Cheap ebay antenna outperforms FA antenna?

Tell us who is who? Same dongle type used for both scans? Hopefully the first one is the FA antenna. If not there is a problem. No way the FA antenna is 16 db+ worse.

Those two are the same FA Pro stick with the FA antenna. The graph just changes as it runs through the frequencies, I took two screenshots within the 15 min scan.

I’m looking at the raw csv file and it only has a snapshot of data in there at a specific time stamp, i.e. 16:12:59, and that’s it. I’m not sure if it is continuously tabulating data and building an image from there. I don’t see any options in the GUI either.

The results do not make any sense. The scan should be cumulative, not instantaneous. The drawing of the graph should be persistent, basically adding all samples from the period it ran.

Yes, precisely, and that is what I was expecting, but seeing how drastically the graph changes made me look in the CSV file, and it only has that one second of data in there. I will tinker around with the program, or just run the scan directly on the RPi.

Try also scan by OPTION-1 or OPTION-3.

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Yup, already doing option 1. Should be done in about 15 min. I will run it again with the same FA stick and the cheapo antenna.

Add an external filter. Too much cell/mobile signal at 880 Mhz (GSM850)

Roger, will update on Wednesday! Thank you everyone for your help.

This is the eBay antenna just for kicks.

If it makes a difference, then there is something wrong with either the plug or the socket (probably due to poor assembly).

An N connector that is loose will not be waterproof, so your coax will deteriorate over time.

Per @abcd567 above, think about a filter. The stuff in the 900mhz spectrum is not a good thing for you.

I have the FA Ant and Blue FA dongle and after adding the Filter i have found best results with Gain set to MAX… Dropping gain was ok with no filter but after applying a filter (FA filter) and (SAW filter) i had to ramp up gain to get range back . Still getting the same range and messages on my Prod set up of the Blur FA dongle a FA or SAW filter and the trusty old Spider.

This is exactly what we were trying to determine.

Wow, this filter cleaned up the spectrum very nicely. Now to just play with gain settings to find the optimum setting. May just load up the script posted here to auto test all gain levels another RPi.

I’m clicking through the three spectrums I have and the eBay antenna is much brighter on the 1090 area than the FA antenna though.

That is always relative strength, those are the strongest signals it receives in this spectrum, even though they may be weaker compared to another setup.

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Gotcha, makes sense, ty

Let’s see i’ve ordered the same item.

Will only be able to compare it to my cantenna though.

Just for reference aigo: when you post 1 spectrum it’s really not helpful.
Make 1st spectrum, switch out antenna only and run spectrum again with same settings.

Should be interesting when you get yours as well. All spectrums were made using same FA stick, just antenna changed, and filter added.