Dipole Antenna Fell off - options forward?

[a.alexeev.p]

Hi everyone!

I was thinking literally a few weeks back if one can actually ensure somehow if the internal remote antenna is fine as I noticed both wiggling a bit and jokes on me - today 869 dipole completely fell off the cable after a few years of good service.

Either way, I found 2m cables a bit too much and was thinking to explore ways of having remote antennas yet on shorter cables. So, I thought of buying short 50cm SMA extension cables on amazon + standard antennas from pilotaware store. With that two main questions:

1) Do those standards antennas perform much worse or not really if placed correctly?
2)  Is there some important physics I’m missing re extension cable length etc or any coaxial cable will  do and I should just go ahead?

[a.alexeev.p]

Also just noticed that 1090 antenna on Pilotaware Store is not compatible with the classic unit apparently…. Why is that? I was sure they are pretty much the same dongles/antennas?

[exfirepro]

Hi Alex,

The 'standard' 869.5MHz PilotAware antennas - (the ones supplied to screw directly onto Rosetta) are technically known as 'Sleeve Dipoles'. You can see an excellent description of how these are designed and constructed in the first part of this video... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcho1gJ2xEQ (up to about 4mins 20 secs).

There is technically nothing to stop you running a sleeve dipole on an SMA male to SMA female 'extension cable' of appropriate length - remembering that the shorter the cable, the less potential signal loss. They usually work fine in that configuration as they don't need a ground plane. Just make sure the cable you buy is good quality for the frequency we are using and that the connectors are SMA - not 'reverse polarity' RP-SMA - which has the centre pin in the wrong connector, and try to mount the antenna out in the clear away from for example metal window or door frames.

I've never taken one of the 'standard' Rosetta 1090MHz antennas apart yet, but from their length, I suspect they are simply tuned 1/4 wave monopoles. The reason they are not 'advertised' as compatible with the Classic, is that - as you know - the standard Classic 1090 antenna has it's own cable, terminated in an MCX male plug, which plugs directly into the dongle, whereas on the Rosetta the antenna mounts directly on the case onto one end of an installed SMA to MCX pigtail - the other end of which is already plugged into the dongle. Again, there is nothing to stop you using a Rosetta 1090MHz antenna onto an SMA female to SMA male 'extension' with your 'Classic' then adding an SMA female to MCX male adaptor on the end of the cable to plug into the 1090 dongle. Or you could of course use an SMA female to MCX male cable if you can find one.

Having said all that, remind me what type of aircraft you are flying? If you are changing your antenna setup anyway, have you considered upgrading to external antennas? I did that quite a while back on my flexwing and as a result am seeing vastly improved coverage and range from my setup over all previous antenna options.

Definitely worth thinking about.

Best Regards

Peter
 

[A_Vinning33]

Hi Alex,

I've spent some time this morning improving the antenna selection on our shop.
https://www.pilotaware.com/product/remote-internal-antenna

You're now able to buy 1M internal antennas in either 1090MHz or 869.5MHz.

I will also try and source an MCX to SMA adapter for the 1090MHz antenna for you.

Thanks,

Ashley

[a.alexeev.p]

Hi Alex,

The 'standard' 869.5MHz PilotAware antennas - (the ones supplied to screw directly onto Rosetta) are technically known as 'Sleeve Dipoles'. You can see an excellent description of how these are designed and constructed in the first part of this video... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcho1gJ2xEQ (up to about 4mins 20 secs).

There is technically nothing to stop you running a sleeve dipole on an SMA male to SMA female 'extension cable' of appropriate length - remembering that the shorter the cable, the less potential signal loss. They usually work fine in that configuration as they don't need a ground plane. Just make sure the cable you buy is good quality for the frequency we are using and that the connectors are SMA - not 'reverse polarity' RP-SMA - which has the centre pin in the wrong connector, and try to mount the antenna out in the clear away from for example metal window or door frames.

I've never taken one of the 'standard' Rosetta 1090MHz antennas apart yet, but from their length, I suspect they are simply tuned 1/4 wave monopoles. The reason they are not 'advertised' as compatible with the Classic, is that - as you know - the standard Classic 1090 antenna has it's own cable, terminated in an MCX male plug, which plugs directly into the dongle, whereas on the Rosetta the antenna mounts directly on the case onto one end of an installed SMA to MCX pigtail - the other end of which is already plugged into the dongle. Again, there is nothing to stop you using a Rosetta 1090MHz antenna onto an SMA female to SMA male 'extension' with your 'Classic' then adding an SMA female to MCX male adaptor on the end of the cable to plug into the 1090 dongle. Or you could of course use an SMA female to MCX male cable if you can find one.

Having said all that, remind me what type of aircraft you are flying? If you are changing your antenna setup anyway, have you considered upgrading to external antennas? I did that quite a while back on my flexwing and as a result am seeing vastly improved coverage and range from my setup over all previous antenna options.

Definitely worth thinking about.

Best Regards

Peter

Thank you, Peter! As always your posts are super useful and informative – really appreciate it! I rent PA28s, so can't do external. I also recently changed my SDR to this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01HA642SW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

So I expected any ADS-B antenna to work? Either way for this I now decided to go for one from same company: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01FS0GI0W/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It is a 3dbi version and they have also 5dbi, but after some basic research (again, my radio knowledge is very limited) I decided 3 should be more suitable... and then just do PAW antenna from PAW store.

Sounds feasible to you?

[a.alexeev.p]

Hi Alex,

I've spent some time this morning improving the antenna selection on our shop.
https://www.pilotaware.com/product/remote-internal-antenna

You're now able to buy 1M internal antennas in either 1090MHz or 869.5MHz.

I will also try and source an MCX to SMA adapter for the 1090MHz antenna for you.

Thanks,

Ashley

HI Ashley! Did they double in price? Cause used to be ~£20 each. Now the link reads to me as ~£40 each. Also, not so clear what the "dual antenna" option means. Either way, I think I decided I will go just for the normal PAW antenna and my own extension cables and 1090 antenna. Thank you for replying!

[Admin]

I think dual antenna means 2 869 and 1090
you need to change selection to the one you want if only one is needed

[a.alexeev.p]

I think dual antenna means 2 869 and 1090
you need to change selection to the one you want if only one is needed

ok, I see! Tried from another browser... I think it just sometimes freezes at the dual antenna price and make it looks as if one costs £40+

[A_Vinning33]

Hi Alex,

Yes it defaults to the 2 metre pair of antennas until another option is selected.

I've modified the page to make the default option clearer.

Thanks,

Ashley

[Keithvinning]

Funny you should say that other suppliers are twice the price

https://www.navboys.com/PWRFLARMCOREFLAANTEU.html

Hmmmm

[a.alexeev.p]

That's what I achieved in the end... because I rent – since day 1 with PAW I was going through various phases and attempts of balancing quick setup from my bag and performance of antennas. Also did not want to pay for a rosetta :-D

Still no idea if/how I could have a non-permanent installation and put both antennas on different sides of the windscreen, but may be one day I'll solve that... for now – latest iteration is in the images attached. Potentially can have every cable extended by ~30-50 cm in 5 minutes or so with couple spare cables for USB and SMA.

[a.alexeev.p]

PAW attached to power bank with sticky hook loop fasteners. Not sure if the term is right, but basically quick attach and release things

[a.alexeev.p]

and that's how it is transported :-D

[Dave jones]

Be careful where you leave that bag.You’ll have the bomb squad interested. Looks like an IED to me!