Has anyone tried to email or call FA Store? I call and get told no one can take my call and emails go un-answered…
I’m trying to find out about their 1090 Antenna the 66cm one. I am in Australia and I can’t find it to buy here. On Amazon Australia it’s no longer available. On pihut it says its discontinued but it seems it’s still for sale on the flight aware store?
Does anyone know if its still the best option because I am wondering why you can’t really find it anywhere else except FA.
I have seen it on ali express in China but it’s very expensive and still cheaper to buy from FA and have it mail forwarded (as they don’t ship to Australia )
It’s very frustrating as I want to get my setup going but I don’t want to buy this antenna if its about to be superseded or maybe there is a better option out there?
I am wondering too because the images shown on amazon and pihut are a little different to the one shown on flight aware store
On the flightaware store the sticker as the base is blue but on amazon and pihut the sticker is white
Has anyone bought one of these antennas lately from flightaware store?
I do see a lot of other brands out there so maybe they are just as good? But they dont have as many reviews and as highly rated as the Flightaware one so Im hesitant
I have a package forwarder service but its going to cost a bit more to forward hence why I would like to buy it locally if I can or someone that ships to Aus
But at the moment it seems the only option is to buy it from flight aware store and I wonder why you can no longer buy it from other sites with one saying discontinued
I am worried this antenna is going to be replaced with a newer model then? Or perhaps its not as popular anymore and other antennas are better
I know people here probably can’t answer this but as I said i cant get any response from FA directly and before I throw down lots of $$$ for package forwarding I want to know if I am making the right choice getting this antenna
I agree with @CraigWoodThomas that the Vinnant CC1090/8-P would be a good choice - I replaced my FA 66cm with one of these about a year ago. It made a small, but noticeable improvement in maximum range and minimum altitudes that I could receive.
I’m also in Australia, and the cost of postage then was 21 Euro - it took about three weeks.
As a plug for dealing with Vinnant, they actually charged me 27 Euro for shipping, but when the postage only cost 21 Euro, they credited my card for the difference!
Thanks for that although the cost of that antenna and postage will be about the same as ordering the FA one and re-shipping
EDIT: although just saw it is longer at 1 metre
Ive just seen also that to buy the pro stick plus is hard to get from Australia now too. Only one supplier has them but amazon and other AU companies sold out!
makes me wonder if flightaware are stopping to sell their products to suppliers now? If they are that is silly for them to lose business as they only ship to the US but then again maybe they didn’t sell many to other countries so its not worth their while?
I think the issue is more the availability of the needed electronics and the cost of them.
For example the prostick plus in used to cost 40 euro’s in The Netherlands but the local price has gone up to 60 euro’s.
Due to demand and shortage of stock that is.
Same goes for the filters and then antenna. They can be unavailable for quite some time since they are made in batches and pop up again after 2 or sometimes 4 months.
Shortage and prices of components is also the reason why it takes so long to release the new prostick version since the needed electronics are very high in price at the moment so they can’t start production of it.
No sorry it is out of stock at the moment, expected to be available again in the 1st week of February. FlightAware Pro Stick Plus (USB SDR ADS-B Receiver) € 39,95 - bij SOSsolutions.nl.
I don’t know if they ship to Australia but maybe you can check that.
The Slovakian antenna is a good choice, I have a lot from them and they perform better or on par with the FA antenna depending on the model.
far out @CraigWoodThomas@JRG1956 my antenna already shipped! I only ordered it few hours ago and it’s still only 1030 am in Slovakia and it shipped an hour ago!
Somewhere a few months back one of the FA staff posted here that several of the components that they were using to build the ProStick went end-of-life and so they can’t be sourced anymore (except at great cost). They were working on replacement technology but I’ve not seen anything about them releasing a new SDR dongle.
The alternative is to use a SDR from another ADS-B service like RadarBox or to use something agnostic like an AirSpy Mini. Either option should still work.
Yes, you are already experiencing the many pluses associated with purchasing from the good people at Vinnant. You are going to like the antenna too. I replaced the FA antenna with the 8-P and it outperforms the FA right away.
Yes that is correct.The R820T chip is discontinued so that will eventually affect all SDR radio’s.
Alternatives are not readily available so I either resort to ordering in the US when needed ( I have a friend there that regularly visits my hometown) or trying to get them secondhand. Last Friday I was able to buy a prostick plus for 25 euro’s secondhand and that was delivered yesterday
I don’t consider myself as an MVP here, I still have a lot to learn and there are others that are far more knowledgeable then myself.
But thanks for the compliment
thanks again well I emailed pi but they reckon they are still getting stock in but don’t know when. Maybe if the Netherlands site is getting it back around Feb then they will too
how does everyone mount their antenna? For me it’s not really an option to put it on the roof as I don’t have power in the roof or network and not sure the wifi will penetrate
I was just thinking to mount it on the roof gutter by screwing the bolts into the gutter to mount it but I don’t see many people installing that way
Nevermind bringing power and network to the antenna. Put the antenna as high above the peak of your roof as possible. Mounting near a roof gutter will cause reflections for you antenna and you want to avoid metal being anywhere near your antenna. I have my Rpi system installed in a air conditioned room in the house that provides UPS power and hardwired internet connectivity. The antenna lead from the blue FA receiver dongle runs out of the house through a window seam and off to the Vinnant 8-P antenna that is mounted with its base at 36 feet above the ground. I use a apex section of radio tower to mount the 10 foot sections of pipe extending up to the antenna. The tower apex section is tied to earth ground with a 10 foot piece of copper rod driven in to the ground at the base of the tower. No need to protect electronics from rain, heat and cold weather. Inside I run a silent low rpm fan that directly cools the Rpi processor to a constant operating temp of 30 celcius.
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