Radarbox and wide band antenna

[dc8-63]

Hi,
I have a Radarbox using just the supplied antenna which isn't that great. Has anyone tried to hook one up to an external wideband antenna. I'm about to put of an AOR SA7000 for general scanning purposes, but wonder how it would go in receiving Radarbox 1090 mhz transmissions.

 

[SkipSanders]

Using what coaxial cable? at 1090 MHz, coax other than the most expensive varieties has significant losses. And 'wideband' antennas have zero gain. You're likely to get less signal from a wideband (discone?) antenna with 50 feet of coax to it.

The main reason for an outside antenna would be to get it clear of obstructions at ground level. Good, but coax type is crucial.

 

[dc8-63]

Radarbox and wideband

Thanks for that - I'm relatively new to this business. The AOR SA7000 isn't a discone, but a combination vertical with one antenna for HF and the other for higher frequencies. The coax is RG58U and I'll be running about 15 feet from the antenna to the "shack". It's main use will be to plug into an Icom PCR2500, but I was just wondering about potential at 1090.
Tks.

 

[KC1UA]

I used a Scantenna with one that I had until my DPD Productions antenna arrived. It worked ok but the DPD antenna obviously blew its doors off. It was a temporary measure but a working one. The scantenna in question was fed with RG11 coax so it had reasonably low loss with a relatively short run.

 

[dwlyons]

I am using a Diamond discone antenna (attic mounted), 50' RG-58U coax on my AN Radarbox. The maximum range of my received signals consistently shows 100-125 miles.

The main thing you need to remember is that a 1090 MHz signal is line of sight only, so any obstruction between the antenna and the source degrades the reception.

To maximize the signal it is basically the amount of money you wish to invest.

My feeling is, if I can't see it, then I can get the info from their network and I don't need the range.

 

[dc8-63]

Radarbox and wideband

Thanks for that.
I get the line of sight thing. I'm getting around 30 nautical miles right now, even though the home is relatively low lying and the antenna is simply on the desk next to the box, so any improvement will be a big improvement.

 

[morfis]

Thanks for that - I'm relatively new to this business. The AOR SA7000 isn't a discone, but a combination vertical with one antenna for HF and the other for higher frequencies. The coax is RG58U and I'll be running about 15 feet from the antenna to the "shack". It's main use will be to plug into an Icom PCR2500, but I was just wondering about potential at 1090.
Tks.

If you intend to use your PCR2500 at freqs much above VHF, even with such a modest coax length, you would be better spending some money on decent quality low loss coaxial cable. Loads of websites that have comparison charts or tables with loss figures. RG58 is suitable for short patch leads and HF - it's loss at UHF and certainly up at 1090MHz is very high