AirNav Systems Forum

Hi,

In the past week, I've gone from having 80+ aircraft with live signals to 20-30. Ive tried 2 different antennas, and have gotten the same results. It happened all of a sudden.

The aircraft I do receive are at a range of altitudes from 0 ft to 41000 ft.

I wondered if I inadvertently hit a setting that capped the number of aircraft, but cant find any evidence to that effect.

Has anybody else experienced this, and do you have any suggested remedies (I am hoping it's not a problem with the ANRB unit itself!)?

TIA,
Steven

Looks like the box I am afraid, suggest you contact support

Alan

Greatttt...had it with ANRB....looks like SBS-3 will be getting a new customer.

Give Waters and Stanton a call http://wsplc.com/

Alan

Im in the US, so they wont be much good for me. I did find an SBS-3 dealer in the States, though.

Is this the same problem you had in 2012?

Alan

It would appear so, and I fixed it with a different antenna. However, this time, I've tried 2 antennas and its the same problem both times.

Are you sure the antennas are OK.  Pity there is nobody close by who could give you a known good antenna  to try.

Alan

Hi Steven, email AN Support and get a ticket number - warranty is for 2 years, W&S and AN have been very good at honouring their responsibilities and 2yr warranty.  It shouldn't cost a huge amount to return U/S unit to W&S, mine's been A1 since repair, which must be 4-5 years by now.

Thx, already emailed and await a reply, although I've had mine for 5 or 6 years now.

I think I will give SBS 3 a go as it looks pretty good and all the reviews I've seen and heard have been great.

Really frustrated with this. It is like there is a cap on the number of aircraft the box will receive at any one time, and also a lot more timeouts than there used to be.

It happened all of a sudden (literally working fine one moment to problem the next), and I cant get an answer from Support.

Anybody else experience this problem?

I've experienced the same problem since 2012.  I was getting about 185+ flight count in summer and 150+ in the Winter months.  Then one day the flight count dropped to between 60 - 80 at all times, at times as low as 40. 

I haven't used my box properly since Sept. 2013, It has been packed away since then.  I've had my box since 2009 and never been used outdoors or with antenna mounted outdoors. 

Disappointed at the the build quality, something that doesn't have any moving parts should last allot longer.  I have a airband scanner I purchased in 1996-97 from a Tandy store in the UK and it still works perfectly.

My first proper (not V-C tuned) PLL scanner was a Realistic Pro-2006, bought back in 1988/9, still works well, although display slightly duller than it used to be, more than somewhat modified with auto-store board and other mods!

CoastGuardJon, the scanner I have is a Realistic Pro-2032.  Very reliable scanner. 
I'm now using free tracking websites to track aircraft, if I do buy another hardware tracker, it'll probably be one that has MLAT built in.

Theastra

Please pass the automatic ticket ID received back from Support and I will speak to them.  If you have not had the automatic ticket ID they have nor received your message and normally reply within 24 hours.  I will contact them anyway to advise.

There is no cap.  Faults with electronics normally occur suddenly with no slow degradation, one second it can be working, next it doesnt.

Alan

Alan

Pound to a penny - or dollar to a dime - it's that darned front end filter again.

It's always been the Achilles heel but as Jon says, once fixed it seems to last OK so well worthwhile getting it done IMO.

I believe if its an early box within certain serial numbers the repair is free for the saw filter

Alan

Hi Alan,

I never received an auto ticket ID after sending my message. All I got was 'Your message has been sent, a ticked id email will be sent to your email address'.

The ticket ID is an automatic receipt of your email being received, if you havent received the ticket ID, it either hasnt been received or possibly if it has and it has been posted to you may have been caught in your spam filter. I have emailed them so hopefully they will get back to you by tomorrow.

Alan

Steven,

Airnav have not received an email from you.  I have asked them to contact you via the forum.

Alan

theastra,

We have PMed you as well otherwise try and contact us again using the means in our signature.

Please provide details of the issue, many times some customers put very little in the email and its gets incorrectly identified as spam.

Can someone remind me what the symptoms are for this.  I used to get myflights 70-80 but these days it is normally around 30-40 at any one time.  Fairly old box looks to be serial 1237. tested with supplied aerial out the window and my externally roof mounted aerial.  results about the same which is actually disappointing after the expense putting the external aerial up.

Graham

Symptoms are quite simple Graham, not getting as many flights as previously getting.  However, is it the box, is it the antenna, is it the connections or is it even due to not as many aircraft about as when you remember the numbers the last time. When you tested it out the window, was it seeing the same coverage area as the external antenna as when comparing you must compare like for like.  As it was seeing the same numbers out the window, it may wll be that there is a problem with your external antenna or its cable and connections.

Alan

Thanks.  Possibly my external aerial setup then.  Not sure I'm going to be able to test it further.  Don't have a ladder tall enough to get to the aerial.  Connections look fine, using single thick low loss cable until close to arnb and then gone to rg58 cable.  will check the run of this to make sure nothing could be interfering with it. 

TBH still provides me with what I require.  Just a little disappointing performance isn't better.  But I'm really just interested in aircraft passing my zone.

Thanks

Graham,

Just a thought but could the change to the Winter schedules be making a difference that is less aircraft ?

Ian

I had some water intrusion get in to one of my connections when I first put my antenna outside.  It made for very very poor reception and limited the number of aircraft.

Once I cleaned it out, waterproofed it, and wrapped it back up, I have not had a problem since.

I average 200 to 300 aircraft at any given time of the day..between mode-s and adsb.

regards,

Hi Alan and Airnav Support,

I have sent another (third) message to airnav support. It will be from [email protected].

Thanks,
Steven

Just as a matter of interest, for what it's worth I have noticed quite a drop off in aircraft numbers, however I have had the saw filter renewed in the past, and I tried another manufacturers box and separate ariel, the results are identical, still a long range, but around a third less, as said earlier, in my case I think it's simply fewer aircraft about at this time of year.

thanks for all the replies.  Seems that it could be the winter schedules but had a look at my aerial thru my binoculars and the casing looks a little weather beaten so maybe I'll have to go up and check it out when I can get my hands on a long ladder.

Cheers

Graham

I did get a reply. It said  'Usually a hardware failure of the filter will blind the RadarBox and only aircraft within a few miles of the box will be shown, is that the case?'.

I replied, but will ask in the forum if it's something that can be repaired and how long will the repair last.

Thanks.

It is something that can be repaired and should last a good time.  I am sure you will get replies from some who have had the problem.

Alan

Airnav's description of the symptoms is exactly right.  I went down from 80 flights to half a dozen and these had to be virtually overhead.

The repair was quick and easy - fitting a replacement part if I'm not mistaken - and I've had no trouble since; 3 years ago at least. Depending on the age of the box, I believe the repair could be FOC.

Hi Steven, as John says , once done my repaired PCB has been fine.   I've a feeling that W&S just replace the original with a modified PCB and return it - their turn around is very fast, perhaps AN or someone with inside knowledge could confirm or otherwise, but the repair is free if it is the SAW filter, and mine has been great since the repair.   I noticed a big drop in numbers when mine went, and it would only pick up A/C within 25-30 miles, but since downloading and installing v5.00.065 I'm getting reduced numbers, but this did coincide with winter timetables.   My lap-top has thrown a wobbly and trashed the C/D HDD and I'm still trying to get RB up and running with 5.65 with 64 bit drivers, so I may well be back in the next few days asking for help!

Thanks, hopefully they will answer my email with more details on next steps. How much was the repair, where did you need to send the box and what was the turnaround time?

Hi Steven, contact AN Support and get a ticket number to be quoted with the returned unit, which'll need to go back to Waters & Stanton PLC @   www.wsplc.com/ , ask for repair under warranty.

Hi, I heard back, and they do indeed want me to send the unit to the UK, although I doubt it purchased it in the USA and live in the USA.

I doubt it is under warranty any longer and I cant even read all of the numbers on the serial due to scuffing, so I think I am going to give SBS a try after all.

Thanks to all for their help, at any rate!

I think I would try for a repair, far cheaper option, but its your bucks.  The saw filter is usually a no cost repair, apart from postage to them.

Alan

Probably. Hopefully they will reply to me sooner rather than later.

I did hear back, but they say they cant even give me an estimate without seeing the unit. I can understand that, but I also have a hard time with shipping it (and paying to do so) 6000 miles roundtrip without knowing if it can be fixed or how much it would cost to fix it.

I am going the SBS route, after all and will use this radarbox as a backup or if I need to keep a door open :).

theastra.

We have replied to you with an estimate however we cannot guarantee the cost without actually inspecting the box. Your mention of seeing 20 flights is still high for a SAW failure as that usually deafens the box causing very little aircraft to be picked up, usually only a few within a couple of miles of the box.

You did, indeed, and thanks for being a bit more specific with that reply.

just a  follow up from my part.  I replaced the RG58 drop cable that connects my box to the thick shielded low loss cable.  I put in a very short .5m RG58 cable and moved the box closer to the thick cable.   Hey presto back up to 80/90 constant hits in the My flights.  So looks like my drop cable was picking up too much interference.

Graham

Thanks for the info Graham, it shows the importance of the part played by the cable and the fittings.

Alan