How trees influence signal - but fully surrounded by trees

I’ve been considering getting a 60cm 1090MHz antenna (did have FlightAware Antenna under consideration, unfortunately not easy available in my country). The one I’ve been looking at is ThePiHut’s 60cm Antenna which looks fairly similar to the FlightAware one.
Question is - is it even worth installing? I currently have a small magnetic antenna which gets up to 130nm (red rectangle on picture). My area is FULLY surrounded by trees that go up to around 22 metres, and I’m not necessarily looking into installing any sort of poles to get the antenna higher up into the air. Are the trees on the picture going to be dramatically reducing my range? Thanks in advance -

Before spending much money you can try a DIY antenna first. A lot cheaper and good enough for a test.

Trees are obstacles which can have a significant impact to the range.

I am sure @abcd567 can provide some links for home made antennas :slight_smile:

Other than DIY the antennas of Vinnant are reliable and cheaper than the Flightaware devices.
https://vinnant.sk/store/page/1?productlist-search=&productlist-sort=created-desc&productlist-categories=1090mhz-ads-b&productlist-tags=&productlist-itemcount=20

I am currently operating a 9dB version of it.

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@execed

Your picture shows that althogh the trees are tall, there are gaps between trees, and between branches. Also the leaves are not dense. Under this condition, blockage of RF signal will not be big enough to reduce your range.

Install a better antenna at the same location as the small magnetic antenna, and I am sure you range will increase considerably compred to current range.

I agree with @foxhunter that instead of spending money on 60cm antenna straight away, try a negligible cost diy antenna first, mounted at same location where you have mounted the magnetic antenna.

(1) QUICK SPIDER - No Soldering, No Connector

(2) EASY ANTENNA #2 : CANTENNA

 

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I would be more concerned about what appears to be a metal roof. Any chance you could mount an antenna at or above the peak so it can see beyond the roof?

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Ignore the theory and go with what you know.
The Mag base antenna is working surprisingly well, so a better antenna should show significant improvement.
The exception to this is if you are “terrain limited” (surrounded by mountains about 130nm).
The tool for this is: www.heywhatsthat.com