Ground plane antenna has increased positions by 35% and planes by 20% on first day up compared to 6 element CoCo with no termination.
**Ground plane is the 4 radial version, not the 8.
CoCo has a reputation of being really difficult to get right - the simpler design is better.
If putting your groubd plane antenna outside, spray it with a clear lacquer to protect it from corrosion
This may help answer your questions. There are however other factors - your mileage may vary.
csgnetwork.com/antennagpcalc.html
OK, I jut plugged in my new hand made antenna (reminds me of a miniature “Starduster” CB antenna I had a youth).
For now, to get a close to an apples-to-apples compare, I have placed it in the exact same location as the stock SDR cheapie antenna.
Too early to tell, but I immediately picked up two planes ~200 miles away which was not common for my rig.
I’m going to take so data for a week or so to analyze the results. If they are conclusive I will mount the new antenna in the attic.
Stay tuned and thanks for the idea…
I have one RPi with a ‘spider’ ground plane on the roof and a second testbed playing with Acarsdeco with another indoors. I just swapped to a 1090 coco to work on ppup1090. There is quite a bit more traffic seen on the roof, and I doubt its the coco vs spider since I’ve gotten similar results running the two from the same place. YMMV
See over here:
http://discussions.flightaware.com/post153827.html#p153827
Fooling with a 1/2 wave (that so far is quite disappointing).
I cannot tell from the photographs, but you might want to fill the hole with fire block foam.
I started using 1/4 wave ground plane and the results are great.
That’s not great - that’s fantastic! Good work! 
[quote=“jepolch”]
Started using Friday 12/19 night, 1 hour before it changed over to the next day UTC time.
Very nice! I like the hat. 
http://i57.tinypic.com/2mqj9e8.jpg
[quote=“jepolch”]
Your cover does look better. lol.
I moved my cantenna to the top of my antenna mast today and results improved a lot. I’m testing it against my ground plane.
That’s funny. I think yours looks better. Looks like a sombrero.
Nice… I didn’t make one of those yet.
Reduce, reuse,recycle :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
I just finished my testing. Details http://www.whiskeytangohotel.com/2014/12/diy-antenna-improves-raspi-ads-b.html
The quickie answer is my DIY 1/4 wave was nice improvement, but not nearly as good as above.
It short, I am glad I did it. Thanks to the others for leading the way.
Evening all,
Noob question, but gotta ask to learn!
My antennas currently in front of a second floor window.
Been running for nearly two days now, picking up c1500 aircraft per day.
With you guys putting the antenna in the attic, is it the material (ie roof vs glass) or the hight that makes the difference?
Once I’ve got an optimal antenna, looking to roof mount external, but until then, thinking of moving it to the attic if that’s better than 2nd floor window?
The “optimal antenna” is a bit like the Holy Grail – lots of folks looking for it. Looking at the stats of others in your neighborhood, I’d say elevation, elevation, elevation.
Ground planes and cantennas perform really well and have the additional property of being very hard to screw up.
One thing you’ll hear from a bunch of us is to take baseline measurements, make a change, record those measurements, and let everyone know the results. Then try something else. So stick it in the attic and see what happens!
One thing you’ll hear from me is to select a PiAware station near you that has pretty consistent statistics, similar to your own station. Use that station as a reference as you track data – that helps you tell if the change you made is influencing things with respect to the normal daily/weekly fluctuations. For example, if your station consistently delivers results that are between 68% and 71% of your chosen reference, and after a change you are now 91% - 93% of your reference even though the overall numbers are down, that looks like an improvement.
Have fun and let us know what happens!
bob k6rtm