less than 75nm) looking east. I replaced the dongle with a FlightAware ProPlus stick (the blue one with the filter) and all the counts and distance improved dramatically, getting consistent numerous contacts out to 200nm. The Raspberry Pi, software, cable, antenna remained the same. See maps in my update at QUICK SPIDER - No Soldering, No Connector - #9 by AhrBee