The Puck Range

[Anmer]

I know no more than what's posted on the Kinetic website under "News".

Reading between the lines, the Blue Puck is a portable SBS-3 receiver for 1090 MHz with a much smaller hardware footprint.  No SDRs but includes a 1090 MHZ antenna.  Claims to
ship with support for Windows and Mac platforms, but it's not clear if this is "native" Mac?

The Black Puck is an SDR operating between 27- 980 MHz.  Not sure if this comes with an antenna?

No release date or price.

Should be interesting to see how these compare with the lower priced products from other suppliers?

http://www.kinetic-avionics.co.uk/newsite/news.php

[shakysen]

Evening Boss. I Like  the Idea of a BLACK PUCK .I never use the radios on the SBS-3 too limiting for me.Like the BASE/STATION part. I 'm feeling a little let down paying out £500 notes just for aircraft now. I would like your view point on what will become of the SBS-3 I've asked afew times on chat box nobody is coming up with owt.
Back to the BLACK PUCK i hope  I Can use it for decode

[Anmer]

I guess it depends on the price, functionality and performance.

The SBS-3 decoding was an improvement on the SBS-1e which was better than the SBS-1.

One of the issues of going mobile with a laptop vs a base receiver and PC is the need to copy the database sqb file since we have no easy means of merging data from two sqb files.  If Kinetic can make the switch more seamless (and the price is attractive) I'm sure the Puck will be a hit with those who want a small portable receiver to compliment the base one.

But as you've alluded, the risk is the lower priced receiver cannibalising SBS-3 sales.  But if the margin is similar, Kinetic may not care if the Puck takes sales from other suppliers.

As is often the case, it's in the detail which we have yet to see.

[Saudistu]

Mike, hope you don't mind me putting this on here. It will be sort of puck related, but if anyone has a SBSNet Module (was sold by Jetvision for connecting original SBS-1 via Network) and an SBS-3, can they check it to see if connection works OK between SBSNet and the SBS-3 USB port. If the puck does not have a Network connection (which I guess drives the price down by at least 50 quid) then it would be good to see if the SBSNet module could be put into use. Personally, I can't see a problem as the SBS-1 and SBS-3 use the same drivers within the Basestation enviroment as far as I am aware (FTD drivers).

[Anmer]

I will test my SBS-3 with the SBSNet module and report back.

[Saudistu]

Mike, you are a star 

[IanH]

As I said on chat, clever marketing by Kinetic.

For those who want everything: SBS-3

For the new recruits who just want ADSB: Blue Puck (= SBS-1 replacement)

For those with SBS-1 (or RadarBox?) who want SDR: Black Puck

All bases covered but for those with an SBS-1 and other mobile options (eg PGR): money in pocket is safe

Ian

[Anmer]

Mike, hope you don't mind me putting this on here. It will be sort of puck related, but if anyone has a SBSNet Module (was sold by Jetvision for connecting original SBS-1 via Network) and an SBS-3, can they check it to see if connection works OK between SBSNet and the SBS-3 USB port.

I have run some tests.

The SBSNet Pro says it connects OK to the SBS-3.

But Basestation won't connect to SBSNet Pro.

Now if I remember correctly, Andy at Jetvision offered to buy back all the SBSNet adapters because Kinetic Basestation changes prevented connections.

And to compound the problem, only Basestation versions 165 or later will work with the SBS-3. 

Test completed.

[Saudistu]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for that and sorry for the delay in replying (busy at work). I thought I remembered something from Andy about this. I think it was when the Basestation was updated to allow connection to Planeplotter, thereby allowing people to stop using the Ethernovitch hack ? Shame it doesn't work, but thats progress. Maybe there will be other options to try and get round the USB only in the future.

Regds....Stu

[Saudistu]

Hi Mike,

I am now running the SBS-1 with Basestation version 1.2.3.171 via the SBSNet module with no problems. Actually, there is a problem but that is related to my Database Populator in that the "Auto-Populate" doesn't work and I have to press F5 to fill the data in. Anyway, it appears that it must be something within the SBS-3 Firmware preventing Basestation from connecting to the SBSNet module and that's a shame really as there is no real reason to block this feature now that the SBS units can connect to Planeplotter and other Software anyway. Maybe to stop more than one person or computers from connecting to the SBS-3 unit would be my only guess for this, however as the SBS-3 can feed into the network directly I would have thought that this reason would be of no concern anyway ? Any thoughts ?

Regds....Stu   

[shakysen]

Hi Stu I Won't update my firmware. If the upcoming pucks will present a problem  with the sbs-3 we'll have to wait and see



                                                                 Billko

[Anmer]

Hi Stu I Won't update my firmware. If the upcoming pucks will present a problem  with the sbs-3 we'll have to wait and see

There isn't an SBS-3 firmware problem.

When the SBS-1 was launched, Ethernet connectivity was going to be an option.  Then Kinetic back-tracked and jetvision.de offered an external module called the SBSNet which connected to the SBS-1 via USB and had a Lantronix Ethernet port.  I still have one and it worked flawlessly.

Recent versions of Basestation (version 161 I think) appear to "block" concurrent connections via SBSNet Pro and MultiEM software.  I think this prompted the Jetvision Buy Back offer.

I can't imagine the Pucks will impact on SBS-3 use.

[Anmer]

Maybe to stop more than one person or computers from connecting to the SBS-3 unit would be my only guess for this, however as the SBS-3 can feed into the network directly I would have thought that this reason would be of no concern anyway ? Any thoughts ?

Thanks Stu.  I'll admit it's getting more difficult retrieve historical information from my dying brain cells. 

I suspect it was the "concurrent" connections that Kinetic wanted to prevent.  Anyone with an SBS-3 shouldn't need to use an SBSNet.  But the SBSNet Pro and MultiEM interfaces are another matter, offering concurrent Basestation connections via Ethernet.  Perhaps Kinetic thought this diluted receiver sales?

Flight Display AutoPopulate stopped working with Basestation versions for the SBS-3, which I think started with V.161.  FD has now been updated and AutoPoulate works again.

[Saudistu]

Hi Mike,

That's interesting regarding FD auto populating also not working. The problem that "we" have with our Database Populator is that the designer of the software linking the database to Basestation no longer has an interest in updating said software. Therefore I guess I am stuck at the older versions of the Basestation, although, having to press F5 ocassionally is not the end of the world either. My only other comment is that I think it would be short sighted of Kinetic to restrict the new range to USB given the problems with long USB runs and/or long Antenna cables. Probably just as important with regards to the SDR aswell. Closer to the Antenna is obviously the best option, whilst not everyone wants to set their PCs up in the loft

[Anmer]

I think the Blue Puck is targetted at portable use, offering a compact but high quality receiver that can be used with Basestation.  It needs to be price competitive and not having an Ethernet port will help.