Hi Guys

[Mark16]

Hi guys, new member. I am Mark, I live in Stalybridge. Manchester (MAN) is my home drome. I have been spotting for almost 45 years on and off as I grew up in Heald Green, next to MAN. I have been using my trusty SBS-1 a long time. It has been in constant daily use since August 2008 and still going strong, but I bought a back up SBS-1 (brand new, in the box, never used, some guy got it as a gift and didn't want it, never unpacked it, so sold it to me, I have unpacked it and checked it over) on ebay 2 years ago, just in case mine gives up the ghost at some point.
As I don't get out much (disability and non driver) especially to the likes of LHR ,I use my SBS -1 for logging aircraft "seen" (User Tag)when they fly within my area, past my backdoor on MAN approach and also overflights if they come into my visual range and verified through my telescope, much like today 10/10/21 when an Indian Air Force C-17 went via Pole Hill out to the North West of me. I manually edit everything,as my SBS is a stand alone,using an old laptop on WIN XP, not connected to the internet, through various sites info, and also still use the old pen and ruler in the  Airline Fleets book/ MAM as a manual back up, just to keep the grey matter ticking over on a bi-annual basis. Old habits die hard after years of doing the CAM beforehand.
Many thanks for reading
Mark.

[Anmer]

Welcome Mark and thanks for the interesting introduction to your "spotting" activity.

It's amazing to hear the varied backgrounds of members getting into "radar spotting".

Can I ask why you've only just joined this forum after such a long involvement with the SBS?

[Mark16]

Hi Anmer, to be honest to see if there was still an active community. Kinetic chat groups are no longer around and the owners of SBS boxes, etc seem to now be few and far between, compared to the early days, probably now down to such sites as FR24, ADS-B Exchange, etc and then not having to have the cost outlay for a box and setting it all up, especially since GAS Auto-populate went, so everything then had to go in manually.
Mark

[Anmer]

Thanks Mark

I think there's still a large community of active SBS owners.  But the expansion of the last few years has been based on USB receivers and RPi "computers".

This forum membership is still growing, albeit at a slower pace than before.  But Kinetic's forum has gone, as too have a few others.  Sadly some of the remainder are ignored by their owners.

[mhm]

Greetings Mark, I use both the SBS1 and Puck. Not far from you in sunny Cheshire 8 miles form the runways on direct flight path. Most pass overhead when leaving from 05 outbound or 23 inbound.
Enjoy the group. Mike is a good leader and very knowledgeable on many subjects and can assist on setups if stuck.