USB Stick Mode-S Receiver

[JmGarcia]

The manufacturer (GNS Gmbh) confirms the following thing to me:

The connector of the base of the antenna is a DIN M6 screw thread and not a SMA connector.

[Anmer]

Thanks for letting us know.

What did you want to achieve?

[JmGarcia]

What did you want to achieve?

To place the antenna next to microADSB without wired.

See examples:

[Anmer]

Thank you, I understand.

Maybe there is such an antenna available?

[JmGarcia]

I am trying to look for an antenna 1090Mhz with male connector SMA without wire.

Also an adapter could be done of DIN M6 screw to SMA male.
See example:

[Triple7]

You could look at a BNC antenna:

http://www.am-avionics.com/productos/antenas/index.html

And then use an SMA to BNC adaptor - but be careful - I am sure I heard Chris (Kinetic) mentioned problems with BNC to sma adaptors - you need to be sure they are properly rated for 1090Mhz otherwise you will get a lot of signal loss.

HTH

Tim

[Anmer]

I just tried a WiFi antenna and guess what?

No data received.

I've Googled and can't find a stubby 1090MHz antenna with a male SMA connector. 

[JmGarcia]

http://www.am-avionics.com/productos/antenas/index.html

[Anmer]

How much is that stub antenna?  The avionics ones are usually very expensive.

[JmGarcia]

...The avionics ones are usually very expensive.

The manufacturer has supplied me an antenna and is worth 165€



It plows an adapter to me of the M6 screw to the SMA male.

[Anmer]

Thanks.

Let us know how well it works.

[mezoo]

I am now using it for two weeks and am quite impressed (However it is my frst receiver)
Installation and operation went without any major problem straight out of the box.
Works just as well connected to my deskptop at home running Win7 Home Premium as with my business laptop running XP Pro

I have now used it with the following programmes :
adsbscope26t4 (by sptut - as delivered on CD)
Planeplotter 6.2.6.7
Virtual Radar Server 1.05
adsbscope 2.7.0.1 (by IC7K from radarspotters.ru - my favourite)

Currenty the last programe is working as server for Planeplotter and VRS.

At home I don't have a great reception, so I am looking to replace (or extend) the antenna so that it can go on the roof. At a busy time I have about 10-20 plane in a range of 80nm.

Last week on a business trip to Roermond (Netherlands) I had a hotel room on the 7th floor with a balcony facing north. I could get planes up to 200Nm and at times had over 80 active planes.
I could see traffic from Amsterdam, Düsseldorf, Antwerp and a bit from Frankfurt plus a lot of Atlantic crossing.

[mhm]

Thanks for the feedback Meezoo. Keep us informed of results when you have installed you external antenna

[SunCobalt]

Hi there,

I am new and have never ever did anything like radarspotting. Yesterday evening I got my GNS 5890. It works out of the box with the supplied software adsbSCOPE, only the COM port must be selected.
The driver installation was unlike other user experiences very easy. Stick plugged -> control panel -> System -> HW -> Device Manager (if I remember correct) and then you see the GNS 5890 at the top with a yellow questionmark. Selecting driver install, pointing to CD and that's it. The COM that is used can be found after that also in the Device Manager Section.
Planeplotter was a bit more difficult but only because I have not read the manual ;-) where you can find what needs to be set...if reading it before (and not after the installation like me)
So after that was done I went out, placed the antenna at about 3m height on a roof....not a perfect position but good enough for a first test. I received planes at high altitudes up to 250km away. I live 40km away from the Stuttgart Airport and could see the planes starting/landing down to roughly 4000 ft. There is a hill between me and the airport which probably prevents me to see lower. I have seen a corporate jet owned by Porsche starting in Stuttgart, going up to about 20k ft and lost contact close before Munich. The number of planes was not that high, probably because it was late evening with not so much air traffic and because I live in a hilly area. However, I have double checked with flightradar24, planefinder.net and PP sharing and there were no planes around my position where I thought that the receiver missed them. So I am happy for now. For the beginning I am mainly interested in my local area.
I want to have a better reception from planes starting/landing at the Stuttgart airport so I need a longer cable for a better antenna position. How long can an antenna cable be without too much loss? I am also a bit lost how the connectors (at antenna and stick) are called, I can't find a "DIN M6 screw" for antenna connector and have no idea how the connector at the stick is called. I have sent a mail to GNS, hopefully they can help me.

[Anmer]

Welcome and thank you for the post with your experience.

The longer the length of coax the more signal loss.  I have 10m of low loss Ecoflex 10 cable but it is 10mm in diameter and very stiff.  There is thinner low loss cable but maybe try and keep it shorter than 10m?

I have heard that the GNS 5890 suffers from the "doughnut affect" where the signal from aircraft overhead is lost.  Maybe you can let us know if you have the same problem?

I also hear that the antenna connection is non-standard (not BNC or SMA).  It is difficult to see what it is from the photographs?

Perhaps GNS will be able to confirm the connection?