RadarBox Repair in North America

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CYUL

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Does anyone know of a place in North America that repairs RadarBoxes? I've been dealing with Waters & Stanton in the UK, they are excellent people and provide quality work but, the shipping costs are quite expensive along with the transit times is a real hassle.

Thanks
Paul
 

aprswatcher

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My house took a direct lightning strike several years ago and my Airnav Radarbox "let some smoke out",
I had to send mine all the way back to England for repairs, no way around it and yes the postage is high.
I actually got it back sooner than expected.

Just info on what I had to go through.

73,Rex
 

CYUL

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My house took a direct lightning strike several years ago and my Airnav Radarbox "let some smoke out",
I had to send mine all the way back to England for repairs, no way around it and yes the postage is high.
I actually got it back sooner than expected.
Just info on what I had to go through.
73,Rex

Yea, they have a decent turn around but the cost kills me. I've sent mine back 3x over the years.
 

Jay911

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Yea, they have a decent turn around but the cost kills me. I've sent mine back 3x over the years.

Yikes. Just.. yikes.

I have one I'm no longer using because I find the RTL dongle to do just as good, if not better, of a job. I'm using the indoor antenna, so I couldn't part with that, but it sounds like you probably wouldn't need it anyway. If you ever find yourself needing another ANRB, let me know.
 

02blackss

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Does anyone know of a place in North America that repairs RadarBoxes? I've been dealing with Waters & Stanton in the UK, they are excellent people and provide quality work but, the shipping costs are quite expensive along with the transit times is a real hassle.

Thanks
Paul

Hi Paul, I thought you got your problems sorted out the last time?

Jason
 
D

DaveNF2G

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AirNav has a terrible reputation among several user forums. I don't know personally about their repair service (I sold my Radar Box last year), but they have utterly failed to keep up with the capabilities of other Mode-S receivers on the market, while promising the Moon "real soon now" for a long time.

If you have repeated problems with your Radar Box (or any piece of hardware really), then you should consider switching brands. I use a ModeSBeast with outstanding results. I also have some SDR dongles and Mode-S software that do more than ANRB can.
 

mikewazowski

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I got a used Radarbox just before Christmas and was initially pleased with it.
Then their server crashed just before Christmas and everything went down for days.
Their business model also leaves a lot to be desired. You can share your data with them but you get nothing in return. You have to pay to see other's shared data. If you decide to not share, you must turn off sharing every time you start the program. They default it to on every time and you cannot change that. Pretty slimey IMHO.
Software updates? Forget it. Apparently they've been stuck at the same version for a while. I don't think they'll be releasing anything new for a while.
I ended up going with PlanePlotter. Since I started, they've released an update to the program. I share my data enough that I qualify to receive other's shared data for free.
They also have mlat which uses data from multiple sharers to help show planes which don't broadcast their location.
My Radarbox now sits while my RTL dongle sees daily use.
 

CYUL

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AirNav has a terrible reputation among several user forums. I don't know personally about their repair service (I sold my Radar Box last year), but they have utterly failed to keep up with the capabilities of other Mode-S receivers on the market, while promising the Moon "real soon now" for a long time.

If you have repeated problems with your Radar Box (or any piece of hardware really), then you should consider switching brands. I use a ModeSBeast with outstanding results. I also have some SDR dongles and Mode-S software that do more than ANRB can.

Yea they are not great handling customers. Even the people at Waters & Stanton mentioned their poor support while I was dealing with them. They basically shove owners to them and give very little information. Their software support is weak and they seem to depend on their clients to do a lot of their bug testing. ANRB is clunky and very slow at times - gets very frustrating. They like to mock SBS-1 as an outdated app but I'll tell you one thing; it has never failed me and Kinetics hardware is way more sensitive.
 

CYUL

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I got a used Radarbox just before Christmas and was initially pleased with it.
Then their server crashed just before Christmas and everything went down for days.
Their business model also leaves a lot to be desired. You can share your data with them but you get nothing in return. You have to pay to see other's shared data. If you decide to not share, you must turn off sharing every time you start the program. They default it to on every time and you cannot change that. Pretty slimey IMHO.
Software updates? Forget it. Apparently they've been stuck at the same version for a while. I don't think they'll be releasing anything new for a while.
I ended up going with PlanePlotter. Since I started, they've released an update to the program. I share my data enough that I qualify to receive other's shared data for free.
They also have mlat which uses data from multiple sharers to help show planes which don't broadcast their location.
My Radarbox now sits while my RTL dongle sees daily use.

Once my subscription is up I will not be renewing. I do not know why I should be paying when I share my data all day, everyday, all year round. I'll feed into FR24 since it is free.
 

02blackss

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Once my subscription is up I will not be renewing. I do not know why I should be paying when I share my data all day, everyday, all year round. I'll feed into FR24 since it is free.


Funny you mention that, I cancelled my network subscription yesterday. I got an e-mail back from support confirming it would be cancelled once my current sub runs out.

Overall, Radarbox does what I want it to do. I have superb range, and living so close to YYZ, it comes in super handy for plane spotting. I know alot of people complain about no software updates etc. But it does seem to fulfill my needs.

regards,
 

MtnBiker2005

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The last update from AirNav Support was from year 2009.
Still haven't found any other repair place for North America product owners. :mad:
__________________
AirNav Support Wrote:
Sorry but we don't. We are looking to have further bases in the different areas of the world so customers don't have to fork out a large amount on shipping back.
However if you buy from our dealers most will handle the repair proceadure themselves (in terms of either giving you a RB on the spot and sending of the other one or handling the sending of process). Though this does depend on dealers.
Thread Link: Airnav Please Help Me Urgently!!
 
D

DaveNF2G

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I'm sorry to say that I don't remember how much I paid for it, but it was far less expensive than the ANRB. I did have to solder the LEDs into mine. :)
 

MtnBiker2005

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Might be better to wait for the new version from Mode-S Beast company.
Not sure the release data for the new hardware version. Email them and ask them. :D

FR24 will sell the paid version later this year. It connects directly to your router/modem by Ethernet cable and It doesn't need a PC to run. You can use your laptop anywhere in the house and connect your Mode-S software(VRS,Planeplotter,etc) via the device IP address and port 30003. Hook up other stuff(webcam,AIS,etc) to the box USB port.
http://www.flightradar24.com/free-ads-b-equipment
 

CYUL

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I'm sorry to say that I don't remember how much I paid for it, but it was far less expensive than the ANRB. I did have to solder the LEDs into mine. :)

Hi Dave

I checked their website, the fully assembled version is 400 Euro's.

"Hardware: Transponder-Mouse 400,00 €"
 
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