Hi all,
I’m looking to add an external antenna to an old dish network mount and adding about 10’ of antenna mast by removing the old dish from the dish mast. Is that possible? The old coax for the service is there and goes into my house right where my PiAware is currently located. Could I use that existing coax cable to run to the antenna?
I found this and added to my cart:
http://s31.postimg.org/yclvmgu5z/adsbcart.jpg
Thanks!
How long is the coax run? If it’s under 50ft then you’re probably OK but RG6 coax isn’t the best grade for higher frequencies. You will lose some signal between the antenna and your Piaware setup.
I see that you have the amp in the cart. The only thing is that those amps will amplify everything including noise. If you’re trying to to enhance your ADS-B signal then I would go with an amp with better specifications. This amp will essentially just compensate for the RG6 coax losses. I think you’re probably better off just upgrading the coax.
LMR-400 is the preferred coax but it’s costly and much thicker than RG6. If you have a long run (> 25 ft) then I would highly recommend it if you want to maximize your signal gain.
Very good price on LMR-400 (50ft @ $57 shipped)
Looks good to me. In fact, I have one site where I reused an old dish cable with a 100 ft run with almost the same setup you are considering. Excellent performance. Just be sure the connections are not corroded (you can replace them if necessary).