We’ll pro stick help this problem?

FlightAware ADS-B Flight Tracking
1

The setup I use has a feed line that is about 50 feet long and I believe is the cause for significant signal loss. Would switching to a pro stick with an amplifier included improve performance? Since signal has been attenuated before it gets to the amplifier will that help at all? Unfortunately shortening the feed line is not an option. Also, is there any sort of free software available that will let me view the signal strength similar to a waterfall graph? I would like to make sure that changing to the pro stick receiver would actually improve the performance I see.

Thanks…

2

What feedline are you using now? Is there an option to improve the feedline quality?

3

belden 9913. no option to upgrade.

4

Assuming your connectors are good (not PL-259, which would add significant loss at 1090MHz), your loss with 50’ of 9913 should be slightly less than 3dB. That’s not horrible. The 9913 spec sheet says:

loss per 100’
1000 MHz - 4.4 dB
1500 MHz - 5.4 dB

If you are using a ADS-B filter already, I would expect that you would probably see some difference. It’s interesting to see how some users show little difference and some show significant changes, most positive and some negative, with the FA Pro.

IMO, it’s probably worth the $17 to find out :wink:

5

I tend to agree. Although I’m not sure I have a problem that the filter will solve. I’m more curious if the pro stick with the built in amplifier will improve performance since most of the loss will have occurred by the time the signal gets to the amplifier. Will amplifying an already weak signal help at all? That is my question I guess.

6

A mast head amplifier is the best option for long coax runs. It is not always possible or easy to implement.

I found that even with really good coax(LMR400) that the Pro-stick was better than RTL-SDR and Noolec’s best.

7

CAN YOU QUANTIFY THE IMPROVEMENT? PERCENTAGE-WISE…JUST ROUGHLFY.

8

It was a few months ago. Maybe 30% extra aircraft and 50-100% extra position reports.
I live in NYC, which is a very high traffic area. I have 3 top 20 US airports with 15NM and a really busy VFR traffic corridor. Not to mention the 5-10 tourists helicopters that can be flying at the same time.
I am sure that I get saturated many times a day, I have aircraft going past within 300ft of my house.

9

Unless they’re taking off or landing, I don’t believe they are within the bounds of the FAR’s.

10

Public and military aircraft are not bound by the FARs.
I see plenty of aircraft traveling up and down the Hudson at a few hundred feet AGL and I am not far from the Hudson. I see aircraft going overheard that are less than 500ft many times a day.

11

Interesting. It might be worth a try. I’m not sure I need a filter though.