SBS3 is it stand-alone?`

[Roadrunner]

I have seen comments/questions asking if SBS3 is stand alone.

Last night I had my SBS3 which is ethernet connected to a bridge and then wirelessly to my Router and my Laptop working without connection to Basestation and running on Plane Plotter. It was easy to set up as I am using the same IP address to connect to PP as I am when I connect remotely to Basestation. Surely both these operating methods mean it is stand-alone or am I as usual, missing a point somewhere?

[Anmer]

Hi Mike

I think the confusion stems from the lack of a clear SBS-3 specification. leaving it for customers to find out what it can and can't do.

What one person may define as "stand-alone" can be very different to someone else's definition.

As someone else mentioned earlier on the Kinetic forum, some of the settings have to be set via Basestation and the Ethernet connection is restricted to one application at a time.

I don't think the pre-launch spin from Kinetic has helped.

[Roadrunner]

Anmer,

I agree Kinetic havent done themselves any favours but although I cant quantify it I think my device is picking up more than the 1e did, also it appears to load fairly qwuickly despite having loads of logos to contend with...

[cw5301]

No. The SBS-3 is not "standalone" by any definition I can come up with. It does not do what Kinetic says it does.

The SBS-3 still requires a "handshake" from the BaseStation software on port 10001 before it will generate any ADS-B data, which is then available on port 30003 from the BaseStation.

Reportedly it is possible to connect PlanePlotter to the SBS-3 directly on port 30006 (or other port, it is user selectable). I have tried this and it appears to connect but I cannot tell any data is flowing, in any format, on that port. Connecting directly to the port (with netcat or similar) produces nothing.

In order to use the software defined radios, it is necessary to connect to the SBS-3 with the BaseStation, either through USB or Ethernet. Once connected, audio from the SBS-3 can be received via an analog lead (stereo cable) or digitally via USB, on the left channel only. Kinetic claims it is possible to stream audio via ethernet but I cannot confirm this, despite now several weeks of trying to get it to work.

Also, although it is possible to tune four separate frequencies, I have found that it is impossible to decode a digital signal on more than one frequency at a time (perhaps not surprisingly) as the four signals are mixed and will interfere with each other.

If by "standalone", Kinetic means "connected to the BaseStation running on a PC via USB and an audio cable", then yes, it is "standalone". Overall, I cannot find any additional utility for the SBS-3 over the SBS-1ER, which was smaller and used much less power.

[Anmer]

I think there was too much early "hype" from Kinetic such as the Radio User exclusive.

From what I'm reading, the main SBS-3 USP "should" be the two SDRs.  I say "should" as there are reported issues with audio streaming and both channels not working even with an audio cable.

The stand-alone status isn't what I would have expected and the option to run under native Mac OS has been sidelined.  And no sign of a dedicated AIS receiver.

Let's hope Kinetic resolve these issues ASAP.

[cw5301]

I'm having a lot of issues with the audio from the SDR's, both digital and analog. I have one SBS-3 that is producing reasonably clear audio on one channel, sometimes. I just got another one out of the box and can't seem to get any audio out of it at all, digital or analog. So far the SBS-3 has been a big disappointment.

[Anmer]

Not having an SBS-3 I can't try and replicate your experience though, from what I read here and elsewhere, the SDRs are the main issue, getting both channels to work on either analogue or digital streaming.

Let's hope Kinetic fix these ASAP as the SBS-3 appears to offer little more than an SBS-1eR.