Can two 1090MHz aerials be combined?

[55brianb]

Does anyone know if it's possible to use 2 separate aerials to feed an RTL 1090 USB dongle?

I'm wondering because a couple of weeks ago I bought a little 1090MHz aerial off eBay, and it's giving me a range of 150-175 miles in most directions, but is a little 'deaf' towards the SW and W.

So I was wondering if I could use this antenna, with a directional one to 'fill-in' the deaf spot?

Just a thought :-)

[Anmer]

Do you know why it's "deaf" in that direction, maybe something blocking the messages?

If there's an obstacle, another antenna may not resolve this.

You can combine two antenna feeds into one but the "combiner/splitter" is expensive:

http://www.haydon.info/proddetail.asp?prod=SP3

I'd first of all explore what's blocking the data towards the SW and W.

[55brianb]

I'm assuming it's a fairly large hill called Alexandra Palace, but I could be wrong ;-) 

I was thinking the extra gain from a directional antenna might have pulled more a/c in from those directions despite the obstruction, but at that price for the combiner I'll make do with what I have. 

Although having said that I'm waiting for a little low noise amplifier to arrive to try - not sure if it'll help, but at around £12 it's no big deal if it doesn't improve things in general.

I do get some traffic from the SW and W, but not much from beyond maybe 75 miles, so perhaps it's a different obstruction further out.

[Anmer]

I do get some traffic from the SW and W, but not much from beyond maybe 75 miles, so perhaps it's a different obstruction further out.

These may be aircraft at high altitude.  If you have a local obstacle, no antenna will help.  See my recent reviews and the affect of the Preselis and Brecons:

http://radarspotting.com/forum/index.php/topic,5004.msg23524.html#msg23524

http://radarspotting.com/forum/index.php/topic,5035.msg23663.html#msg23663

[G4UMW]

Be careful if using an amplifier, especially if it's a wide-band device and not one specifically designed for 1090 MHz - it's very easy to overload a dongle which will severely degrade your reception.

[55brianb]

Be careful if using an amplifier, especially if it's a wide-band device and not one specifically designed for 1090 MHz - it's very easy to overload a dongle which will severely degrade your reception.

It arrived late Saturday afternoon and having played with it and RTL1090's gain settings all Saturday evening and most of Sunday I can honestly say it was a waste of about the £12 I paid :-(  At its best setting it actually pulls-in slightly fewer a/c and the range is less, but I've ordered one of the new more sensitive R820T dongles - the R820T2 - which should be here in a day or two, so I'm hoping my range will be extended a little.

[Radio2.0]

Be careful if using an amplifier, especially if it's a wide-band device and not one specifically designed for 1090 MHz - it's very easy to overload a dongle which will severely degrade your reception.

my friend build an LNA + Filter who i use now.
In my case its Antenna -> 5M Cable -> Filter -> LNA and it work great!
You can find my feed here http://planes.webernetz.net/virtualradar/desktop.html -> Reciver -> Wien
I can highly recommend an Filter + LNA it bringe huge benefit. In my case i can see Ground Traffic in VIE.