Dongle comparison

[birdie]

I thought it would be interesting to do a comparison between my R820T dongle, RadarBox and Beast.

They are using different indoor antennas, but they are at the same location so that hopefully makes things a little fairer.

The dongle is using an Airnav whip antenna. The RadarBox is using a MD-1100SBS. The Beast is using a PCB-antenna.

My results for 10 January are (all three receivers were started and ended at the same time over a period of approx. 15 hours), and they include the subtraction of duplicate contacts are-

R820T dongle - 339 contacts
RadarBox       - 303 contacts
Beast            - 474 contacts

Considering the price of the dongle, in my opinion this is an excellent result.

Stephen

Shame on you, Radarbox !

A USD 500 RadarBox can't out-perform a USD 50 Dongle !

[birdie]

Thanks for the updates Tom.

Would you sell the Beast and keep the DVB-T dongle?

Hehehehe - what about he sell you his RadarBox and keep the Beast & Dongle ?

[viking9]

Shame on you, Radarbox !

A USD 500 RadarBox can't out-perform a USD 50 Dongle !

The RadarBox comes with an auto-populating software package.

And who the hell pays $50 for a dongle anyway?

[Anmer]

The RadarBox comes with an auto-populating software package.

Which appears to stop working if you turn sharing off?

http://radarspotting.com/forum/index.php/topic,2455.msg11448.html#msg11448

[viking9]

Well, doesn't PP do that if you don't share or pay the annual fee?

[Anmer]

Well, doesn't PP do that if you don't share or pay the annual fee?

Not unless the fees have changed?

PP used to charge a one-off licence fee to enable sharing.  The annual fee relates to Mlat.

It isn't a condition of sale (nor mentioned anywhere) that RadarBox customers must share in order to download aircraft data.

[viking9]

Well you are right Mike. I was forgetting that AirNav only provides full ADS-B sharing. Whereas COAA only charges for mlats.

[kered]

Mlat is only payable if you don't share regularly

from PP sit

"Multilateration to locate Mode-S aircraft that are not transmitting ADS-B position reports, is a premium service within PlanePlotter. Only "Master Users" of PlanePlotter can initiate multilateration requests.

Users who are regular raw data providers are automatically Master Users. If you have a suitable receiver and if you have set up your system to provide raw data to the multilateration scheme and your system has been validated and you make it generally available for other users' benefit, then in return for your contributing raw data, you are automatically entitled to Master User status and there is no additional fee for using this feature. Note that providing raw data is not the same as the routine Internet sharing of aircraft data between users and very occasional or intermittent provision of raw data does not qualify. Only regular raw data providers have automatic Master User status.

If you are a PlanePlotter licence holder but you cannot contribute raw data regularly, you can request temporary Master User status for an experimental period of 21 days using the link below. If you request the 21 day trial, you are not committed to paying any fee unless you want to continue to use it after the end of 21 days. After that, you may choose to pay a small annual fee of Euro 12.00 (plus VAT in EU countries) to continue as a Master User. To request your 21 day free trial, please follow the link below."

[birdie]

Shame on you, Radarbox !

A USD 500 RadarBox can't out-perform a USD 50 Dongle !

The RadarBox comes with an auto-populating software package.

And who the hell pays $50 for a dongle anyway?

I saw a comedian trying to sell it in eBay.

[Bethsalem]

I thought it would be interesting to do a comparison between my R820T dongle, RadarBox and Beast.

They are using different indoor antennas, but they are at the same location so that hopefully makes things a little fairer.

The dongle is using an Airnav whip antenna. The RadarBox is using a MD-1100SBS. The Beast is using a PCB-antenna.

My results for 10 January are (all three receivers were started and ended at the same time over a period of approx. 15 hours), and they include the subtraction of duplicate contacts are-

R820T dongle - 339 contacts
RadarBox       - 303 contacts
Beast            - 474 contacts

Considering the price of the dongle, in my opinion this is an excellent result.

Stephen

I've been experimenting with two R820T dongles. Firstly by attaching indoor 1090Mhz antennas to them, and then by chaining them together, so that both are detecting different areas of the sky viewable from my apartment from different windows.

By doing this, I would say they are now detecting as well as my Beast.

All this, at a fraction of the price of dedicated hardware.

[birdie]

Shame on you, Radarbox !

A USD 500 RadarBox can't out-perform a USD 50 Dongle !

The RadarBox comes with an auto-populating software package.

And who the hell pays $50 for a dongle anyway?

I used USD 50 as a basis of comparison against a USD 500 Radarbox.

I bought my dongle for USD 19.90 each.

Don't forget RadarBox Supreme Feature - the Radarbox also comes with Data Stealing Features that "re-opens" your door by itself after you shut it ( you are deceived into thinking you can shut it ).

[IanH]

Getting ready for holidays and I thought I would check out the R820T against the PlaneGadget Radar box that I usually take with me.

No doubt that the dongle is more sensitive but it's using at least 25% CPU on a netbook (RTL1090 and PlanePlotter) whereas the PlaneGadget Radar is using 3% CPU (PlanePlotter).

That's probably going to be a significant reduction in time before the battery needs charging.

I'll probably take both and try them while away but from experience the PlaneGadget is sufficient for anything likely to be in visual range.

Ian