jmhayes
Member
My guess is that you'd see more flights on a Mode-S receiver than you hear on an airband scanner. How's that for a sliding-scale answer? 
AirNav RadarBox
- Thread starter warrior420
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In my area seems Sunwing Airlines,Skyservice and Air Transat of Canada use full mode ADS-B the most.
Air Canada only on most of their newer larger jets.A340,B767,B777's.
See there flights heading down East Coast US back and forth to the warmer spots
on the Radar Box. Really busy for Canadian flights this time of year.
In the last 9 hour time period this morning have logged 63 Canadian aircraft down here.
Mark
Maryland
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reconrider8
Member
anyone want to donate one to me i jsut finished building me a new computer
i jsut finished building me a new computer
anyone want to donate one to me
Did you consider using B stock for parts!!! :lol:
SkipSanders
Silent Key
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2002
- Messages
- 1,059
Just so's you know, yes, there are 'security worries' about this data. In time, it could end up encrypted. Or not. Certainly General Aviation won't want to buy ANOTHER set of new transponders...
http://www.airsport-corp.com/adsb2.htm
http://www.airsport-corp.com/adsb2.htm
I read this when I first bought my radarbox and was wondering if this piece of hardware would eventually become a paperweight. This guy's document was last updated nine years ago, so either the international community doesn't share the same concern or it has fallen on deaf ears.
Either way, you would think that if security was that big of an issue, they would have required encryption when ADS-B first came out.
Mark
Just what I need, another toy!
My biggest concern with this item is the antenna. I am in a basement shack, and would likely have to go with an outside antenna for any reception. I can't seem to find info on the following:
1. What is the external antenna connector on the Airnav Radarbox?
2. Is anyone using an antenna other than what they offer, inside or outside?
3. If so, what?
If I tune my AR5000A with SDR-14 to 1090 MHz, I can observe with the SDR-14 what appear to be wide but very brief "bursts" which I'm guessing are signals from aircraft. This is using an Antennacraft Scantenna. I'm wondering if I can get away with a current antenna for reception at the outset if I decide to invest in one of these.
Given that I'm on Cape Cod and can hear a lot of international flights, I'd expect I'd see a good amount of aircraft on screen if I had the right antenna setup. I'm guessing that the provided small antenna isn't going to do me any good at all.
Thanks.
My biggest concern with this item is the antenna. I am in a basement shack, and would likely have to go with an outside antenna for any reception. I can't seem to find info on the following:
1. What is the external antenna connector on the Airnav Radarbox?
2. Is anyone using an antenna other than what they offer, inside or outside?
3. If so, what?
If I tune my AR5000A with SDR-14 to 1090 MHz, I can observe with the SDR-14 what appear to be wide but very brief "bursts" which I'm guessing are signals from aircraft. This is using an Antennacraft Scantenna. I'm wondering if I can get away with a current antenna for reception at the outset if I decide to invest in one of these.
Given that I'm on Cape Cod and can hear a lot of international flights, I'd expect I'd see a good amount of aircraft on screen if I had the right antenna setup. I'm guessing that the provided small antenna isn't going to do me any good at all.
Thanks.
TinEar
Member
Scott, I run the Kinetics SBS-1 rather than the RadarBox but can give you my experience with antennas. I got the unit with just the little supplied mag antenna to run indoors. With it, I'd average about 50-60 aircraft on the log at any given time. This was lower level of a split level house. I then got it up as high as possible (but still inside) with a coax extension and got up to the 100 aircraft range. I then tried my various rooftop antennas - Diamond Discone, LPs, Corner reflector which are all cut for lower bands. Those antennas, strictly by being higher and outside, increased the log totals slightly - perhaps by an average of 10 aircraft and that's hardly noticable. I then tried some 800 mHz Yagis on the roof and those did nothing at all for me. Yes, they increased range but cut out about 75% of the aircraft to the sides and back of the antennas - as you would expect. I finally invested in an antenna cut for 1090 mHz and almost tripled what was being logged with the first setup. I now average from the 150 area up to slightly over 200 aircraft at any given time being logged. (187 aircraft on the log as I'm typing this)
If you're going to invest the money in the greatest tool ever to come down the pike for aircraft monitoring, you might as well invest another 100 bucks for an outdoor antenna - or at least in the attic if you can't install outside. Almost all the distributors of the SBS-1 or RadarBox Mode-S receivers also sell antennas for them. Here's the URL for one of them:
http://www.4cellular.com/index.php?osCsid=195d85ddbaea7ae58ff8beac215713d8
And this is where I bought my antenna for right at $100:
http://www.navi-star.com/index.html
All of them seem overpriced to me but I guess it's a specialty item so they get away with it.
Alan
If you're going to invest the money in the greatest tool ever to come down the pike for aircraft monitoring, you might as well invest another 100 bucks for an outdoor antenna - or at least in the attic if you can't install outside. Almost all the distributors of the SBS-1 or RadarBox Mode-S receivers also sell antennas for them. Here's the URL for one of them:
http://www.4cellular.com/index.php?osCsid=195d85ddbaea7ae58ff8beac215713d8
And this is where I bought my antenna for right at $100:
http://www.navi-star.com/index.html
All of them seem overpriced to me but I guess it's a specialty item so they get away with it.
Alan
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Thanks, Alan. That's about what I expected to hear. As always it comes down to "having the right tools for the job". I've been researching this idea and will continue to do so. What a neat product.
jmhayes
Member
Male SMA.
Thanks for the info on the connector.
Well, I took the plunge; used the $$ I had set aside for the BCD396XT scanner. This is just too cool to ignore, and aircraft monitoring has always been an interest to me since I was a kid. I've used Airnav products in the past to include their ACARS decoder, and they've always worked well. I expect this will be no exception. I ordered from BHI-Online on eBay and got it shipped to my door for $544.06. I'll work on the antenna next. This sounds and looks like it'll be a nifty addition to the radio room.
Well, I took the plunge; used the $$ I had set aside for the BCD396XT scanner. This is just too cool to ignore, and aircraft monitoring has always been an interest to me since I was a kid. I've used Airnav products in the past to include their ACARS decoder, and they've always worked well. I expect this will be no exception. I ordered from BHI-Online on eBay and got it shipped to my door for $544.06. I'll work on the antenna next. This sounds and looks like it'll be a nifty addition to the radio room.
TinEar
Member
Let me make a suggestion Scott. If it arrives without the new 2009 software installed, go get it and install it. It will remove some of the bugs - one of which is that older versions will not display an eight-character callsign block and will only do seven. This can make a huge difference with a callsign such as RCH 1234 when they leave a space between the callsign and the suffix. It will read out as RCH 123 and cause the obvious results.
Thanks. I researched the improvements that the 2009 version offers, and what I bought is listed as "2009" and/or "2.0". Given that the seller has a feedback of 100% I expect that's what it'll be when it arrives. If not, then at least it's just a download.
As for antennas: DPD Productions makes a 1090 MHz antenna and has the lowest price.
ADS-B (SBS / RadarBox) Vertical Outdoor Model Antenna
Here is a review of the antenna: Excellent new antenna in the U.S.
I ended up ordering one for my RadarBox and look forward to getting it up
ADS-B (SBS / RadarBox) Vertical Outdoor Model Antenna
Here is a review of the antenna: Excellent new antenna in the U.S.
I ended up ordering one for my RadarBox and look forward to getting it up
Ugh, where were you 3 days ago when I needed you?
I ordered the "Radarama" antenna from another British dealer. I guess I'll give it a try first, but I can already tell I like the DPD version better and neither are in my hands yet! Thanks for the info nonetheless.
Ah, what the hell, I ordered one anyway. In for a penny...in for a pound, I guess. I'll use the other antenna in some secondary manner, I guess. One note: anyone ordering them, you may experience a delay. I received an almost immediate e-mail from the owner of the company indicating that demand for them was suddenly very high, and it would be at least a week before it could be shipped. Pretty impressive to hear directly from him and in such a rapid manner.
jmhayes
Member
FWIW, I've had lots of dealings with Dave over the years; I own several of his antennae, and they are all very well made and worth the price. Also: he's an active milair scanner and contributes to the community in other ways, like posting his logs and sharing his knowledge. I have an early "beta" model of the 1090MHz antenna, and it works great -- much better than anything else I have.
SE Wisconsin
Anybody in S.E. Wisconsin using one of the boxes, sure looks cool.
John
Anybody in S.E. Wisconsin using one of the boxes, sure looks cool.
John
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