Good range with SBS-3

[viking9]

I've just had an F-15E in my aircraft list in the descent to Lakenheath down to FL189 at a range of 289 nm. The tropo is only marginal and does not cover the area anyway.

[Anmer]

Unless I'm mistaken Tom, you started with a RadarBox, then got an SBS-1, next a Beast and now the SBS-3.

Any conclusions so far?

[viking9]

Mike,

I love the Beast but pined for the Basestation software with its brilliant presentation and ability to be updated by Active Display. I think that the normal max range of the SBS-3 is on a par with the Beast MK II at around 230nm for aircraft above FL280. I've had several more aircraft off the East Anglia coast today at over 280nm below FL210 but that has got to be due to ducting even though the charts don't show it.

I have stopped switching between boxes to compare aircraft numbers but from this location I'm definitely getting around 12% more aircraft than with the Beast MkII. Beamfinder works fine with -3 but of course Beamfinder plus does not due to lack of Mode A/C. However, that is not much loss as it is not as accurate as Beamfinder. I'm very bemused with the low message rate for a greater number of aircraft when feeding PlanePlotter, it hardly ever gets above 85 whilst the Beast kept it around 400 and frequently pushed it to over 1000.

I've found the SDRs to be equal in sensitivity to my UBC3500XLT and it's very handy to be able to listen on more than one frequency at once but it's a pity they didn't provide a scanning mode - or have I missed it? I've only used it with an external speaker so cannot comment on the PC sound side. Incidentally, the power from the USB has proved sufficient to run the -3 with SDRs running and my PC is a Lenovo touchscreen, basically a laptop inside a monitor.

I think the presentation of the SBS-3 is a great improvement on the previous boxes. the labelling of the LEDs is a useful addition. The blue signal LEDs still don't give a proportional representation of messages/aircraft received, the first three being lit up to about 44 aircraft, over that the fourth one kicks in.

It would have been nice if Kinetic had provided two radio antenna inputs, one for HF. They do supply a short HF antenna and the good quality mobile whip with magnetic base supplied with previous models.

I'm very happy with the SBS-3 as it is a superb ADS-B receiver as it stands. The SDRs are a bonus and I'm sure we'll see AIS and other goodies being provided in the future, though I wouldn't be very disappointed as it is still excellent value for money.

I'm keeping the Beast for mobile working as it is ideal for that.

[Anmer]

Excellent feedback, thanks Tom.

[kdt1]

Good informative post Tom, thanks

[frogger]

Thanks, good post from you!

I have compared the SBS-3 with the radarbox and the SBS-3 has in my environment about 30NM more range than the radarbox.
I feel good with the SBS-3, but I am still missing the AIS-feature.

[viking9]

Good range today. Just had EIN604 EI-DVH off the East Anglia coast at 308 miles. FL232.

Marginal to Fair ducting covering this station and target.

[Roadrunner]

Have had my SBS-3 for a few weeks now and am pleased with its overall performance as an ADS-B connection. However I get multiple error messages since using the SBS-3 something that had plagued me with my SBS-1e until I updated the sqlite3.dll file in my installation.

I needed to do a complete re-instal of the program when I got my new device, which meant using the disc provided with my SBS-3 and then downloading a copy of the v165 from the estore  I found that the SBS-3 disc copy still uses the sqlite3.dll dated 14/12/2007 whereas I had been running one dated 08/04/2010 previously with my SBS-1e.

I re-installed this newer file and the error messages have completely gone.

I would suggest it is about time Kinetic found the latest version of the sqlite3.dll and properly tested it and certified it for use with their latest model.

Mike

[Anmer]

Thanks Mike, good point about the dll.

[viking9]

Mike,

There's a later one dated 16/01/2012 here: http://www.sqlite.org/download.html

Tom

[mojaverich]

Hi Tom:
What antenna are you using?
                                                            Rich

[viking9]

Hi Rich,

I'm using the SSE1090SJ Mk2 avilable here: http://www.ssejim.co.uk/26-sseads1090sj.htm

You can read my previous post on it here: http://www.radarspotters.eu/forum/index.php?topic=4823.0

I'm in a different location 100 ft up the side of a mountain in a bungalow with the antenna on the chimney just a few feet above the roofline fed with 20m of Westflex 103.

There's a review by another user here: http://my.pinkfroot.com/forum/topics/review-of-the-sse1090-sj-mk2

Tom

[mojaverich]

Thanks Tom, I'll check them out.
                                                  Rich

[Roadrunner]

Tom,

Thanks for that have downloaded a copy and will test it out later.

Regards

[shakysen]

Good morning folks. I have a query that maybe someone will be able to answer.In my shack i have 2 m-75 pre-amps will it be possible to connect to  the sbs-3?.
If so what position would be best?.

                                                                       Regards Billko