does anyone live in south yorkshire have a radarbox i could visit to check my radarbox as i am only recieving flight no further than 5 miles away . it has been to walters&stanton twice .it came back last week saying my usb cable was faulty ,i have purchaced a new 1 have a new antenna too , still the same ,can anyone help? i live at maltby s667qb
Have you checked your Polar diagram? It could be you are in a high density building/tree area but I would have thought you'd have more than that!
Are you using the antenna supplied or one you bought?
Hi donburrows
I have sent you a pm
Dave
Quote from: AirNav Support on May 19, 2010, 05:27:41 PM
Are you using the antenna supplied or one you bought?
yes my polar diagram shows no more than 5 miles
Quote from: donburrows on May 19, 2010, 05:51:59 PM
Quote from: AirNav Support on May 19, 2010, 05:27:41 PM
Are you using the antenna supplied or one you bought?
yes my polar diagram shows no more than 5 miles
Have you tried the aerial in different positions?
Once you have the problem solved, whenever that might be, could you let us all know what you did to achieve the fix?
hi don burrows, i'm in barnsley pm me
Don Burrows, i live in Pontefract and have Radarbox and all the gubbins. You`re welcome anytime - i`m retired so he system is on continuously. Give us a ring on Pontefract 792817. Bi now, Roger PS, take a look at the attachment.
What aerial are you using g0seg? Impressive distance to the east.
ive got someone 1/2 a mile away thanks
Hi Bratters and buddies, sorry for the delay in replying - wifes gone down with the dreaded Ghandis revenge so i`m chief cook and bottlewasher. The antenna is an exact copy of the supplied antenna but in copper. I`m using 32 feet of best quality satellite coax and no preamp as i have transmitting antennas on the same tower. I`ve put the copper antenna up against the supplied aeriel and there is a marked improvement but i did have a spectrum analyser to check the thing for the required freq - actually, it came up at 1099 Mhz and the supplied aerial at 1048Mhz. I messed the first copper one up but filing too much off - it only needs about a sixtyforth to miss half a meg!! No problems with corrosion with the all copper aeriel but it does have to be braced with an inert stiffener to prevent vibration work hardening the stuff. I used 16 swg copper incidentally which required a slight change in dimensions to bring it to around 1090Mhz. We are at 152 ASL here with clearish line of sight only to the Southeast - Pennines to the west, Derbyshire hills to the south and glaciers on the Scottish borders!!Hope this is of some interest. Roger PS, i pratt around with stuff for the microwave bands all the time and am a model engineer so i`m lucky i guess and no, i have a friend who has the use of the analyser!!
Hi Roger,
Can you post the exact dimensions please, especially, if you can get the cut spot on!
and me
Morning Coastguard and all, whew, relating to dimensions. Sorry to dissapoint but the short answer is no, i can`t as it`s not that simple as there`s many things to take into consideration - on top of that, it`s at the top of the mast and at my age it`s not so easy to get up there!! Right, what i can tell you follows and remember, it`s only a guide. Not only did i used copper, i had to make up a base for it. I didn`t use magnetic capacative coupling but direct coupling to a ground plane. The feeder is 75Ohm not 50Ohm and of the many types i tried some used copper for the shield and others alloy so there`s a soldering problem. I can witter on for hours about it but the crux of it is that ALL the things mentioned have a direct bearing on it`s performance. Best advice i can give is that make sure the former used for the circular elements is the right diameter when you`re winding them. Take into consideration that the antenna has to be connected to a feeder and the shield. Measure everything twice when you make the copy and EXPERIMENT - it`s the only way. As for the grounplane, i use a one foot diameter teflon coated cooking dish so no corrosion. Remember to scratch away the area where the coax sheld is attached. So, without diagnostic help, a near as dammit copy of the original is just a start but copper wire is cheap enough so give it a go. Regards to all, Roger
PS, The attachement is bit sparse but gives a classic indication of obstructions on the polar diagram. The dip due north is a block of flats 1 mile away. The dip to the NNE is Ferrybridge power station three miles away and the dip to the NE is Eggborough powerstation six miles awy.
Hi Roger,
Thanks for the extra info, so it's more or less a case of suck it and see!
Hi Coastguardjohn, very sorry i couldn`t be more explicit - the first one i built got rebuilt at least have a dozen times. I ended up making a mandral for the lathe and reannealed the copper every couple of rebuilds but still cocked it up!! It was worth it though as the second version plus its connectors, antenna holder and feeder came out within a few megs of the required frequency on the analyser and just required a millimeter or two trimming. Best of luck, Roger
Hi, Late reply i know, from your post code ( Mortimer Road ), i think your very low down as the land lies and the frequencie in which the radar works on is a line of sight job, i think your problem maybe down to your position exspecially if you live at the bottom, if you live up near the school you may be better off, are you using the supplied aerial, or have you got an external one, it would be best to have external with a good quality cable, one thing you could try if you haven't already is to set your box up on a laptop, drive up to braithwell rd just past the nursing home as if your going to braithwell, there is a bit of ruff land on the right where people take there dogs, park there & stick the aerial on the roof, this is pretty high up in the area and you should have a fairly good line of sight, see what you get on polar,
I live at hellaby with aerial in the attic at mo as not fit enougth to put on roof yet, im getting a good 150 to 200 miles radius give or take a few blind spots, but getting well out in north sea and as far as isle of wight,
The supplied aerial works well when fixed to a metal surface like a metal bin lid or biscuit tin,
let us know how you get on,
cheers Andy
hi andy
the problem is now sorted it was a wireless camera that was blocking my signal.
i have a radarama antenna in the attic and am getting good signals now teeside ne ,well out in the north sea amsterdam se ,past dover south,west coast past blackpool,sw birmingham.amstedam is about 200 miles .at peak times i get 40 to 50 aircraft.i sometimes go mobile in my reliant rialto on maltby crags where i get 100 to120
thanks
don burrows
Hi don,
Glad you sorted it, Im using the same aerial & can't wait to get it install on the roof! hoping to increase the radar scope but saying that im happy with what i can get now, another good location is the beacon tower up at Carr, theres a layby there & trust me, you can get some good distance there, line of sight is great there,
all the best
Andy
yes i have been up there,i would like to get mine up on the roof too but am not very good with ladders