I didn’t move the antenna outdoors. I switched from the mini mag mount antenna indoors to the 26 inch external antenna indoors.
Yes, the range increased when I added the preamp. It looks like the 1090MHz signal to noise ratio has improved overall, taken across all signals now received. I’ve not played with the gain setting yet because I’m changing one thing at a time. I will play with it in due course and report on any improvements which may assist others with this combination.
Hi abcd. I ran the gain Optimize-Gain script already and collected that data. I actually ran it 3 times and selected a gain that seemed reasonably good across all 3 tests. I say “reasonably good” because there was a lot of variation in the results. Solely using the Message Counts as a metric I went with 42.1. The peak message counts seemed to be associated with gains between 38.6 and 43.9. Any further thoughts appreciated.
While playing around with rtl_power earlier it occured to me that the visual effect you mention is partly down to the increased gain being used in the command at the start of this thread. Setting that to auto, as it would be in normal dump1090 use, shows something more realistic and all other parts of the band are black, versus the Band V and GSM signals present previously after the Pro Stick Plus is done filtering.
I’ve written a script which takes the rtl_power command and cycles it through all of the gains supported by the Pro Stick Plus and records an image for each one. This should allow a gain to be eyeballed and selected which gives maximum detail at 1090MHz while avoiding the noise around it at higher gains. I suspect it will be a much quicker way to home in on the optimum gain setting for a given installation, allowing the gain to be set as high as it needs to be but not needlessly higher. I’m testing it and will followup with more info.
The RF scan will show strength of GSM and 1090Mhz signals in dB, if the RF Scan is done using software rtlpan.exe (dongle plugged into Windows computer), as described in:
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EDIT:
The rtlpan graph also shows the noise floor. In the graph below it is -35 dBFS
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Scan below is at my urban residence (Toronto, Canada). The GSM850 and E-GSM900 signals are very strong.
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I ran this previously with a rtl-sdr V3, plugged into my computer USB port, with a little antennae and it ran well I have just tried this, as a prelim in trying the new script re using a visual test for gain. On both scripts, I get this error:
Using device 0: Generic RTL2832U
Found Rafael Micro R820T tuner
Tuner gain set to 1.40 dB.
Exact sample rate is: 2790696.209609 Hz
[R82XX] PLL not locked!
Using a Prostick plus into my PI3 B+
Jeff
disregard all above, the script worked perfectly ( wait till it is finished before posting it doesn’t …lol 
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Hi all
Do i need a filter ohhh yesss i think so
i have done the test on main setup 57m to antenna
flightaware pro stick coax 10m to loft
bias tee triple filter LNA
sdr-rtl v3 dongle into rpi3
ethernet from loft to the router
result
Test 2
8 segment coco antenna 1090 outside window 2m coax to
ndsr smart dongle
flightaware filter 1090 mode s
windows pc / rtlpan
test without FA filter
Adding another into the soup
in loft where main pi is i also have a tv amp and fr24 box running i will turn these off later today to see if anything changes i seem to hasve alot of peaks all over spectrum
would love to improve this more
i have 2 spare fa fliters uputronics amp spare and dark blue fa dongle
but currentyly power triple amp via sdr-rtl v3
I have tonight added a spare FA filter 1090 mode s
and its cleared all problems every 1 and it was swapmed im very happy to show you the result
i didnt really think that the fa filter would do this
thanks for these posts as ive fixed it myself with your forums help
the result of adding FA filter
Great! Congratulations!
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6 Cutots from your scan. Each is 600 pixel wide.
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scan half hour ago, peak traffic, v3 + FA filter + 3m cable + cantenna on a mast.
note how faint 1090 is and strong echoes 1030 from 2km far Athens monopulse radar (MSSR).
what else can be done to improve this?
hmmm…thing is that direction, dead South, are some very busy airways ca. 200nm.
and the approach paths to LGAV ca 6nm
that ‘corner’ thing would block ads-b in that sector too right ?
(good morning to Toronto 
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I have shown an angle of about 30 degrees between two sides of the corner-blocker for making drawing clear. If you make the angle smaller, the blocker should still work good as MSSR blocker, but block only a smaller portion of flight path.
This is just a conceptual drawing. Optimum angle, size of plates, and distance of antenna from corner to be determined by trial-and-error.
You miscaluted time zone. It is now evening (6:25 pm) here in Toronto 
right, good evening then shame on me, my son lives in Montreal should know better.
well will try it later in the morning (now 01:30 here). thanks
LMC question. does the metal roof structure 1.5m below the antenna affects reception ?
It depends on antenna design, but generally speaking roof below antenna provides a good ground plane and should help.
ok thanks, using you design cantenna slightly different, soldered the braid to the tin to avoid an extra F connector with 6.8cm core protruding through the hole and slightly bent towards the South.
This is smart. Makes Cantenna even simpler.
The original design to use an F connector was meant for those hobbyists who dont have a soldering iron/soldering gun.
