AirNav RadarBox

[warrior420]

Anyone know if these work in North America? And do they only pick up on large commericial flights?

thanks.

http://www.airnavsystems.com/RadarBox/

 

[morfis]

Both it and the Kinetic SBS-1 will work fine in the US. Some military aircraft (mainly the transports) and most commercial flights will be 'seen'.

Both pieces of hardware have active yahoo groups where you'd be able to get much more detailed answers to your questions about them.

 

[Markb]

I have a Radarbox and it's pretty sweet. It "sees" tons of aircraft, but only certain ones are plotted on the map. Many aircraft here in the US have Mode S, which allows them to be shown on the list (includes Mode-S code, N-number, country flag, altitude, squawk code mainly). ADS-B is not manditory here in the States yet, so mainly international/foreign aircraft are plotted on the map. The Airnav Radarbox forums have some pretty good info and screenshots. If you have any more questions, feel free to shoot me a PM.....

http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?board=4.0

 

[kmacka]

Well what you guys recommend...The AirNav radar box or the kinetic system. I'm going to buy one or the other, and I'm trying to figure out which one is best.

Now I also see that the Air Nav box comes with a 1 year free network access. Now after the year is up, do I need to purchase another year for the radar box to work?

Or is that just something extra

 

[Markb]

For the Airnav setup, the local RF access is free, the network access is a "bonus" (matter of opinion) that allows you to see anyone else's RB traffic anywhere in the world with a 5 minute delay. There's talk of the network access price dropping substantially, but nothing official yet. After the first year, the RF portion still works.
I would personally recommend the Airnav over Kinetic. I have heard from the forums on Airnav that you probably get better support with the Radarbox. Airnav is in the process of releasing a major software update and seems to be very responsive to user input. If you haven't already, I'd suggest checking out the forums on Airnav and see what others have to say. IF you subtract the network access price, both units are not too far off in price.

FWIW, I live in So. California and I get in the neighborhood of 1500 aircraft logged per 24 hrs.....

 

[kmacka]

Now Mark how do you have your antenna setup? Is this something that should be mounted outside or inside? How much coax comes with the airnav setup?

 

[Markb]

Right now, I'm using it in its out-of-the-box configuration. It comes with a small mag-maount whip and a 4" metal disk to use as a counterpoise. The coax is about 10' long and terminates in an SMA connector. There are external antennas and preamps available, but if I put the antenna near a second story window, I get pretty decent reception - I'd say somewhere in the neighborhood of 300-400 miles max. Obviously, outside and up high is best, but the included antenna isn't bad.

HTH,
Mark

 

[jmhayes]

AirNav Pro:
- network access; sharing is interesting ... for a while
- company seems more solid
Kinetic Pro:
- Deep community, add-ons, open-database
- Cheaper cost of entry

Airnav Con:
- Computer does decode [more flights = more CPU]
Kinetic Con:
- Bigger box, less portable

 

[TinEar]

Price of entry:
Airnav Radarbox = $900
Kinetic SBS = $700

 

[kmacka]

Does anyone know if ADS-B will become a requirement in the USA? If so, what time frame?

 

[TinEar]

Does anyone know if ADS-B will become a requirement in the USA? If so, what time frame?

2013 is the latest target date I've read. We may catch up to the Europeans someday. Even so, it's the best tool for military or commercial/private air monitoring that has come upon the scene in this hobby.

 

[kmacka]

Tin,

Percentage wise, how many flights use ADS-B and get plotted in your area? I put off purchasing this item, to see if ADS-B usage would pick up here in the US, but I think I'm going to finally make the purchase.

 

[TinEar]

Tin,

Percentage wise, how many flights use ADS-B and get plotted in your area? I put off purchasing this item, to see if ADS-B usage would pick up here in the US, but I think I'm going to finally make the purchase.

Only 10-15% are using full ADS/B but the radar tracking isn't the most important thing to me. The fact that close to 100% of them have their Mode-S turned on and appear on the aircraft tracking log ensures nothing flies in your area without you knowing about it.

 

[kmacka]

Only 10-15% are using full ADS/B but the radar tracking isn't the most important thing to me. The fact that close to 100% of them have their Mode-S turned on and appear on the aircraft tracking log ensures nothing flies in your area without you knowing about it.

Thanks for the info tin. Thats a good point about the mode-s and it appearing on the tracking log. I will be buying a unit soon.

 

[daedalus]

FWIW - very few light aircraft have mode S; most still are using Mode C. I don't know anything about the receivers being discussed, but it may come down to what type of traffic you want to track.

 

[kmacka]

I am mainly interested in military/commercial air. Another question. How often does an airplane transmit Mode S data?

 

[TinEar]

I am mainly interested in military/commercial air. Another question. How often does an airplane transmit Mode S data?

It's sampled once per second so you've really got a continuous stream. All military transports and tankers transmit it and a few F-15s/A-10s but those are rare. All commercial and almost all private planes also transmit Mode-S. For instance, at the moment I'm tracking 156 aircraft on my log that are flying within range of my Mode-S antenna.

 

[daedalus]

All commercial and almost all private planes also transmit Mode-S.

Ummm...not really. If by commercial you mean airline, yes, they use mode S transponders. Almost all private planes - nope. The overwhelming majority transmit mode C, not mode S

 

[poltergeisty]

What are you guys getting for range with these models.

Thanks.

 

[skip1216]

My location is in Denver about 30 miles from DIA (KDEN). I've found that only a few commercial airlines actually broadcast ADS-B. Someone mentioned 10% - 15% and my experience here would seem to support that estimate. I've also found that certain airlines seem to be more fully implemented than others...Frontier seems the most ADS-B enabled. I've found that in additionsome United, some American, and almost all international flights that come to DIA are transmitting ADS-B. Nonetheless, if you are in this part of the US you will not see a large number of tracked flights. I believe the investment is worth it. It is still way cool to see flights in real time and one must realize that saturation of the technology will improve over time. The networking feature is nice but again, in the west (Colorado anyway) there is a dearth of folks who have jumped into this. Only on rare occasions do I see networked local (i.e., in the mountain region) traffic. However, if activitiy anywhere in Europe interests you, it's amazing!