Currently I have my FA antenna taped to the 2nd story window in my house. I am wondering if the trouble of mounting it to the eve on the roof would increase my range compared to what I have now. Here is my stats page to show what I currently get.
I would say it would help…
there are so much different factors for each site - that in my opinion all theory will fail.
i’d suggest you to do the same very easy test i did. buy a cheap flagpole (about 20 feet long) and place the antenna at similar height/position as it were on the roof.
=> then you know exactly what improvement is possible for you and if it’s worth the money.
be cautious about lightning and thunderstorms!
regards
tom
If practicable, put it on the roof IMHO.
Take a look at my stats at:
flightaware.com/adsb/stats/user/joelwiley
All are located at the same address.
2394 is in an upstairs room with a 1090mh cantenna
3745 is on the roof with a 1090 mh 8 legged spider
6699 is on the roof 6’ higher than 3745 with FA antenna
(704 is laptop downstairs, intermittently on with Planeplotter and 1090 mh 4 legged spider)
Am in a valley w/ hills E, S, & W limiting horizon
Installing antenna on roof in most cases is advantageous. How much advantageous, varies from case to case.
I live in an apartment building. If I put my antenna on roof of our high rise building (200 feet +), my range would have been 300 nautical miles all around 360 degrees. This means from Toronto receiver, I could pick planes up to Montreal, New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Columbus, Cincinnati, Fort Wayne, Chicago, Milwaukee, Timmins etc.
Unfortunately our building management does not allow any resident to put an antenna on rooftop, although they have allowed several cell phone companies to install their equipment & antennas. Obviously they allowed cell companies because these companies pay them a handsome rent for using the roof 
Our building does not have balconies, but has wall sized large windows. I have therefore installed my antenna indoor near a window. I get only 180 degree coverage, the other 180 degrees is blocked by my own building. In the good 180 degrees, I can pick planes 200 to 250 nautical miles, but even in this available 180 degrees, there are many directions where range drops sharply to 50 to 100 nm due to surrounding tall buildings.
Please see my maximum range plot of my indoor antenna. The antenna I use is Cantenna, which is connected to DVB-T dongle by a 15 ft / 5m length of RG6 coax.
Yes, if in doubt just do a temporary installation.
If you have it behind glass - and it’s an opening window - move it outside and see what happens to the range.
If it’s in the rookspace, can you mount the antenna on a plastic drain tube / bamboo cane (or follow TomMuc’s suggestion of a flagpole) and see what happens.
Your milage may vary.
Here is what happened when I added the flightaware filter and then later, move the antenna outside.
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn30/adsbjunkmail/dump1090-rpi-trate-30d_zpsh1aqk2jg.png
Almost doubled my stats.
Thanks for all of the advice, as soon as I moved it outside FA went down
Looks like I have improved it quite a bit. Am waiting on my filter to get delivered.
You dont have to depend on Flightaware or any other site’s statistics. You can monitor your system locally by installing “rrdtools” and “collectd” on your Raspberry Pi. These tools will plot graphs of various performance parameters continuously, and these graphs can be viewed in your browser by typing in address bar:
/collectd
Note spelling of “collectd”. There is no e between t and d.
This is how to install these system monitoring tools on your RPi:
pi@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo apt-get install rrdtool && sudo apt-get install collectd
pi@raspberrypi ~ $ wget http://raspi.ayadex.com/volatile/web_install.sh
pi@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo chmod +x web_install.sh
pi@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo ./web_install.sh "dump-tools"
pi@raspberrypi ~ $ cd dump-tools
pi@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo ./install.sh "crontab"
when you will run the last line of code, it will show following error message
===== Starting crontab installation of dump-tools! =====
no crontab for root
===== Finished crontab installation! =====
Repeat the last command
pi@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo ./install.sh "crontab"
It will be ok this time and you will see this:
===== Starting crontab installation of dump-tools! =====
===== Finished crontab installation! =====
When you go to your browser after above installation and type /collectd, you will see blank graphs. Wait 10 to 20 minutes for graphs to built-up. From here on the graphs will continue to update automatically at regular intervals.
If you face any problems, please refer to these two threads:
Web Portal and Collectd/rrd graphs automated installation
.
Thanks, I actually installed the collectd stuff a few weeks ago, been trying to tweak it to give me better graphs.
So it’s your fault!
MOrning gents,
Just moved my ant and filter to the roof - passing through an amp (inside).
Till Friday, ant was in the attic - it now sits on a mast above the ridge line of the house.
Quick comparison:
Last Friday (ant in attic)
Pos: 125,411
A/craft: 2,228
This Friday (ant on roof)
Pos: 228,629
A/Craft: 2,916
So - 82.3% increase in positions, 30.9% increase in aircraft seen.
Pos per air craft - 56.3 before, 78.4 after (39.2% increase)
Qute pleased myself - what do others think?
So, to answer the OP - Yes, I’d say its worth moving the ant to the roof.
(If you’re paying someone to fit the mast, coincide it with fixing a roof tile and cleaning the gutters like I did, sits a lot better with the Other Half that way! 
).
GREAT, AS EXPECTED. CONGRATULATIONS!
(If you’re paying someone to fit the mast, coincide it with fixing a roof tile and cleaning the gutters like I did, sits a lot better with the Other Half that way!
This is a universal problem. My Other Half thinks I have destroyed the beauty of our home by installing “ugly” antennas, cables, & equipment, and wasting time and money on a useless crazy hobby 
This is a universal problem. My Other Half thinks I have destroyed the beauty of our home by installing “ugly” antennas, cables, & equipment, and wasting time and money on a useless crazy hobby
Same here… The Hanging cables and holes on the walls are always objected…
no big deal - you guys - just go for the green flightaware antenna …
Looks like the rainwater guttering on the garage at home - though the build-up seems deep enough to support plants, I don’t think it would support the antenna.