Signals blue LED's

[gcopter1]

Do these light up conmesurate to the amount of targets is seeing?

[Anmer]

In a word "Yes".

I think it's explained in the BaseStation Reference Manual.

[gcopter1]

Anmer, thanks for your reply. I did look at the manual but all I can find is kind of cryptic "Bar graph of aircraft activity. Left to right orientation."  I get the "left to right" thing because the led's are numbered. However, it does not explain why sometimes it lights up two the second led and others to the third, sometimes the fourth, hence my initial question. If the manual were to state, for example, from 1 to 6 aircraft, 1st led, 7 to 10, the third led and so forth. But as it is right now, I'm thinking, is there something wrong with my current antenna set up that keeps me from getting all led's lit up or is it that there aren't enough planes being seen by the unit (again due to my current antenna set up.

[Anmer]

The blue lights are an "indication" of message activity.

The number of messages received is a combination of your geographical location and where the antenna is installed.

Are you located where there are lots of aircraft transmitting Mode-S messages?  Is your antenna installed as high as possible to "see" lots of sky?  Are you surrounded by high buildings, trees or high ground?

We have a free Guide My SBS-1 Setup, that explains my setup and what I was able to do to improve data reception.

You should also consider using SBSPlotter from Jetvision which will provide a very good measure of your range and coverage:

http://jetvision.de/sbs1.shtml

[gcopter1]

I am sandwiched between two general aviation airports and two other international airports; Miami International and Fort Lauderdale. I recognize my set up is less than ideal. My antenna is homemade and not very high up. But I can see traffic on approach, sometimes on final and sometimes on the runway, at MIA so I guess I'm not doing too bad. I will be using your downloads suggestions, especially the plotter as I am really curious to see how well my homemade antenna does. I do live also in an area with lots of trees, most higher than my antenna currently is. But my area is pretty flat (Florida) and thus I'm fairly satisfied with the amount of traffic I see.

[gcopter1]

Anmer, I'm about to head out for work but, couldn't resist running the plotter app you told me about. On the app, I've seen the distance varies. In the box that reads "Max Distance", when will I know I have a definitive reading?


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[Anmer]

The Max Distance will vary whenever your receiver gets a positional message at a greater distance than the previous one.

Let it run for 24 hours and you should get a representative plot for your setup.

[gcopter1]

Will do, many thanks!