I’m new here and have been running a FA PiAware SD Card image in a Raspberry Pi2 since March 10th and have been reading and testing various configurations and home-made antenna designs. But earlier this week I read that others have tried an inline satellite TV amp with good results. So, from my satellite TV install days I knew that I had one or more of those amps kicking around in the garage/shop. Sure enough I found one and a power insert-er and 24V power supply.
Now, over the last few weeks I been trying different variations of the ‘spider’ some with bent legs and another with a flat disc and still another with a dome shape, but nothing worked much better than the 4-legged spider. And I thought I was doing good with about 20,000 positions reports per day with a few out beyond 200 NM.
But then I added the Perfect Vision inline amp and power insert-er. Now it hasn’t even been a day and I’ve doubled my average position reports and also seen a 50% increase in aircraft seen with some out beyond 250 NM.
I’m very pleased I stumbled across this site while looking for Raspberry Pi projects during a blizzard in late February. Everyone seems very knowledgeable and very polite as well. So, I think I might hang around a bit, if that’s OK?
Impressive coverage for being so far out in the sticks - I guess most of the traffic you see is passing high between the USA and Europe and where that goes depends on the weather patterns … try not to fly against strong head winds, try to take advantage of any tailwinds - and over that distance the traffic can easily fly around whole weather systems.
I didn’t buy anything for this job, the parts I had on hand from my satellite TV installation days. But here are the parts I used.
Perfect Vision In-Line PVLA-30 Satellite Amplifier 30dB Gain 950-1750MHz
PCT Power Inserter MPI-1G Remote Power Inserter
AC/DC adapter 24VDC with F-type female connector, model no. AH2424-B. I’m not sure where this came from, but it looks like it might belong to one of these switches, Zinwell MS4X8WB-Z and can supply 750ma @ 24V.
I ordered one of these back on March 31st to try and got about the same impressive results on my Detroit site. I think I installed it on April 2nd and it made a huge improvement, I haven’t been able to get the antenna installed outside yet, but inside now I have double my reporting using this amp. I actually followed the idea I got from another thread of using a diplexer as a highpass filter as well so my setup is Antenna > AMP > Diplexer > Power Inserter > Receiver
Thanks for the diplexer tip, I’ll have to give that a try. I think I must have read the same thread about the same time as you. But I managed to scrap together the parts from left overs during my satellite TV install days.
Thanks for the info! I’ll have to go do some digging when I get home, pretty sure I have one of those power inserters from an old DirecTV box. Will let you know my results, if I find it.
Looks like these Perfect Vision amps are the bees knees. Pity we can’t get them in the UK without paying a massive postage charge. Any of you guys coming over for a holiday
Though it’s not ‘perfect Vision’ brand, you can find amplifiers on ebay.co.uk … search for ‘lnb amplifier’
what is more awkward is finding a power injector - no one seems to have them on ebay/amazon. You can get one here (as well as an amplifier) gionlineshop.co.uk/product_r … p=DC-BLOCK (add £3.50 postage + whatever VAT) … then you need a power supply to suit the amplifier.
If buying from the USA - make sure the wall wart has a 230/240v rating for main supply.
also before connecting any amplifier - stick a multimeter on the resistance setting between the inner and outer of your antenna downlink cable. If it shows a resistance - you will need a DC blocker above the amplifier too.
While the inline amps often talk about 15+V that is more about the voltages they’re designed to pass upstream towards the LNB in a satellite system, the amplifier itself seems happy to power itself off 12V.
Are you guys using DC blocks to prevent a shorting opportunity at the antenna? I would assume if you have a shorted coco you would have to get a DC block.
So, I found the power inserter from my old DirecTV setup. I got excited and plugged stuff in without paying attention and fried my ads-b stick. Can you verify the proper way to connect that into the setup? Also, I have been using the antenna that came with the ADS-B Stick. Should I stick with that for now or would you suggest a new antenna? I’m not sure what to use. I suppose I could solder one together too? Suggestions on that? I don’t have a good place to put it other than hanging it out a second story window.
Thanks in advance!
Jeff
Edit: Also, before I make an Amazon order would you suggest buying anything else? I added the amp into my cart. I have a diplexer laying around that I can use. Really the only thing I think I need is a better antenna.
(and don’t feel bad – I’ve done worse, setting up a sequencer incorrectly, and putting 50 watts of RF into the output of a very low noise amplifier. PFFFT!)
