Hi Frank,
Glad to hear you've managed to get it up onto the mast.
The 170 nm range you are seeing on your ATOM VRS screen will be 1090 - probably ADSB - it will tell you on the screen on each individual aircraft label whether it is ADSB or MLAT (Mode S), or if relayed from another station, the label will say 'Grid'.
Your reported Max Range (so far) on the PilotAware Database for the PilotAware P3i side is 25Km, which isn't bad for a start. This report is of course completely dependent on passing traffic equipped with PilotAware to generate reports. You need to be patient I'm afraid (we've all been there
).
Edit: Just realised you are already using ognrange, so this next bit is ‘surplus’, but will leave it in for the benefit of new readers - Duh! Too early in the morning
You can easily check your own coverage on
https://ognrange.onglide.com as the 'heat map' builds, (see below) - simply log in to the ognrange site and key in your station name - LongSut for the Flarm Side or PWLongSut to see the P3i coverage, then click 'Goto' and select your desired timescale. You currently need to go out to 'Last 30 Days' to get a coverage report on either PW or Flarm, which reflects the fact that the station has presumably not been receiving - or at least not significantly during the last week as you got it ready and up on the mast, This is a very useful tool to allow comparison as time progresses - you can also take screenshots (as I have just done - see below) to keep a record of progress. You can zoom in and out at will, but watch your 'Zoom' level - the site will show you at the bottom of the screen if your zoom level is out of reporting range.
The comparative screenshot for LongSut (Flarm side), shows a weaker trace over a smaller area, which would perhaps imply that your Flarm antenna or feed isn't (yet) optimal. Most of us use 7 or 9dBi gain collinears for the Flarm side to pick up the weaker glider signals from further out. I know you said earlier that you are keen to experiment with your own options, but if you get stuck, remember that Keith can (usually) supply commercial antennas at 'cost + postage’, though postage on the big 9dBi ones is almost as much as the antenna.
Let's keep an eye on things and see how the coverage develops.
Best Regards
Peter