After a lot of experimenting and R&D I have managed to get a set up done which gives me a good 250NM range with ~1500/s rate. However, I have questions about the antennas and dongles.
Antenna: The one which came with the set, however, I got the best results without using the actual antenna. The set comes with a dipole antenna kit. I only connected the base and it gives me the best signal/range. Refer to this image.
If I use the complete dipole antenna, the rate is reduced to 200-250/sec. Why does actually adding more antenna length reduce the range?
When I tried connecting the same setup to the FlightStick Pro Plus, I get a significant reduction in the signal, range, and rate. From my research, the general consensus was that the FSP+ was better than the RTL-SDR v3 but my results say otherwise. Why is that?
I bought this antenna. The results are the complete opposite. The RTL-SDR v3 sees 0 aircraft with a 200/s rate. But when connected to the FSP+, I get ~1000/sec with ~80NM range. It is as if the v3 is not detecting the antenna at all. Am I doing something wrong here? Can someone explain to me the reasoning behind it?
I have just started tracking and have been behind it for just more than a week.
The antenna that comes with the RTL-SDR dongle is a general purpose antenna and not specifically tuned for ADS-B reception.
The dongle itself is a wideband dongle and the antenna is catered to be broadband reception as well.
The antenna length for ADS-B when using such an antenna would be around 6.8-7.0 cm to be in tune for ADS-B reception.
The telescopic antennas coming along with this set is exceeding that length so your reception will be less whit them connected.
I hope that explains why longer antennas not always enhance reception.
There are specific ADS-B antennas that are longer but they are also tuned for the frequency so in that regard length isn’t the only factor, it’s more about being in tune with the correct frequency of 1090 Mhz.
The lesser reception with the Prostick Plus could be caused by the fact that the FPS+ has a built-in filter, so less signal outside of the desired bandwidth is coming in. The RTL-SDR dongle doesn’t have this filter (since it’s purpose is broadband reception).
The Bingfu antenna is a better antenna then the general purpose one but it is also tuned to 2 frequencies (978 and 1090 Mhz).
For the RTL-SDR not detecting the Bingfu antenna, does the middle pen of the SMA connector actually connect to the dongle ?
I have one of those Bing-fu antennas for testing purposes and it’s middle pen is rather short. So you have to check if it readlly connects.
If you want to get more range or better results you might want to take a look at the Flightaware antenna
Other option is an ADSB antenna from Vinnant (Slovakia), depending on where you are living.
They ship towards a lot of countries. https://vinnant.sk/store
These are just the antennas, in both cases you wil need a cable (SMA Male to N male) to connect the antenna to the dongle.
