External antenna reccomendation?

[exfirepro]

David,

Unfortunately you won’t get any 869 rebroadcast up here in Scotland at the moment. The only rebroadcast station in Scotland to date is my station at Balerno (West Edinburgh) which has been active for the last 15 months, but is currently ‘down’ while I reorganise a more permanent power supply and antennas. Plenty of PAW Traffic most weekends out of East Fortune though if you are through our way. Nearest FLARM rebroadcast is Milfield if their gliders are active.

Best Regards

Peter

[david_lacey]

Thanks for the replies - really useful info.  Next time we get some decent weather at the weekend I’ll head east-ish and see if I can bag some 869MHz traffic.

[exfirepro]

David,

I should have said, there is a plan to expand OGN-R coverage up here and I’ve already got approval to install at several sites, but it’s a bit of an uphill struggle trying to find the time to get things moving (mainly due to conflicting time demands at home  ). Planning and gathering the necessary bits is however proceeding apace and I hope, to get things back on track shortly.

Regards

Peter

[david_lacey]

I’m happy to do a bit of the leg-work if I can be of any help ease the load a bit.  (32 years as a NATS Engineer)

[Keithvinning]

Peter

Sign David up before he changes his mind 

[david_lacey]

Second PAW flight for India Delta today.  A few observations:
1.  The external antennae arrangement seems to be working well - 44 contacts today in 30 minutes at 1500'. 
2.  My first traffic alert, with an 870MHz Sports Cruiser 12 o'clock, 400' above.  Seen well outside 9km on the SD screen.  Reported and tracked sensibly throughout.
3.  The aircraft is also Cumbernauld-based and re-appeared as traffic on the way back to the airfield.
4.  I spoke to the pilot and he had seen our second meeting on PAW, but not our first.  I am using ADS-B OUT, so perhaps my engine was masking transmission from my belly antenna.
5.  In the .TRK file, his callsign sometimes appears as his registration, sometimes as his registration bracketed by '#' characters.  Is there any significance to this?
6.  Only other item of note is that ICAO 24-bit addresses 400613 and 400E13 were in the vicinity at the time and they have got muddled on occasion - they only differ by a single bit.  I'm not particularly bothered, one is a BA 747, the other an EZY Airbus.
I was very impressed by the traffic alerting - it was ages before I spotted the aircraft visually even though I knew exactly where to look. 

[exfirepro]

Hi David,

Excellent feedback! I’ll let Lee reply on the technical points as I’m just about to head off down to the airfield to see if I can get the OGN-R up and running.

I will call you later.

Regards

Peter

[david_lacey]

Final post from me on this subject....
I've flown a couple more times over the past few days.
30 minutes last Monday yielded 43 tracks.  50 minutes today 63.
Last Monday I got a traffic alert on an airliner 4km/2000' above - he was inside CAS, I was outside.
Today I got a traffic alert on another Cumbernauld-based light aircraft. 
I have now seen and been alerted to traffic on both 1090MHz and 870Mhz.
I am delighted with the antenna's sensitivity.  It is exceeding my expectations. 
Incidentally, I believe that it is two half-wave dipoles mounted in a common body.  Although it is mounted on a metal panel, there is no physical connection to it (unlike, say a TED) so it is not a quarter-wave unipole. 
As I taxied in today, I received another traffic alert - '8 o'clock, same level, 240 metres'.  The icon appeared on the apron at Cumbernauld, labelled 'Undefined'.  After I shut down I went to investigate.  It may have been another light aircraft moving away from the fuel pump.  Looking through the .TRK file, the only candidate ICAO address is C13C3E which is, well.... undefined! 
I am enjoying the post-flight 'plane-spotting', but I expect the novelty will soon wear off.  ;-D